Regional Leaders? (All read, please)

BatousaiNori

BatousaiNori

[10] Knight
I've been thinking about getting ideas for possibly a group of tourney leaders/organizers, etc that can handle majors, answer questions about bans, whatever. I can't speak for other regions, but I can speak for TX in that:

IceColdEdge/EddyPistons ALWAYS run successful tournaments in Dallas. I do them in South Texas (San Antonio) all the time.

-So basically use 3 and let's see the leader of NJ (Jaxel) and Philly? (I think it's ChaCha) and Chi and Cali, etc, and try to coordinate on tournaments, etc.

One of the things I noticed as far as Nationals, lots of people didn't seem happy and didn't seem to get results they wanted. So to not beat a dead horse, how do we move forward? My solution (idea) and obviously, we would need the community as a whole to WANT this, was to each have representatives of their respective regions. Let's say "Player A" went to a major in NM, had a concern or something happened, so would approach (most likely) Seneca/Chinga immediately because they were responsible for the tourney and squash it out quick. No hidden doors, everybody stays in contact, etc.


So if you read this far, if you can "nominate" somebody (I would say 1-2 people, and these people have to WANT to do it) you feel gets along w/your community, can get along w/new gamers, gets along w/vets, tries to find positive solutions and runs good tournaments, nominate them. This is NOT a popularity contest so please don't just nominate the best gamer. I'll update it everyday (unless everybody is super opposed to this, then we'll think of something else)

TX: Ice/Nori/EP
Cali:
NJ: Jaxel
Philly: ChaCha
NM:
NY: ChaCha

Canada:
B.C.
Toronto: ChaCha
Ottawa/Montreal

Florida:
Atlanta:
New England: IdleMind, Goofus
Arizona: Lobo

I'm asking very nicely to keep the flaming/shit talking to a minimum. This has NOTHING to do w/gamers skill, PLEASE keep this in mind.
 
Nori, I really appreciate this voice of reason man.... brings a tear to me eye lad...

Good stuff, I may be ready to do my part for NM, will keep you posted.
 
I nominate Cha Cha for something, cuz dude gets things done, level headed, just has the experience to make good events. But he's in Buffalo so I don't know if he'd be stepping on any toes in Philly. Jaxel would be the guy for NJ, right?
 
I don't see how anybody but Jaxel could be the NJ organizer. If you want to add Arizona (no reason why you should, really.. :( ) then put lobo down for that. Although I haven't seen him around here in awhile.
 
Archangel said:
I don't see how anybody but Jaxel could be the NJ organizer. If you want to add Arizona (no reason why you should, really.. :( ) then put lobo down for that. Although I haven't seen him around here in awhile.
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I didn't put Jaxel because I'd rather not assume anything, but to me, Jaxel does seem to be the man of the EC, so gladly will add him. And if Lobo is active, I'll add him also for Arizona.
 
Canada should be split in 3 sections, as we have three very distinct regions for our players (B.C., Toronto, Ottawa/Montreal).
 
I live in Buffalo, so obviously it's hard to pin a region on me. I am very active in NY, PA, OH and Toronto. I don't think I should need a region designated to me, the fact just remains that I am helpful to anyone who asks, organizes well, travels a lot and just gets shit done.

If there is some list of people to go to for answers, organizational help and accountability, then put me on it. Just my make region omnipresent :)

Besides, the whole area leader concept has been around, and I think most players that get shit done are generally recognized as the go to guys in their area by all, but I guess a list may help new players.

cha cha
 
Yo, it's Malice. Put Jaxel down for the East Coast since he already serves in that capacity.

I don't see the need for a list of regional leaders because the people within the community already know who the leaders and the tourney organizers are except for the new players, but new players can easily find that out by hooking up with their local SC community.

Unless this game gets more interest, I don't see what is there to coordinate besides the next national tournament since major tournaments are already being ran. I know it's early, but here's what I would like to see for the next national tournament. You guys can just refer to them once the time comes. I figured I would post it now since I don't know when that discussion will take place plus I am a busy man.

1. We need a group to handle the organization. That way, one person is not overwhelmed and there can be some accountability. You can start now to look for volunteers so that there is plenty of time to organize it.

2. I think we should do away with regional qualifiers. I feel the issues that occurred this year will happen again next year if they were still in place. Unless SC5 or some DLC miraculously comes out for SC4 between now and December, the turn out won't be as high as it was for this year. There was a large discrepancy with the amount for the national pot. I don't know who was to blame for that, but that should have not been the case. Either hold those accountable for not transferring the money or cough up some receipts.

