Thats crazy bc I just started taking an urban geography course for the past week and a half. I wish I had more info to chime in on that topic, but we've barely scratched the surface on urban geography
This shouldn't be surprising to anyone. As the cost of living increases, the less people are willing to spend on non-essential things. Are locals obligated to lower entry fees to accommodate? No, but expect less attendees as it becomes harder to afford things people actually need like housing, food, & utilities.
You're right, but the cost of living is only one _small_ aspect of this issue; for example, on the opposite side, people are going out _much_ less in general (like Brian mentioned), which has had a big impact on live events, dining, bars, etc. This phenomenon was supercharged with covid. That means that a significant percentage of people are objectively saving a considerable amount of money by not going out as much. So where does the money go? They instead spend the money they would have spent going out on things they do at home, such as subscription services and ordering stuff online. _That,_ the fact that people are choosing to spend their money at home, alone, instead of spending it by going out and doing something with friends/family, IMO has just as big of an impact as CoL increases. It's a cultural shift.
It's probably the most revealing aspect of this conversation. There's a lot working against us to build community in a capitalist country, but that's also why it's so important to have
Generalizations tend to be the devil in these sort of conversations, just like how people like fighting games for all sorts of reasons, different people go to locals for different reasons. As someone who organized locals for a while, it might sound harsh but some people aren't interested in community, they are just care about the bracket, and that's okay. Other people are all about the community, and don't care as much about the competition. Plus people come from many other different interests and social backgrounds, it's people expecting everyone else to have the same perspective and that their perspective is the only truth that stops events from appealing to new groups of people. Price of the locals has always been an extremely important topic for the people in my community, for a lot of people locals were the only place they could play the game because they didn't have the money to buy the game or even a controller, it has always been common for multiple people to share one controller or having to lend controllers for people to be able to play. Even though the phrase "a good local is not just a bracket" is true, it's honestly the people who only care about the bracket that are willing to pay more because they're more likely to be in a social situation where they're willing to invest in their hobby. There's a lot of nuance in this subject.
In school 8-3, no drivers license, no 3rd space close by, little money. These are the things young FGC members have to go through and it sucks. I have yet to find a local that is close enough to justify going to and that's sad. Last time I went to a local my family drove an hour and a half to a mall and that doesn't seem worth it to me, distance is my main challenge. For now, I search for something I can go to and I play online.
Most colleges have funds for Clubs. Check if your college have fighting game club and if they don't you can start your own club and the school will pay for equipment, food, and even events. You can make you school pay for a trip to DTN, EVO, ect.
@ congrats on being married. You can start an FGC/video game club in your college. Most colleges have funds to pay, for equipment, food, and even trips. When i was in college I went on a bunch of free trips for even clubs that I was not a member of. Go ask some from your school's activities department or ask someone from you college's student government about how you can start a club.
Local value 100% depends on the community, when I played smash some locals were awful, full of klicks and you can't find a friendly to play on. Others half the people there are there to chill and everyone is nice. But either way the awful part about locals to me is driving 45 minutes for local for a 50% chance of enjoying some friendlies, 50% chance of the top player and his crew locking down all the setups all night
Never got the top players never wanting to play with new people, its counter productive its gonna make your scene weaker overall, sure i get them not playing a bunch of games but a single game if you see some one new coming to a local? I would play less skilled people in starcraft if they wanted to
I live in a rural area with a low population density so online locals are the only option. If I could go to in an person event that wasn't over an hour away I would go to locals every week.
I'm in the same boat. There's a sizable city 40 minutes away from me, but it's a cultural dead zone for anything video game related. The closest locals are about 2 hours away from me. I've been tempted to try hosting my own, but it's sort of a "chicken or the egg" situation: Are there no locals because no one's interested? Or is no one interested because there's no locals?
so are we cool enough around here to call out the multibillion dollar corporations making our lives hell right in front of our faces or am i just gonna catch a bunch of slurs for saying something
If rent wasn't 80% of your wage and an onion wasn't $4 I'd be more than happy to rip $15 a week on a local. But $60/month ($720/year) is a big deal for a lot of people. Many people need to work 2 jobs simply to pay bills. Just telling people to get a job is ignorant and callous. Locals with free to enter brackets alongside competitive pay-to-play brackets keep everyone happy. It isn't too common in my experience though.
15 a week is 60 a month or 30 a month if it’s bi-weekly. That’s not cheap and adds up. In a year, that’s several hundred dollars not to mention the gas price or food/beverage you will be spending.
Okay, what do you want them to do about it? On top of buying the game and dlcs and costumes for every device, which they also have to buy, renting a place for people to play in, etc, you want them to pay for your food and pay you the travel cost? Or do you want them to do all of this for free? Because that $15 they are asking for is barely more than nothing for what they provide. Don’t go every week if you can’t afford it.
@ Isn’t that the conversation? People aren’t going anymore because we can’t afford it, and I’m definitely not going as frequently as before. There’s a better way to spend 60$ a month especially because less people are going.
@ First off, lunch is not a hobby, and if you are including that as a expense, like I said, you must include transportation fee and food/beverage for going out to a local must be included too. Second off, no average movie fan is watching a movie theater once a week only a fanatic is doing that. FGC is expecting every member in the community to spend money like a movie fanatic.
Some of us got kids. The money is a significant factor. Time is an even greater factor. Also, no offense to my local-goers, but I never felt like I was making friends with anybody. It felt very akin to work relationships where you get close in some ways, but once you clock out, all those people disappear into the void. Basically, I was getting a better experience at home because at least I win sometimes on ranked lol
The second half of this video is so important. If you're can't afford venue fees because you're young and on the rise, build the scene yourself. Remember that the scene is about creating and fostering growth, not getting back cents on the dollar investment.
The conversations will be difficult to have as long as so many people's first instinct is to be dismissive and/or hostile to anyone who's experience/takes differ from theirs. As seen in the "lmao get a job" comments in the video and in the various strawman replies is this very comment section.
Another point worth considering, I run a local in a TCG shop for free (the owner is awesome and I worked out a deal with him) and the fact that a random dude can be passing by our setups some game catches their eye and they say "hey can I try this out" and I can just toss em a controller and let them play is such a beautiful thing that you lose when there is that monetary barrier.
I once tried to host a free meetup for people in NY as I had a pretty large apartment and the equipment. The very first event, someone stole from me. I brought it up and it felt like half the people didn't care because I "had it." I never hosted those open events again and just keep it to friends. I feel bad but sometimes the FGC is its own enemy.
The fgc? You have strangers in your apartment and you're well off; safe to assume you'd get robbed by anyone. Good intentions on your part but it's easy to see a thing like that coming.
This seems like the place to share my story of trying to break in to my local. A few weeks after Tekken 8 released, I decided I was going to commit to going to one or two locals a month. I haven't worked more than a dayin nearly two years due to the Writer+Director's guild strikes devastating the film industry in Toronto, but I budgeted and I was sick of not having somewhere to be. I'd gotten somewhat into SF6 (still dogshit but I used to play MTG. I knew the crucible is the best place to learn) and I thought it'd be a good place to meet some people, at least. So I spent 6 bucks on transit to get there/back. (I'm lucky, I live in Toronto and we have a good (not great) transit system. I got there when doors opened, got registered (10 dollar venue fee, 5 dollars for the entry), said hi to some people and set myself up on one of the casuals stations. People were nice, I played a couple sets (lost every one). Then the Tekken tournament that was running the same day started and I ended up just sitting there in training mode for 30 minutes running AA drills while people played a different game. Got told not enough people signed up for the SF6 bracket (they gave me my 5 back) and they apologized. I tried watching Tekken but I had less than no context for what was going on and I couldn't really get into it so I just sorta left. I'm not trying to dunk on the local, really. They did everything they should, but I'm still out 16 bucks (to their credit, the TO was willing to comp me venue fees at the next meetup but I wasn't able to make it out again the rest of the year so I'm sorta writing that off) at the end of the night. I'm trying to go back this week, so it's not a story about getting chased out by a bad experience, but more to illustrate that not everyone's first local event is a positive one. Sometimes it takes work- And if you're working to get involved in the local and it's costing you money you don't otherwise have, that stings. If I was the same punk kid I was at 18 in college and that happened, I'm out, and it's not the 30 year old professionals you gotta get in the doors, it's the young blood with no money.
