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

PunctualGuy

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EDIT 2: There is now a Discord server for connecting people for Splatoon locals (not run by me). Anyone from any region can join, and it's pretty popular. Please check it out!

https://discord.io/splatlocals

EDIT: I've created a Google Forms survey asking interested Splatoon fans to provide their general location, so we can get a gauge of where the biggest clusters of Splatoon players are and possibly plan out groups and events based on that. If you have any interested friends or are a part of any Splatoon Discord servers or the like, please share this with them. Thanks! I plan on making the responses public when I get a good amount of data.

https://goo.gl/forms/qlVv1IITFQ5O1Xs83

Original post below:

Hello! It's been awhile since I've been here, but I wanted to get the communities thoughts on the idea of developing local Splatoon 2 scenes. I'm aware this was brought up when Splatoon 1 was still new, but I haven't heard it come up much since Splatoon 2 was announced. Due to the Wii U's hardware limitations, local scenes never really became a thing. However, since Splatoon 2 is on a (basically) portable console and will have local wireless connectivity and LAN, there are great opportunities for Splatoon locals to form. I've been to a few Smash Bros locals, and I think the system could transfer well to Splatoon as well. A lot of the structure is already there; people could set up Discord servers and/or Facebook groups for each major city/region to connect to fellow Splatoon players (we could compile links to these groups here on Squidboards and/or r/Splatoon), and people could meet up in public places like arcades or card shops and splat it up. And naturally, this would be a great opportunity to start up regional tournaments.

Having been apart of Smash Bros locals, I can testify to how much it adds to the experience. Playing online is fine, but nothing beats being in the same room with fellow gamers and feeling the energy in the room. I'd even be willing to set up and manage the Discord server/Facebook group for my area.

Maybe it's too soon to start discussing this kind of stuff, but I just wanted to see if people are interested in meeting fellow squids irl. So, what do you guys think? Anyone here ever been to a local group for some other game? Anyone willing to manage a Splatoon local for their area?

Thanks all!
 
Last edited:

p14n0f

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Generally, I think this is a good thing to do. I much prefer couch coop than the online sort, and LAN party is sort of that. I think the more interesting discussion is about the logistics of organising such a thing. It's probably a lot of people's wish to have such things; that's why meetups and conventions are a thing. It'd be fun to hear what everyone has to say about it.

One of the important considerations for Splatoon is critical mass of players. Because of the Salmon Run, it'll be easier since that mode is 2~4 players instead of 8. So whoever isn't playing 4v4 will be able to play Salmon run instead of idling. I think that's great. That means it's possible to have closely spaced meetups (eg. once a week) instead of trying to achieve lots of people by only having one big thing once in a while (eg. once every two months).

As for the locations you proposed, I'm not sure about arcades or card shops being exactly public venues. Card shops sell cards, so they welcome TCG players and host the release of new installations; based on personal experience (so this may not be true in all cases), it seems board/card games are the things that are hosted in these types of shops. 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. How was it for these places for venues in the Smash scene? Assumption: these are the types of places used and thus you suggested them.

In terms of the spirit of the whole thing, I really like how Pokémon gets handled, what with the general attitude players have, and also the Play! points that happen. It's a mix of merit and also how long one participates. Then again, they have backing from corporate.
 

PunctualGuy

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Generally, I think this is a good thing to do. I much prefer couch coop than the online sort, and LAN party is sort of that. I think the more interesting discussion is about the logistics of organising such a thing. It's probably a lot of people's wish to have such things; that's why meetups and conventions are a thing. It'd be fun to hear what everyone has to say about it.
Yeah, exactly. That's the main reason I posted here (and I made a post on r/splatoon too). The community is pretty much going to have to come together and decide if and how this is going to be done. If there's no consensus or organization, it's not going to catch on.

One of the important considerations for Splatoon is critical mass of players. Because of the Salmon Run, it'll be easier since that mode is 2~4 players instead of 8. So whoever isn't playing 4v4 will be able to play Salmon run instead of idling. I think that's great. That means it's possible to have closely spaced meetups (eg. once a week) instead of trying to achieve lots of people by only having one big thing once in a while (eg. once every two months).
That's something I hadn't considered, actually, but it's a very important point. Like I said, I'm used to the Smash Bros scene, which is different because Smash Bros is a (mostly) solo experience. But Splatoon is almost entirely cooperative, so having a good number of people turn out consistently who are able and willing to play together on the same team is key. My idea is that the experience would extend beyond regular meetups at public venues, and people would form their own local teams and play together online, or maybe even meet at a teammate's house once everyone gets comfortable enough. Your idea about Salmon Run is a good one; it adds a new dimension to the whole scene.

