DAYYYYUM: Confessions of a Disgruntled MK9 Kommunity Member

[KingHippo]

Maybe I listened to the newest episode of The Kombat Tomb a little too closely, but something rang true to me when UndertheMayo talked briefly but honestly about his thoughts on how the community was going.

I was extremely excited to hear that MK was going to be at Evo once again. It was a sign of how much not only the brand has come to be featured twice at the world's largest competitive fighting event, but also how hard the community worked to make sure the game stayed alive through what was a pretty tumultuous post-Evo season. Having said that, I also now realize that even though I really want MK to be successful...it's pretty disparaging to see what the community has come to.

Ever watched a major MK stream lately? Of course you guys have. UtM touched on this as well, that we don't really have even the slightest hint of seriousness, even when the game is in Grand Finals. Now it's not bad to be funny-hell, I think it's one thing the commentary has over a bunch of others. But when we have just blatant bias on the mic, that's when we have to step back and think, "What is this accomplishing?"

When someone is just rooting for their boy (or girl) to win, analysis of the actions of the players goes away, as does calling out bad decisions (or calling good ones bad IE Tom Brady at NEC). It comes off bad to other people who maybe aren't quite into MK and are trying to understand because...they don't get the chance to. No one is breaking down what the players are really doing, but squealing over one another about who will win or about how awesome the combo was. I briefly tuned into the recent Revolution X tourney, and I think all I heard was "DAAYYYUUMMMM" and "MAAANNNNN" and other community memes that had zero to do with the match at hand. The grand finals of that tournament was a great bout between CDjr. and Reo and the commentary was pretty much a guy who kept asking why someone was doing something, and getting no response.

For all the crap Tom Brady gets, he had one thing right: "Stop the trolling." The community does not need its top players falling into all the stream monster shit like "OH NEW TECH" and putting characters randomly in top 5 because lol trolling. Then you get the plebeians to all start doing the same shit and you have where the community is now. TONS of info available, but no one dissecting it or talking it out.

There's frame data from Somberness and Dr. Dogg that is crucial to learning the game, but how many people take the time to understand it? Sao87 wrote a big thread in the Johnny Cage forums about how to poke out of his pressure and what to do against it using that very frame data. Why can't other players do something similar? Teef and UtM have done similar things for Kenshi and Quan-Chi as well.

Instead, it feels like the whole community is holding back knowledge they have or discussion of raw knowledge...because why? Because we like to troll? C'mon now. Enough with the childish shit.

We need to stop trying to harness "secret tech" and claim that the character is broken and instead bring it up front and talk about it. If we don't, we just get guys ignorantly saying this and that is broken, and then because they are perceived as top players, the community leaps all over and parrots it.

Like I said earlier, there's TONS of info about MK about that the character forums can once again become a place for discussing characters intelligently and thoroughly. Look into it, stop the trolling with "new tech", and please, for the love of god, shape up community. It's about fucking time.

Sincerely,

KingHippo, disgruntled MK9 player/future Evo finalist

 

[STORMS]

Regarding RevX... LI Joe was asked to commentate. LI Joe is an MK Legend who has been going to tournaments for many years... a veteran like Tom Brady, Arturo and Shock.

However, I do agree that MK commentary could be better at times.

 

[RomeoBravoDelta]

On the tech front, I feel like people playing close to the chest with anything they may find is a holdover from the reactionary patch days. While the odds of something getting yanked due to enough cries of "OP!!" have greatly dwindled, I still can't exactly begrudge someone for not wanting to announce new findings from the rooftops, given the game's early history.

 

[Playpal]

There's frame data from Somberness and Dr. Dogg that is crucial to learning the game, but how many people take the time to understand it?

This. I hate people who don't know the JC match up and think every string he does is a frame trap. Really, he only has two strings that are advantage on block and they both require you to high block.

Fuck's sake people, please look at the frame data for all characters, not just your own.

 

[G4S KT]

So, basically, your gripe is that the community isn't serious enough about the game?

 

[REO]

When I commentate I do the "serious / frame data awareness / discussion talk" but everyone says it's boring. I guess you can't have the best of both worlds.

Also there's not much to discuss when just about everyone and their mother claims Kabal is #1 and Sheeva is dead last. It seems like everything is set in stone with not much discussion and results to go along with claims.

 

[SwiftTomHanks]

That 50/50 mix of commentary is hard to find in terms of entertainment and knowledge. What should stop is random discussions while a match is taking place. I didn't watch much of the RevX stream so I'm not sure how it went... but Sabin has been my personal favorite commentator for quite some time now and I know that he was there a lot this weekend.