Living in SoCal, and it is just dead. We had a few big ones around the first evo for SF6 but after that its me and 10 other dudes at a bar where it basically costs me 30 dollars to enter (15 dollar parking 15 dollar venue fee) and I met one dude actually interested in playing casuals and he was brand new 😂 not all scenes are created equal. Respect to the TOs who keep at it regardless of how dead it is tho.
One problem I have is the total lack of local scenes. I live in Mongolia. There is a Tekken scene here and that one's actually awesome, and I actually was a big part of a local MKX scene in a relatively rural area that lasted a year or so. But... nothing else, really. What if I want to play something like KoF or Street Fighter or MvC or some anime fighters? They're basically non-existent here. Transportation and food costs isn't "too" bad considering how cheap a bus ride is here and people can prepare their own food at home before going and that reduces the cost a LOT. So, the Tekken scene is thriving, but man, I want some other games to pop off. The MKX scene I had with like 8-9 people in 2019 died off with COVID, and the owner of all the PS4s serving in the military, which I'd say was the best time of my life. At the very, very, very least, we have a huge tacFPS scene on Counter-Strike, that's kept my soul after the local MKX scene withered and died.
The third place subject is kind of a much bigger topic than this video can really do justice to but it's interesting seeing it plaguing the FGC too. I'm a firm believer the death of regular social spaces like that is why dating is worse than ever and a huge number of people are gradually becoming weirder, crazier, and more resentful of the opposite sex. I do think you're onto something with it's contribution to the dwindling locals as well. It's a problem that seemed much worse in america than what I see in Europe but it's still a significant issue here. Everybody's an island now.
This hits close to home. A couple of years ago i had to move from the capital city in my country to about 60km (about 40 miles away) from my old local (consider that in here transport is expensive and limiting, most people relies on public transport and owning a car is really expensive). I have to pick and choose the time i go to my locals because of what i said before, and also work, irl stuff, etc. But once i get the chance i go without hesitating. Sure, i got the money now, but once i was a bit broke i tried to manage to go with every resource at my disposal at that time. Like you said, locals are more than just going to brackets and tourneys, its the experience, hang out, "nerd out" about the things you like, heck sometimes i even just go and talk to people and not play too much (though i usually go with the mindset of getting lots of offline play, being tourney or casuals). Sorry if i worded something wrong since english is not my first language.
17:00 Aye shout outs to SFL man! That's me and my gf Tentafer in the middle! We are both Third Strike and Plus R players! This was taken in 2023 I think! Thanks for showcasing the old region! Their sense of community is unmatched!
It's never just $15. You will probably need to buy something to eat, you will probably need to pay for transport. Now multiply that by 4 if you are going to at least one local per week and those $15 becomes a hundred in a blink of an eye.
honestly i feel like actually traveling to the local is a bigger burden than the $15. I dont have a car, so its either a 2 hour journey on public transit or a $60 round trip uber to get there. Even with the car, gas is expensive nowadays and car maintenance is nothing to sneeze at either. I go regardless to support the community but its funny that the 15 is a problem for some when I think thats a larger issue
Yup this is the part people aren’t understanding. $15 for a local is fine but I really don’t want to spend 4+ hours on public transport both ways or pay $100+ on Ubers. NYC problems
Another thing about Smash is that not only is there no official support but Nintendo actively works against the scene. Imagine if Capcom decided they didn't want there to be competitive Street Fighter, everything would crumble at least temporarily.
There's just no locals near me. The UK just doesn't care about fighting games. I've thought about setting up a tournament in my city but it would feel soul destroying and embarrassing if nobody turned up.
I guess my experiences with locals has been, drive 20 minutes to local, pay $10 bucks to play. Get bodied. Then no one wants to play friendlies. I've had better matches playing at conventions compared to my locals.
Same experience here. Part of my brain knows that I have to keep going 0 - 2 if I want to improve, but it's so damn hard to be positive or motivated on that long drive back home.
That Yohosie testimonial hit home for me. Reminds me of the community at the local arcades when I was a kid. This was back when a bag of chips and a teenie was 25c each. Wed save our lunch money or allowance so we could meet up after school and play Marvel. Whatever we had left over wed hit the convenience store and just get our rap snacks and lil Debbie's 😂. It was really a community back in the days. We ain't have much but we had those arcades. Fast forward 25 years later my 8 year old has every console on the market and can play with his friends anytime he wants 😂.
Why would people going to casuals to lose their money to no life no grass touching pros every week/every other week? TNS is the same story for nearly every game. Same usual suspects of 2-3 players while everyone else is just being pot monsters. Good locals are a gathering of players from a community where people can meet and play offline. Local tournies at least should be spaced out once a month so people so it just doesn't eat itself from the inside. It's not about the money, it's $15 bucks, no one cares about that. It's about "Why do I keep doing this?"
I ran into this with TCG locals. Every meetup is a tournament with prizing based on performance. It's not like the cost was unreasonable, but it feels bad paying an appearance fee to the pros every time. I was super disconnected from the people that play to profit and leave the building as soon as they're X-2. Registration always reminded me that I should buy a stronger deck or quit.
I think a huge component of it to is how big the USA is and as you a said at the end, our horrible public infrastructure. I live in Massachusetts and even with access with the trains to and from Boston (where the only locals are being held, really), both driving or training my way there on an evening after work adds minimum 3 hours. So "going to locals" for me involves working 9-5, getting there at 6, and likely getting home 12am-1am. It's just not a decision I think I could ever justify.
I live in New York City and have never been to NLBC because it's not practical for me. It's like an hour and a half trip one way, and if you miss the train back home by the time NLBC ends you're screwed. I would love to support my local but it isn't very local at all lol. If it was closer though $15 a week isn't that bad.
Do you go to the other locals in NYC? Uptown Gaming, Waypoint is downtown and will come back in the coming months, there’s a local in the Bronx. Also NLBC has Saturday events every month which makes the commute a little easier to stomach.
My local was 5 buck to get in 5 bucks per game at a hotel. It got shutdown because not enough people showed to keep it running. Now we just had smash locals at the library completely free
When i started going to locals I made the goal that if i can make top 3, I'll at least break even and not lose money. It was an incentive to get better at the game. Now a days the biggest issue i have is I'm 39, with a full time job Monday - Friday and the locals start at like 8pm on a Thursday. Definitely not easy to attend.
I feel like people are losing the entire concept of locals to other impressions. These days there seem to be a lot of people that view locals as some kind of entry point to regional/national competition and while that is true on some level, it's not why they exist. Locals are a community. They're not the minor leagues. It should be fun for you, a place to meet other players, a place where you feel compelled to hang out even without a bracket. I think without arcades to remind us the value of our spare change - how much we're willing to spend just to play - people are starting to forget that when the passion is there it's _not about the money._ And the meaning of that is multi-faceted; it goes for both the people attending, and the people organizing.
In my country there is no way you'd find an affordable place to rent. Heck, most local companies are shutting down because of insane rent rates. I've been to locals in people's apartments but the noise levels will shut that down quick. Basically every "local" is on Discord these days. It's boring as hell. I can't even think of a "free" third place for adults unless you have a kid doing sports or you're attending the library book club or something.
Bringing up the disappearance of third spaces for the younger generation as a consequence of rising costs in a video about locals... damn. You're probably like the most well educated and well-informed person in the FGC.