As for the locations you proposed, I'm not sure about arcades or card shops being exactly public venues. Card shops sell cards, so they welcome TCG players and host the release of new installations; based on personal experience (so this may not be true in all cases), it seems board/card games are the things that are hosted in these types of shops. 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. How was it for these places for venues in the Smash scene? Assumption: these are the types of places used and thus you suggested them.
Maybe those weren't the best examples of public venues, or at least, I should have been more specific. I've been to a few Smash Bros tournaments that were held in the back of card shops and places of that nature; they have TVs set up in the back where people would play. I imagine it's good for business because either the shop gets a cut of the prize pot, or they get good foot traffic (or both). When I said "arcade," I wasn't specifically referring to a place that has arcade games; I meant more like a gaming lounge. If you're not familiar with that, basically the whole business is you come in and play video games at either one of the many TVs or desktops they have set up, and you either pay at the door or on a by-the-hour kind of deal.

But those are just my suggestions based on what I've seen in the Smash Bros community. Deciding on public venues (which are pretty necessary) is one of the topics the community will have to discuss, and not every region is going to work exactly the same way, obviously. But I think we can build off of the foundation already laid down by other game communities such as Smash Bros. If some of the public venues that already host Smash Bros tournaments would start hosting Splatoon events as well, that would be a great start. And I know SmashBoards has a specific form for each major region in the Americas just for setting up events; we could easily do something like that here on SquidBoards (which is fitting, considering SquidBoards is part of the SmashBoards network).

In terms of the spirit of the whole thing, I really like how Pokémon gets handled, what with the general attitude players have, and also the Play! points that happen. It's a mix of merit and also how long one participates. Then again, they have backing from corporate.
I honestly don't know much about how the Pokémon community does things. If you have any specific observations of what you've seen there or elsewhere, I'd love to here it. This whole idea of local scenes may be a relatively new idea for Splatoon, but there's a lot to be learned from the communities that came before. And if Nintendo gets involved a similar vein that they have for Pokémon, that'd probably be pretty awesome. And there are signs Nintendo wants the competitive Splatoon scene to grow, so it's a good possibility they will get involved in some way.
 

Dessgeega

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My only insight is that this will be far more difficult to accomplish outside of major cities. The way players are scattered about in most countries that aren't Japan, getting the 4 players for Salmon Run or 8 players for a regular match together consistently will require some serious effort.

I mean, I'd be interested in partaking if a local group happened where I am, but the logistics are a lot trickier than it would be for Smash or Pokemon, which work perfectly fine 1-on-1.
 

Magic8Ball

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My only insight is that this will be far more difficult to accomplish outside of major cities. The way players are scattered about in most countries that aren't Japan, getting the 4 players for Salmon Run or 8 players for a regular match together consistently will require some serious effort.

I mean, I'd be interested in partaking if a local group happened where I am, but the logistics are a lot trickier than it would be for Smash or Pokemon, which work perfectly fine 1-on-1.
In this regard, it all depends on how much interest we can bring into the game. If enough people have it, we can develop more scenes. We also need to promote things like these tournaments EVERYWHERE if we want them to have enough people. Starting up these local scenes would be such an enhancement to the game we all love, but we would all need to do our part in cultivating these scenes. The LAN capabilities and now separately sold Docks will make everything else super easy. It all comes down to how much interest we can foster in places like Squidboards.
 

Ansible

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What the heck is an arcade?! *thinking cap* OH YEAH! I've seen dioramas of those in museums!

Reminds me of the early 2000s when there were a few sites to help you find local RPG and Boardgame groups. Ah~ memories I can't fully recall—

Anyway, looks like it can easily turn into an outright mess once you get started. Not just a public venue to mooch internet from but also stuff like: age range, profile demographics, group mindset, skill type—oh my, these logistics are starting to excite me♥!

