DOA5 local offline scene advice

[TRI Mike]

Now that DOA5 is just a few weeks away. I'm actually very, very interested in joining the offline scene up the US and Europe. My plan is to travel at least twice during 2013 (or even Christmas 2012) if the game ends up having a competitive scene. But as most of you already know, I live in Caracas, Venezuela. A Latin America country where gaming is still little and very young. Having a scene for any game down here is very difficult because most people tend to go the casual way when doing gaming around here and it's simply too hard to organize good events for many reasons I won't state. There's being exceptions like tournaments for Halo, Counter Strike, Tekken and Smash Melee over the years but most of them have been very little and not very successful.

Which makes me worry a lot about my experience with DOA5. During my entire gaming life, I've felt extremely frustrated because since 2001, when I started playing, I've literally had nobody to play the franchise with in the level I'd like to. Some of my friends are willing to grab a controller and learn a few strings and basic things but that's not what I'm looking for. I was close to achieving something good with the early DOA4 days but a mix of the game not being very good and me focusing on other things in life made the opportunity slip away from my hands.

This brings me to think that even in the US, where gaming is huge, a competitive scene must have started somewhere and being very little in the beginning. I'd like to build a healthy offline scene for the game here, make people pay attention to the franchise for more than the beautiful girls, the Ninja Gaiden protagonist and the good graphics. But I simply don't know where to start. I've tried with DOA3, DOA2U, DOA4 and DOAD and every time I'm left empty-handed and with a deep hatred for the gaming community in my country. I feel alone with this and very frustrated and I simply refuse to have such a terrible offline experience with DOA5.

So, I'd like recommendations. What should I do to have a small scene here¿ I need advice on how to make other gamers pay attention to our game, how to organize tournaments, gatherings and things like that. I know that no matter what, anything I achieve will be very little so I'm putting myself a target of 8-people tourneys each month with eight players who are actually willing to play the game how it is supposed to, saving replays to upload in different websites and things like that. Do you think it is possible¿ How should I do it¿

 

[Matt Ponton]

It's not easy. It takes a lot of dedication and depends on the locals being open minded to games and tournaments. It's not a flip of a switch. Even the US community you talk about has been working on it for a little over 10 years now and we're nowhere as close as Street Fighter or Tekken.

 

[UnD34D]

So, I'd like recommendations. What should I do to have a small scene here¿ I need advice on how to make other gamers pay attention to our game, how to organize tournaments, gatherings and things like that. I know that no matter what, anything I achieve will be very little so I'm putting myself a target of 8-people tourneys each month with eight players who are actually willing to play the game how it is supposed to, saving replays to upload in different websites and things like that. Do you think it is possible¿ How should I do it¿

Is one of those things you mention drugs and gangs? lol... I joke.

Anyways, I know your pain. The competitive scene in Iowa is a joke as well, in DOA2 my best friend, who HATES fighting games, was willing to get really good at the game with me, just as an offline sparring partner, and in DOA4 he continued to help me. Other than that, it was non-existent. In Misawa, Japan, my community is now limited to the maybe 1000 American's living on this base. Of that I have maybe 10 consistent players. Here is what I did to actually rally these guys.

- Casual gatherings: Start holding offline tournaments a casuals. The first couple I made free of charge just to see who was interested, whether casual or competitive, and I hold free, casual gatherings every other Friday (my 5$ RanBats are on the other Fridays)
- Fliers: LOTS and LOTS of fliers. I printed out fliers and hung them all over my base. I generally asked permission to just leave them around.
- Variety of Games: Offer more than just DOA. DOA is a casual and easy fighter to get into, but its not everyone's game. I don't know about the Venezuelan population, but almost EVERYONE knows and thinks they are good at Street Fighter, so offer SSFIV: AE2012, offer T6:BR, offer VF5FS, offer P4A. Offer a variety to get as many people as possible to come. If I had my way, all I'd host is Tekken and KOF, but I know what people want, so right now, my RanBats are all Street Fighter. I held a vote, and my next one is going to be P4A.
- Word of mouth: Once you get one person or more, get them to spread the word. The only people on my base I ever see are the ones at my command, maybe 40 people in total. But I got lucky, and got a couple people from other commands, and they spread the word.
- $5 tournies: Once you get some players, start making it more competitive, do 5$ tournies and offer a 70/20/10 payout.
- Food and drinks.: Everyone loves free food. Offer free pizza and soda at the tournament, it makes more people show up, and they usually don't mind paying to enter a tourny when there is free food.
- RanBats: Competitive players love to see where they rank. I offer RanBats every other Friday, and at the end of a 5 RanBat season, I give the pay out $40 to #1, $30 to #2, and $20 to #3. For my first one I also bought #1 and #2 street fighter t-shirts from Broken Tier.