I feel like the topic itself is just really nuanced. Like you said, it very much depends on somebody's situation; game, region, and access to transportation are all major factors that play into whether or not it's worth going to a local. I feel like the "get a job lmao" response is just super dismissive nowadays. We live in a world with record unemployment (that is probably only going to get worse), a stagnating minimum wage, and everything is just getting more and more expensive. Sometimes 15$ is the difference between being able to pay rent or not. And that's not even taking into account stuff like social situations. What if the only local you have nearby is full of people who don't vibe with you? And, if that's the case, why bother even going? You're certainly not going to feel welcome, and you won't achieve that sense of unity or friendship you could've had if you went to one that's almost an hour away.
Although the local struggle is not unique to the states, it is exacerbated here. FGC is by nature decentralized. We are a collective across the entire world but also across dozens of games, and it's not like modern social media is especially well designed for "neighborhoods". What I mean is that I can't just throw out a tweet as a feeler for how many people would be willing to support an Austin TX local, and actually have most or even a decent amount of the people who WOULD be interested in it actually see it. Combine that with the fact that however many people actually play FGs in the states are spread out over millions of square miles, and you have a nearly impossible task of uniting them under an umbrella that properly serves states and counties, when there is no "regulatory body' in the first place. It's all home brew, grass roots, almost to its own detriment. Maybe this seems extreme, but for the FGC to ever truly flourish and meet its full potential, it needs some kind of centralized body that handles organization - but I think the FGC will always be resistant to that because of its nature. Part of what makes each scene interesting, unique, and exciting, is also what makes it hard to grow.
I've been helping out host my uni's local for the past year or so now, since we're part of the uni's club system we get free room bookings and such. we do a bracket for big events (new dlc characters, new game, big update, etc.) but we usually just set stuff up and play games for a few hours. it's sick, and i'm incredibly grateful that finances aren't an issue for us, super lucky for that for sure. a lot of people have pulled me aside and told me that they appreciate giving them something to do wednesday nights, and hearing that makes all the effort worth it
Damn, Brian F officially hit adulthood when he realized that when you have the time and youth, you don't have the money, but when you finally have the money, you don't have the time. That's life in a nutshell. You start thinking things like, man when can I retire so I can get my time back?
We used to playfully rag on Justin Wong when he'd come to LI locals to farm back in the 2000s like we were all happy to get a chance to play Justin but of course it was also "OH the pot thief shows up" Though idk how it is for other places or scenes, but at least for us while it was fun to give him shit, it's not like he came, beat our asses and ran. The "pot farmers" can be part of the local scene an attraction.
Wow I was not expecting a critique on American car dependency and the detrimental effects it created on our social and economic conditions over the years. #fuckcars
We used to have Street Fighter locals here on Long Island NY. But it seems like that's pretty much all gone now. Last time I checked it's pretty much only smash communities around here. I'm not willing to travel to the city, that's just extra cost. I really miss it.
Thank you. I started fighting games young and broke, and I'm now happy to spend what I make for a living to support my local scene. I was stunned to see so many obtuse comments calling people broke like they don't belong in the community.
I'm just glad that we have multiple avenues for people to enjoy fighting games and be part of the community, either going to locals or being able to play online with good netcode now (comparatively to before). We're all one community at the end of the day, get it how you can.
That pro local farming was so annoying to me they really used to come out to the most random places dont matter what city it is theyll be at least 2 or 3 and soon as they sign they name for registration they automatically top 8 why i gotta run the gauntlet and he just gotta play 3 games for grand prizes that used to piss me off
when our local game shop started insisting that people needed to make a minimum purchase to be there, and demanded a percentage of the weekly prize pool ...We started playing at peoples houses, not for money but for love of the game and to compete and learn.
the only locals ive been to are like the ones you described at university of florida; held in a college classroom, everyone brings a setup, free to enter; i do not have a car tho, sometimes it is too exhausting to pack everything up and walk there, if it had an entry fee on top of that i don't know how often id end up going
If you look at locals as zero-sum (either I won or lost money) , then yeah, locals don't make sense. However, if your goal is to have a good time and meet new people, then $15 for hours of entertainment is a pretty good rate. Look at how much a movie ticket is. I think everyone should try attending a local and coming in with the right mindset. And if it's not your thing, at least you tried something new. Acting like the experience isn't worth it unless it's free entirely misses the point.
Leaf here, been playing fighting games for a million years and I can count on uh.. two hands (barely) the amount of times I actually sat next to someone to play. Thousands of matches, 7 human beans in irl. That was before COVID un-alived my local arcade of course.
As someone who attended locals in my junior and senior year of highschool just after they started back up after covid I absolutely loved it yes I couldn't go weekly because I was working part time to pay for stuff or school work I can see both sides. It was held at a local retro arcade for $10 venue fee with $5 per game you entered and I absolutely loved everyone I met there, I wasn't great at all at the time but I improved and made some amazing friends. Shout-out to SWFL fgc sad I moved and no longer have a local scene but I absolutely loved my time there
I’d love to participate in my own locals but finding that it’s an hour drive away and on top of that (time and gas money) it’s $20 (especially when we used to do it for ‘free’ at a local brewery) I walked right back out the door. That’s one third the cost of the entire game itself just to play in person.
Important context that a lot of people miss: he’s talking about WEEKLIES, specifically. Monthlies where I am cost 17 to enter and compete. The same people complaining about what candle said are the same people that cancel subscriptions cuz they’re too expensive and rant about microtransactions. The dialog is all fucked up. A lot of these guys in the conversation go to 2+ WEEKLIES a month, which turns your favorite game into a 30-60 dollar monthly expense. It doesn’t matter what age you are, it’s a fair discussion. Disney+ and Netflix, with their gouged prices, offer more value to the average person per dollar than a couple weeklies that you’re only gonna be at for a couple hours. People aren’t using their brains. I’m not saying it’s wrong to show up and support locals, and I’m not saying 15 bucks is unattainable. But no matter how you spin it, Candle has a point. These guys are tripping.
Nowadays people are so isolated in their own bubbles/experiences they can’t even begin to fathom someone else having different circumstances/experiences Social media has and will only continue to make this worse
Holy shit what a good watch. It’s so hard for people to hear how the world is changing without it being spelled in black and white for them. Internet Twitter and rollback culture as well as everyone figuring out how to min max life more optimally has definitely killed the community social aspect that we once had an abundance of.
Coming from TCGs (and having recently gotten back to playing them physically with an active playgroup), I think it both reinforces the importance of the "local" as a place to make friends and be together and also the idea that while, yes, $15 or whatever a week doesn't sound like a big deal for a lot of us, but for some people it is. And part of being a community is taking care of your community. Treat the less fortunate players, give 'em a hand when they need it, bring food sometimes, share stuff, etc, etc.
The local I frequented closed down but before that it was $10. I wouldn’t do good in the tourney but everyone would play sets til around 3am everytime. That was worth every penny to me personally to run “couch coop” sets all night against everyone. That sucks if you can’t afford it, not everyone is in that position, but it is cool to support your local and keep it alive. I don’t think they are making a ton of money and more often a struggle to keep it around.
$15 a week 30 minute transport = 30 miles to and from = $7 gas Probably need to get food - $10 (super conservative lmao) $128 a month. Year, I definitely agree, $15 is expensive.
It isn’t, get over yourself. They are buying devices for players to play on, buying all the fighting games for every single device, same for every dlc and costumes for those games and also renting the place for players. If that’s too much for then just stay home, stick to your nonsense and refuse to support the community at all cost.
What else are you doing where you get to go out of your house and enjoy yourself for less? $15 for the tournament and your other costs are what they are no matter what you go out and do.
