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Focusing Community Turnout at SG Tourney Events

dekillsage said:
No one who lives an hour away wants to pay more than you would pay for a big e event for a local tournament. Fuck outta here with that.
Which is why you need people from 3 hours away to support your events for you?
 
mcpeanuts said:
Which is why you need people from 3 hours away to support your events for you?

That is always, and will always be your decision to make, not mine.
 
If I drove out my 5 hour trip to Chicago only to see that not even half of the guys in Chicago where (it seems) most of them don't live further than 1.5 hours away from the monthly, I probably wouldn't think well of the community either.

And "paying more for a local" doesn't really click either tbh. This doesn't seem like any old local, and it's not in the same location as Big E events either, so it makes sense that it isn't the same price as those. If people didn't want to show up because it's too expensive for them, I think that'd be a fair reason if people said so, but that's not what the case is sounding like right here looking only at those last couple of posts.

dapurplesharpie said:
They wanted 60 people at the event. They would have done this regardless if we had less than 30 people preregistered.
They want at least 30 people from out-of-the-area.

That's not feasible for this event.

Did they ever say that they wanted 30 people out of area BEFORE the dropped it as a main game? This is the first I'm hearing about this.

For one, that's just not even a good expectation since that isn't even what they get for their other main games. Marvel 3 last year basically only had 2 out of region players, Dual Kevin and Flocker. Even if that's just counting out of area as "not NY", you still don't have nearly that many people from PA/MA who make up the brackets, I just checked. If this was a *big* major, like Final Round or CEO, I could see that being an expectation, but it looks like they only had 170 entrants for SF4 last year. How the hell are they expecting us to get more than 1/3 of the size of their biggest game?

If they are expecting out of region people, like me for example, to come out, stuff like that depends on a bunch of factors, one including is if the community already speaks positively of the event. GUTS4 or CEOtaku don't really seem to be trying to be nearly as big as this (considering this looks like it's trying to be a "Big Major" Major), but the things that our community said about those events makes me want to travel to them. I haven't really heard anything about DTN that makes me want to go out there, and Pot bonuses mean nothing really when they are small. Among other things, it just doesn't sound like they understand/have good perceptions of what matters to smaller scenes like CEOtaku does. And if this is a tournament that doesn't look out well for smaller scenes, then it probably isn't the thing for us.
 
LOL they wanted 60 entrants for their small ass event. That's more than a third of ComboBreaker's numbers.

fenster said:
If I drove out my 5 hour trip to Chicago only to see that not even half of the guys in Chicago where (it seems) most of them don't live further than 1.5 hours away from the monthly, I probably wouldn't think well of the community either.

I am probably wrong, but I feel that there is some sort of passive aggressiveness in this part of the post. Was this your experience with Undizzy?
 
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They are located in a rough spot between Combo Breaker, Evo, and Summer Jam.
Yes, I am including Summer Jam there, since Philly people will most likely go to what's closer to them at this point, even if its not as big.
Also because E won't drop a game three days before the event without any warning whatsoever.

But yeah, people are drained financially from the other big tournaments around this time of year, it's kinda hard for many to add another one.
 
Uh, not at all. That was a theoretical statement if I was in peanut's shoes. I'm fine with Undizzy for how it was so far.
 
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We should focus on tournaments that in 2015 - 2016 period gave SG:

- main stage
- pot bonus prize
- well advertising (super important! )


Wich one aside of Combo Breaker gave us that?
 
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DTN has been a nope for me from the beginning for a few reasons but there are many reasons why I did not end up going.

1. I think its more expensive than Big E majors have been (most of them have been side games but still cheaper)
2. I only just got a job last week so i had very little to no money to even pay rent
3. Scheduled to work that weekend, as i said i need the money
4. Not many people showed interest in going so i chose to go to xenocore (which i had to miss because of the job)
5. When people did decide to start going i couldnt take off work
6. Its in an area of new york that i hate driving to in general

Im sorry i could not make, but my living situation is sadly (?) more important than a major ive never been to.
Thats the main reason ive never been to anything outside tourneys people make it a point to go to.

