| 26 December 2011
2011 was filled with so many highlights and lowlights, a book could be written about all of it. But that would take nearly all of 2012 to do. So in that case, I’ll just mention the top five stories of 2011. Some of them are specific to a tournament or a match, while others are very broad.
There were a lot of stories that did not make the cut, and I’ll mention some of them here:
- OnlineTony wins seven tournaments in a row
- Japan’s unsuccessful attempt to overtake the United States in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 at Evolution 2011
- Daigo Umehara’s Super Street Fighter IV title reign at Evolution ends
- The struggle against top-tier characters
- Perfect Legend wins at Evolution 2011
5. Filipino Champ wins Northwest Majors 3 and Canada Cup: You might hear from one of these matches later in the week. For all that Ryan "Filipino Champ" Ramirez had to go through this year, including bad breaks and unbelievable losses, there were a couple of shots remaining to get a major win before the game switched to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. He made it all the way to the finals of both tourneys and prevailed.
At Canada Cup, in one of the more unbelievable moments of the year, Justin rallied to defeat Filipino Champ and stay alive in the finals. If this were any other part of the year, Filipino Champ probably folds up and loses. But he didn’t this time around, and that’s what made the win at Canada Cup so special. It was his moment and his major championship.
4. Majors for Team Spooky: Victor “Spooky” Fontanez is beloved by a lot of followers in the competitive gaming scene because of his broadcasting. He also made his mark by going to nearly every major tournament this year. He had his share of ups (Evolution) and downs (comments at Final Round XIV), but most of his supporters have stood by him no matter what the situation. If it was a big event, he was likely there. There was a random poll made after Spooky made his case to stream Evolution, and hundreds of people put their name on it. It was somewhat publicized and it got that much attention. Imagine if it had been heavily advertised.3. Wolfkrone and Latif burn through opponents: Again, you might hear about these two guys later in the week as we give out awards. These guys not only were two of the top contenders in the nation, but they mowed down opponents with their C.Viper.
2. Canada Cup steals the show: Canada Cup was one of the most memorable tournaments of 2011, but it wasn’t all positive. While Wolfkrone seemed to seal his fate as the best North American player, the tournament was marred by a constant stream of advertisements, some which affected the matches. The ending of the main event was struck by a commercial. Not only that, the plan to charge for a premium version of the broadcast was hit with technical difficulties.Those are four of the top five. And the top story of the year is …
1. The defense of competitive gaming
But that wasn’t the end. The competitive gaming realm began battles within. I’m not sure what specifically sparked the fire but there’s been plenty of kindling.
Any and all angles were taken: Fighting game players are unruly and smell, StarCraft II fans in the audience want to mimic Pebble Beach Golf Links, emcees shouldn’t throw out stupid comments, the fighting game community will forever be small potatoes, and on and on.
What made this a sad to watch was that a few people initially wanted to get the ball moving on competitive gaming — specifically fighting games — taking the next step. Then, everyone chimed in, and it became a battle to see who could get the most page views or responses. Once the flood of opinions poured in, the topic got ugly.
I tried my best to turn myself away from the topic, but there was nothing I could do. It was everywhere. The metaphors spilled into my Clark Kent job.
It reminded me of a sports talk host who had nothing to say because there weren’t any sports topics of relevance in his area, so he’d offer a topic like: “Here’s my Top 10 best players in (insert sport here)” or “Kobe or M.J.?”
Do we need to figure out the future of competitive gaming and/or fighting games now? Is there some sort of deadline that has to be made on this? I’m sure for those entrepreneurs (I hate that word) would say to strike while the iron is hot and, right now, most forms of competitive gaming are on fire thanks to big turnouts and highly populated streams.
One word really hit me when I was consumed with the topic last week. I wasn't sure if I was the only one who thought this way but, thank goodness, Florida tournament organizer Alex Jebailey seemed to mention it as well even though he really didn’t.
Why?
One of the biggest lessons I learned before I left Southern California was to understand why people do things and their purpose. Simon Sinek, a motivational speaker, always talked about how businesses can tell you what they do and how they do it. But they rarely explain why they do things unless forced to. Sinek urged businesses to start with why they do things before going into how and what they do. I initially found out about his concept while listening to a 65-minute podcast he did on Mixergy (I still have the audio, and I listen to it frequently to get the idea bashed in my head).
In a podcast with Rapture of vVv Gaming last week, Jebailey seemed to reiterate the same concept. Why do these leagues want to add fighting games? These teams and organizations have mentioned what they’ll do and how they'll probably implement it, but have they gone into depth about why?
I’m sure there will be more discussion about this going into next year, and the topic might blow up to the point it’s the story of the year for 2012. For now, let’s just enjoy being in competitive gaming. Let’s get our friends involved. Let’s attend as many tournaments as we can. And hopefully, none of us will have to be on the defensive.
