Build your (offline) local scene! It's good for you! :D

General Discussion
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Continuing the discussion from The State of our Community:

In any event, from my own perspective, KI is not in any negative light, nor is the community. We all here have to simply get involved with our local scene, and if we don’t have one, build one (not to sound like a “Field of Dreams” reference lol)… We’re no different than the SF scene or the Smash scene. If we want our community to grow, actions have to be taken. Will it take some time? Perhaps. Some local scenes blow up after hosting a free tournament, so imagine getting people in your area to play KI from actually experiencing it for themselves?

I just came about this older post above. I’m 100% with his sentiment. Sleep made a post (about whether or not KI is dead or not for offline tournaments) on the facebook KI Ultimate Fans page, which reminded me that for those that are interested in having more folks to play KI with in offline settings (casuals, local tourneys, major tourneys), let’s make sure we are doing our part to grow our newly revived franchise! :smiley:

Below is my response to that post on facebook:

Everyone will have an opinion on if the game is dead or not on the offline scene. i think a better question is “What are we doing to grow the offline scene?”. Not saying that someone does or does not care, but if deep down you actually do care about having more people to compete with in the offline scene, stay positive, and ask yourself, “Am I doing my part to either keep people in the local or regional offline scene, or am I bringing new folks to that scene, (or for some with no scene at all), am I doing my part to develop a local scene?” … ijs … Complaining about or stating low offline numbers without doing anything about it is … well, let’s just say faith without works is dead.

With that in mind, if you’re in the Austin or Central Texas area, and you want to play KI in an offline setting (which I’ll admit is the best way!), the Star69 Garage Arcade in Round Rock, TX welcomes any KI players to come out and have a good time every Thursday night! We have folks that come from Taylor, Bastrop, Seguin, New Braunsfel, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Kileen, etc. I’m getting new folks into the game just about on a weekly basis. Hopefully these new folks (who come from other fighting games) will be able to support local offlines (small tourneys and majors).

Through our Friday biweeklies (shout outs to Quince Easter for getting that going), a small little Austin/CenTex KI scene started coming together to play offline. And one of which Adrian Jaimes , who stole Curtis Jones fight money (before I could myself lol), is starting to see how fun KI offline can be. And that led to him traveling to Space City Beatdown this past weekend - which was a blast! Oh and Adrian won that tourney too!

For what it’s worth, KI had more numbers there than Injustice. 16 to 15 lol

I type all of this to say … if you’re commenting on this post, I hope you are doing your part to stay positive about KI and get people near you to play offline!!!

I told Q about the venue for our Friday meetup and he checked it out in person and got that setup. Through my post about offline KI in the Austin/CenTex area on the KI forums (which I’ll continue to make), I met Adrian!

Want more numbers … stay positive and go get them!

I’m always down for more KI offline … so I’m gonna continue to do my part! I hope you all are too!

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Why can’t people just play the game for fun? Why do we need to keep having tournaments? It is because people like the game, or just want to keep it going so they can get prize money?

These topics are some of the only times that competitive players are not rude to casual players. When it has to do with growing the KI scene, and making tournaments and prize pools bigger. Any other time casual players just hear things like Yolo player, get good, scrub, you don’t know how to play the character, and you don’t know what you are talking about.

That being said, the great thing about being a casual player is that when the tournaments stop for KI, nothing changes for us.

I support KI. Not the tournaments. Tournaments do nothing for the overall community other than cause little clicks to form. Just like that Facebook page.

The KI competitive players need to realize that the prize money for this game is comming to an end. Now they have a choice, play for fun like the rest of us, or find a new game to compete in.

This post is not a personal attack at you. I just don’t like the tournaments.

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Killer instinct isn’t a big money fighter. So it’s the former. In fact I’ve won more money online than offline. Fact is going out to these things is just a wonderful experience. No top player starts off as a top player. They all start casual and some of those casuals no matter which game it is end up wanting to do more because they love the game they play. This game has bought me some of my closest friends in real life. It had a bigger impact on me than I can imagine. I imagine media feels the same as do many others. Naturally people don’t want to see the games presence fade offline.

If you don’t like tournaments or haven’t been to one that’s fine. You can continue to play as you see fit. Others whether they’re higher level players or not just want to see the game keep getting support.

You can hear that from any player. Casual or not. Often times they’re just ■■■■■■ because they’re losing. Or they could be actually trying to help you.

