SRK: Community Matters – Or Why A Game Is Legitimate Only If There Are People Playing It

Matt Ponton

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A nice article went up over the weekend on Shoryuken by d3v. I feel it's a valid article that any member of this community should read and take notice for the upcoming release of Dead or Alive 5. Below is an excerpt with the permission of d3v, please click here to read the rest of the article:

d3v said:
Community Matters – Or Why A Game Is Legitimate Only If There Are People Playing It

With the current fighting game resurgence in full swing, and with even more fighting games in development, people are starting to worry about whether or not the game that they’re playing or looking forward to will be played seriously at tournaments. This, of course, is why you see people arguing over the merits of these games on the forums. People will mention things such as balance, depth, technical superiority, art style, etc. just to say why their favorite game is worth playing. However, these folks are missing out on arguably the most important factor on whether or not a game is taken seriously at tournaments – community.

evo_crowd.jpg

Community. It matters!

...
 

Raansu

Well-Known Member
What he says has a lot of truth to it, but in order to have a community you need a game that people actually enjoy playing and competing in. Unfortunately DoA is plagued by DoA4 and its past drama and VF is plagued as being known as being "too technical." Sadly it doesn't take much to prevent a community from growing, but I think FSD has what it takes to get around the road block doa's community has right now, especially with the resurgence of doa through doa5.
 

Tenren

Well-Known Member
I second what Raansu said. I also believe FSD will be a big part in the community around doa5 release. LOL every chance I get, I make sure to say something about FSD to anyone interested in 3d fighters not just DOA. In general I think DOA has a large community. The problem I see the most is a lot of us just don't see eye to eye lol.
 

d3v

Well-Known Member
It's nice to see at least one other community take an interest in something I wrote (though we'd prefer if it wasn't the entire article).
I second what Raansu said. I also believe FSD will be a big part in the community around doa5 release. LOL every chance I get, I make sure to say something about FSD to anyone interested in 3d fighters not just DOA. In general I think DOA has a large community. The problem I see the most is a lot of us just don't see eye to eye lol.
When mentioning this to Keits (EIC at SRK) he was actually surprised that this site existed. If anything though, it should stand as a challenge to get this site/community to the point of name recognition like with sites such as 8WR, VFDC, DustLoop for their respective communities.
Agree with the article, not the title.
I will admit to it being a bit "sensationalist," but it gets the views. More importantly, it offhandedly asks the question of why, if a game is supposedly legitimate, is it not being played as much in tournaments.
 

Rikuto

P-P-P-P-P-P-POWER!
That it does. Well good piece either way.

Not surprised at all that was Keits reaction to FSD, the doa community has kind of a dark and gloomy history going for it. With any luck we've left those days long behind. If DOA 5 ends up actually being good, the last thing in the world we want is another corrupted, ghetto atmosphere. This time things will be done right.
 

Tenren

Well-Known Member
Very true D3v. This site compared to thos means we are still in diapers lol. Even back when I was more active on VFDC it seemed the only people who knew of DOCA was thos of use who played both or thos whiling to hear what we had to say. But like I said, I truly see this site being the place to look in the future! The one thing this site has over the old DOAC site is skilled & knowledgeable players who are willing to work with the community to help improve & I will stick by that no mater what!
 

d3v

Well-Known Member
Very true D3v. This site compared to thos means we are still in diapers lol. Even back when I was more active on VFDC it seemed the only people who knew of DOCA was thos of use who played both or thos whiling to hear what we had to say. But like I said, I truly see this site being the place to look in the future! The one thing this site has over the old DOAC site is skilled & knowledgeable players who are willing to work with the community to help improve & I will stick by that no mater what!
I believe that every major fighting game needs a site dedicated to its core, competitive fanbase. Which is why we have sites like DL, 8WR, VFDC, Tekken Zaibatsu, Tekken Nation and off course SRK (although we're trying to go beyond just Capcom games over there).
 

Matt Ponton

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I believe that every major fighting game needs a site dedicated to its core, competitive fanbase. Which is why we have sites like DL, 8WR, VFDC, Tekken Zaibatsu, Tekken Nation and off course SRK (although we're trying to go beyond just Capcom games over there).

This is my personal take based off of my own views on the sites of course, and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of all those who participate on these forums:

SRK has been trying to move on to the "Fighting Game Competitive" website for a while now, but it's heart is still Capcom of course. If I had to put my money on what site would push the FGC further, it would have to be SRK. Especially with the future of Evolution and other community outreaches in store. Mr. Wizard and his admins really have helped put the communities in a good path. I look forward to seeing what they have in store, and being a personal old-school fan of ST, I have a special place in my heart for the Street Fighter series in general.