@@kinginthenorth1437 people really act like other Hobbies are free and you don’t need to eat while doing them or you don’t have to pay if you have to travel for those. This is one of the cheapest ones out there. Most hobbies require you to have your own equipment for it and then you have to maintain that equipment. Here, you just have to go there, pay the price of a pack of cigarettes and a coffee (probably less) and you can do it. The organizers are the ones who put stupid amount of money into it to maintain the local scene. Even Brian is making the weird argument that he can afford it, but he can’t afford the time… like, okay, should they go to everyone’s house and hold a local event there?
okay, maybe I'm really out of touch with the average person, but do people seriously buy food from restaurants regularly whenever they go out? Like....that seems pretty financially irresponsible. What's wrong with bringing something from home?
My local scene does technically charge about $15 bucks, but that's only if you join all three big brackets for the week (It's 5 bucks a bracket), but there isn't an actual door fee and there's no charge to play friendlies with people (which many people do, especially if their game of choice isn't a big bracket), and there's free snacks and drinks. It's no wonder the few times I've gone there's never any shortage of people there (relatively speaking, it's a smaller local I think but there's always people to play with).
I hate how everyone is assuming "If you are an adult that isn't a significant amount of money". I guess fuck me for being disabled, I guess that means I am a child. Or is the FGC really that anti-disability?
Okay, what do you want them to do? Pay for your travel costs, food and let you in for free, regardless of what they have to put into making these locals happen? You know that locals are not run by multi billionare companies, right?
@ Of course I don't want any of those things. This insane belief that we need everything given to us is almost offensive. What we want is simple acknowledgement of how much of a challenge it can be. But people are such selfish assholes they don't even want to allow that.
My city doesn't have a local. Closest I have is a nearly 2 hour drive, and it costs more than $15 at the venue. I stopped going because people didn't want to talk and hang out. Would have been nice if it was $15.
I go to "locals" in my city and other neightbour cities for CS 1.6 tournaments every week to this day, there is indeed a fee which is fine, after working the entire week (except those mfs who are retired and play the entire day and night to shit on our heads at the locals, which is so funny to see people in their 60s shitting on us that are 25-30), is really fine to pay the fee just to have some fun on the weekends in lan, and the prize is basically just for the sake of having one, and there are people who take really serious with the bracket and only the competition, those who just press buttons and have fun, and a mix of both (where I am), there is nothing much more out of it, is not big, is really small, but still public for those who happens to go after, but the community is so small that we basically see the same faces everytime, never went to an FGC one because there is none where I live as far as I know.
The return on your investment is the friends you make along the way. This is also why, when I did community stuff, we'd only do a tournament every month or two and the rest of the time was just leagues or get-togethers, without as steep of a buy-in. Killer Queen has a great exemplary scene like this today, too.
Some folks spend mad money going to clubs just to get laid, and then never get laid. But that’s a social water cooler event, wouldn’t you wanna network and enjoy everything else the club has to offer, like music and drinks? Fun time with friends? I think a lot of the folks mad about what Candle said are huge hypocrites and are doing the same type of awful gate keeping that they accuse less liked people of. I fear that FGC is becoming less inclusive and more exclusionary with each passing year.
Very similar experience with SSBM. Once covid hit and fizzy made rollback netcode, every local is gone and online. It’s not the worst thing, as I do appreciate the extra convenience, but I do miss the IRL environment I might never get back.
I might be more fortunate than most cause I live a few blocks away from where my local happens and it's just $15 or so to enter. The only reason I haven't gone yet is it seems like kind of a small scene and I'm worried that they might be kind of cliquey, but that is a stupid reason tbh so definitely will check them out soon.
Im a student without rich parents and i still manage to go to my locals bi weekly (sometimes even weekly) and spend 30 dollars (entrance+food and so on). Just manage ur money and set priorities. If its too expensive for u just go. A lot of to's pay some of the things themselves because its not profittable at all
Yes i know not everyone has the money to afford it but then find a solution. Talk to the to, an attendee or anyone who can help u out instead of bitching on twitter
Hell yeah! Shout out to being dropped off at the mall. We used to spend hours just walking the mall, hitting the food court, and going to the local Tilt (it's an arcade for all you youngsters)! Quarters up!
Yohosie goat 15 bucks on a pure hobby isn't nothing even if you have a job. I also don't have an issue with paying it. I'm just saying especially assuming our world continues in the direction it's going, implying people are lazy because 15 is a lot to them kinda sucks ass.
Places to build communities where people can be for free include libraries and churches. Some neighborhoods have community centers. Talk to the managers, find out the parameter, invite the public. You might even be able to 'flash mob' some relatively cheap place of business like a Starbucks where you can just buy everyone a coffee for showing up.
I was gonna say I'm in a similar spot. When I had the time, I didn't have the dough. Now I've got the dough, but not the time. Quality online play kinda replaces the time requirement for me. ... But then I heard the bit at the end and was like YES. THIS IS THE GOVERNMENTS FAULT. FREE MY BOI LUIGI.
Didn't expect the comment on urban planning and car dependency but I'm all here for it.
Thats crazy bc I just started taking an urban geography course for the past week and a half.
I wish I had more info to chime in on that topic, but we've barely scratched the surface on urban geography
2nd monitor thoughtfully nodding along until he activated my sleeper cell urbanist at the end
This shouldn't be surprising to anyone. As the cost of living increases, the less people are willing to spend on non-essential things. Are locals obligated to lower entry fees to accommodate? No, but expect less attendees as it becomes harder to afford things people actually need like housing, food, & utilities.
You're right, but the cost of living is only one _small_ aspect of this issue; for example, on the opposite side, people are going out _much_ less in general (like Brian mentioned), which has had a big impact on live events, dining, bars, etc. This phenomenon was supercharged with covid.
That means that a significant percentage of people are objectively saving a considerable amount of money by not going out as much. So where does the money go? They instead spend the money they would have spent going out on things they do at home, such as subscription services and ordering stuff online. _That,_ the fact that people are choosing to spend their money at home, alone, instead of spending it by going out and doing something with friends/family, IMO has just as big of an impact as CoL increases. It's a cultural shift.
The end bit about the automotive industry is tooooooo real. Lobbying is absolutely horrid in this country.
It's probably the most revealing aspect of this conversation. There's a lot working against us to build community in a capitalist country, but that's also why it's so important to have
Generalizations tend to be the devil in these sort of conversations, just like how people like fighting games for all sorts of reasons, different people go to locals for different reasons. As someone who organized locals for a while, it might sound harsh but some people aren't interested in community, they are just care about the bracket, and that's okay. Other people are all about the community, and don't care as much about the competition.
Plus people come from many other different interests and social backgrounds, it's people expecting everyone else to have the same perspective and that their perspective is the only truth that stops events from appealing to new groups of people. Price of the locals has always been an extremely important topic for the people in my community, for a lot of people locals were the only place they could play the game because they didn't have the money to buy the game or even a controller, it has always been common for multiple people to share one controller or having to lend controllers for people to be able to play.
Even though the phrase "a good local is not just a bracket" is true, it's honestly the people who only care about the bracket that are willing to pay more because they're more likely to be in a social situation where they're willing to invest in their hobby. There's a lot of nuance in this subject.
i agree and think in general, generalization is the KILLER of potentially productive conversations.
In school 8-3, no drivers license, no 3rd space close by, little money. These are the things young FGC members have to go through and it sucks. I have yet to find a local that is close enough to justify going to and that's sad. Last time I went to a local my family drove an hour and a half to a mall and that doesn't seem worth it to me, distance is my main challenge. For now, I search for something I can go to and I play online.
even in mid-twenties, I'm married and a college student so I have *NO* money lmao
and yeah, nothing nearby
Most colleges have funds for Clubs. Check if your college have fighting game club and if they don't you can start your own club and the school will pay for equipment, food, and even events. You can make you school pay for a trip to DTN, EVO, ect.
