Final

Read the following blog post from James Chen
http://jchensor.blogspot.com/2010/11/evolution-2010-season-wrap-up-part-2.html
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Discuss your opinions on fighting games as an e-sport (be sure to address James Chen's 3 points and your opinion on them). If you have any experience with any other forms of e-sports, be sure to draw in those experiences also!
Minimum 250 words.

Week 11

Watch "Run It Back: The Road to Socal Regionals (Episode 1)"
http://vimeo.com/16293297

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Some of the players in the documentary talk about a time when players were secretive about their techniques that they discovered themselves (before the internet and Youtube). How do you feel about this relative to what happens nowadays? Also, how do you feel about the format that Alex Valle chooses to use for the Wednesday Night Fights tournaments? Feel free to also discuss your general opinions about the documentary and anything it covered.

Week 10

Read the following blog posts from Maj.

http://sonichurricane.com/?p=263
http://sonichurricane.com/?p=2930

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At what point do you feel that a game becomes imbalanced? How do you feel about Maj's viewpoint?

Week 9

Read the following blog post from James Chen:

http://jchensor.blogspot.com/2010/09/evolution-2010-season-wrap-up.html

This is a recap of EVO 2k10 (James did not write a recap of EVO 2k9). Street Fighter 4 made its EVO debut in 2009, bringing in a huge number of players. The second iteration of it, Super Street Fighter 4, was released a few months before EVO 2k10. EVO 2k10 brought in over 3000 entrants across all its tournaments, shattering the attendance records of any previous fighting game tournament.

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Do you agree or disagree with James's opinion that smaller communities should embrace Super Street Fighter 4 in order to grow their own community? Do you feel that the fragmented fighting game communities should "act as a whole"? Why or why not?

Week 7/8

Read the following blog posts:

http://jchensor.blogspot.com/2008/08/evo-2008-for-love-of-game.html
http://jchensor.blogspot.com/2008/09/evo-2008-season-wrap-up.html
http://jchensor.blogspot.com/2008/09/evo-2008-addendum.html

All 3 posts are James Chen's recap of the EVO 2k8 tournament, once again examining each community and its state. After Melee's successful showing at EVO 2k7, Brawl was released in early 2008, just in time for EVO 2k8.

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Respond to the following questions:
How do you feel about James's comments in regards to the Smash community's "god complex"? Does having too much control over your game cause problems? Also, pick a community that James discusses (besides Smash), talk about some of its shortcomings, and suggest possible ways that it could be improved.

Week 6

Read the following blog post:
http://jchensor.blogspot.com/2007/10/evolution-2007-season-wrap-up.html

James Chen is a Street Fighter community veteran and one of the organizers for the Evolution tournament series. In this blog, he recaps EVO 2K7, the first year that Smash was a featured game in the tournament.

(There are some references to specific players and game details which you may not be familiar with, but that's ok. Focus on the more general points that he is trying to make.)

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Respond to the following questions:
James makes a point that certain communities are "watered down" from excess players. Should communities strive to get better if it comes at the cost of alienating newer players?
Also, do you agree with James's viewpoint of a strong community making a strong game or do you feel that it is the other way around?

Week 4

Read the following from Sirlin's Playing to Win:
http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/more-on-losing.html
http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/how-far-should-you-go-to-win.html
http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/what-should-be-banned.html

How do you feel about "soft bans"? Do you feel that this contradicts "playing to win"? Also, how do you feel about the Street Fighter community's decision to outright ban Akuma from Super Turbo? Is this hypocritical? Do you feel that bans are ever warranted?

Week 3

Watch "I Got Next", a documentary on the Street Fighter 4 community

http://www.igotnextmovie.com/

Download:

SD

HD

After watching, please respond to the following questions on your own blog:

“Gootecks” (Ryan Gutierrez) and “Long Island Joe” (Joe Ciaramelli) have very different opinions on how far they should pursue Street Fighter. Whose position would you take and why? Also, how do you feel about the rivalry between the East and West coast? Do you think it is beneficial or detrimental to the community?

Background Info:

"I Got Next" is a documentary that mainly covers two Street Fighter 4 tournaments that take place in early 2009: Sinsation (February 7-8, 2009 in Fairfax, VA) and Final Round XII (March 13-15, 2009 in Atlanta, GA). At this point, Street Fighter 4 is a relatively young game. Street Fighter 4 was first released in arcades in Japan on July 18, 2008 (Japan is widely considered to have the strongest Street Fighter players in the world). Very few US arcades imported Street Fighter 4 arcade cabinets, so the game was not widely played by the mainstream yet. The home console versions (PS3/Xbox 360) did not come out until February 17, 2009 in the United States. This means that Sinsation happened before the widespread console release and Final Round XII happened shortly after. EVO, the largest fighting game tournament in the world, takes place in annually in July, so this documentary takes place a few months before EVO. EVO 2009 would be the first EVO to host a Street Fighter 4 event.

Justin Wong is generally regarded as the top US Street Fighter 4 player and even a fighting game prodigy by some. He made his debut in the Marvel vs Capcom 2 scene when he was only 15 and has since dominated nearly all Capcom fighting games in the United States. For a long time, he was considered the flagship player of the East coast. Since this documentary has been made, Justin Wong has actually moved to California since the players there are considered stronger players overall.

The Street Fighter community has its roots firmly in the arcade scene, which has declined heavily in the United States over the years. Very few people our age have been able to experience the arcade culture that many of these players have alluded to. With the shift to home consoles and online play, the arcade scene as we know it may disappear soon. Before online play, having a chance to play with players across the country was rare. Due to this and the lack of Youtube, various regions developed their own unique style. This has also led to regional rivalries, most notably between the East and West coasts.

Gootecks talks about WCG (World Cyber Games) and MLG (Major League Gaming) possibly picking up Street Fighter 4 as a game (which has not happened). WCG is an annual international gaming tournament and arguably the largest of its kind in the world. It is essentially the Olympics of competitive gaming. MLG is a professional gaming league in North America that hosts events for games such as Halo 3, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, and Tekken 6.

Week 2

Read the following article from Playing to Win:
http://www.sirlin.net/articles/playing-to-win-example-richard-hatch-on-survivor.html

How do you feel about Richard's use of alliances to vote people off? If Richard already knew that most of the other contestants were "scrubs", do you still think it was a good idea for him to try to get votes during the final 2 by insisting that the purpose of the game is to win?

Week 1

Read the following from Playing to Win:
http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/prologue.html
http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/beginners-guide.html
http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/getting-started.html
http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/intermediates-guide.html

What is your opinion on how the concept of "playing to win" fits in with the notion that you should have fun while playing games? Do you think it's compatible? Have you encountered a "scrub" at any time in your life? (Scrub mentality is not just limited to games!)