« TIPS FOR ESTABLISHING AND GROWING A FIGHTING GAME SCENE (A WORK-IN-PROGRESS GUIDE) »

Keiran sent this pic of his scene in Ireland. In this event (LanParty.ie 2) they held tourneys for Third Strike and Street Fighter 4.The release of Street Fighter 4 on consoles last year was a tremendous boost to fighting communities everywhere.  Areas with small communities gained new members, while passionate players found ways to establish scenes where none previously existed.  With Super Street Fighter 4 set to arrive soon, the fighting game community once again has a tremendous opportunity to expand.

So, if you don’t have a fighting game scene in your area and you would like to start one how do you go about doing so?  How do you grow a small fighting game community into something more?  If you are lucky enough to have a mid-size to large scene, how do you level up? 

There are likely many people out there who have these kinds of questions.  We do not have all the answers (nobody does), but we would like to create a place where we can share ideas.  With this series of articles, we will establish a guide for this purpose.  It will be a continuous work-in-progress, and we will try to incorporate any good idea that we come across into the guide.  Our hope is that by having ideas in one place, people can be inspired and empowered to do more in their areas. Perhaps we can even create a cycle where ideas can inspire new ideas and tips.

Our hope is that we can contribute to maximizing the potential to expand fighting game communities everywhere this year.  You don’t have to be a Street Fighter fan either to use some of these ideas.  Whatever your games of choice, many of the topics to be presented and discussed can be applied or can be modified to your specific needs.

So, with this we are reaching out to the community for help.  We will be asking for ideas from people who have already created scenes or who have been successful at growing them.  We will be seeking advice on our own IPW Forums and elsewhere.  As we collect ideas, we will create a permanent guide on IPW which will organize them all. 

Remember those pics of fighting game scenes we asked you to send in a few days ago? We thought it would be a great idea to incorporate pictures of actual fighting game scenes of all sizes from around the world into the guide.

Topics will include:

*tips for establishing a scene where none currently exists

*tips for growing if you already have a scene established

*being a good tourney organizer: critical for success

If you want to contribute to this effort, you can do so in several ways.  You can always post random tips and ideas in the articles like this one. You can also send them to rodney_desjarlais@iplaywinner.com.

However, we would love to invite you to join us in the IPW Forums in the Tips for Establishing and Growing your Fighting Game Community thread.  Join us in the effort to create a bigger, stronger fighting game scene!