@ congrats on being married. You can start an FGC/video game club in your college. Most colleges have funds to pay, for equipment, food, and even trips. When i was in college I went on a bunch of free trips for even clubs that I was not a member of. Go ask some from your school's activities department or ask someone from you college's student government about how you can start a club.
@@FlyBabyBird unfortunately, my college has a league team and that's as much as they'll support in terms of gaming. I've asked, haha
@@itloaf that’s different from a club. Your school can have a volley ball team for example and a volley ball club
Local value 100% depends on the community, when I played smash some locals were awful, full of klicks and you can't find a friendly to play on. Others half the people there are there to chill and everyone is nice. But either way the awful part about locals to me is driving 45 minutes for local for a 50% chance of enjoying some friendlies, 50% chance of the top player and his crew locking down all the setups all night
Never got the top players never wanting to play with new people, its counter productive its gonna make your scene weaker overall, sure i get them not playing a bunch of games but a single game if you see some one new coming to a local? I would play less skilled people in starcraft if they wanted to
@@ssv-y2qpeople often choose short term benefit over long term.
I live in a rural area with a low population density so online locals are the only option.
If I could go to in an person event that wasn't over an hour away I would go to locals every week.
I'm in the same boat. There's a sizable city 40 minutes away from me, but it's a cultural dead zone for anything video game related. The closest locals are about 2 hours away from me. I've been tempted to try hosting my own, but it's sort of a "chicken or the egg" situation: Are there no locals because no one's interested? Or is no one interested because there's no locals?
same the only locals around me is only about smash and never sf6😞😞
so are we cool enough around here to call out the multibillion dollar corporations making our lives hell right in front of our faces or am i just gonna catch a bunch of slurs for saying something
we're also just not gonna talk about how game/dlc prices are prohibitively expensive for TOs and not just players. just not gonna talk about it
nincompoop! (sorry)
@@rarecrom no no no, i like this direction, lets get old-timier
what
I could talk about that all day, but too many people like taking it in the rear these days by these bbc companies.
If rent wasn't 80% of your wage and an onion wasn't $4 I'd be more than happy to rip $15 a week on a local.
But $60/month ($720/year) is a big deal for a lot of people. Many people need to work 2 jobs simply to pay bills. Just telling people to get a job is ignorant and callous.
Locals with free to enter brackets alongside competitive pay-to-play brackets keep everyone happy. It isn't too common in my experience though.
15 a week is 60 a month or 30 a month if it’s bi-weekly. That’s not cheap and adds up. In a year, that’s several hundred dollars not to mention the gas price or food/beverage you will be spending.
Okay, what do you want them to do about it? On top of buying the game and dlcs and costumes for every device, which they also have to buy, renting a place for people to play in, etc, you want them to pay for your food and pay you the travel cost? Or do you want them to do all of this for free? Because that $15 they are asking for is barely more than nothing for what they provide. Don’t go every week if you can’t afford it.
@ Isn’t that the conversation? People aren’t going anymore because we can’t afford it, and I’m definitely not going as frequently as before. There’s a better way to spend 60$ a month especially because less people are going.
@@arpadszabo661 this feels pointless. Yeah, they can’t afford it. That's why they aren't going. What is your point?
15 dollars is about how much one would spend on lunch. or for a movie ticket. If this is your hobby i feel like that is a reasonable expense.
@ First off, lunch is not a hobby, and if you are including that as a expense, like I said, you must include transportation fee and food/beverage for going out to a local must be included too. Second off, no average movie fan is watching a movie theater once a week only a fanatic is doing that. FGC is expecting every member in the community to spend money like a movie fanatic.
Some of us got kids. The money is a significant factor. Time is an even greater factor. Also, no offense to my local-goers, but I never felt like I was making friends with anybody. It felt very akin to work relationships where you get close in some ways, but once you clock out, all those people disappear into the void. Basically, I was getting a better experience at home because at least I win sometimes on ranked lol
Some locals absolutely feel this way and it's sad af. I'm glad I grew up in the Chinatown Fair era because we actually became friends.
The second half of this video is so important. If you're can't afford venue fees because you're young and on the rise, build the scene yourself. Remember that the scene is about creating and fostering growth, not getting back cents on the dollar investment.
The conversations will be difficult to have as long as so many people's first instinct is to be dismissive and/or hostile to anyone who's experience/takes differ from theirs. As seen in the "lmao get a job" comments in the video and in the various strawman replies is this very comment section.
Another point worth considering, I run a local in a TCG shop for free (the owner is awesome and I worked out a deal with him) and the fact that a random dude can be passing by our setups some game catches their eye and they say "hey can I try this out" and I can just toss em a controller and let them play is such a beautiful thing that you lose when there is that monetary barrier.
I once tried to host a free meetup for people in NY as I had a pretty large apartment and the equipment. The very first event, someone stole from me. I brought it up and it felt like half the people didn't care because I "had it." I never hosted those open events again and just keep it to friends. I feel bad but sometimes the FGC is its own enemy.
The fgc? You have strangers in your apartment and you're well off; safe to assume you'd get robbed by anyone. Good intentions on your part but it's easy to see a thing like that coming.
hosting strangers in an apartment in nyc. you were asking to get robbed man
NYC moment.
Makes me think of the people who always take shit from the mini bar in the salty suites at EVO
@@manuelsputnikStranger moment tbh
This seems like the place to share my story of trying to break in to my local. A few weeks after Tekken 8 released, I decided I was going to commit to going to one or two locals a month. I haven't worked more than a dayin nearly two years due to the Writer+Director's guild strikes devastating the film industry in Toronto, but I budgeted and I was sick of not having somewhere to be. I'd gotten somewhat into SF6 (still dogshit but I used to play MTG. I knew the crucible is the best place to learn) and I thought it'd be a good place to meet some people, at least.
So I spent 6 bucks on transit to get there/back. (I'm lucky, I live in Toronto and we have a good (not great) transit system. I got there when doors opened, got registered (10 dollar venue fee, 5 dollars for the entry), said hi to some people and set myself up on one of the casuals stations. People were nice, I played a couple sets (lost every one). Then the Tekken tournament that was running the same day started and I ended up just sitting there in training mode for 30 minutes running AA drills while people played a different game. Got told not enough people signed up for the SF6 bracket (they gave me my 5 back) and they apologized. I tried watching Tekken but I had less than no context for what was going on and I couldn't really get into it so I just sorta left.
I'm not trying to dunk on the local, really. They did everything they should, but I'm still out 16 bucks (to their credit, the TO was willing to comp me venue fees at the next meetup but I wasn't able to make it out again the rest of the year so I'm sorta writing that off) at the end of the night. I'm trying to go back this week, so it's not a story about getting chased out by a bad experience, but more to illustrate that not everyone's first local event is a positive one. Sometimes it takes work- And if you're working to get involved in the local and it's costing you money you don't otherwise have, that stings. If I was the same punk kid I was at 18 in college and that happened, I'm out, and it's not the 30 year old professionals you gotta get in the doors, it's the young blood with no money.
"humans were never meant to communicate like this", so fucking true
Living in SoCal, and it is just dead. We had a few big ones around the first evo for SF6 but after that its me and 10 other dudes at a bar where it basically costs me 30 dollars to enter (15 dollar parking 15 dollar venue fee) and I met one dude actually interested in playing casuals and he was brand new 😂 not all scenes are created equal. Respect to the TOs who keep at it regardless of how dead it is tho.
11 dudes sounds like enough people to have some fun. But yeah 30 bucks is a lot.
People barely wanna pay 15/20 bucks a month for streaming. Paying that weekly/by-weekly can be more of a tall ask for people.
One problem I have is the total lack of local scenes. I live in Mongolia. There is a Tekken scene here and that one's actually awesome, and I actually was a big part of a local MKX scene in a relatively rural area that lasted a year or so. But... nothing else, really. What if I want to play something like KoF or Street Fighter or MvC or some anime fighters? They're basically non-existent here.