And in terms of the "trolling", there's a difference between trolling and being an asshat. People seem to just call pretty much everything that isn't brain dead serious, trolling. Trolling is never meant to be hurtful nor harmful to anyone. Being an asshole does that.

 

[NariTuba]

I found that LIJoe was awesome considering he hadnt played the game in ages... why? because he was ENGAGED WITH THE MATCH

REO your "serious / frame data awareness / discussion talk" is awesome... forget about "everyone"

 

[A F0xy Grampa]

Everybody should commentate like Helter Skelter

 

[Sage Leviathan]

Thread should be stickied, honestly.

 

[Gesture Required Ahead]

I'm a troll and I'm offended.

 

[KingHippo]

Oh I know who LI Joe is and I think it makes perfect sense for him to be on commentary. My gripe there was that he was asking things like "why did he d1 right there?" and other pertinent questions to the match and the other commentator's answers were basically to the effect of "...'Cause it's good idk"

So, basically, your gripe is that the community isn't serious enough about the game?

I think the best players are the serious ones. 16 Bit, Reo, PL, CDjr. et. al are serious and know how the game works and how their characters work. What bugs me is that the majority of community, like Reo said actually, will parrot why this character is broken/terrible, but they're not interested in discussing it or looking at the data THAT'S ALREADY THERE and thinking about it for one nanosecond. Like discussion is bad on the site, and usually turns out to be "Well this character is botom 5 'cause people only say so" and "I KNOW TECH THAT MAKES THIS CHARACTER BOTTOM 5 NOW" and so on and so forth and no real discussion ever happens. It's a vicious circle.

Basically, too many plebes, not enough players.

 

[miloPKL]

i watched revolution X and the commentary sucked. i know people are just doing their best. but i wanna hear ACTUAL commentary, not chit chat. the guys talked and chatted about soulcalibur through the matches for example. why? not interested in whats happening? thats how it seems, they just didnt pay much attention to what was happening.

i dont mean to make an example of those guys, im sure in the environment was relaxed and fun and not serious. i dont know the first thing about commentary. i couldnt do a better job myself. but i still wanna hear whats going on in the real fights. this is EVO points they are winning.

 

[RiverHB]

When I commentate I do the "serious / frame data awareness / discussion talk" but everyone says it's boring. I guess you can't have the best of both worlds.

This is the type of commentary I prefer. Educational commentary coming from an experienced top player. I don't hear Troy Aikman on sunday going Daaaaaaamn and oh shit, did you just see that! And I hope so-and-so wins. I hear unbiased, professional opinion. So there's some positive feedback for you.

I thought the two guys that commentated the evo stream last year were very good. Other matches I've seen, however, require me shutting off my volume so I can enjoy the video. For those that take the their commentating seriously, it could possibly open doors to a career if the right person hears it. Or not.

 

[quandaghost]

i agree with this my biggest complaint about our community is the fact that we are withholding things from one another we need to stop all this secretive bs and actually let others know or when we play people online in casuals at tournies, or a friend at home why something works what a character needs to do what this character is about and such. ONE OF THE GUYS IN MY COMMUNITY ACTUALLY GETS ANGRY WHEN I EDUCATE people on what they need to do to make the matchup easier for them. alot of people don't like the game and same things that are completely wrong. At one tournament i was talking about the game to some on lookers who were watching me practice and they said i play sf and i would play mk but there isn't really any mix-up, i was dumbfounded at the remark and really sat down and explained the game and for the sake of conversation scorpion's 50/50 mix-up and the void to him and the options to avoid them and he honestly said that if he had known about some of the stuff i told him about he might have picked the game up. We really need to start educating on the streams, and in online casuals/offline casuals.

 

[KingHippo]

Alright, one more addendum: Community leaders gotta act like community leaders. VSM, I'm talking to you.

We get it, you guys have the most exposure, have the best results and are arguably some of the best players in the country. When you guys start falling prey to the typical plebeian crap like making topics about broken tech and just blatant dumb troll topics you guys are no longer top players, you're just like everyone else. No more drooling over yourselves in commentary either; you're not Eric Bischoff circa 1997 drooling over the NWO, so don't act like it.

You guys have a thing and that's being a little bit less serious, which is fine and dandy, but don't be like the rest of the community and fall prey to their typical shenanigans. C'mon now.

 

[xenogorgeous]

hell of good thread

well, the game has lots of technical aspects, some of them, very crucial and weights represent a part on winning/losing, the lack of knowledge about them, normally, it's fatal, for being defeated.

I respect totally top players opinions, they are the guys that "sweat blood" to find out new tech and stuff, to educate the community and to discuss , normally, safely , about some particular character gameplay.