8WR also is "young" but was created due to a split community, and the technical genius of a web programmer who also is a competitive gamer. I've had many a discussion with Jaxel over the years at our GVN and NEC events - always leading to good things. It was due to him that we switched over to XenForo even before SRK did.

DOAC in the meantime has its focus on trying to join the DOA and Ninja Gaiden communities into one site about Tecmo Koei games in general. Personally speaking for myself here, but I never agreed with that idea and is one of the reasons I decided to create this site. The feeling of decreasing the focus and exposure from Dead or Alive itself was counter-productive. In addition, they heavily push the eSports / Pro Gaming aspect that has burned many players that were in the community for that, so they're still left with some scars from it unfortunately. Many of the old school members came back to agree with it when Bill "Tom Brady" Menoutis made his "Bradycast: The History of DOA" videocast. However, even with all of that history, I still consider myself friends with many of the administrators of the site. It is a part of my history afterall.

For FSD, basically the site is available to those who use it and it's really the community that inhabits it that makes the site atmosphere - not just one person. Like 8WR, this site was created by two people who felt their time and ideas would be better spent doing it themselves on their own site. I honestly can't believe it's been 1.5 years already, and I look forward to how this forum looks a year after DOA5's release.
 

Berzerk!

Well-Known Member
Read the article when it went up on SRK. Agree with it, with reservations. Like Rikuto, I disagree with the title. The positive driver of the article is to back your game and participate in your community.

Mr Wah, your reasoning for creating FSD is really sound and defensible. The important thing for everyone to remember is to encourage people to do is to try the game, and attend gatherings to also play other games.

You'll find yourself having a more fun experience due to the variety, and you'll have more credibility when you invite other people to play "your" game of DOA.

There will definitely be a lot of visitors to these sites looking for DOA info as it's sparked a lot of interest and the new world for fighters is more inclusive, looking at SRK they are covering a range of games. They don't quite DOA as yet but they don't much get Soul Calibur either and its getting really strong coverage.

Team Ninja, hopefully, will be as solid about providing info and opportunities to connect with players to make credible news about the game a regular thing.

Mr. Wah are you interested perhaps in a guest editorial to SRK to provide some historical perspective, or some mechanics feature articles, on DOA5 as you obtain access to the game? I'll try and do the same here depending on what the local distro is able to do.
 

Rikuto

P-P-P-P-P-P-POWER!
Mr Wah, your reasoning for creating FSD is really sound and defensible. The important thing to encourage people to do is to try the game, and attend gatherings to also play other games.

You were well intentioned, so please don't take this the wrong way. Because while well intentioned, I will tell you now that if mr. wah was a even a slightly cranky guy he would probably rip your throat out for even suggesting he was not already doing this.

He travels every GVN and NEC just to set up DOA 3.1/++ in a small corner of the room for anybody interested. He also plays other games like street fighter, and has enough time invested in other communities that he actually flew out some french SC players to NEC this year. He gets very, very little gratification or even attention for his efforts. He does it anyway, so please don't lecture him on what he should be doing. He's been lightyears ahead of anyone else in this community in doing what was necessary to support it.
 

Berzerk!

Well-Known Member
Yes, I know that, Mr Take Things The Wrong Way. Retract those throat ripping claws! :p

It's one of those things that just needs to be stated over and over, not for Mr Wah's benefit, but for other readers to think about their own local gatherings. I do exactly the same things in practicing what I preach with my local community, and it works. That's all. I'll edit to make it completely clear.

No lecturing, just positive reinforcement. Investing time in the broader fighting game community and making that effort helps "your" game.
 

d3v

Well-Known Member
Mr. Wah are you interested perhaps in a guest editorial to SRK to provide some historical perspective, or some mechanics feature articles, on DOA5 as you obtain access to the game? I'll try and do the same here depending on what the local distro is able to do.
This would be nice, especially since most folks ideas about the DOA community stem from Tom Brady's thoughts on the matter.
 

Rikuto

P-P-P-P-P-P-POWER!
Well I vote he does it.

Although this was never actually a vote, and he will probably just say that It's taking away time from his cabinets as per the usual excuse to avoid doing cool shit.

But let's see, maybe he's in the mood to sway some hearts and minds, and possibly feed some front page srk trolls? Just maybe?
 

Matt Ponton

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I'm not against it, I would just need the content to do so as I'm not a typical article writing guy.
 

Tenren

Well-Known Member
lol u better start practicing. This is a good chance for the DOA community to be heard :) Also you know if you ever need any help Im down or any of use for that matter
 
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