Splatoon 2 Local Communities: UPDATE 2 - Local finder Discord server now available!

[Big Boss]

Absolutely. I agree. Most venues host open house nights though for those random get together sessions and if they don't, could probably contact the owner of the venue and discuss, whether it be for a tournament or just a casual session.

Definitely, I've been trying to find a venue down here in South Florida for a meet up but little luck unfortunately.

 

[Ansible]

Have a few competitive FGC friends that I would randomly tag along with, as a casual. The experience is usual ambivalent for me. Mostly I get shunned, at worst the "piss off scrub" attitude, whenever they find out I'm not there to compete. Especially whenever I take a dip into the exhibition/freeplay matches—not my damn fault the tournament organizers encourage ANYONE to participate in those.

Then there are those few they are okay with me because they see a possible convert, someone they can have low risk practice with, a sounding board to improve themselves as they teach me what they know and forgotten, or because they want to just share their passion. I want more of that sort in the community. Any community.

And I like the idea of pick-up groups. And encourage it. Mostly because I do that a lot myself whenever I have time to spare. Even with the groups I'm in I'll still play with anyone, if they ask me nicely =p

 

[kaleksi]

Semi-related to this topic, I recently threw together an MD/VA Splatoon Discord. I've included roles for Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania , West Virginia, and Delaware. There's only two of us there currently and I haven't done much with it since it was only made just yesterday. I'd like to get more people to join so we can hopefully organize tournaments and meetups, so if you're in the area please don't hesitate to join!

https://discord.gg/ap7ApFn

 

[PunctualGuy]

As someone in the FGC/Fighting Game Community (Pokken, UNiEL, and Vsav player here), I doubt Splatoon will have these issues.
FGC is overall very welcoming and both casuals and competitive players are seen participating at local tournaments together

The main reason SSB has a noticeable split is because as you said, there is a conflict in the rules in terms of items/stages. Certain stages have hazards that could result in death and items are mostly RNG so it does not really show the actual potential of the players.

Splatoon does not have anything like this so it would just be as simple as people who play for fun or competitively. Does this mean the casuals won't compete in bracket? No.

That's good to hear. Like I said, all I really know is Smash, so I'm glad most other FGCs aren't like that, and I doubt Splatoon will be either.

I was talking to 8Ball in PMs about this (He's the one who showed me this thread so I'll share my thoughts here:

As for team sign-ups, it's obviously different for each venue and event but for just local tournaments with no huge pot bonus, $10 venue + $10 per teammate is solid as usually that is the standard entry thing for most locals. A local Overwatch tournament did this as well.

As for making teams from solo sign-ups, I think it should be encouraged to sign-up as a team but if someone wishes to sign up solo, they need to pre-reg on a website such as smash.gg with Twitter account attached that way if there is not enough solo people closer to the event, they can be contacted before the event that they may not have a team. While that set-up may be troublesome and would require TOs to go out of their way, it would allow those who don't have a team to possibly compete.

The issue in that however is if you have an unusual number like 5 or 7 unless subs are allowed for teams (and the teams are willing to allow a sub of course) so the few that didn't get put together in a random team could play.

I suppose straight up team sign ups are probably the best option but perhaps organizers could experiment and see how it goes.

On this topic, since you have more experience in other FGCs, is it common to have teams pre-register in advance of the event? Almost every Smash Bros event I've been to just had people sign up at the door the day of. I know it's different since Smash Bros is just one or two people, while we're talking about teams of four here, at least, and I definitely see the benefit from the TO's perspective in knowing how many teams to expect, but I think it'd be healthier for the scene if sign-ups were more spontaneous. It would make the whole pick-up squads concept much more efficient.

 

[SoulGuitarist]

Have a few competitive FGC friends that I would randomly tag along with, as a casual. The experience is usual ambivalent for me. Mostly I get shunned, at worst the "piss off scrub" attitude, whenever they find out I'm not there to compete. Especially whenever I take a dip into the exhibition/freeplay matches—not my damn fault the tournament organizers encourage ANYONE to participate in those.

And I like the idea of pick-up groups. And encourage it. Mostly because I do that a lot myself whenever I have time to spare. Even with the groups I'm in I'll still play with anyone, if they ask me nicely =p

Then it's probably just your scene (or game since Idk what you play).

On this topic, since you have more experience in other FGCs, is it common to have teams pre-register in advance of the event? Almost every Smash Bros event I've been to just had people sign up at the door the day of. I know it's different since Smash Bros is just one or two people, while we're talking about teams of four here, at least, and I definitely see the benefit from the TO's perspective in knowing how many teams to expect, but I think it'd be healthier for the scene if sign-ups were more spontaneous. It would make the whole pick-up squads concept much more efficient.