Except for Frosty Faustings which is one of my favorites
 
So as someone who hasn't kept up with the tournament scene in awhile but still wants to come out to show my support for the community, I can only make it out to events as of next year and 7probably only two events. As someone in the midwest, I dunno if any of the events listed here are in decent distance from me. Combo Breaker is doable and I had blast at it last year (couldn't make it this year due to issues with my job situation), so what event do you all think someone like me should look into? I keep seeing everyone mention GUTS 4 and CEOtaku, so I'd assume them unless there's a better altnernative.

I really want to get back into showing up for events like these, as trash as I am at SG. Its just tough to find time to go out and enjoy the community in person sometimes D:
 
Well, it says here you're from Iowa, so the closest events to you are Undizzy monthlies in Chicago (~5 hours from the center of Iowa) and Maxout monthlies in Kansas City (~3 hours from center of Iowa). Those are pretty good and you should look into them.

As far as bigger events go, GUTS 4 and CEOtaku are the things we'll probably be focusing on, but you'd have to travel far for them. The best upcoming thing for the Midwest area would probably be Frosty Faustings in Chicago which will probably be in January.
 
Yeah Frosty was also on my list. Its a bit close to my birthday, which is fine.

Ill have to double check those monthlies. Might be able to make a few this year given their distance...Thanks for the info!
 
dapurplesharpie said:
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FB Link to Official Update and Post

Not to mention, KPB has told the organizers m u l t i p l e t i m e s that they were not going to reach 60 SG entrants and that they could actively expect 20-30.

This has the makings of a disaster.

This is heartbreaking that the organizers would do this... how many people did Frosty Faustings get? Like, 23 in 2015 and 40 in 2016? These things take time to develop... 60+ out of the blue is p r e t t y overly ambitious.
 
dekillsage said:
If you got to read the conversations we've had with the organizer, you'd think this event is a shady joke.

I can confirm this.
KPB is running into similar issues with the organizers. That's all I can say about this.

fenster said:
Did they ever say that they wanted 30 people out of area BEFORE they dropped it as a main game? This is the first I'm hearing about this.

Yes. They stated this.
They wanted a majority of the players coming in for the tournament to be from other regions, hence New York, Mass, and Pen would have to "defend the North". The issue is that they had unrealistic goals for the turnout (ie: AT LEAST 60 people for SG, the majority of which from Non-NorthEast). My team made sure to bring this to the attention of the organizers regarding turnout, but we were ignored and they want to act surprised when less than the numbers THEY expected turned out.

MegaMix said:
LOL they wanted 60 entrants for their small ass event. That's more than a third of ComboBreaker's numbers.

Event organizers see CB and NEC numbers and they think they can just give us a Pot Bonus and get the same numbers. That's not how it works.

I really don't think DTN is worth our time or effort unless things suddenly change.

Just...go to GUTS. Okay everyone?

GO. TO. GUTS.
 
dapurplesharpie said:
They wanted a majority of the players coming in for the tournament to be from other regions, hence New York, Mass, and Pen would have to "defend the North".
Wait, THAT'S why they named their event "Defend The North?"

I thought they were just avid fans of Game of Thrones.
 
Maybe they just wanted protect me? :3....
Sorry that wasnt funny...

I still don't get why they wanted to make SG a main stage event in the first place. As much as I love the game, the community's track record shows that turnout at an event really improves over time based on the event. Yeah SG has a bunch of main stage events now, but from what I understand a lot of those are events we've shown consistent support for. It was really a foolish idea to try to set up SG without gauging the turnout first :/
 
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I'm going to GUTS. The question of which east coast event to support this year was never one for me. GUTS is the obvious choice, and I've said many times I really didn't have fun at NEC and won't be going back.
 