 

[MasterHavik]

DOA in Chicago is thin.. just justowin', me, and my friend Julius. We cloud actually see if the rest of chitown is willing to pick it up. It's mostly marvel and SF.

 

[UnD34D]

DOA in Chicago is thin.. just justowin', me, and my friend Julius. We cloud actually see if the rest of chitown is willing to pick it up. It's mostly marvel and SF.

Havik there are a ton of older players who were in that area, you should look up Koboyashi, he could help you out, but if you're looking for players you should go to the matchmaking thread.

 

[MasterHavik]

Koboyashi....whoa...damn...I didn't know. thanks man.

 

[grap3fruitman]

Kobayashi, myself and Kob's friend (whose name I can't recall at the moment) played some DOA5a a few months back. We're more NW/W 'burbs though. Per my last conversation with Kob, he isn't playing many fighting games now. I think Galloping Ghost Arcade would be a nice meeting spot for us if we got around to playing again. We could piggy-back off of their Thursday night events. They also have a DOA++ machine, which is awesome.

 

[MasterHavik]

Count me in man. Well...in the summer, since i'm going to Minnesota for college.

 

[TRI Mike]

So can anyone other than Wah and Zealot give me any advice¿

 

[MasterHavik]

Well check out srk.com and see if anyone from your country wants to play DOA.

 

[Allan Paris]

So can anyone other than Wah and Zealot give me any advice¿

He (UnDead) pretty much said it all, along with Wah. There's no big mystery secret that you're not being let in on to accomplish what you want. Get with some close friends and start with them.

 

[Matt Ponton]

You basically have to sell the 'meetups' as fun meetup. Don't go hardcore tournament player mode because it has to be more than just dummy practice.

 

[Tones]

-Play a lot online and friend a lot of people. Direct them to freestepdodge or TK players or a facebook page them know there is a scene.
-Get a local online competitions happening every few months or so (I'd say one every month for the first 3 months then every other month).
-Tag DOA along other offline gaming organisation meet ups.
-With the really serious guys (you can tell by their small game library and gamerscore), have a meet up at some people's houses. Get some DOA and pizza happening.

The idea is to have a supported online scene were you can pull the more serious players into the offline scene. This way you can expose yourself to a good amount of people to see who the more serious people are.

One thing I'd look into doing to organize and advertise a local online and offline tournament/meet that's 4-6 weeks post release date. Printing off some A4 posters and get them displayed at game stores and other nerdy places. The sooner you get them displayed the better.

Only have a few (2-3) means of advertising/pulling, where you have one means where you spend most your effort.

E.G
Mean focus: Online play and directing
Mean 2: flyers and posters
Mean 3: online (forums, facebook)

Pull marketing (posters and online) is the most effective for niches. Push marketing costs to much (effort/money) and is best for more general things. Oh yean, playing DOA online and directing people to a site is push marketing but it's the most best place for it. You are meeting people in the game itself (while you're getting practice!).

Just food for through, a tournament with entry fees with money prizes and medals will attract serious and wannabe serious players.

Most people only keep an interest in something for 4-8 weeks.

Just a heads up, things will rev up, peak, then cool off.

At the start you're only going to have 1-3 serious players. When numbers peak you're going to have about 7-10 serious players, and I'm guessing at least 50 less serious players, pulling about 30-40% of them to offline meets. When things cool off you may only get 5 serious ones hanging around.

Good thing about Facebook, during the cool off period you won't loose much people. It's easy enough to not go to a forum but most people use Facebook daily. They may find an interest in DOA again and come back to the scene!

Some serious players may not want to deal with any of them, so you may need to make 2 (one for the general and one for the serious players).

 

[TRI Mike]

Hmm those are actually very good ideas. I still feel that I might not get the reception I'd like to but starting September 25th I'll be working a lot on this and planning a trip to play.

 

[Tones]

Mr. Negative here... DOA5 is just around the corner man, should be hyped. Just be supportive and hang in there, you'll find others a like.