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My son and I went to combo breaker. It is the only one that is close to us, and it wouldn’t cost us over 500 to go. The thing I noticed was that most of those players “not just KI” need to spend a little less time playing and more time on “Personal Hygiene”. I know it sounds like a joke, but I am not joking. Some of those people were nasty. Maybe it is a game trick. You can’t play if you can’t breathe.

I don’t have a shortage of friends. I have a shortage of friends who play video games. With the exception of 3 people, all I have dealt with is kids who have no idea what it is like to be married with 2 kids. They don’t get that I don’t have all the time in the world to go into pratice mode to work on a single move. I will not put up with some child competitive player telling me that I am some noob or Yolo player, because I can’t play 10 hours a day. It is not that some of us casual players are bad, we just don’t have the same amount of time to put into the game.

I would bet that some of these guys don’t want KI to fade, because it is not only the game that is fading, but their “status/popularity” is as well.

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LMAO! I noticed this at AB7 and Mid south. KIWC wasnt bad though.

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You might have ran into…smash player territory there. No joke. Melee players are notorious for not showering.

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Alot of the players have already moved into and are actually doing well in other games. Nicky and sleep for example are starting to make names for themselves in injustice. Bass has moved on to street fighter. And others were already known from other things. I’m personally going to be heavily invested in marvel. Whether I become well known in that game or not idc. I just really liked it at CEO. But all of these games are much larger scale than killer instinct is.

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@SadisticRage76 I’m married, a father to a 2yr (toddler fun anyone? :D), and a multiple business owner which means i work at all times of the day and night. But … I just love the ■■■■ out of KI and want more people playing the game because it’s TBE imo! I admit I’m a lil obsessed with the game lol, but when i play in a tournament (offline or online), for those matches I have opportunities to play my best usually against opponents who are trying their best at well, and that IS super fun for me, win or lose!

I personally am not a single player guy (although when I tried out Shadow Lords, I’ll admit hours went by because SL is pretty fun and very engaging!) So I personally love how well the game allows you to play others online with ranked, exhibition, and lobby modes. But offline (not necessarily tournaments, just folks simply meeting up and playing KI together), is just better.

In my local scene’s weekly, it’s fun and exciting to introduce others to KI and show them how this game that they’ve always been interested in works. It’s cool to meet other people who have the same interest or passion for KI as you. We play casuals (just for fun). We learn stuff together and share/explain tech, and have fun trying to beat each other down lol. If you do like competition, playing KI offline takes it to another level imo and many other’s opinions who have had offline KI experience.

As far as competitive players being rude to casuals, I also cant stand when some folks are like “yolo, trash, wakeup [insert opponent moves that just popped them in their face lol], whyy, etc”. I also strongly dislike soliloquies about why people no longer love the game. I think it’s interesting that people make announcements about that but if they play sets with tons of people, I can see the point of making one statement instead of telling tons of people individually that I dont want to play KI anymore. So, even though that’s a pet peeve of mine, I cant judge folks too harshly on that accord. (My face may give off an expression though lol) I’ve personally learned to ignore some of the annoying things people do. I also dont see the purpose of saying this game is dead competitively just because old faces are trying new games (and there’s a ton of them out now and more incoming), or bored, or dont like it anymore, or frustrated by it, etc. Whether something is dead or not is personal to each gamer. People who think EVO determines who’s dead or not should look at the bigger picture imo.

Also, I’ve found that many “top” players (even the ones who may act like internet a$$holes or straight rude) are actually pretty nice and cool in person. If there bitter online and downtalk the game or state of the game (KI is dead, etc), it’s likely due to a couple of reasons:

  • since S3, some people act like flipout, stagger, and a universal shadow counter are too much to deal with … that’s their prerogative
  • many other games are out which have taken market share of competitive players away from KI which already had a smaller newer competitive FG game base because KI is a FG (small niche genre) exclusive (where other FGs are non-exclusive), on the system that sold less than it’s competitor (single console owners are more likely to own a PS4 over an Xbox)
  • EVO didnt support us this year (that saved me money this year, so while I was disappointed, im not tripping to hard lol!) (this was also a huge blow to a game
  • KIWC points has been a mystery
  • MS Pro Tour pot bonuses from Kilgore funds has been (possibly still is) a mystery

If you keep the above facts in mind when interacting with them, that may help you understand their perspective and stay peaceful.

Clicks … their everywhere, on every forum, every FB page, on any game that is "multi"player. It’s all good. People like to hang out with who they are most familiar with. It’s human nature, so, it’s all good. :slight_smile: As long as folks arent a$$holes about it you know.