AHEM, if you're seeking a public venue... arcades and game shops might not be all that pleased because they want your business with them and not some blasted console-portable hybrid. You may have to do a bit of negotiating as they'll want something in it for them.

As for other public venues there's an easy variety to choose from. There are public, school, and university libraries that play host to various social groups. Some local restaurants, diners, cafes, and bars might be cool with this as long as you're not too disruptive but especially if you're dropping bills in their establishment every time you gather. Conference rooms in hotels or convention centers can be pricey if you're not holding a competition. But some convention centers have public spaces you can just congregate at regularly, staff willing. Some parks and public gardens or plazas have wifi or good wifi sources nearby that everyone can just play outside. Recreation centers are extremely iffy as they prefer you to appear physically or mentally active. Religious centers... may need quite a bit of convincing and negotiation. And there's always the mall foodcourt but the noise level can be distracting.

Hmm... I'm sure there are some more locations that'll come to me later.
 

PunctualGuy

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AHEM, if you're seeking a public venue... arcades and game shops might not be all that pleased because they want your business with them and not some blasted console-portable hybrid. You may have to do a bit of negotiating as they'll want something in it for them.
As I mentioned in my reply to p14n0f, I know from experience that those kind of places host events like this; it's just a matter of getting them on board. Your other suggestions are good though. One of the reasons I posted this is not only to gauge interest, but to get some ideas and feedback on how this can be accomplished.

Magic8ball is also correct in that we need to do a lot of promoting of events if they're going to be a success. I was also thinking of starting an anonymous survey to see where people in the community are located so we can focus on where to start these events. Thoughts?
 

Big Boss

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I think an anonymous survey is definitely the way to go with this, I also feel we could do per-state surveys, like which city has the most players, so that each state could receive it's own LAN party, but that might be a bit too far reaching.

Having attended SquidStorm 2016 I can say that I really enjoyed the LAN atmosphere for Splatoon, they provide a good environment to meet up with other people who have common interests with you and you can always do more than just play Splatoon when you wanna take a break from it like other games, board games, cards, etc. just fun social things.

Like Magic8Ball said we do need to promote this a lot for it to gain any kind of traction as our community is a little on the small side at the moment, but I expect it to pick up once splatoon 2 launches, even then the more it's out there the more awareness there is to this kind of thing.
 

PunctualGuy

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Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've updated the original post with a link to a location survey; please respond and share with anyone interested. Thanks!
 

RelicRaider

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As for the locations you proposed, I'm not sure about arcades or card shops being exactly public venues. Card shops sell cards, so they welcome TCG players and host the release of new installations; based on personal experience (so this may not be true in all cases), it seems board/card games are the things that are hosted in these types of shops. 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. How was it for these places for venues in the Smash scene? Assumption: these are the types of places used and thus you suggested them.
OH! Those kinds of card shops! When I first read this before the poll I was thinking of places like card factory, hallmark and the like, selling birthday cards and stuff, and I thought it would be weird sitting in there playing a game heheh. And yeah it seems like it would be quite difficult, particularly in the states where everyone is so spread out. In the U.K. I guess you could find an easy meet point but I don't know anyone round me that plays splatoon other than people who play it at my house
 

Ansible

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OH! Those kinds of card shops! When I first read this before the poll I was thinking of places like card factory, hallmark and the like, selling birthday cards and stuff, and I thought it would be weird sitting in there playing a game heheh.
Why?! Why must you tempt me and my tendency for occasional mischief?! }=D
 

Magic8Ball

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Another thing I want to mention as I was just having a conversation about this:

What if we didn't force 4-man signups? Not everyone is going to have a group to play with, and getting 4 people from the same group consistently is tough enough online. I feel like there should be a more "pickup team" atmosphere, like when you're down at the court and enough people are there to start a pickup basketball game, just that it would be tourney style. Now would this go over well? Who knows? But an atmosphere and setup like that would be much more beneficial during these early stages, and much more appealing to players who are just starting out. Not only are we hoping to rope in the Competitive community, but casual players who enjoy the game and say "oh cool a tourney, I've got nothing better to do so why the heck not?" People who go to Pokémon locals constantly don't go to regionals or online tourneys. These people are just as important as the competitors. Therefore, I believe a "pickup and play" tournament style would suite these early tourneys best. But please feel free to oppose me.
 