Transportation and food costs isn't "too" bad considering how cheap a bus ride is here and people can prepare their own food at home before going and that reduces the cost a LOT. So, the Tekken scene is thriving, but man, I want some other games to pop off. The MKX scene I had with like 8-9 people in 2019 died off with COVID, and the owner of all the PS4s serving in the military, which I'd say was the best time of my life.
At the very, very, very least, we have a huge tacFPS scene on Counter-Strike, that's kept my soul after the local MKX scene withered and died.
Thank you for defending us that are struggling.
It's not about defending, it's just about stating fact.
@ You never know. I took it as defending us because damn, the world is too judgmental nowadays.
No! We are the FGC, we don' t want esports, money or sponsors. Just have money.
The third place subject is kind of a much bigger topic than this video can really do justice to but it's interesting seeing it plaguing the FGC too.
I'm a firm believer the death of regular social spaces like that is why dating is worse than ever and a huge number of people are gradually becoming weirder, crazier, and more resentful of the opposite sex.
I do think you're onto something with it's contribution to the dwindling locals as well.
It's a problem that seemed much worse in america than what I see in Europe but it's still a significant issue here.
Everybody's an island now.
This hits close to home. A couple of years ago i had to move from the capital city in my country to about 60km (about 40 miles away) from my old local (consider that in here transport is expensive and limiting, most people relies on public transport and owning a car is really expensive).
I have to pick and choose the time i go to my locals because of what i said before, and also work, irl stuff, etc. But once i get the chance i go without hesitating. Sure, i got the money now, but once i was a bit broke i tried to manage to go with every resource at my disposal at that time.
Like you said, locals are more than just going to brackets and tourneys, its the experience, hang out, "nerd out" about the things you like, heck sometimes i even just go and talk to people and not play too much (though i usually go with the mindset of getting lots of offline play, being tourney or casuals).
Sorry if i worded something wrong since english is not my first language.
17:00
Aye shout outs to SFL man! That's me and my gf Tentafer in the middle! We are both Third Strike and Plus R players! This was taken in 2023 I think!
Thanks for showcasing the old region! Their sense of community is unmatched!
@@MrPomegranX big salute to you my friend, we miss ya in SFL
@sslevess I'll be in Florida in early February and for ceo and ceotaku! I'll be showing up throughout the year so hmu
It's never just $15. You will probably need to buy something to eat, you will probably need to pay for transport. Now multiply that by 4 if you are going to at least one local per week and those $15 becomes a hundred in a blink of an eye.
This. I live roughly 3 hours away from the nearest scene, and that in gas alone is more than $15
Right? Everyone out here talking like they teleporting everywhere they go lmao.
Ok so just don't go every week?
You can make $100 in a day at mcdonalds
Ok and you can say that about literally any other hobby
honestly i feel like actually traveling to the local is a bigger burden than the $15. I dont have a car, so its either a 2 hour journey on public transit or a $60 round trip uber to get there. Even with the car, gas is expensive nowadays and car maintenance is nothing to sneeze at either. I go regardless to support the community but its funny that the 15 is a problem for some when I think thats a larger issue
Yup this is the part people aren’t understanding. $15 for a local is fine but I really don’t want to spend 4+ hours on public transport both ways or pay $100+ on Ubers. NYC problems
that yohosie quote hit deep. Felt that one in my soul.
Another thing about Smash is that not only is there no official support but Nintendo actively works against the scene. Imagine if Capcom decided they didn't want there to be competitive Street Fighter, everything would crumble at least temporarily.
It is insane to me how spiteful Nintendo is towards people who love their games enough to try and get good at them.
There's just no locals near me. The UK just doesn't care about fighting games.
I've thought about setting up a tournament in my city but it would feel soul destroying and embarrassing if nobody turned up.
Been there 😔
Bro… it’s sucks. But at least there’s now Evo Paris
I guess my experiences with locals has been, drive 20 minutes to local, pay $10 bucks to play. Get bodied. Then no one wants to play friendlies. I've had better matches playing at conventions compared to my locals.
Same experience here.
Part of my brain knows that I have to keep going 0 - 2 if I want to improve, but it's so damn hard to be positive or motivated on that long drive back home.
That Yohosie testimonial hit home for me. Reminds me of the community at the local arcades when I was a kid. This was back when a bag of chips and a teenie was 25c each. Wed save our lunch money or allowance so we could meet up after school and play Marvel. Whatever we had left over wed hit the convenience store and just get our rap snacks and lil Debbie's 😂. It was really a community back in the days. We ain't have much but we had those arcades. Fast forward 25 years later my 8 year old has every console on the market and can play with his friends anytime he wants 😂.
The Automobile Lobby comments at the end really make me think that this Brian guy has watched some Not Just Bikes....
Thanks for the FGC Meetups/Ignite shoutout!
Why would people going to casuals to lose their money to no life no grass touching pros every week/every other week? TNS is the same story for nearly every game. Same usual suspects of 2-3 players while everyone else is just being pot monsters.
Good locals are a gathering of players from a community where people can meet and play offline.
Local tournies at least should be spaced out once a month so people so it just doesn't eat itself from the inside.
It's not about the money, it's $15 bucks, no one cares about that. It's about "Why do I keep doing this?"
I ran into this with TCG locals. Every meetup is a tournament with prizing based on performance. It's not like the cost was unreasonable, but it feels bad paying an appearance fee to the pros every time. I was super disconnected from the people that play to profit and leave the building as soon as they're X-2. Registration always reminded me that I should buy a stronger deck or quit.
I think a huge component of it to is how big the USA is and as you a said at the end, our horrible public infrastructure. I live in Massachusetts and even with access with the trains to and from Boston (where the only locals are being held, really), both driving or training my way there on an evening after work adds minimum 3 hours. So "going to locals" for me involves working 9-5, getting there at 6, and likely getting home 12am-1am. It's just not a decision I think I could ever justify.
wasnt expecting the moral of the story to be anti-lobbying but ur entirely right ur my goat brine
I live in New York City and have never been to NLBC because it's not practical for me. It's like an hour and a half trip one way, and if you miss the train back home by the time NLBC ends you're screwed. I would love to support my local but it isn't very local at all lol. If it was closer though $15 a week isn't that bad.
Same here, I went to NLBC back in college but nowadays, I live in Queens and it’s super far to travel back and forth
Do you go to the other locals in NYC? Uptown Gaming, Waypoint is downtown and will come back in the coming months, there’s a local in the Bronx. Also NLBC has Saturday events every month which makes the commute a little easier to stomach.
@ I'm not familiar with the local in the bronx, what's the name if you happen to know? that's the closest for me
@@EricSamaNYCFacts what locals exist in the bronx?
@ Super Cap Bros
My local was 5 buck to get in 5 bucks per game at a hotel. It got shutdown because not enough people showed to keep it running. Now we just had smash locals at the library completely free
When i started going to locals I made the goal that if i can make top 3, I'll at least break even and not lose money. It was an incentive to get better at the game. Now a days the biggest issue i have is I'm 39, with a full time job Monday - Friday and the locals start at like 8pm on a Thursday. Definitely not easy to attend.
I feel like people are losing the entire concept of locals to other impressions. These days there seem to be a lot of people that view locals as some kind of entry point to regional/national competition and while that is true on some level, it's not why they exist.
Locals are a community. They're not the minor leagues. It should be fun for you, a place to meet other players, a place where you feel compelled to hang out even without a bracket. I think without arcades to remind us the value of our spare change - how much we're willing to spend just to play - people are starting to forget that when the passion is there it's _not about the money._ And the meaning of that is multi-faceted; it goes for both the people attending, and the people organizing.
