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My first real mentor in eSports was this crotchety old guy some of you may know. His name is Carmac. I remember many of my conversations with Carmac, but none of them stuck with me quite like the one we had when I asked him what made a healthy eSport. His answer was approximately this:
"It's not prize money or box sales or stream viewers. An eSport is healthy when it has a steady influx of new players. Players are the life force of eSports."
It seems like such a simple "no duh" thing to say, but it's really amazing how accurately that statement can measure entire gaming communities.
The Smash Bros community, specifically the Super Smash Bros Melee community, is the one that I measured today. It's a community of players that don't have the luxury of clicking "find match" and being paired with an opponent somewhere in the world. When they want to play, they get in their cars and drive. And when they compete, it's shoulder to shoulder with the guys they're trying to beat. And all for what? It sure as hell isn't ladder points. This is a game that came out nearly 14 years ago. A game that was never meant to be played competitively. A game so old that it has outlived the hardware it needs to be played. You wouldn't be wrong to ask "How the hell is anyone even playing it at all?"
And yet here I stood. In a room full of dudes who lugged in their decade old CRT televisions that they probably bought for fifteen bucks at the Goodwill (because where the hell else can you buy a CRT these days?) when it dawns on me. I'm not about to be sitting down next to ten year veterans of the Smash Bros franchise like me. Most these kids were still in diapers when this game came out. Hell, at least one of them probably wasn't even born yet.
Somehow I had fallen through a wormhole or something and I was back in 2003, surrounded by my pimply faced friends, vying for supremacy of my block, or my hall, or my school. But I wasn't back in high school. I was at JJ's Game Lounge, some little hole in the wall in Chatsworth, California, and these kids weren't my friends. They were the exact opposite - sworn enemies, doomed to face my wrath, because I'll be damned if some little shit who's never heard of The Spice Girls is going to beat me in a game I've been practicing for ten years.
And about five minutes later I had just finished getting my ass kicked. And then once more about fifteen minutes after that. 0-2, 0-2 in what will forever be remembered as the worst tournament run of Mr. Bitter's esteemed eSports career.
But I wasn't mad. I was amazed. JJ's Game Lounge is not the mecca of competitive Smash in Southern California. It's the bush league. SoCal's best Smashers were all on the other side of the country, playing in Paragon, a huge, international tournament, watched live by over 50,000 people. And even if the top guys hadn't been traveling, they wouldn't have been at JJ's. They would have been competing at Super Arcade, in Walnut, over 60 miles away.
What I'm getting at is this: I found a pocket of passionate Smash players. None of them were old farts like me. They were all new. They were all young and hungry, and discovering the competitive community for the first time. And I don't think them unique. I don't think JJ's is unique. There's spots just like it all over Southern California. And I believe the same holds true for the rest of the country.
When I take a step back and think about that conversation with Carmac, and the quintessential definition of a healthy eSport, its not DOTA 2 or League of Legends that I think about first. (And no, before you ask, it sure as hell isn't StarCraft either) It's a game you can't play online. A game you can't even play on your new TV. It's Smash Brothers. And I can't wait to play again.
 
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Thats a very interesting (and good) point you bring up about the health of esports. I have some friends in the smash community and I check it out from time to time, but it along with the CS community seems to be quite vibrant over the past year.
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Carmac, that wise old man... It's a good point he has there. Unfortunately, it's not like we can have stats about those new players joining each "eSport" game !
Also, I'm getting more and more interested in playing some Smash again. The more I read about it, the more curious I get. And the fact that it's such an unlikely game to become an "eSport" only makes it even more interesting !
Edit: Also, glad to hear from you again MrBitter ! What are you up to these days ? :-)
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I have also been getting more interested in checking out competitive smash. I started looking into it when I saw Smash 4 came out but didnt expect that SSBM would still be the preferred eSport
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On January 19 2015 19:27 Bacon_Infinity wrote:
I have also been getting more interested in checking out competitive smash. I started looking into it when I saw Smash 4 came out but didnt expect that SSBM would still be the preferred eSport
SSBM is superior in almost every way as a competative game. It's faster, deaper, more skillbased, better balanced and has a very established and passionate scene.