*enters thread* No GUTS, no glory. *leaves thread*
 
re: DTN

I must admit I am a little bit surprised that SG only got 11 entrants but a lot of people seemed to not have any real desire to go. (I don't feel like I have the right to be "disappointed in the community" or anything like that since I couldn't go either, but I had medical issues preventing me from attending). It is important though, I feel, if we want DTN to be an event in the future to try to figure out why it was so unpopular. Financial reason are certainly good reasons, when I was looking at prices however it didn't seem like this event was gonna cost more than a Big E event. I also wasn't involved in any conversations with the TO of course so I can't speak as to what's going on with that. I certainly don't blame the TO for dropping SG as a main game though, even if it is a bit sudden, since even if everyone knew 60 was unreasonable, they were told to expect 20-30 and they got barely more than 10. It just seems to me that the timing of the event wasn't great and a lot of people in the area happened to be having money problems that would prevent them from going.

I think this conversation of people who only go to a handful of events is a good conversation to have, though. SG as a game is growing but most of the people new to the game, if they go to any events at all, will probably only go to 1 or 2. If you can afford to travel, CB and CEOtaku seem to overshadow just about everthing else. If you can't, you go to what's close. Sage's tournament probably got just about everyone from the area who would be the "target audience" for DTN and IIRC that got 15 entrants. DTN being a new event also doesn't really help; supporting a new event is nice but for people with limited availability they will choose established events which makes it hard for an event to "break into" the SGC so to speak. Of course there's no way to know for sure but without NE SGC spreading good word about GUTS I expect it would have only gotten 10-15 entrants as well.

I do think however that this experience with DTN is going to send a message to TOs that SG isn't worth adding to a tournament lineup at this point unless you already have an established relationship with the community, which isn't really a great message to be sending if you want your game to grow.
 
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I wonder if that 11 entrants number will shrink due to this?

Wenzel said:
We should focus on tournaments that in 2015 - 2016 period gave SG:

- main stage
- pot bonus prize
- well advertising (super important! )


Wich one aside of Combo Breaker gave us that?

Pretty much. What's the point of ignoring EVO if we are just going to be another side-game to where we put our focus on instead?
 
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Jan - Frosty Faustings
strong Midwest player presence + TO/streamer relationships

Then 4 months until
May - Combo Breaker
strong Midwest player presence + TO/streamer relationships

Then 2 months until
July - EVO
which is not our thing but you'd best believe it affects everyone's schedules so we're gonna account for it

Then 2 months until
Sep - CEOtaku
prior good experience, good to build off of

Then 2 months until
Nov - GUTS
longtime attendance by locals, good relationships with TO, good chance to grow

Then 2 months until
REPEAT
I think this is the list, if we're being realistic. If we had 4 well-attended, fun, and hospitable SG majors a year, I think that's a success, for us.
 
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I like Kai's list. I also agree that EVO should be accounted for because even if it's not an SG event most people would dip from close-dated majors because they'd rather go to EVO.

I only wish that there was an event in WC stronger than NWM. Not only does it seriously need a venue upgrade (imo) but it's really close to combo breaker. NCR is fucking awful and unless SCR is back at UCI and under different management I have no interest in attending the event again. Maybe if an anime ascension happens again or something we could ride along the back of that.

Also I personally believe that we can get frosty a large non-midwest presence next year. I personally plan on attending for Blazblue but it sounds like there's good interest in SG.
 
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while i have no intention on ever going because I can only afford flying to 2 events per year and I'm prioritizing CB and CEOtaku, I think NWM deserves something to be said for being the only west coast major to consistently support SG. People say a lot of good things.

e: o whoops i didn't refresh and i got beat out by 2 posts about WC events, would be cool if WC could get a kind of "super-local" going kind of what it seems like sage is trying to do with xenoencore
 
Mike_Z said:
I mean, if the community would attend, I'd host a WC SG major somewhere...just call it Salty++ and we're good to go.
Netherrealms does it... :^P
I'd be down.
 
Mike_Z said:
I mean, if the community would attend, I'd host a WC SG major somewhere...just call it Salty++ and we're good to go.
Netherrealms does it... :^P
Would attend and make the rest of NorCal attend as well. I would like to help if you do this.
 