Money … did I mention money? nope, not my M.O. for a fun video game I’m trying to get better with as a hobby. … I mean I’m Black but I’m not trying to be like Balrog with fight money lol :wink: … this is the wrong game for that anyway. SF or [insert current NRS game] is over there to the left lol

Glad you support KI! Me too! It’s friggin great! If tournament experiences have left a sour taste in your mouth, I completely understand you not supporting tournaments. But I’m talking more about building a local scene. Since the start of 2017, KI folks in the Austin area have been meeting up in some form or fashion to play KI offline on a weekly or biweekly basis. Regardless of EVO and tournament numbers at majors, I personally, have never been happier with KI in my city, because well … we have a little local scene that’s slowly building and has a good time playing KI when possible. That is good for casual players and that can lead to more people playing/attending tournaments for competitive players. We all win!

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Thats the Exact group that I ran into at Midsouth. At AB7 I couldnt really tell the difference in everyone since it was all in such a small room

@iDoMusic4Media Dude you are lucky to be in a big city with lots of young people and happening things going on all around you. Where I live in North Louisiana… their is no FGC scene nor is there any other KI players besides myself. Its not the smallest city but nothing compared to Austin. We have a small SF group that have events at the comic book store…but we are talking 8-12 people tops.
They all hate KI… I tried so hard to get them to understand how great it is. But they are SF/ PS fan boys so its a lost cause.

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Will that book be available in an audio format? :laughing:

I used to do what you are talking about. When Tekken 2 was out, a bunch of us would get together at a house "about 10-15 of us. Some of our girlfriends would also get in on the game. Although when did this, it was just as much about the BS time as the game itself. I wouldn’t want to setup something that was only about the game and nothing else. When it is only about the game, then winning is the only thing that starts to matter. I don’t like that. I would rather spend all night losing and have a good time, over winning the entire night and having no fun.

The competitive players who have already left prove my point. They don’t care about the actual game. They care only about the parts of the game that affect their game play and how much pool money they can get. I would bet that they don’t care at all about game balance now that the tournaments are drying up. The only reason half of them hated the flip out and stagger parts of the game was because it affected how much money they would win. The pros that started losing in S3 were the ones who hated it, while the ones who were good with it wanted it to stay.

You might be wondering why I am not happy that they have moved on to other games. I am not happy about it, because I don’t want them trying to ruin another game I play just so they can get an extra $50. From my point of view, these competitive players have no problem turning a great game into trash for 1,000’s of casual players as long as they can make sure they win a pot. They only care about a game when there is prize money around.

If SF2 some how had a $2,000 tournament in six months, you would see 90% drop what ever game they are playing, and start crying about what characters are OP and what ones need buffs.

I fully support playing to improve, amd being the best you can be. Playing for money is what is ruining these games.

This will be an audio book next week. :grin:

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I agree with this immensely. Going out to tourneys is probably one of the coolest things I’ve done. I’ve played with some of the world’s best, and made some really close friends. I also get to meet new people and forge new friends, like how I met you and a few other people, as well as see some old friends.

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That’s better than what I’ve got. My local area I’m surrounded by people that are mostly confounded that I don’t know how to drive a tractor nor have any interest in any part of farming. So I pretty much am the scene in my neck of the woods. :confused:

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West monroe isnt much different than Conway or Beebee. Isnt that were you are at?

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Danville, or close to it anyway. It’s right in the middle of Yell County, about 30 mi southwest of Russellville, and almost directly west of Conway on a map. The best they have as far as what most people would call civilization is a Dollar General and a Sonic drive-in.

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Well , yeah we have much more than that lol

Monroe/ West Monroe is the 8th largest city in Louisiana.

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I fully get the Farming thing. They can’t get that not all of us want to drive pick ups and listen to country music.

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Having family in North LA myself (Shreveport), I will definitely admit that Austin may have more FGC folks who are willing to get together and play. I will say though. It took sometime to build what we have and there have definitely been some nights at the beginning where I was the only KI guy sitting in a corner practicing tech until someone wanted to try out KI … or someone felt pity on me lol!

