MLG Columbus Feedback, Suggestions, and Q&A

[alphazealot]

Curious: what is an appropriate number of Bo5 matches per hour on a stream? Is one every 15 minutes to slow or about right? What would be a solid (data driven hopefully) estimate on the number of matches put on stream at other fighting game tournaments?

 

[RiBBz22]

3 out of 5 is so godlike. That rule needs to get applied to all tournies, seriously.

9.95 Tim Static ?

ya I liked that even though it was my first tournament

 

[Shock]

I plan on attending MLG when it is on the east coast again later this year so I will be better able to comment then. I'm sure the guys here who attended will be able to give excellent feedback as I've seen so far.

We use to do 3 out of 5 for tournaments when we had smaller numbers for 2D games, but it started to get out of hand some how. I am definitely all for it in the future, or at least 3 of 5 from 2nd round winners on to grand finals.

 

[Tim Static]

Curious: what is an appropriate number of Bo5 matches per hour on a stream? Is one every 15 minutes to slow or about right? What would be a solid (data driven hopefully) estimate on the number of matches put on stream at other fighting game tournaments?

We dont usually do Bo5, except winners/losers/grand finals. I think every 15m would be about as good as possible, considering MLG schedule/sponsor commericals involved too. Sounds good to me.

 

[Tim Static]

I plan on attending MLG when it is on the east coast again later this year so I will be better able to comment then. I'm sure the guys here who attended will be able to give excellent feedback as I've seen so far.

We use to do 3 out of 5 for tournaments when we had smaller numbers for 2D games, but it started to get out of hand some how. I am definitely all for it in the future, or at least 3 of 5 from 2nd round winners on to grand finals.

There will be an Arena event in NYC very soon. I should be there as well, and we both along with Phil can talk more about it with Adam, Chris & others involved with MLG.

 

[D-Que Beats]

PUT IT ON TV NEXT TIME.............that is all

 

[STORMS]

There will be an Arena event in NYC very soon. I should be there as well, and we both along with Phil can talk more about it with Adam, Chris & others involved with MLG.

Hopefully this is announced way ahead of time, alphazealot ? If so, my chances of going very good.

 

[mutantmagnet]

From a stream spectator POV:


2. Players view ALL THE TIME if possible - It was nice switching between rounds to players view tho, but needs to be more like SC2, where you can see reactions and micro skill.

I was thinking about this one as well but as frustrated about how to suggest this can be really pulled off. Unlike SC2 which has that massive deadspace in the UI where you can fit the player facial cams everything on the fighting screen is very important.

I don't even want them to consider switching from the game view to playerview because so many things can happen in the game that would get missed by doing that.

Maybe they can do a split a four box split screen, one for each face, one for their hands and one for the actual game but I'm not enthusiastic with that idea because the game play should be more prominent.

My personal preference is that they create a custom spectator UI where the meter bars are truncated to fit the player view but depending on the resources they have to work with this may not be feasible until they get some talented programmers or video editors on hand.

1. ads - Understandable after every game, but did you notice after coming back from commercial the players already did button check and were about to start shortly, therefore leaving very little time for the commentators to talk about the match up. I heard more than once "it appears we already started" as the camera switched to game view very fast.

This did occur a lot more than it should've.

 

[Juggs]

It's funny because the FGC is so spoiled when it comes to streaming. We definitely weren't the first to stream, but the quality of our community streams really have set the standard incredibly high. And we're used to seeing match after match with little to no interruption. Of course we've seen ads before, but never after every set and definitely not after every match. I'm not saying don't do that because I have no idea what you guys need to do as far as ads and meeting a certain "quota".

Also, the entire top 16 should have been streamed. The fact that one of the bigger stories of the event (Perfect Legend) was eliminated off stream is unacceptable! Again, I don't know the reasoning behind not streaming the entire top 16, but please next time do it, haha.

 

[Via_Negativa]

^^ WHAT!

I did not realize this as I missed a fair bit of the top 16, but this is completely unacceptable. This may have been one of the best Mk9 tournaments thus far, but the stream was easily the worst I have ever had the displeasure of sitting through. I cant believe you expected people to pay for the higher quality versions with so little actual tournament footage being featured.

 

[smokey]

I watched about 30-40 minutes of the stream on saturday, and i wasnt impressed.
I watched loads of phil and fubarduck talking to fill time, and only saw one match, which was a halo player fighting a raiden player, and getting blown up. I know the choice of match and the quality of play isnt really down to MLG, but after the match there was a 5 minute advert for razors and such, then some bad music with an overhead shot of the event that stayed for around 10 more minutes.

At this point i had seen 1 match, 20 minutes of awkward conversation, and about 10 minutes of advert/overhead camera. This is where i started looking for something else to do, as i wasnt hooked on the stream at all, i wasnt game for sitting and watching adverts all night, it just didnt interest me and i got bored and gave up.