In my country there is no way you'd find an affordable place to rent. Heck, most local companies are shutting down because of insane rent rates. I've been to locals in people's apartments but the noise levels will shut that down quick. Basically every "local" is on Discord these days. It's boring as hell.
I can't even think of a "free" third place for adults unless you have a kid doing sports or you're attending the library book club or something.
Pretty powerful video. Thanks for your own perspective and sensitivity to other’s experiences
Bringing up the disappearance of third spaces for the younger generation as a consequence of rising costs in a video about locals... damn. You're probably like the most well educated and well-informed person in the FGC.
You’re the best FGC content creator by a mile. This was a super interesting video from start to finish. A lot of different points and self awareness.
car dependency and no third spaces comments and the last bit about the automotive industry really spoke to my soul!!! Good vid Sir!!
I feel like the topic itself is just really nuanced. Like you said, it very much depends on somebody's situation; game, region, and access to transportation are all major factors that play into whether or not it's worth going to a local.
I feel like the "get a job lmao" response is just super dismissive nowadays. We live in a world with record unemployment (that is probably only going to get worse), a stagnating minimum wage, and everything is just getting more and more expensive. Sometimes 15$ is the difference between being able to pay rent or not.
And that's not even taking into account stuff like social situations. What if the only local you have nearby is full of people who don't vibe with you? And, if that's the case, why bother even going? You're certainly not going to feel welcome, and you won't achieve that sense of unity or friendship you could've had if you went to one that's almost an hour away.
Although the local struggle is not unique to the states, it is exacerbated here. FGC is by nature decentralized. We are a collective across the entire world but also across dozens of games, and it's not like modern social media is especially well designed for "neighborhoods". What I mean is that I can't just throw out a tweet as a feeler for how many people would be willing to support an Austin TX local, and actually have most or even a decent amount of the people who WOULD be interested in it actually see it. Combine that with the fact that however many people actually play FGs in the states are spread out over millions of square miles, and you have a nearly impossible task of uniting them under an umbrella that properly serves states and counties, when there is no "regulatory body' in the first place. It's all home brew, grass roots, almost to its own detriment.
Maybe this seems extreme, but for the FGC to ever truly flourish and meet its full potential, it needs some kind of centralized body that handles organization - but I think the FGC will always be resistant to that because of its nature. Part of what makes each scene interesting, unique, and exciting, is also what makes it hard to grow.
I've been helping out host my uni's local for the past year or so now, since we're part of the uni's club system we get free room bookings and such. we do a bracket for big events (new dlc characters, new game, big update, etc.) but we usually just set stuff up and play games for a few hours. it's sick, and i'm incredibly grateful that finances aren't an issue for us, super lucky for that for sure. a lot of people have pulled me aside and told me that they appreciate giving them something to do wednesday nights, and hearing that makes all the effort worth it
This video inspired me. Texted a friend to hold myself accountable to go to my local even if it's 45 min away. Thanks for the reminder Bryan!
My stomach hurts. That explanation for not being able to read those certain words was amazing.
Funnier still is that he missed one at the bottom.
@@Magus12000BC I thought about that. And the reason why that one wasn't blurred is cause he didn't read it.
Damn, Brian F officially hit adulthood when he realized that when you have the time and youth, you don't have the money, but when you finally have the money, you don't have the time. That's life in a nutshell. You start thinking things like, man when can I retire so I can get my time back?
Great video Brian. Might be the best one yet. Keep it up!
This was a really intelligent and considerate video regarding socialization in the FGC.
My closest local is 45 mins away without traffic and MA traffic is awful
I’m a TO at my local and we did a price drop of 15 to 10. It did help with my younger players for sure.
what was the numbers boost like? how much does it cost you to run the whole thing?
@ I don’t pay the venue to run events, I get paid by the venue. A lot of context is missing from that I can elaborate more outside of this platform
We used to playfully rag on Justin Wong when he'd come to LI locals to farm back in the 2000s like we were all happy to get a chance to play Justin but of course it was also "OH the pot thief shows up"
Though idk how it is for other places or scenes, but at least for us while it was fun to give him shit, it's not like he came, beat our asses and ran. The "pot farmers" can be part of the local scene an attraction.
I met Brian at a few Tier 1 tournaments!
...and I was such a scrub he decided not to come back anymore
Wow I was not expecting a critique on American car dependency and the detrimental effects it created on our social and economic conditions over the years. #fuckcars
We used to have Street Fighter locals here on Long Island NY. But it seems like that's pretty much all gone now. Last time I checked it's pretty much only smash communities around here. I'm not willing to travel to the city, that's just extra cost. I really miss it.
I know a few locals on Long Island, If you want the info, LMK
@@MyGameDragon Yeah tell me about it! I thought the scene out here was totally dead!
@@damianatwood9298 My comments are getting deleted
@@damianatwood9298 DM me, I'm trying
@@damianatwood9298 Look up LIFGC
Thank you. I started fighting games young and broke, and I'm now happy to spend what I make for a living to support my local scene. I was stunned to see so many obtuse comments calling people broke like they don't belong in the community.
I'm just glad that we have multiple avenues for people to enjoy fighting games and be part of the community, either going to locals or being able to play online with good netcode now (comparatively to before). We're all one community at the end of the day, get it how you can.
So many great points in this video, thanks Brian
For me, my local was about a social space because none of my friends play Fighting Games. I play Marvel Rivals with them
main reason for me is my local don't even play my game and I can just go 0-2 at home twice for free
That pro local farming was so annoying to me they really used to come out to the most random places dont matter what city it is theyll be at least 2 or 3 and soon as they sign they name for registration they automatically top 8 why i gotta run the gauntlet and he just gotta play 3 games for grand prizes that used to piss me off
when our local game shop started insisting that people needed to make a minimum purchase to be there, and demanded a percentage of the weekly prize pool
...We started playing at peoples houses, not for money but for love of the game and to compete and learn.
the only locals ive been to are like the ones you described at university of florida; held in a college classroom, everyone brings a setup, free to enter; i do not have a car tho, sometimes it is too exhausting to pack everything up and walk there, if it had an entry fee on top of that i don't know how often id end up going
If you look at locals as zero-sum (either I won or lost money) , then yeah, locals don't make sense.
However, if your goal is to have a good time and meet new people, then $15 for hours of entertainment is a pretty good rate. Look at how much a movie ticket is.
I think everyone should try attending a local and coming in with the right mindset. And if it's not your thing, at least you tried something new. Acting like the experience isn't worth it unless it's free entirely misses the point.
That last thought hit different.
Leaf here, been playing fighting games for a million years and I can count on uh.. two hands (barely) the amount of times I actually sat next to someone to play. Thousands of matches, 7 human beans in irl. That was before COVID un-alived my local arcade of course.
As someone who attended locals in my junior and senior year of highschool just after they started back up after covid I absolutely loved it yes I couldn't go weekly because I was working part time to pay for stuff or school work I can see both sides. It was held at a local retro arcade for $10 venue fee with $5 per game you entered and I absolutely loved everyone I met there, I wasn't great at all at the time but I improved and made some amazing friends. Shout-out to SWFL fgc sad I moved and no longer have a local scene but I absolutely loved my time there
Very nice Video on this topic! Good stuff
I’d love to participate in my own locals but finding that it’s an hour drive away and on top of that (time and gas money) it’s $20 (especially when we used to do it for ‘free’ at a local brewery) I walked right back out the door. That’s one third the cost of the entire game itself just to play in person.
Important context that a lot of people miss: he’s talking about WEEKLIES, specifically. Monthlies where I am cost 17 to enter and compete. The same people complaining about what candle said are the same people that cancel subscriptions cuz they’re too expensive and rant about microtransactions. The dialog is all fucked up. A lot of these guys in the conversation go to 2+ WEEKLIES a month, which turns your favorite game into a 30-60 dollar monthly expense. It doesn’t matter what age you are, it’s a fair discussion.