You also had a good chunk of those who qualified that did not show up and most likely knew damn well they weren't going to show up. You also have EVO to contend with if the event is held in the summer. Unless you do something to entice people to come, people will just choose to go to EVO.

Plus Nationals was already international with regionals in Canada, Mexico and DR. Going forward, it should remain international and just crown an international champion.

3. Here's what I would like to see. The tournament should be held in a major metropolitan city. I would like to see it held on the East Coast, preferably in Philadelphia for several reasons.

  • We have an international airport and plenty of hotel rooms in the city.
  • Philadelphia is easy to get to and very easy to get around in.
  • The East Coast has the larger SC community and Philadelphia is right in the heart of those communities. You would have a good amount of people that could help out with the logistics such as picking people up from the airport and housing if someone is too broke to get a cab or a room somewhere. I don't think it makes much sense to hold a national/intl. tournament somewhere where there isn't a high concentration of SC players unless you guys love having 1 person drive people around.
  • There's plenty to do here. We got history and culture out the ass, you won't go broke coming here, restaurants and bars all over that are easy to get to, and plenty of clubs to go to.
  • We already have tournament organizers here.

If no one likes those reasons, then just hold it somewhere in Vegas or somewhere else with a good number of SC players or people that could help with the event.

4. Have the tournament where the competitors just show up and compete. The top players are going to rise to the top anyway. If you eliminate people through qualifying, you will have the same situation where half the qualifiers don't show up and then have to fill the bracket at the last minute. I don't know how much hype there was at the event in person, but I would assume that you would like to have as many people there as possible to watch it live.

5. It would also help going forward to have a high head count which would be done by having people to just come and compete. That way you can show Namco or potential sponsors that we had x number of people participate and maybe more willing to provide support/sponsorship.

6. If you have the tournament where everyone just shows up and competes, you could do other things like hold a team tournament and or have a team with the best people from each country to battle it out. Plus you will have alot more people that is able to meet and mingle with the other members of the community. You could do silly shit like a hold a tournament with no B button if you want. You could also hold other tournaments since people play more than one fighting game, plus it could server to attract new players to Soul Calibur if they come for that particular tournament but stay to see SC4 played on the highest level. But basically, do things to add some muthafuckin hype.

As for the topic of banning, there's not much to discuss to the point where you need a regional leader for. The East Coast already allows everything but CAS characters. Everyone else should do the same or just put it to a community vote and move on. I'm just tired of the constant bitching.

So that's my $0.02. Thanks for reading.
 
I actually concur with Philadelphia being a major spot for all the reasons listed by Malice.

At this point, our primary goals are finalizing the rule set, posting PUBLICLY the logical reasons why they are in place and archiving them, and recruiting new players and working hard to keep the ones we have.

-Idle
 
Great post Malice. This is exactly the discussion and interaction I wanted. I especially like the fact of not having a regionals. When Tekken/SF and the other games w/MASSIVE communities have it, you know people will come. SC community proved it doesn't work anymore w/3 and 4. Same shit happened w/3, people qualified and then didn't go. Say what you want about NVGA/DFG and how Nats turned out, but there is no excuse for SO MANY players skipping out after they qualified.
 
I pretty much agree with your whole post Malice.

I think keeping it open would be very good for this community.

1. There are a lot of players like me who are good, but don't have the time and/or passion to get good enough to win a national tourney. However, we still like the competition and even competing against the best. But, since Nats is closed off to everyone but qualifiers, it just keeps your attendance lower than it needs to be.

2. The better players are going to win anyway so the influx of more players wouldn't hurt anyone.

3. This game and community needs a lot more exposure and opening up the tourney to all would do a lot to provide some needed attention.

4. This may be a stretch, but why not use Evo? All of the best players can sign up. You'll have a lot more players especially after people there finally saw top players competing. There will be a larger pot and there shouldn't be any money issues. It'll provide a lot more exposure to sponsors and newcomers. The hype will already be there because of the atmosphere.
 
Malice, great post. I'd like to touch on your points and hope for illumination on some more of your plans.

1. We need a group to handle the organization. That way, one person is not overwhelmed and there can be some accountability. You can start now to look for volunteers so that there is plenty of time to organize it.
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The people who have the tenacity to pull off these kind of things already know this is the best way to do it, many voices in unison, always contend better than a single voice, especially on accountability and relation.

