« Interview with Isaiah "Triforce" Johnson on E-Sports & the Evolution of the Fighting Game Community by Rykoshet »

In the wake of Major League Gaming’s partnership with the Korean E-Sports Association, I am speaking with Isaiah-Triforce Johnson. - Rykoshet

Ryko: Now I know that the fighting game community has plenty of choice words with regard to the subject of “E-sports”, and are far from shy when it comes to sharing said words. Do you think that will be continued head-butting when it comes to the subject of fighting game competition, or do you feel that there will be some sort of amicable cooperation for the greater good of the FGC’s perceived legitimacy? 

ITJ: “In my opinion, the FGC, they don’t understand what E-sports is about. I use the term FGC loosely, I don’t wish to make a blanket statement because there are a number of independent players that understand that they play video games professionally. The word here is professional, they play the games as a job. It may be a fun job, but a job nonetheless. There’s a tear in the community, some people are for it, some people are adamantly opposed to the idea; some people don’t care as long as it helps the community. I feel that E-sports is the future, and there is nothing the detractors in the FGC can do to stop it from integrating into the community as a whole. It’s just a natural progression, just the course it takes.”

“It has happened to every sport; Baseball, Football, Hockey, Chess, even Hand-to-Hand combat. The list goes on. When competition of this nature gets to a certain level, it automatically evolves, whether or not the people accept it is the only real variable. Fighting games have reached that point now. The different personalities, the dynamics that come with the personalities, the accessories/companies/business that make money off of this all point to it being an inevitability. The last bastion is the players, who unfortunately for the most part don’t understand the development of the business.”

“They don’t have any input on the business end, and I’m glad they don’t, because they don’t understand business. There are good times in the future, and it’s in the best interest of the FGC to accept it and develop with it as a community, an industry, and a business. It’s for the better.”

“They’re just against it due to fear. Either they’re unfamiliar with E-sports’past or had one bad relationship experience, and are jumping to the conclusion that any interaction in the future will produce the same result. There’s also the fact that they feel that E-sports will kill their means of expression. E-sports requires a level of professionalism, the FGC is very free spirited. They want to say and do what they want and not be penalized or policed. But it’s not the content that would be enforced, it’s the context in which the content is expressed. Some of the people in the community are just very vulgar, disingenuous—look up every negative form of expression in the thesaurus and it would apply to how the FGC expresses itself at times. Slurs against race, gender, sexuality, religion, even politics for the ones that care enough to follow it. Stream monsters are ugly, they butcher people’s reputations and ruin good things at times for sheer laughs. E-sports threatens that, and I’m glad that it does.”

Ryko: Will MLG name their own fighting division or will it just be an untitled subdivision of the greater MLG brand?

ITJ: “I doubt – I’m not too sure what they will do with naming the division, but with my experience with MLG, it will be a greater part of the umbrella as a whole. Games come and go, based on popularity and sponsorship.King of Fighters XIII isn’t doing as well as they thought it would do, I see it being dropped for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Dead or Alive 5, which I feel is the game to go after. The technology, the graphics, the community it caters to… Dead or Alive attracts girls, there are a lot of girls that playDoA and are proficient at it. The Tekken demographic is very linear, it shares its aim with Capcom, and is unfortunately associated with Aris. Even if people want to say it isn’t, anyone familiar with the competitive community in Tekken knows who he is, and now plenty of people who are just getting into it know who he is for unfortunate reasons as well. MLG may not want to risk associating him or the perception of a barbaric community with the MLG brand. If they pick up DoA and the girls get involved, it will really pick up steam like nobody’s business.”

Ryko: What is going to happen when E-sports finally “takes over”, how will people adjust?

ITJ: “Once everyone understands how E-sports can bolster the community and the already thriving video game industry, it will be something like we have never seen before. Competitive gaming has the potential to make more money than all of the sports leagues combined. They fill virtual seats, and competitors come from every part of the world, they don’t need to go through the NCAA and then be picked up. Anyone with the skill and the drive can compete, regardless of background. It’s open to the world. When you take into account that each individual that is going to compete has their own fan base, each player is more individual viewers watching and backing their local video game hero.”

“The metrics for this is astonishing, I understand why MLG keeps getting bigger and bigger. CBS interactive signed a partnership with MLG and twitch.tv. Even without full details, we can still speculate that CBS wants to make sure they are in at the head of this booming business. Developers will start tailoring their products for E-sports purely because a competitive community gives games infinite replay value. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 lasted 10 years just due to the competitive community. With MVC3, the community quadrupled.”

“Warner’s throwing their money in as well, backing CEO, UFGT and East Coast Throwdown by adding thousand dollar pots to the competitions, and twenty grand for EVO winners. E-sports have their guns ready, anyone who gets in the way is going to get run over.”

“Shoutouts to Adam and Sundance, I knew these guys when they were working out of the garage. They worked for 10 years to get to the point they are at today, and you have to admire the drive and the dedication”

Thank you to Isaiah-Triforce Johnson for taking the time to speak with me and share his views and ideas. He can be found on Twitter@EMP_Triforce_GM. 

Rykoshet is a student, freelance writer and video game designer from Sunset Park in Brooklyn, NY. He can be found on Twitter @Rykoshet.