Thanks for everybody who replied. I wanted to comment on my latest tweet ( http://t.co/LoACXrSi and http://twitter.com/Kim1234_ALL_DAY/status/236019898130759680 ) .

I can only speak from my experience within the fighting game community. Keep it in mind

There is a cycle occurring in the fighting game community. Fighting games become huge (i.e. 90's) and then they suddenly die off. Hardcore fans stick through the hard times and "support" their game by playing the older FG's while buying other products that come out. Said game company pops up every couple of years and says "whats up guys, buy this shit". From 2001-2006 ish was probably the worst. SF4 saved everything, it brought back old gamers and created an exciting amount of hype for a genre so eager to get resurrected.

Then what happens? For a variety of reasons which I can not cover in detail, FG's start to decline again. And my friends, the cycle is repeating.

For the sake of keeping this tweet as short as possible. Let me just say I'm going to focus in on just Japan for now. After all, we already know that despite rough times, Fighting games are thriving outside of Japan.

Japan is a condensed area with the best Street Fighter players in the world. IN THE WORLD SON. I'm not kidding. What use to boggle my mind for the longest time was how they could maintain such dedication for something that reaps no tangible reward.

People have been replying to my tweet telling me that playing just for themselves is all they need. Money isn't necessary nor is it even realistically possible from playing games.

I thoroughly agree. However, I think that is a SHOGANAI type attitude. I personally don't want to see people play like zombies them eventually move on and feeling like they have to drop their hobby because of the times.

I mention this because this is exactly what happens. PEOPLE PLAY INTENSELY FROM A YOUNG AGE UNTIL ABOUT 30(at best) or so. The people who practice hard core are usually people who have a lot of time on their hands (i.e. product of being young). They have to greatly reduce playing time for something they love simply because they can't receive money for it. But wait, it's possible outside Japan and in other genres.

I agree that for now, it is difficult to have gaming be your career. But my point is that IT'S POSSIBLE. And people need to strive to get more mainstream sponsors involved in the fighting game scene. Because my friend... money is always the answer.

You can play for honor and for yourself and all that good shit. But you are going to quit and move onto something else unless money can fund your hobby to grow.

My point isn't to push people to try and become full time gamers. But it is to somehow motivate most fighting gamers who have a passive attitude to switch it up.

I think you guys will probably like this last part.

Let's just be real guys.

When Vanilla SF4 came out. Everybody in Japan was godlike. Cause they were all playing for the love of the game. media attention was probably at an all time high. But Capcom continued to receive your money, you put more into the game. And then... boom.

Top players started retiring. Can we just be real for a second?

The Upper echelon in SF4 was untouchable. But a lot of them started retiring. (Keep in mind that the gamers that were brought back or still playing for a long time were probably reaching their late 20's by this point). If they could get rewarded for their efforts, they would continue investing time into their hobby.

So what happens? The upper echelon (A.K.A. the super top tier players) leave and are replaced by the mid tier players. Quite simply put, the quality of competition diminishes.

From a community standpoint, what happens is that the top tier players in games at any given point will always be from the same demographic. There are plenty of good role models who are top tier players in the community. But just to be real, most top players are greatly financially assisted by their family, part time workers or "losers" kicking it at home.

And guess what? that's not marketable to the people outside the fighting game community. As with everybody in the GALAXY, People really start to mature when they reach their late 20's. And these are the people who are marketable.

But this demographic leaves the scene cause simply they feel forced out and must accept their position in the work force.

Fighting games has an advantage over other sports in one crucial way. In FG's, skill doesn't diminish because of age. But practicing time diminishes as one gets older because of responsibilities.

Kim Note: I am not encouraging people to make pro gaming their full time job. But encourage the option to be there so that people who wish to achieve that can feel free to pursue it.

This is why money is important to improve the scene in Japan. There must be ways to get around the whole you are not allowed to give money as cash prizes. If pachinko can be seen everywhere, surely games can find a way to have prizes to reward their players.


Lastly, I want to say that receiving money should not be seen as selfish or that you are not enjoying the game for the right reasons. Every top player who is a REAL top player now, plays for exposure or money. I'm not talking about the casual or mid tier players. The top of the mother fucking top want money to be involved. They are not selfish they are smart.

Ok, I gotta go. I'll write more later.

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