The point is tbh our weekly is truly a FGC weekly (as in not KI only) where the garage arcade owner was friendly enough with me to give me a greenlight to bring in folks for KI. Contrast that to my experience at one of the most popular FGC arcades in Austin, Arcade UFO. Here Zipstar (Omen player) and I spoke to the owner about having KI there. While he was nice to us and expressed interest in getting a Xbone cabinet for KI. It uhh still hasn’t happened and that was in February. The interest and I imagine to that owner’s defense, the demand, simply isn’t there. I don’t press for KI to be there anymore because our weekly is a blast. And we also had our KI only biweekly group which was basically 8-12 sometimes 14 of us at a time. And although there’s over 60 of us in our Austin/CenTex FB group, I’m sure there’s prolly only like 30 of us in the Austin proper area and maybe 10 more on the outskirts, and 20 from other cities that might visit Austin sporadically.

@FallofSeraphs76 A few pieces of advice for you buddy to find some offline KI players in your area (some you may do already, some you may not do) (heck, i gotta do some too):

  • Look for any and all online presence for FGC groups (of all fighting games) that are affiliated with your area within driving distance from where you are located, and see if you can have a KI setup there (even if it’s just a laptop)
  • check venues that might allow you to play KI there like arcades, libraries, hotel meeting rooms, comic stores, game stores, LAN places like (PlayLiveNation), pinball places, game stores (like GameStop) or any other places where you can use, or rent a meeting room
  • For your current SF FGC group, if they hate KI, understand that that hate may diminish overtime, or at some point they might wanna try something new. That being said, I’d continue to ask your current FGC, if they’re interested in playing KI again maybe once every 2 months or so just to test the waters. But of course, every game can’t be everybody’s cup of tea and we all have to respect that.
  • I’d actually follow the KI-hating SF community in your city simply to see if they meet up at other places outside of that comic store, and even to see if they have any online groups that they use to communicate. Talk with them one on one and see if just one of them is open to learning more about KI. (All 12 of them can’t hate KI lol, at least I hope not lol :wink:
  • I’ve found that for those that play other fighting games, if they simply see people enjoying KI on a weekly basis, at some point they ask why are they playing a game that’s not street fighter, and they finally give KI a shot!
  • constantly look at as many social networks where there are local FG communities
    – forums, even forums for other games, see about their “Off Topic” forums, and simply talk about KI there
    – Facebook groups
    – reddit
    – twitter
    – discord (I need to peep the scene there)
    – idk if Xbox Live itself or the Xbox App (PC) has players there that you can chat with
    – meetup.com
    – I can’t think of any other places now, but I’m open
  • if you do find a venue to play at, consistently promote your meetups. if you dont find or have a venue yet, hopefully you can at least find some players in driving distance to your area. From there you all can make a FB group (or something similar, Discord, etc.) so that you all can keep in touch, and eventually make the time to play offline! :slight_smile:

Hope this helps! :slight_smile:

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2 of the SF guys played KI 2 back in the N4 days. Can you believe the main guy, the reason why he hates the new KI , so he says, is becasue " The controller lay out is backwards now compared to what he was used to in KI2!"

SMDH… I was like really? that’s the reason? wow, becasue you can change the layout real easy in the prefight menu.
I think it was more of someone encroaching on his lil SF territory. He really didnt like it when I took 3rd place in the Gamestop tournament.

And now unfortunately the Comic shop closed a couple weeks ago.

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Man lol … I actually CAN believe his reason bc I’ve heard a very talented Aria player mention how he’s not feeling season3 because of the shadow counters … so … Yeah, folks will find the smallest of reasons to dislike something lol, but that’s uhh their prerogative.

If the comic shop closed, do they meet up anywhere else these days?

Our biweekly was at PlayLiveNation for some time but then they changed management and wasn’t as receptive to us meeting there. We then started to meet at a hotel’s meeting room.

Outside of your local GameStops, I wonder if https://www.facebook.com/pg/Gamemechanix/about/ would be open. You might even get some folks from putting out a post in craigslist’s gaming forums - like this one
https://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=271119696

It’s a stretch, but they say you miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take.

When I go to absolute battle, I’m contemplating bring a small poster board that put near the KI setups that will say “KI is available on WINDOWS 10 and will be available for STEAM this Fall”. I’m also thinking of some type of “Get to know KI players in your area” signup sheet where folks who can put their name, GT, area, contact etc.

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Im not sure, the guy works at the FYE in the mall so Id have to go up there and ask him. Last time I asked why he didnt have facebook group so we could all stay in communication easily and he just kind of brushed me off…like who’s this new guy coming in here talking about KI, major tournaments and facebook groups LOL.
He isnt real open minded about anything. BUt him and his friends been playing SF for a long time so their group is tight.

I cant go to AB8 this year :frowning: So make sure to bring what ever you can to help spread the word. I think thats a great idea!