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Work has stopped me from going to NWM twice in a row, I NEED another WC tournament.
 
I know people don't plan to go, but Skullgirls was just confirmed to at least be AT NEC 17.
Will keep people updated on if it gets main stage etc but I doubt it.
 
Why don't people want to go to NEC? I was under the impression that it was a big event for SkullGirls, and a very big event for east coast players. If NEC goes out the window then there won't be much left for east coast players.
 
BlueFeena said:
Why don't people want to go to NEC? I was under the impression that it was a big event for SkullGirls, and a very big event for east coast players. If NEC goes out the window then there won't be much left for east coast players.

It was a big event, basically the closing event of the year for at LEAST the last 2 years maybe longer (I didn't follow SG before that), but people have basically become disillusioned with the TO's repeated disregard of the SGC. (That said, despite the fact that CEOtaku and GUTS seem to be the closing events of the year for 2016, I would probably still go to NEC if a lot of people went.)
 
We showed up to NEC hype and loud as hell and still got side stage downstairs alone while other games got main stage upstairs that had less entrants than Skullgirls.

We weren't promised main stage even for next year when we left after talking to Big E.
I don't want to show up for an event where I don't even know if we have main stage.
We could get shafted again for side stage while marvel gets main again free.

I'd rather support the tournaments that support us 100% like GUTS.
 
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Will agree that NEC's venue that is also winterbrawl and summerjam's respectively, do suck.

not enough fun stuff to do unless you drink and have plenty of kusoge on deck.

I will attend NEC IF people are going. that seems to be a big IF in general mind you.

I will be present for CEOTaku and GUTS. i'm cleared for it either way. i just need to figure out rooms with people.
 
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Well, no matter how bad it is I'll still be at Big E's events - simply because the venue is less than 30 minutes from me and that's about as far as I can travel for the time being.
 
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I just want a room that can hold all of us doing any of the things we are doing. I p much want the old cb venue (ufgt venue?) That one was great
 
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It's not just the problems people said above with NEC, but there's also other things.

One is that Big E Events just really...aren't run well. Not on the level of CEO or CB, and even beyond those there are still a host of issues that I always hear about. Bad scheduling, basic problems with running brackets or finding a TO, the normal hotel the event is located being bad (with not a lot of people liking the new Venue they got for NEC 2015). It leaves a lot of people with bad taste in their mouths where they like the people and the games around the event, but the event itself wasn't a good experience.

There are also things like NEC 2015 where we were a Main Game, but despite that we still had to fight about things like bringing setups or player caps. Long story short, being a main game didn't make us feel like we were actually being respected by the event. The fact that SG was a lot bigger and better than the past year, but we got pretty much the same (I'd argue worse) treatment, is a sign to me that we were putting in way more effort than what we'd be likely to get back, so it's probably not really worth it to us to keep trying there to win un-wanting hearts.

I mean, if people lived in the area and can do a day's drive to get to the venue, then it's not that big of a deal to go to, but stuff like that matters for the people who can only travel far to 1 or 2 events a year and then it turns out to be a kind of shitty experience (because of the event itself, not the game or the people). That's why we're emphasizing events that actually take care of us or treat us with respect.
 
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EC still has GUTS and CEOtaku, I love Big E Events. I've been going since NEC10, i've been running EVERY single SG tournament at NEC. Even I completely understand why people want to put our vices elsewhere, as sad as it might be.

With 2 strong EC majors though i'm not really worried. I would like to try and make ECT our Northeast major since they're super down to work with us again since i've been talking to John. We just need to show up to a degree.

Also yeeees EVO is lit lets do it.
 
keninblack said:
With 2 strong EC majors though i'm not really worried. I would like to try and make ECT our Northeast major since they're super down to work with us again since i've been talking to John. We just need to show up to a degree.
I dunno man. The last time I was at ECT, Skullgirls's tournament setups were in the hallway outside the main ballroom. You're sure things are going to be different?
 
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