2. I think we should do away with regional qualifiers. I feel the issues that occurred this year will happen again next year if they were still in place. Unless SC5 or some DLC miraculously comes out for SC4 between now and December, the turn out won't be as high as it was for this year. There was a large discrepancy with the amount for the national pot. I don't know who was to blame for that, but that should have not been the case. Either hold those accountable for not transferring the money or cough up some receipts.
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This statement is dicey. I like where your head is at, but we'd need to really look at the levity of the situation that regionals provide.
-Basically regionals give us the opportunity for many regions to host tounries they would normally not, get competativeness going in their scene and prep close by cities to travel and rival one another.
-Regionals create (or are SUPPOSED to)a constant reminder that this is all leading up to a grand finale, and the hype theoretically should stay consistent as many try but few win these coveted placements.
-Regionals, by good design~ help finance the final pot, and in some cases, travel expense to top placers. The problem comes in with lower than expected turn outs and organizers without their eye on the ball, taking their sweet time sending funds or addressing problems. This type of crap can be eliminated.
-Regionals to compete for an exclusive spot in the best of the best tournament; separate a 'championship' from a 'major'. Without qualification there is less motivation to stay focused on your game, and keep others focused if there is just a once a year event anyone can attend and compete in. Just another major.
-Regionals separate the boys from the men so to speak. Meaning not only does one need to conquer on a regional level, but must do so again against the next level of competition. Players earn their spot, rather than having some crazy happenstance prevent them from being optimal on a given day once a year. Besides it also helps establish hype and favorites for each region, keeps shit talk (of the healthy and friendly variety) going between players and their crews, which every fighter needs.

Every Major happens just once a year, that doesn't help differentiate them, and it shouldn't be a determining factor in the perceived quality of the event we are hosting, Nationals needs to be more than a major. Or it's just another tourney.

So to that I just ask that we don't hastily dispose of the proven regional format, JUST because this years was lackluster and kinda messed up. It's done and gone, we can improve and move on.

Please give me more info on why you think ditching regionals is the way to go...

3. Here's what I would like to see. The tournament should be held in a major metropolitan city. I would like to see it held on the East Coast, preferably in Philadelphia for several reasons.
We have an international airport and plenty of hotel rooms in the city.
Philadelphia is easy to get to and very easy to get around in.
The East Coast has the larger SC community and Philadelphia is right in the heart of those communities. You would have a good amount of people that could help out with the logistics such as picking people up from the airport and housing if someone is too broke to get a cab or a room somewhere. I don't think it makes much sense to hold a national/intl. tournament somewhere where there isn't a high concentration of SC players unless you guys love having 1 person drive people around.
There's plenty to do here. We got history and culture out the ass, you won't go broke coming here, restaurants and bars all over that are easy to get to, and plenty of clubs to go to.
We already have tournament organizers here.
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God bless you for trying. But I'd rather not make a hasty move on this either. Arguably, I have been to many more Philly tournies than most non-Philly residents here. I am sad to say I have very FEW fond memories of any events held there.
I LOVE BIG E. That guy is my dude and he has done great things for players on the EC.
But...
-Philly venues are always dirty, shabby, overpriced and near nowhere good. (just goin off the ones that exist in the past UP, NEC, MarchMadness, SummerJam ect.)
-Many cities have great locations by the airport. Philly selection in that area, is ...in my opinion, less than favorable.
- I guess I am a minority, but the food in Philly kinda sucks. When I can get a better cheesesteak from a mom & pop shop in Buffalo, NY better than a fabled Philly one for half the price...it just goes down hill from there.
-It is true that most of my bias opinion comes from the areas surrounding UP and NEC, I take it what you have in mind is not these areas?
-Travelability applies to any cities clustered up there- Baltimore, DC, Philly, Pittsburgh, Newark, NYC, Dover, Arlington. Any city is easy to travel to, Philly's inner workings certainly aren't the easiest to navigate I have seen, even in the cities just mentioned here.

Now look, it just looks like I am being negative and 'don't know how it is'... BUT IM NOT! I just put those comments out there as a frame of reference. I want you to prove to someone like me, that Philly is worth traveling to, because, just trading opinions on 'what good stuff & food is' won't solve problems or help give us a solid plan. I just want to be given a reason to give Philly another chance, based on past experiences compared to current.

Jaxel and I have access to free venues by us, free equipment and large active communities around us too. What will Philly offer that we can't?? To make all the right things happen to get Nats going there, that is also better than other options?
We can't have a high cost venue (free is much better), it can't be ghetto (Philly Holiday Inns ewwww) and it has to be convenient for all, not just locals.

What are your suggestions Malice?