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On January 19 2015 19:27 Bacon_Infinity wrote:
I have also been getting more interested in checking out competitive smash. I started looking into it when I saw Smash 4 came out but didnt expect that SSBM would still be the preferred eSport
As many older games it is less polished, a UI that is more rough around the edges and it has more bugs to abuse. Probably makes for a more competitive game in the same way that BW compares to SC2 for many of the more old school fans.
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On January 19 2015 19:27 Bacon_Infinity wrote:
I have also been getting more interested in checking out competitive smash. I started looking into it when I saw Smash 4 came out but didnt expect that SSBM would still be the preferred eSport
It's because Melee has a grandfathered-in community that's arguably stronger in America than the other games' communities, and it poisons the well of every other Smash community, even when other communities support them. They've won out through sheer cussed toxicity and ruthlessness.
My verdict is play the games, read the guides, get good, play in tournaments, avoid the community, especially online. Don't mention Sm4sh around Melee fans and don't mention Melee around Sm4sh fans. Most of them are pretty patient and tolerant, but you'll be surprised and frustrated if and when you run into one of the more sneeringly partisan ones. You can make friends with everyone and talk about anything with PM though. Probably the best game for making friends and having a good time. Casuals and fanatics alike. It's kind of getting pushed out of the tournament scene by The Great Satan N though, so get at it while it lasts.
As an addendum, the online community is significantly worse than the in-person community. It may just be that I'm from Minnesota, but I've found that our local scene is like 2/3 nice people, even if they secretly flame people's game choices on r/smashbros.
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On January 19 2015 21:02 maartendq wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2015 19:27 Bacon_Infinity wrote:
I have also been getting more interested in checking out competitive smash. I started looking into it when I saw Smash 4 came out but didnt expect that SSBM would still be the preferred eSport As many older games it is less polished, a UI that is more rough around the edges and it has more bugs to abuse. Probably makes for a more competitive game in the same way that BW compares to SC2 for many of the more old school fans.
Smash 4 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more dumbed down than SC2 though.
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On January 20 2015 04:10 ZAiNs wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2015 21:02 maartendq wrote:On January 19 2015 19:27 Bacon_Infinity wrote:
I have also been getting more interested in checking out competitive smash. I started looking into it when I saw Smash 4 came out but didnt expect that SSBM would still be the preferred eSport As many older games it is less polished, a UI that is more rough around the edges and it has more bugs to abuse. Probably makes for a more competitive game in the same way that BW compares to SC2 for many of the more old school fans. Smash 4 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more dumbed down than SC2 though.
And it's still better than Brawl is.
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On January 20 2015 04:11 SetGuitarsToKill wrote:Show nested quote +On January 20 2015 04:10 ZAiNs wrote:On January 19 2015 21:02 maartendq wrote:On January 19 2015 19:27 Bacon_Infinity wrote:
I have also been getting more interested in checking out competitive smash. I started looking into it when I saw Smash 4 came out but didnt expect that SSBM would still be the preferred eSport As many older games it is less polished, a UI that is more rough around the edges and it has more bugs to abuse. Probably makes for a more competitive game in the same way that BW compares to SC2 for many of the more old school fans. Smash 4 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more dumbed down than SC2 though. And it's still better than Brawl is.
Well honestly brawl was almost designed not to be competitive.
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And Melee was designed for a Mario Party game type.
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On January 20 2015 04:10 ZAiNs wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2015 21:02 maartendq wrote:On January 19 2015 19:27 Bacon_Infinity wrote:
I have also been getting more interested in checking out competitive smash. I started looking into it when I saw Smash 4 came out but didnt expect that SSBM would still be the preferred eSport As many older games it is less polished, a UI that is more rough around the edges and it has more bugs to abuse. Probably makes for a more competitive game in the same way that BW compares to SC2 for many of the more old school fans. Smash 4 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more dumbed down than SC2 though.
While I never played it I would assume it is. After all, Nintendo's target audience is casual gamers, not esports fanatics.