Dessgeega

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Another thing I want to mention as I was just having a conversation about this:

What if we didn't force 4-man signups? Not everyone is going to have a group to play with, and getting 4 people from the same group consistently is tough enough online. I feel like there should be a more "pickup team" atmosphere, like when you're down at the court and enough people are there to start a pickup basketball game, just that it would be tourney style. Now would this go over well? Who knows? But an atmosphere and setup like that would be much more beneficial during these early stages, and much more appealing to players who are just starting out. Not only are we hoping to rope in the Competitive community, but casual players who enjoy the game and say "oh cool a tourney, I've got nothing better to do so why the heck not?" People who go to Pokémon locals constantly don't go to regionals or online tourneys. These people are just as important as the competitors. Therefore, I believe a "pickup and play" tournament style would suite these early tourneys best. But please feel free to oppose me.
Yeah, you're right. It'd be more about getting the requisite amount of people, regardless of their affiliation. I could see that working.

Well, assuming everyone got along, of course. But that's a whole different can of worms :P
 

PunctualGuy

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Another thing I want to mention as I was just having a conversation about this:

What if we didn't force 4-man signups? Not everyone is going to have a group to play with, and getting 4 people from the same group consistently is tough enough online. I feel like there should be a more "pickup team" atmosphere, like when you're down at the court and enough people are there to start a pickup basketball game, just that it would be tourney style. Now would this go over well? Who knows? But an atmosphere and setup like that would be much more beneficial during these early stages, and much more appealing to players who are just starting out. Not only are we hoping to rope in the Competitive community, but casual players who enjoy the game and say "oh cool a tourney, I've got nothing better to do so why the heck not?" People who go to Pokémon locals constantly don't go to regionals or online tourneys. These people are just as important as the competitors. Therefore, I believe a "pickup and play" tournament style would suite these early tourneys best. But please feel free to oppose me.
I actually had an idea similar to this, but you said it first, so the credit goes to you!

I would definitely like it if both casual and competitive players felt welcomed and could get involved in their own way. I must admit I'm not super interested in being really competitive myself; I'd just like to get together with fellow fans and play. But I'd like to help the competitive scene grow, because I think there's a ton of potential in that and it'd be fun to watch.

My experience in Smash Bros has taught me that casual players and competitive players don't typically get along very well and tend to stay isolated, but I'm hoping Splatoon will be different (and it does seem that there isn't a huge gap between casual and competitive players in Splatoon like there is in Smash Bros, which is promising). Maintaining that balance and pleasing everyone will be a challenge though, and warrants further discussion. Removing team registration restrictions and allowing players to register individually is a great start, especially for players new to the scene who definitely don't have a team lined up who just want to experience what a tournament is like, as you said.
 

Magic8Ball

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My experience in Smash Bros has taught me that casual players and competitive players don't typically get along very well and tend to stay isolated, but I'm hoping Splatoon will be different (and it does seem that there isn't a huge gap between casual and competitive players in Splatoon like there is in Smash Bros, which is promising). Maintaining that balance and pleasing everyone will be a challenge though, and warrants further discussion. Removing team registration restrictions and allowing players to register individually is a great start, especially for players new to the scene who definitely don't have a team lined up who just want to experience what a tournament is like, as you said.
Yeah, most communities have this split. Take VGC in Pokemon, and how they butt heads with the casuals. It's actually insulting how aggro that community gets over dumb stuff like that. I think that we can create a healthy atmosphere, but it will take time. It will be about taking small steps, and it also depends on your specific community. So let me ask you this: in your Smash Bros experience, if you were casual or competitive, what exactly created that isolation? Was it behavioral, did they not like the atmosphere that the competitors gave off? Or was it more of a high-school clique issue (a.k.a. the competitors didn't want to be with the casuals so they somewhat segregated themselves)? Because more likely than not, this is what will end up happening again. As a competitor myself, I just didn't find myself enjoying the company of the casual players as much as the competitors just because we had more to talk about. So if we can find a way to break down that wall, I'm sure it will be fine. But everyone needs to put in their two-cents on the matter before we can make a correct guess.
 