Disney+ and Netflix, with their gouged prices, offer more value to the average person per dollar than a couple weeklies that you’re only gonna be at for a couple hours. People aren’t using their brains.
I’m not saying it’s wrong to show up and support locals, and I’m not saying 15 bucks is unattainable. But no matter how you spin it, Candle has a point. These guys are tripping.
Nowadays people are so isolated in their own bubbles/experiences they can’t even begin to fathom someone else having different circumstances/experiences
Social media has and will only continue to make this worse
Holy shit what a good watch. It’s so hard for people to hear how the world is changing without it being spelled in black and white for them.
Internet Twitter and rollback culture as well as everyone figuring out how to min max life more optimally has definitely killed the community social aspect that we once had an abundance of.
"today we go back to twitter"
oh boi
I got banned from my locals in 2016 because I voted for Trump.
Coming from TCGs (and having recently gotten back to playing them physically with an active playgroup), I think it both reinforces the importance of the "local" as a place to make friends and be together and also the idea that while, yes, $15 or whatever a week doesn't sound like a big deal for a lot of us, but for some people it is. And part of being a community is taking care of your community. Treat the less fortunate players, give 'em a hand when they need it, bring food sometimes, share stuff, etc, etc.
The local I frequented closed down but before that it was $10. I wouldn’t do good in the tourney but everyone would play sets til around 3am everytime. That was worth every penny to me personally to run “couch coop” sets all night against everyone.
That sucks if you can’t afford it, not everyone is in that position, but it is cool to support your local and keep it alive. I don’t think they are making a ton of money and more often a struggle to keep it around.
$15 a week
30 minute transport = 30 miles to and from = $7 gas
Probably need to get food - $10 (super conservative lmao)
$128 a month. Year, I definitely agree, $15 is expensive.
It isn’t, get over yourself. They are buying devices for players to play on, buying all the fighting games for every single device, same for every dlc and costumes for those games and also renting the place for players. If that’s too much for then just stay home, stick to your nonsense and refuse to support the community at all cost.
@@Utre-d4u You know wealth varies? Obviously people who can't go aren't going what's your point?
What else are you doing where you get to go out of your house and enjoy yourself for less? $15 for the tournament and your other costs are what they are no matter what you go out and do.
@@kinginthenorth1437 people really act like other Hobbies are free and you don’t need to eat while doing them or you don’t have to pay if you have to travel for those. This is one of the cheapest ones out there. Most hobbies require you to have your own equipment for it and then you have to maintain that equipment. Here, you just have to go there, pay the price of a pack of cigarettes and a coffee (probably less) and you can do it. The organizers are the ones who put stupid amount of money into it to maintain the local scene. Even Brian is making the weird argument that he can afford it, but he can’t afford the time… like, okay, should they go to everyone’s house and hold a local event there?
okay, maybe I'm really out of touch with the average person, but do people seriously buy food from restaurants regularly whenever they go out? Like....that seems pretty financially irresponsible. What's wrong with bringing something from home?
My local scene does technically charge about $15 bucks, but that's only if you join all three big brackets for the week (It's 5 bucks a bracket), but there isn't an actual door fee and there's no charge to play friendlies with people (which many people do, especially if their game of choice isn't a big bracket), and there's free snacks and drinks. It's no wonder the few times I've gone there's never any shortage of people there (relatively speaking, it's a smaller local I think but there's always people to play with).
Who funds the space/setups/snacks? I've never experienced one like that
I hate how everyone is assuming "If you are an adult that isn't a significant amount of money". I guess fuck me for being disabled, I guess that means I am a child. Or is the FGC really that anti-disability?
They don't care no, i'm disabled too
Okay, what do you want them to do? Pay for your travel costs, food and let you in for free, regardless of what they have to put into making these locals happen? You know that locals are not run by multi billionare companies, right?
@AnnaLajtosnobody is saying tos should bankrupt themselves. But it is fair to acknowledge that it's a steep cost.
@ Of course I don't want any of those things. This insane belief that we need everything given to us is almost offensive. What we want is simple acknowledgement of how much of a challenge it can be. But people are such selfish assholes they don't even want to allow that.
My city doesn't have a local. Closest I have is a nearly 2 hour drive, and it costs more than $15 at the venue. I stopped going because people didn't want to talk and hang out. Would have been nice if it was $15.
that ending statement is too fucking real
I go to "locals" in my city and other neightbour cities for CS 1.6 tournaments every week to this day, there is indeed a fee which is fine, after working the entire week (except those mfs who are retired and play the entire day and night to shit on our heads at the locals, which is so funny to see people in their 60s shitting on us that are 25-30), is really fine to pay the fee just to have some fun on the weekends in lan, and the prize is basically just for the sake of having one, and there are people who take really serious with the bracket and only the competition, those who just press buttons and have fun, and a mix of both (where I am), there is nothing much more out of it, is not big, is really small, but still public for those who happens to go after, but the community is so small that we basically see the same faces everytime, never went to an FGC one because there is none where I live as far as I know.
Used to carry a CRT from the parking lot east of the bell tower to Weimer for locals. Hope it's still going strong for the community that's there now.
The return on your investment is the friends you make along the way.
This is also why, when I did community stuff, we'd only do a tournament every month or two and the rest of the time was just leagues or get-togethers, without as steep of a buy-in.
Killer Queen has a great exemplary scene like this today, too.
Some folks spend mad money going to clubs just to get laid, and then never get laid. But that’s a social water cooler event, wouldn’t you wanna network and enjoy everything else the club has to offer, like music and drinks? Fun time with friends?
I think a lot of the folks mad about what Candle said are huge hypocrites and are doing the same type of awful gate keeping that they accuse less liked people of. I fear that FGC is becoming less inclusive and more exclusionary with each passing year.
Very similar experience with SSBM. Once covid hit and fizzy made rollback netcode, every local is gone and online. It’s not the worst thing, as I do appreciate the extra convenience, but I do miss the IRL environment I might never get back.
more videos like these, this is good, this is wholesome
I might be more fortunate than most cause I live a few blocks away from where my local happens and it's just $15 or so to enter. The only reason I haven't gone yet is it seems like kind of a small scene and I'm worried that they might be kind of cliquey, but that is a stupid reason tbh so definitely will check them out soon.
Im a student without rich parents and i still manage to go to my locals bi weekly (sometimes even weekly) and spend 30 dollars (entrance+food and so on). Just manage ur money and set priorities. If its too expensive for u just go. A lot of to's pay some of the things themselves because its not profittable at all
Yes i know not everyone has the money to afford it but then find a solution. Talk to the to, an attendee or anyone who can help u out instead of bitching on twitter
Hell yeah! Shout out to being dropped off at the mall. We used to spend hours just walking the mall, hitting the food court, and going to the local Tilt (it's an arcade for all you youngsters)! Quarters up!
Yohosie goat
15 bucks on a pure hobby isn't nothing even if you have a job.
I also don't have an issue with paying it. I'm just saying especially assuming our world continues in the direction it's going, implying people are lazy because 15 is a lot to them kinda sucks ass.
The homie Brine with that unblockable mix-up at the end...
Places to build communities where people can be for free include libraries and churches. Some neighborhoods have community centers. Talk to the managers, find out the parameter, invite the public. You might even be able to 'flash mob' some relatively cheap place of business like a Starbucks where you can just buy everyone a coffee for showing up.
I was gonna say I'm in a similar spot. When I had the time, I didn't have the dough. Now I've got the dough, but not the time. Quality online play kinda replaces the time requirement for me. ... But then I heard the bit at the end and was like YES. THIS IS THE GOVERNMENTS FAULT. FREE MY BOI LUIGI.
my problem with this is my local costs $10 an hour per person and none of that money is going to the people organizing, it's all going to the venue.
Damn dog BrianF got some Wings at 19:00 I see you homie