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On January 20 2015 05:16 cekkmt wrote:Show nested quote +On January 20 2015 04:11 SetGuitarsToKill wrote:On January 20 2015 04:10 ZAiNs wrote:On January 19 2015 21:02 maartendq wrote:On January 19 2015 19:27 Bacon_Infinity wrote:
I have also been getting more interested in checking out competitive smash. I started looking into it when I saw Smash 4 came out but didnt expect that SSBM would still be the preferred eSport As many older games it is less polished, a UI that is more rough around the edges and it has more bugs to abuse. Probably makes for a more competitive game in the same way that BW compares to SC2 for many of the more old school fans. Smash 4 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more dumbed down than SC2 though. And it's still better than Brawl is. Well honestly brawl was almost designed not to be competitive.
Not even almost, they added non-optional random tripping to ensure that the game couldn't be played seriously, since there was no way to avoid randomness.
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I love melee and watch almost every event but without a melee HD or some kind of port on the wii u the growth will slow down eventually. I know it exist via nintendont but it seem rather obscure atm.
CRTs are the biggest problem to the game at this point. Having an entire setup that take so much space for only 1 game is not a minor inconvenience for many.
It's pretty sad that NoA has no power because I'm sure that there would be a way to make money of a remake that would be "tournament edition". Look at all the work that has been done on 20XX and PM.
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On January 20 2015 06:59 scDeluX wrote:
It's pretty sad that NoA has no power because I'm sure that there would be a way to make money of a remake that would be "tournament edition". Look at all the work that has been done on 20XX and PM.
If NoA had real power, they'd probably just create a tournament edition of SSB4 with the alterations that have been widely requested by fans.
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On January 20 2015 03:09 Pontius Pirate wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2015 19:27 Bacon_Infinity wrote:
I have also been getting more interested in checking out competitive smash. I started looking into it when I saw Smash 4 came out but didnt expect that SSBM would still be the preferred eSport It's because Melee has a grandfathered-in community that's arguably stronger in America than the other games' communities, and it poisons the well of every other Smash community, even when other communities support them. They've won out through sheer cussed toxicity and ruthlessness. My verdict is play the games, read the guides, get good, play in tournaments, avoid the community, especially online. Don't mention Sm4sh around Melee fans and don't mention Melee around Sm4sh fans. Most of them are pretty patient and tolerant, but you'll be surprised and frustrated if and when you run into one of the more sneeringly partisan ones. You can make friends with everyone and talk about anything with PM though. Probably the best game for making friends and having a good time. Casuals and fanatics alike. It's kind of getting pushed out of the tournament scene by The Great Satan N though, so get at it while it lasts. As an addendum, the online community is significantly worse than the in-person community. It may just be that I'm from Minnesota, but I've found that our local scene is like 2/3 nice people, even if they secretly flame people's game choices on r/smashbros.
Play with me homie I'm from minnesota too 
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Mexico2170 Posts
5/5 pretty cool, i really like that melee players like smash that much, but honestly, in my opinion, they should switch to smash 4 already. I mean its not even a question of which one is ebtter, both are really close and simmilar, even if you think melee is better, but simply because smash 4 is newer it could gather even more attention, its strictly buissness 
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Truth!
I'm not even worried about SC2 anymore~ I've accepted it for what it is: a dying game. I'm not basing that on stream views, tournament's unique viewership, etc. Its the fact that we have new NA teams recruiting the same tired old "talent" almost 5 years after its release. You gotta have new blood to keep it going. I'm just sad that SC2 didn't produce it.
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i would be interested to hear what you think about the PM scene. SSBM is top dog but here in Sacramento i feel the Project M scene is bigger then the Melee.
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On January 20 2015 12:02 [SXG]Phantom wrote:5/5 pretty cool, i really like that melee players like smash that much, but honestly, in my opinion, they should switch to smash 4 already. I mean its not even a question of which one is ebtter, both are really close and simmilar, even if you think melee is better, but simply because smash 4 is newer it could gather even more attention, its strictly buissness
Interestingly enough, that's how the philosophy is in Japan. They have a strong tendency to support the newest title loyally. This is made much easier by the fact that the Japanese Sm4sh metagame is far more offensive than the Western one, despite the fact that they use a significantly campier stage list. When players perfect rushdown styles before players get campy styles to work, then the metagame naturally becomes more offensive. I had a strong preference for Japanese Brawl VODs for this same reason.
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EPT