5. It would also help going forward to have a high head count which would be done by having people to just come and compete. That way you can show Namco or potential sponsors that we had x number of people participate and maybe more willing to provide support/sponsorship.
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Just sounds like a major to me. Namco officials have already stated to me that they do not sponsor offline events for SC. They would only consider an online national tourney (ala the G4 thing I was apart of sponsored by them and GGL). Their bottom line is numbers and increasing the casual sales base. Hard reality there... But if you got some magic to work, I have some emails and numbers you can call for Namdai.
The best they offered me was some posters and a media kit (a few demo discs, stickers and t-shirts). Besides, cash is a nono, they'd only offer prizes of product (ie. psp bundle with namco games, or a ps3, the game we are playing collectors edition, ect ect)

It could sure be a hyped major, but the lack of exclusivity would make it hard to hype as a championship, why not just refer to Evo for that then? What would seperate this from any other major? Who would be crowned champ? It's not always about headcount.

6. If you have the tournament where everyone just shows up and competes, you could do other things like hold a team tournament and or have a team with the best people from each country to battle it out. Plus you will have alot more people that is able to meet and mingle with the other members of the community. You could do silly shit like a hold a tournament with no B button if you want. You could also hold other tournaments since people play more than one fighting game, plus it could server to attract new players to Soul Calibur if they come for that particular tournament but stay to see SC4 played on the highest level. But basically, do things to add some muthafuckin hype.
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'Other shit', does not a Nationals make. Again, all you are describing is a major, one that may not even be as big as Evo in terms of SC turnout (if they have it this year, there is a chance! They liked us a lot this year). How does having a bunch of side crap, make it a better nationals? Remember, we are looking for the difference between just a major and a national/international championship.

I am not saying you are wrong, I just wanna make sure we cover all angles of your ideas. Frankly, I like a lot of them.

I am glad you gave your opinion. Let's work out some ideas here so we can move forward with making some solid plans

thanks for getting it started Malice.


cha cha
 
Honestly, without trying to sound like a douchebag.

When it comes to georgia (atlanta), I recommend three people specifically.

Dogysamich
DancingFighterG (Or whatever his name is)
And, myself.

Dogysamich is a moderator on smashboards, a very....restless community, and somehow manages to keep these tournaments organized to the best of his abilities (in the smash community this is known as "lol, you got the shit job." ) He's really cool and easy to become friend with and communicate with, and has a sense of responsibility when it comes to these things. He also makes damn near weekly trips to atlanta with a crew of his friends for the waba monthlies, so he's very familiar with the community and the city.

DancingfighterG hosted the regionals and they ran very smoothly. I had the tournament shakes out the ass that day and just couldn't break it, so I didn't place *sad face* but the tournament ran VERY smoothly, one of the best i've ever been to. He's also respected in Soul Calibur to some degree, so its easy for him to have the voice we're looking for to speak to the community.

And the reason I nominated myself is because I own my own gaming business, have run many successful tournaments within my city. I have important connections for publicity and a lot of marketing experience. Its easy for me to bring in people from my side of the community as I know a lot of them personally, i've always gone out of my way to introduce new members to a softer side of the scene before they throw themselves into a snake pit. I've developed a good amount of popularity amongst my peers, and I have a lot of buildings to host tournaments into partnered with 10 years of Photoshop experience, so no one has to pay for fliers or promo stuff (yay!).

I know this isn't exactly official, but with evo over its an amazing idea to keep our community alive and i'd love to make sure that i'll have a chance to redeem myself for losing so horribly in my last SCIV tournament.
 
DFG for Atl? You know he's colorado right? Are you thinking of ShadowG from LA possibly? Cause I know year after year, he runs SC in Atl for FR.
 
Chicago doesn't have much of a "leader" anymore. The closest regional representative we have would be possibly MysticBill or JimmyPikachu, halfway between Minneapolis and Chicago in Madison, WI.

Also, as far as good cities for major tourneys you really only have to look at TWO FACTORS: Transportation and cost. Really, Chicago has the best transportation (the trains go everywhere you'd possibly want to go and you can buy a 3 day pass for $12) You won't run into the same crap you had in Denver with the distance from the airport, not being able to go anywhere for food, etc.

Minneapolis has the cost angle. We're a hub for three different airlines and a major convention destination. We also have a (more limited, but for our purposes, useful) train system that runs from downtown, to the airport, to the convention center district. Venues are dirt cheap because there are so many and hotel rooms are $40 or less for what you'd get in Denver or NYC for $100. (Found this out the hard way)

Both cities are basically in the middle of the country so no one is paying $300 for a cross country trip. Also, unlike Denver, both cities stay up late. You won't have trouble finding a diner or a bar or a club at 2AM. You really can't beat Chicago for food, either. Anyone who's been to Lou's knows this to be true.
 
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