We love fighting games here at Two Shots of Geek. As the resident tournament expert(I do have the most experience), I must say that the fighting game community is one of the best groups to have ever been born. We evolved from the arcades of old, into the consoles of today. Of course, keeping that social aspect is hard when we aren’t standing next to each other any more. That’s what the local scene is for. Your local scene will get you together physically, provide a connection with your local fighters, and perhaps more importantly: it will help you improve your game!
I am blessed to live in Southern California, where we have what is considered one of the finest fighting game communities in the U.S. That, however, can still go the way of the dodo if not properly maintained. I’ve participated in many a tournament in San Diego, and while I am proud of the scene here, I am concerned that it is decaying, and not just here. While we have popular streams like Wednesday Night Fights and Thursday Night Throwdowns, what about every other area?
I just participated in a tournament for one of San Diego’s longest running fighting game organizations, T.T.F. We had a decent turn out, but nothing spectacular. It reminded me of when the scene was decaying so many years ago. This is temporary though. I just want to make sure the scene gets its due. I know some areas aren’t as good as others, but you just need to find the way to support your local scene.
You can look up groups on Facebook. In San Diego, we have the SD Fight Scene group. I’m sure that if you type in Fight Scene into Facebook, you will get something for your local area. You can also go to the Shoryuken.com forums, the current standard for the fighting game community. You can go here to find out what your local scene is doing. Bottom line, don’t just complain about what’s happening. Join your local fighting game community, and make it better. Evo is still about four months away. Don’t you want to represent your local scene on a world wide stage? I know I do. El Culero out.