PunctualGuy

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Yeah, most communities have this split. Take VGC in Pokemon, and how they butt heads with the casuals. It's actually insulting how aggro that community gets over dumb stuff like that. I think that we can create a healthy atmosphere, but it will take time. It will be about taking small steps, and it also depends on your specific community. So let me ask you this: in your Smash Bros experience, if you were casual or competitive, what exactly created that isolation? Was it behavioral, did they not like the atmosphere that the competitors gave off? Or was it more of a high-school clique issue (a.k.a. the competitors didn't want to be with the casuals so they somewhat segregated themselves)? Because more likely than not, this is what will end up happening again. As a competitor myself, I just didn't find myself enjoying the company of the casual players as much as the competitors just because we had more to talk about. So if we can find a way to break down that wall, I'm sure it will be fine. But everyone needs to put in their two-cents on the matter before we can make a correct guess.
With Smash Bros, I suppose the casual/competitive split came down to the rules. Casual players want to play with items on on any stage, while competative players want more narrowly defined rules: no items, tournament legal stages only (and there aren't a lot), specific stocks rules, that kind of thing. Which kind of leads the casuals into thinking the competatives are being killjoys, while the competatives think casuals don't care about skill. So it's pretty much a mindset kinda thing. And if they can't agree on how the game should be played, naturally they're not going to play together.

But even within the competative community, there are a lot of clique issues, most revolving around people who think Melee is the greatest and all of the other Smash games are inferior, and then there are some who think Project M is the best, and I'm sure there're those who play Smash 4 and wonder why people bother with the old games, and it goes on and on and on. I don't think we have to worry about that though, unless some major rift occurs between Splatoon 1 & 2 players.

I suppose there isn't much we can do about the community splitting up on casual/competitive lines; as you said, it just comes natural to any kind of game. But what I'd like to avoid with these local scenes, and the community in general, is becoming one sided in either direction. I want there to be something for everyone and for everyone to feel welcome, which is easier said than done, but with the right organization, I think it's possible.
 

SoulGuitarist

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With Smash Bros, I suppose the casual/competitive split came down to the rules. Casual players want to play with items on on any stage, while competative players want more narrowly defined rules: no items, tournament legal stages only (and there aren't a lot), specific stocks rules, that kind of thing. Which kind of leads the casuals into thinking the competatives are being killjoys, while the competatives think casuals don't care about skill. So it's pretty much a mindset kinda thing. And if they can't agree on how the game should be played, naturally they're not going to play together.

But even within the competative community, there are a lot of clique issues, most revolving around people who think Melee is the greatest and all of the other Smash games are inferior, and then there are some who think Project M is the best, and I'm sure there're those who play Smash 4 and wonder why people bother with the old games, and it goes on and on and on. I don't think we have to worry about that though, unless some major rift occurs between Splatoon 1 & 2 players.
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.

Another thing I want to mention as I was just having a conversation about this:

What if we didn't force 4-man signups? Not everyone is going to have a group to play with, and getting 4 people from the same group consistently is tough enough online. I feel like there should be a more "pickup team" atmosphere, like when you're down at the court and enough people are there to start a pickup basketball game, just that it would be tourney style. Now would this go over well? Who knows? But an atmosphere and setup like that would be much more beneficial during these early stages, and much more appealing to players who are just starting out. Not only are we hoping to rope in the Competitive community, but casual players who enjoy the game and say "oh cool a tourney, I've got nothing better to do so why the heck not?" People who go to Pokémon locals constantly don't go to regionals or online tourneys. These people are just as important as the competitors. Therefore, I believe a "pickup and play" tournament style would suite these early tourneys best. But please feel free to oppose me.
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.
 

Big Boss

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The idea of pick up squads just sounds funner, talk with others about what weapons they're good at, grab three other people for your team, make up some silly name on the spot, and you're off. It's just a more casual experience, I'm not saying all meet-ups can't be competitive, but I feel a meet-up should be more casual while a LAN tournament should be more competitive.
 

SoulGuitarist

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The idea of pick up squads just sounds funner, talk with others about what weapons they're good at, grab three other people for your team, make up some silly name on the spot, and you're off. It's just a more casual experience, I'm not saying all meet-ups can't be competitive, but I feel a meet-up should be more casual while a LAN tournament should be more competitive.
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.
 

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