SRK: Why You Should Attend Tournaments

Once again, it's that time of year where everyone is going out of their way to make resolutions for the year ahead. For the DOA community, especially those who are just stepping up and getting into the game competitively for the first time, here's one resolution that you should make in 2013 - attend tournaments.

BlackShinobi from the Shoryuken.com forums has made a rather in-depth post on "why you should attend tournaments." He specifically goes over two major points that are bound to be on every newer players mind when it comes to these events.

How to know if you are good enough to attend a tournament
If you are a fan of fighting games, then congratulations, you have just passed the skill test to attend a tournament. Don’t worry, if you hate fighting games you have still passed the skill test to attend a tournament. Let’s be realistic here: your chances of winning your first tournament are pretty slim, especially if it is a big tournament, but then again, how good are your chances of getting to the level where you can win a tournament if you never go to any tournaments? Thousands of people have gone 0-2 in their first tournament. It is just something that may happen to you when you start out, but you play your hardest, take your loses if they come, and if you get eliminated you spend the rest of your time stress-free, enjoying the event and having fun playing, free of the constraints of the shakiness and tension that usually come with first-time tournament play.

Why you should still go to a tournament even if you may not win any tournament matches
I’m not sure where this idea comes from, but I have talked to a number of people online and locally who believe that they if they go to a tournament they will walk into the tournament, pay the entry fee, lose two games and then immediately leave the venue, get back in their car or on a bus and take a long drive or ride or flight home. If you are a fan of fighting games, there is never a better chance to be around more people with that same interest than at a tournament, where there are actual people willing to talk about games and give you tips with absolutely no interference from forum trolls or stream monsters. There is also tech that people will share in person that they do not post online. When you try to weigh the solo travel cost against the benefit of an hour at the venue, of course it seems like the trip isn’t worth it; the problem is that if you are balancing the solo travel cost against only one hour at the venue, then you have an unrealistic value entered for every variable in that equation. As you can probably tell from the pictures, the idea that there is nothing to do after you are eliminated from a tournament is completely ridiculous. For example, on the Saturday nights of both EVO and NEC, I didn’t go to sleep until sometime after 5:00am.

Follow the link to read the rest.
SRK Forum Spotlight: “Why You Should Attend a Tournament in 2013″ by Eric “BlackShinobi” Stewart

Also, for the veterans out there, feel free to share some of your own tournament stories in the comments below.

 

I just got back from an MK9 tournament last night. The game that got me eliminated 2-1 came down the the last game, the last match, the very last hit. It was awesome. Then I just hung around the tournament and talked to people and played casuals.Great fun.

The DoA community seriously needs to start building a big offline scene. The game is good enough to have one, you guys just need to get off your asses and get your numbers up. Trust me, after you've been to a few tournaments, you're going to get addicted. And it'll make you hate online a lot more. Obviously online is all some people have, I understand that, but if you live in a big city or near one, then you have no excuse.

BUILD YOUR SCENE, DOA COMMUNITY. Stop ignoring tournaments and the offline scene, get out there and SUPPORT YOUR GAME WHERE IT MATTERS.

Calling out all the online warriors out there.

 

Since I find out that you can hang around, eat like theres no tomorrow and associate
with people who are gamers as well (which is my favorite hobby) . This encourage me to travel for tournaments to support DOA5 even more

 

Most of my experience with big tournaments(EVO) has been good in terms of just being there as a spectator. My experience in organizing and producing tournaments have been fun. My experiences in playing, dealing with the BS and politics surrounding the tournament scene for various games has made me a bitter fan girl.

Other than that I consider offline tournaments a great time to get out and meet people.

 

Great post - going to share it with our readers on PTB.

Please be sure to linkback to the original SRK article.

 

I went to Texas Bar Fights Round X on December 8th 2012 (last year?), and i was pretty shocked and nervous at first since it was my first offline tournament. I got there pretty early (11:00 AM to be exact) and practiced some DOA5 with Helena for ten/fifteen minutes, and shortly i saw MASTER and Reaper walk in registering for the tournament. What's really special about this? Not everyday you get to meet great players in person. Meeting them there was pretty awesome! We played a few casual matches as well as conversations with other players from different FG backgrounds. This was pretty much one the best reasons to go to an offline tournament in my opinion.

 

SCR is just a week away, please come out and show your support for DOA

 

This community is very welcoming i apreciate all the help people have provided with every loss i gain experince being in alaska not much off line here whats the closest state with a tourney scene?