LP
Premium Member
(If this is a bit much, you should skip pass my little past and to paragraph 5).
I was just having a little chat of differing viewpoints over PSN and it actually got me to thinking about this.
It's funny that, as fighting games and gaming in general becomes more 'socially acceptable', I feel as though they're becoming less social. But, before I go into this, let me give some background as to where I'm coming from (If this sentence wasn't evidence enough that it's from the Midwest).
Most of my childhood memories come from a neighborhood in which there was an arcade right on the corner of my block. When I say arcade, I don't mean a laundry with a Street Fighter 2 cab and I don't mean a Japanese arcade with a whole hardware crew on hand; this arcade had around 6 arcade cabinets at any given time and they were always updated to the latest and greatest games. But that's neither here nor there; what is important is the experience it gave me.
I, to this day, know the name of the owner of that store--Mrs. Doors. I also remember her family. Beyond that, I remember the extended family of people who would come from all over to play at the arcade, talk shit, and get Flaming Hot Cheetos with melted nacho cheese on them. There was usually an older crowd there and I knew most of them through other people. Hell, I remember some guy who helped design MK would routinely come there and play.
There were a lot of memories made there...a lot of friendship (it was not uncommon to hear, "Here, shawty." and then have someone let you finish off the games on their coin). I technically had my first job there; hell, my father could write a note and the store owner would let me buy him cigarettes, no questions asked (though, yeah, I was around 5, so I don't think I was chain smoking). Unfortunately, an uncle was murdered in the house I lived in and died in front of my siblings and me so, yeah, a bunch of kids definitely didn't want to stay there and we moved.
Regardless, much of this evolved into a love of fighting games and many social relationships developing around them (many of my friends right up into my Army days played fighting games, not counting you guys. Hell, most of them probably know SC when they see it just because of me). I contrast this with a lot of what I see today. It is not uncommon to encounter the "online pro". We all know 'em, the person whose sole purpose is to become a king in a sea of faceless people.
But I'm not even going to go on about that guy right now. What I want to address is us, period. One of the things I've noticed is different about the Chicago SC crew is that...we actually hang out and talk to each other outside of the game. I mean more than going out to eat sometime during the next local; there have literally been nights when we've called each other up to party. Hell, just about all of the Chicago crew was invited to my wedding and I love these guys (and you all, too, if you didn't know, how much you suck and piss me off online aside).
I contrast this with what I see and hear at tournaments. It's not uncommon to see two people playing in a dark room in complete silence, then getting up and leaving, as if clocking in and clocking out. Beside that, even, I've heard from some of the people within this very community (some you'd be surprised), that they don't speak to people within their local community much less 'hangout'. I wouldn't be surprised if some people are afraid to talk shit while playing because they're afraid (hell, I can say that things almost escalated between two parties that will not be named because a player was talking shit to me once but I wasn't offended and actually LIKED it).
Now, honestly, I don't know what to write after any of that. It's just a bunch of observations I've had. It seems like we've traded accessibility and mass appeal for some more intangible thing. What do you guys think?
Also, if you didn't know, if I'm not doing anything (and not dead ass tired) and we're at these tournaments, you've got a friend in me, dewd.
I was just having a little chat of differing viewpoints over PSN and it actually got me to thinking about this.
It's funny that, as fighting games and gaming in general becomes more 'socially acceptable', I feel as though they're becoming less social. But, before I go into this, let me give some background as to where I'm coming from (If this sentence wasn't evidence enough that it's from the Midwest).
Most of my childhood memories come from a neighborhood in which there was an arcade right on the corner of my block. When I say arcade, I don't mean a laundry with a Street Fighter 2 cab and I don't mean a Japanese arcade with a whole hardware crew on hand; this arcade had around 6 arcade cabinets at any given time and they were always updated to the latest and greatest games. But that's neither here nor there; what is important is the experience it gave me.
I, to this day, know the name of the owner of that store--Mrs. Doors. I also remember her family. Beyond that, I remember the extended family of people who would come from all over to play at the arcade, talk shit, and get Flaming Hot Cheetos with melted nacho cheese on them. There was usually an older crowd there and I knew most of them through other people. Hell, I remember some guy who helped design MK would routinely come there and play.
There were a lot of memories made there...a lot of friendship (it was not uncommon to hear, "Here, shawty." and then have someone let you finish off the games on their coin). I technically had my first job there; hell, my father could write a note and the store owner would let me buy him cigarettes, no questions asked (though, yeah, I was around 5, so I don't think I was chain smoking). Unfortunately, an uncle was murdered in the house I lived in and died in front of my siblings and me so, yeah, a bunch of kids definitely didn't want to stay there and we moved.
Regardless, much of this evolved into a love of fighting games and many social relationships developing around them (many of my friends right up into my Army days played fighting games, not counting you guys. Hell, most of them probably know SC when they see it just because of me). I contrast this with a lot of what I see today. It is not uncommon to encounter the "online pro". We all know 'em, the person whose sole purpose is to become a king in a sea of faceless people.
But I'm not even going to go on about that guy right now. What I want to address is us, period. One of the things I've noticed is different about the Chicago SC crew is that...we actually hang out and talk to each other outside of the game. I mean more than going out to eat sometime during the next local; there have literally been nights when we've called each other up to party. Hell, just about all of the Chicago crew was invited to my wedding and I love these guys (and you all, too, if you didn't know, how much you suck and piss me off online aside).
I contrast this with what I see and hear at tournaments. It's not uncommon to see two people playing in a dark room in complete silence, then getting up and leaving, as if clocking in and clocking out. Beside that, even, I've heard from some of the people within this very community (some you'd be surprised), that they don't speak to people within their local community much less 'hangout'. I wouldn't be surprised if some people are afraid to talk shit while playing because they're afraid (hell, I can say that things almost escalated between two parties that will not be named because a player was talking shit to me once but I wasn't offended and actually LIKED it).
Now, honestly, I don't know what to write after any of that. It's just a bunch of observations I've had. It seems like we've traded accessibility and mass appeal for some more intangible thing. What do you guys think?
Also, if you didn't know, if I'm not doing anything (and not dead ass tired) and we're at these tournaments, you've got a friend in me, dewd.