Teams for both SSB and FGs are at the door usually. VERY VERY rare when teams are open for pre-reg.at both locals and majors.
SSB uses doubles (Both playing at the same time) while for traditional FGs, it's usually "Waseda" style (Player A fights A and Player B fights Player B).
In short, Even though there are a difference on how teams are played, registration for both styles are still taken at the door.

Relating more to Splatoon since it's a shooter, Overwatch and CS:GO events usually have pre-reg for full teams during events with a bigger pot bonus, sometimes even limiting it to only pre-reg. Otherwise, it's usually just sign-up at the door with your team like FGC from what I've seen but I guess it depends on the TO.

 

[Ansible]

Then it's probably just your scene (or game since Idk what you play). UMvC3 and SFV are abit rude on occasion but I mostly play anime games (UNiEL, BLAZBLUE, Guilty Gear) and they are always nice usually so hopefully Splatoon is more like anime scene. In the end, it's all up to the maturity of the players which we'll see over time as the game releases. :)

More like scenes, with the games being played consisting of the usual suspects, sans anything Nintendo. Your Street Fighter 4 & 5, Marvel vs Capcom 3, whatever the latest Tekken and Mortal Kombat was, Street Fighter x Tekken briefly, the last Soul Calibur or Virtua Fighter making cameo appearances, with Blazblue and Guilty Gear usually tagging along.

 

[Nero86]

Just answered it today, I have some friends and relatives with Switch looks forward to play co-op. In Brazil we normally use Whatsapp (mobile application) for groups and it goes well. If per chance someone else from Brazil reads this, feel free to contact me! :)

 

[p14n0f]

While a healthy dose of competition is certainly good, I err on the side of socializing and fun in the local setting. Extraordinary players arise regardless of geography, and playing online facilitates this. It's cheaper to run tournaments in this way, and while at very high levels of play, we might all congregate in a location to see the finals or something live, it's less important, especially since access and streaming are possible now. So in this sense, I don't think competitive versus casual players is as much of an issue as say GCN Smash. SoulGuitarist also makes a good point about SSB versus Splatoon in terms of sameness. It is less like Mario games where there's more elements of randomness. Despite that, it's still fairly accessible to newcomers because there's also inking to be done, on top of shooting other players.

I think the main focus should be bringing everyone up to the same level and playing for fun. It feels really good to have someone you look up to teach you a cool skill; conversely, it's really rewarding to see newcomers finally getting the game. When I played Pokémon, veteran players would explain rules over and over again for the new players, and even offer to comment on decks, or outright give you some cards. When you lost, it was always shake hands, good game, and then discuss what just happened or watch the other games. Any question was a good question and would get answered without condescension or ridicule. Age wasn't a factor and it was so neat to see parents playing with, or little kids show older but newer players how things went. By no means was it perfect, but to just to say it, I only left because of geography and workload reasons, not because of drama or stuff like that. /coughmagicthegatheringcough/

It's neat that there's an assumption about having teams attend. I was thinking it was more of a pick-up type situation like Ishmael and Ansible were touching on. With regards to the number of people, I think we all agree that 4v4 is more fun than anything less, but there's also the new Salmon Run mode. So the minimum number of people that need to show up would be two, if we include Salmon Run as a mode of play. Teams would be really cool for tournaments and such, but my vision of local play was more of a casual, social thing. Maybe have a more spectator-y competitive tournament once in a while to make things interesting. Maybe having a local Splatfest where you can only use pre-specified loadout amiibo configs (in lieu of the shirt) and the winning side gets a small token to wear in commemoration or their names on a list like in an arcade.

For timelines, I thought it'd be a weekly or fortnightly, with these Splatfests running for two or three sessions each, and any sort of tournament on a seasonal or yearly basis.

But yeah. That venue problem.

 

[PunctualGuy]

Hello all! It's been awhile, but I wanted to go ahead and post the results of the survey. Unfortunately, I don't think the results are particularly telling, but nonetheless, I thought it may be interesting. I want to thank everyone who submitted a response; I was worried I'd hardly get any responses, but I got enough in such a short amount of time that it gives me hope that there are plenty of people interested in this kind of thing.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ENYzU6ktjYasmAxnQRd0DCHVn_h5siX0N2xKudrxDow/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Dessgeega]

I see a lot of people, myself included, are in the same boat - tentatively up for it. Well, someone's gonna have to throw the first stone :P

 

[Ansible]

Interesting~♪... seems there are a few people that are a day or weekend trip away from me.

There are other people who bought a WiiU in my region and I'm not Nintendoalone!!

 

[Big Boss]

It seems Florida is a little dry, but the small amount of people on these forums aren't the best metric to judge by either.