It's the lack of interesting in technical issues, or impatience, or lack of passion for competitive scene that results in overall complaining whining and biased scrub attitude regarding something in MK9.

Knowledge and dedication on MK9 is like eating a cake : some people are satisfied with only a slice, while others like/enjoy two, and very few, want to eat the whole cake.

 

[16 Bit]

I agree with all of this(even though I'm guilty of some lol).

As I said on the podcast, I think it's all symptoms of us being a young, close knit scene. One thing that would help professionalism is not letting the commentary team see the stream chat.

 

[KingHippo]

It would help, but then again the advantage of being a close knit scene is that our fans are twice as passionate...basically, MK is the ECW of the '90's: maybe not technically the best game, but super passionate fans and a grass roots origin. I think it's good that they our as passionate as they are, but I think we also need strong willed commentators who won't cater to every Kappa and Floeface in the chat.

 

[Prinz]

RevX was awesome. It's the first tournament I watched in the last 1,5 month or so. It's cool seeing how much the gameplay of the same old players has evolved, it's good to hear of broken tier Jax/Kabal/Kitana no more. But, sadly, the commentary remains the same. It's like no one is willing to break down the game. On one hand, it's like old times when you went to the arcades and there was this dude who beat all other dudes and just laughed and trolled about it and didn't bother explaining his tactics, secrets, etc; on the other hand - it looks odd from aside to a guy who never played the game, it's like the player win without knowing what the fuck they're doing.
I'm cool with the fact that LI Joe was put on commentary, but, all the time? The guy said he doesn't know much about the game, and when he was asking something he got a response and the responder went back to "dayyuuummm", or he didn't get a response at all, so he did what he could best to entertain himself. Why would you put on commentary for so long a guy who doesn't know the game? At least someone could be there to help. Props to Sabin CDjR and others who helped the poor guy Maybe I just don't know how it works...
All in all, I'd like to see the same thing as the OP stated. It would be cool to see a newb and a pro commentate, or two pros going head to head, yeah, would be awesome!

 

[Pig Of The Hut]

When i commentated at NEC top 4 i tried to be educational and stop brady from bias-ness

At Final Round there will be 2 commentators per pool and id like to receive recommendations.

You cannot commentate a pool what so ever if you're playing in that pool though.

No Slang words (you know what i mean), abusive language, bias, etc.

Also i will assign a third to mod stream chat only on the keybaord as well as control the salt cam.

Please msg me if interested but do not be offended if i see any rules broken that'll i kick you off.

What we're looking for at final round is strong commentary, educational/informative, hype at the same time but not over bearing.

hit me up in PM or in this thread i guess if you want to recommend someone for commentary and do PM me about people YOU DO NOT want to see commentating as well. Please let me know as well if i am one you do not want, ill take no offense.

I want FR to set a new standard

 

[Z-911-Z]

MK is the ECW of the '90's: maybe not technically the best game, but super passionate fans and a grass roots origin. I think it's good that they our as passionate as they are, but I think we also need strong willed commentators who won't cater to every Kappa and Floeface in the chat.

Dude, as a huge ECW fan I love this comparison. You're an awesome person. It helps that many pros are stationed in the northeast too, lul.

 

[AK BeerGuyEd]

When i commentated at NEC top 4 i tried to be educational and stop brady from bias-ness

At Final Round there will be 2 commentators per pool and id like to receive recommendations.

You cannot commentate a pool what so ever if you're playing in that pool though.

No Slang words (you know what i mean), abusive language, bias, etc.

Also i will assign a third to mod stream chat only on the keybaord as well as control the salt cam.

Please msg me if interested but do not be offended if i see any rules broken that'll i kick you off.

What we're looking for at final round is strong commentary, educational/informative, hype at the same time but not over bearing.

hit me up in PM or in this thread i guess if you want to recommend someone for commentary and do PM me about people YOU DO NOT want to see commentating as well. Please let me know as well if i am one you do not want, ill take no offense.

I want FR to set a new standard

I want to team up with Dogy for some FR commentary. We made a pretty good team during the first BnB tournament on mic. Sadly I have not spent much time on the mic since, but I will be on there for Revival this weekend.

 

[KingHippo]

I'll be the first to say if you want to put me up on commentary I would gladly do it and set an example. I've broadcasted some of the DigitalDojo streams and have been casual when it was casual and can accurately break down a match when I see one.

I have a lot of knowledge about the game and I would love to do nothing more than inform the community and perhaps entertain them a little bit on what's going on.

And I will say that Pig was probably the best commentator at NEC along with Dr. Dogg for Devestation. Guys who were knowledgable and put bias aside to deconstruct the play.

 

[xenogorgeous]

yeah, Pig did well, kinda professional behaviour there