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?
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I think a game is imbalanced when, like Maj said, there is simply no reason NOT to choose a certain character. A Melee example would be selecting Pikachu over Pichu. If your goal is to win, it just makes no sense to select Pichu. If the entire roster is overcome by this Pikachu-Pichu phenomenon, then it creates a problem.
Fortunately, most games don't experience this imbalance. The problem, however, is that the community does not realize this. Lots of Brawl scrubs cry about Metaknight, but if he wins so effortlessly as people say, why are they not beating everyone and anyone with the character?
The bottom line is, games in general do pretty good. 4 top tiers is a great amount. It creates 10 matchups. 5 top tiers creates 15. And then there are the many high tier characters that are still competitively viable in several games.
Friday, October 29, 2010
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?
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Unity in the fighting game community would help it out a lot. One of the key quotes from this blog post worth nothing is, "They start learning how to play the other games due to general curiosity and the need for variety."
This is pretty important to understand. By showing support for the dominant game, you can funnel people into your game of choice. Playing competitive games in general is itself a hobby that allows two people to bond. A competitive Halo player and a competitive Melee player have something in common that they wouldn't be able to share with a scrub. When I see a competitive Brawl player, I'm ok with that. I think, "He is part of my world-not the world of competitive Brawl, but the world of competitive gaming."
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.
--------------------------------------
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?
----------------
Unity in the fighting game community would help it out a lot. One of the key quotes from this blog post worth nothing is, "They start learning how to play the other games due to general curiosity and the need for variety."
This is pretty important to understand. By showing support for the dominant game, you can funnel people into your game of choice. Playing competitive games in general is itself a hobby that allows two people to bond. A competitive Halo player and a competitive Melee player have something in common that they wouldn't be able to share with a scrub. When I see a competitive Brawl player, I'm ok with that. I think, "He is part of my world-not the world of competitive Brawl, but the world of competitive gaming."
Monday, October 11, 2010
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.
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I found the God complex label funny because it's true. The smash community is pretty strict on their philosophy of having a skill-based game, and they'll criticize anything in the game that detracts from skill and gives more to luck. I don't consider it a problem, however. I think it just makes the community all the more fearsome, and it makes it easier to distinguish competitive members from casual members.
As for games and their shortcomings, I think some games are at an equilibrium point where nothing can be done. For instance, SF3S sounds like it is tapped out. It has a good community and nothing left to discover in-game, so there's nothing you can do for it. On the other hand, CvS2 has more that can be tapped (such as from low tier characters), so the community has more to unlock.
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.
--------------------------------------
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.
--------------
I found the God complex label funny because it's true. The smash community is pretty strict on their philosophy of having a skill-based game, and they'll criticize anything in the game that detracts from skill and gives more to luck. I don't consider it a problem, however. I think it just makes the community all the more fearsome, and it makes it easier to distinguish competitive members from casual members.
As for games and their shortcomings, I think some games are at an equilibrium point where nothing can be done. For instance, SF3S sounds like it is tapped out. It has a good community and nothing left to discover in-game, so there's nothing you can do for it. On the other hand, CvS2 has more that can be tapped (such as from low tier characters), so the community has more to unlock.
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