 

[CapBoyAce]

As for arcades, the point is that you pay to play the games they have, and possibly food in some places. There is no incentive I can think of for these businesses to host Splatoon.

Some places (like Ignite Gaming Lounge in Chicago) have the perfect enviroment for hosting these, and actually would benefit from it. I know that IGL used to host SSB tourneys, and I'm sure they would be cool with a tourney.

 

[CapBoyAce]

Lol, all the Ohio and California :P
No Chicago though, I was the only Chicago. It's also a little worrying that there was no Wisconsin, considering that's where the Smash n Splash is hosted. Wish I could go, but I just can't. For now, we'll have to stick with onlines.

 

[Big Boss]

Some places (like Ignite Gaming Lounge in Chicago) have the perfect enviroment for hosting these, and actually would benefit from it. I know that IGL used to host SSB tourneys, and I'm sure they would be cool with a tourney.

Squidstorm 2016 was actually hosted in the ignite gaming lounge.

 

[CapBoyAce]

Squidstorm 2016 was actually hosted in the ignite gaming lounge.

Oh! I wish I'd known, I'm actually really close to there. Well...
IGL is really cool, I had a birthday party there.

 

[ForteReborn]

There are local places nearby that could probably host. Toys Ru Us could be a possibly, but seems to clustered with so much gunk congesting up the areas. We also have a mall nearby that could hold a nice match since the center holds a lot of tables to sit at.

 

[~Athena~]

I've been talking about this with my friends for a good while now, and I'm glad that other people are thinking about this too.

For the venue, I don't think that's going to be too terribly hard. While card shops do have a vested interest to sell cards, holding tourneys, if anything, increases their exposure and their chances of doing business. Also, if you collect a venue fee, it's not like they're going to turn down free money. Especially if all you're using is the venue space, that's a steal. Some cities have video arcades (modern or retro) that have event spaces too, so that's a legitimate thing! East Coast Gamers in Tom's River, NJ hosts TCG tourneys as well as a lot of fighting game and Smash tournaments. My local game arcade, Game Haven STL, has space for Smash weeklies and other card tournaments. And Boss Stage in Denver, CO is an anime store/Japanese video game arcade that also hosts the FGC too. In college towns or fairly-sized cities, finding a venue may be hard but hopefully shouldn't prove to be an impossible task.

As far as registration and tournament stuff goes, Salmon Run could be a great side event in the scenario that less people show up than expected. But running both a main tournament AND Salmon Run on the side sounds like a heaping amount of work and organization. Props to anyone who can pull it off for sure, but I'm not sure I would offer it unless on special circumstances. I think that letting teams pre-reg early on smash.gg is a terrific idea (as well as finding ways to track the people who enter with less than four people too). I think that we'll be fine doing that as long as we outline that less than four people teams risk being placed as subs, used to fill gaps, not seeded, etc. I have to wonder if a group of three would be okay taking walk-up single players as teammates though. Worst comes to worse, we could always have people enter as doubles and pair them together to make teams? (unless everyone really hated that too)

Idk. I think that coming out strong early in the lifespan of Splatoon 2 is going to encourage people to want to be a part of a local scene instead of simply sticking to online play. More than anything, I think we have a real potential to grow the amount of Splatoon players are by reaching out to the community too. What does everyone else think?

 

[innsxo]

I've been talking about this with my friends for a good while now, and I'm glad that other people are thinking about this too.

For the venue, I don't think that's going to be too terribly hard. While card shops do have a vested interest to sell cards, holding tourneys, if anything, increases their exposure and their chances of doing business. Also, if you collect a venue fee, it's not like they're going to turn down free money. Especially if all you're using is the venue space, that's a steal. Some cities have video arcades (modern or retro) that have event spaces too, so that's a legitimate thing! East Coast Gamers in Tom's River, NJ hosts TCG tourneys as well as a lot of fighting game and Smash tournaments. My local game arcade, Game Haven STL, has space for Smash weeklies and other card tournaments. And Boss Stage in Denver, CO is an anime store/Japanese video game arcade that also hosts the FGC too. In college towns or fairly-sized cities, finding a venue may be hard but hopefully shouldn't prove to be an impossible task

Being in New Jersey myself, Toms River is quite a drive for me, but I'd be somewhat willing to drive there with some friends for some local tournaments. I am in upper Jersey (Bergen County) and I don't have many tournaments other than the occasional ones at a Gamers Paradise near me for Smash Bros and other games. I'd love to see some Jersey gamers step up and maybe host a tournament at a local place.

 

[Big Boss]

I decided to do my part, with the assistance of members of EGTV I was able to setup Landfall.