With Jan ‘SinJul’ Openkowski we are happy to welcome another guest author to Gaming-Grounds.de and to publish an article by him. Before we go into his article “Corona Virus – Also a Challenge for the Fighting Game Community”, Jan introduces himself briefly:
“Hey, I’m glad you’re interested in fighting games! Before we get to the topic, a few short words to me: My name is Jan, also known as SinJul. I have been active in the German Fighting Game Community (FGC) since 2006 and represented Germany in 2019 at the Neo Geo World Tour in the game King of Fighters 98. In 2010 I started the community event “Hessen Crash”, which takes place twice a year, and I’m currently putting all my energy into the event project “2BeCommUnity”. “
It’s 2019. You go to a tournament with three other players, shake hands with friends or hug, gather around a monitor and watch others play, possibly borrowing another player’s arcade stick and sitting down next to his opponent. There is talk, laughter and cheering. In the end you go home and look forward to the next tournament where you will meet your friends. Until then you train online and offline in small groups.
This is what it looked like in 2019 at the FGC. But then came 2020 and the corona virus.
The worldwide event clear cut
When the corona virus spread to Europe and North America in March 2020 and the number of cases increased dramatically, contact or curfews were introduced in almost all countries.
Nobody really expected this and a nightmare for everyone involved is now becoming a reality: World championships for game developers are being canceled, tournament organizers have to either postpone or completely cancel their events and local meeting places such as video game halls in Japan or dojos in Germany, such as the Insert Game or MadGear FFM , have to close their gates and are without visitors or income.
Everything has to get out: there have been no tournaments since March:
List of Updates & Releases for Fighting Games, FGC Tournaments and COVID19. Update 05.17.2020
Add info about EVO Online, CPT Online, VSFighting, NGU pic.twitter.com/184Xx1XnOC
– Genickus (@genickus) May 17, 2020
The situation hits fighting games hardest compared to other e-sports games, because big tournaments are actually taking place offline worldwide and online gaming is used more for training than for competitive gaming. Now everything is closed, big events are prohibited and playing offline is no longer possible due to the contact blocks. So what to do?
For 2020: Online must replace offline
The only way to host tournaments during the corona pandemic is online. A whole new situation for fighting game tournament organizers and players, since the focus since the beginning in the 1990s has always been on offline tournaments in video game halls or event rooms. Here, the new situation caught you by surprise and tournament organizers have to decide whether to offer online tournaments or write off 2020 completely and hope for a return to normal.
If you choose online tournaments, you now have to face completely new challenges: Which game has a good netcode so that you can play it online as a tournament? On which platform do I host the tournament? How do I make sure that the participants have a good connection? And how do I broadcast the tournament at all?
It currently looks that the game selection will increasingly focus on games with “rollback” netcode and move away from “delay” netcode. Due to the region restrictions, there will be no international participants who travel to Europe from all over the world to take part in a tournament. Europeans, Americans and other regions play among themselves, otherwise it is too strong and the encounters are unplayable.
You can find out what the difference between the netcodes is here:
But some also dare to do it internationally. The American tournament series “Evolution”, which is currently the largest in the world, e.g. makes open online tournaments only for Mortal Kombat 11, Skullgirls, Them’s Fightin ’Herds and Killer Instinct. All four games were not included in the original offline game selection and the games planned for the offline tournament only receive show matches. Since this announcement, the number of players for the games mentioned has increased by 50 to 200 percent and you can see what effects the selection of tournaments has on players as well (source: Steamcharts.com).
Only game developers at the moment reacted to Capcom and converted the Capcom Pro Tour to online qualification tournaments with a final offline in spring 2021. To do this, the tournament system had to be changed significantly: Instead of tournaments distributed around the world, where you can collect points, there are now regional online qualification tournaments. An encounter between European and Japanese players will only be possible again at the final. It was also the final of Paris relocated to the USA.
It is a shame for the European tournament organizers and fans, who will have no attention for their events and no World Cup finals on their continent. These events are particularly important for the growth of local communities. So in 2020 offline for developers, tournament organizers and players, outside the private area, ticked off. And what about 2021?
2021 everything as before?
This is probably the most important question for fighting game players and organizers. In Germany, it is currently not assumed that everything will take place again as before the corona crisis next year. According to various event halls in Hesse, which I received on request, a hygiene concept will also be necessary in 2021. If a distance control, such as the current regulation of 1.5 meters from other people, is still necessary, it will no longer be possible to sit next to the other player.
As a result, the event organizer would have to strictly regulate the entry and the total number of players and would have to set up a “Versus Setup” for all players. A Versus setup means that two players do not sit next to each other on one monitor, but rather each on their own monitor. The additional burden for organizers would be enormous: a larger room with the same number of visitors is needed, the number of monitors doubles, an HDMI splitter, a headphone amplifier and two headphones instead of speakers per console and of course the appropriate cables and multiple sockets are necessary. Everything has to be wired and supplied with electricity. The electronics will add up to around € 210 extra per game station.
The first feedback from the players is shared. On the one hand, the establishment of Versus setups would increase the tournament quality, but the tournaments would also lose their typical FGC flair. For many players, being close to the opponent and interacting with each other is what defines the genre. This would no longer be possible with the distance regulations.
Whether all tournaments will take place again in 2019 will depend on the laws and regulations that governments around the world will adopt. If you have to ensure that hygiene regulations are observed in 2021, I assume that not all events will return. Smaller events in particular will probably no longer take place due to the additional financial burden of a higher room rental.
Two options
If it turns out to be true, it will probably only take place online. There are two options for large tournaments:
1. Online qualification followed by a smaller final where spectators are allowed, as Capcom plans.
2nd Rent even larger event halls, increase entrance fees and focus more on sales. Private organizers in particular would have to professionalize themselves here.
In general, I am confident that the community will adapt to the circumstances that will ultimately prevail. The external circumstances will be different, but the love of the genre for the players will not disappear. I can already see that the community is changing, adapting to the situation and increasingly playing online. But the desire to compete with others offline will not go away as it is a central element of the FGC. Therefore I am sure that fighting game tournaments will come back stronger after the corona crisis!
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