 

[VOR]

the top 16 matches that were recorded offstream were between 4 and 8 minutes. So we'll call the average 3 out of 5 match 5-6 minutes long. With 4 of those an hour that's 20-25 minutes of gameplay and 35-40 min of ads/filler. Then again there was so much Cage, so that made matches a lot quicker probably. It'd be easy for a regular streamer to give them some data of how many matches there are in an hour on a live stream, (hopefully something current like final round) and get things to a point where both mlg and the fgc is happy. The ads should be proportioned to the length of the fights, which sometimes go much quicker than others. I don't know what ratio of ads:gameplay mlg needs but 40 min ads: 2o min gameplay is too much.

Or just have a constant border of the list of sponsors on the page where the stream is and keep the stream window a decent size. No one would complain, be annoyed, or just minimize the window when an ad comes.

 

[NariTuba]

self copy/paste

Yeah the commercials were kinda silly. Im sure they could have shown many more matches by managing the commercial time a little better.

Something that REALLY pissed me off tho:

Whenever I refreshed the stream because it froze, I kept having to change the stream quality from low back to medium (which is annoying enough, settings memory anyone?) but the WORST part about it was that everytime I changed the quality I had to watch that MLG gear store ad AGAIN...

sorry MLG but that shit doesnt fly in the FGC. I lost and entire game of CDjr vs PL because of that... fighting games go by really fast, there's no time to waste with convoluted ad strategies inserted into the stream player. When I became wise to it I had to watch the remainder of some fights in low quality because I didnt want to deal with that ad or that MUSIC anymore while missing the fight.

Be smart MLG, there is PLENTY of times to get your ads in. As soon as you mess with the viewing experience your value starts going down.

Rant over, congrats MLG on a fine tournament and experience. Congratulations to Arturo for his hard work and for picking 9.95 for commentary... he was simply awesome.

 

[unVINCEable]

When you talk about a television show, you usually get about 2:1 ratio of show to commercials, i would have to go back and time the actual amount of gameplay to commercial. I know it wasn't intentional but it felt like getting taken advantage of or a lot of time was wasted. sn1kzZe had a great idea of the premium stream getting to see all the matches or at least a lot more, definitely would've payed to see more matches. With that maybe you could have another off-stream commentator working it just introducing the players and commentating by them self. I really did like the idea of Bo5, I heard of matches that a player went down 2-0 to come back to win, a lot more pressure to not let the other guy try to make a comeback. Overall it could've been better, but I don't know by how much seeing as it was MK's first venture into Esports, but now hopefully they can make it bigger better and way more hype. Anyways way to guys on making this thing happen, it was fun to watch and be a part of!

 

[REDRUM]

I love it! 9.95 really made it the best of all the fighting streams I watched on MLG....

The CD jr vs Perfect Legend match was amazing! Phil995 and MLG did an amazing job setting up that interview with them both on screen and set the tone proper imo...


My only complaint is the same as most... Gotta haved much more fights streamed.

And for the love of god Id love to know who actually sat in the MLG mettings and thought playing dubstep or techno or what ever that "nervous system destroying" music as @Dark Rob mentioned for 20 mins every 20 mins thought that was a soild idea? lol


I cant wait for more MK at MLG that's all I gotta close with.

 

[colt]

I'd like to see 2-4 streams for fighting games.
This way alot more matches would be viewable on stream. It would also increase premium stream sales since you can rewind / fast forward pretty easily on their streams.

I would also like to see some/most of the ads replaced with some skits with product placement done by players/commentators. Something along the lines of Bic's close shave replay. Where the commentators will replay back a previous match and slow some parts showing a turn of events. During this there would be a graphic showing Bic close shave replay. At the end the announcers would say brought to you by Bic ect. Things like this are alot less boring to watch and could replace a bunch of the ad times.

More prematch interviews with both players would be a nice plus also.

 

[Noob Saibot]

Can we please keep the stream rated PG next time? It was inappropriate to see Curbo's dick going in so many asses.

 

[PimpUigi]

1. The continuation rule sucks. It's quite possibly the reason Reo lost. He would have reset CD Jr. in a classic grand finals set, even if we count Reo losing his first match of the set. (ie not counting Reo's first win in Grand Finals) and so we don't know who would have won.

2. The constant breaks for commentary instead of other matches suck. Some of the interviews were cool. Guest commentators are cool. But the constant long waits between matches makes no sense.

Great job otherwise! First to three for the entire tournament was so cool.

 

[SwiftTomHanks]

I think the best of 5 and continuation rule are great additions and would love to see them adopted at fgc tournaments.

As someone who attended MLG, I thought it was perfect. Everything ran on time, there was more than enough space, a good amount of time for breaks in between matches, other cool events to check out, friendly staff. I sure hope MK can make it back to more MLG events, with how it was handled, why go to EVO?

I'm a 100% supporter of E sports sports sports now.

 

[alphazealot]

I'm liking all the input so far, I'll try and get another guy from MLG who works the stream production side of things to view it and maybe comment.

One thing:

I think the best of 5 and continuation rule are great additions and would love to see them adopted at fgc tournaments.

As someone who attended MLG, I thought it was perfect. Everything ran on time, there was more than enough space, a good amount of time for breaks in between matches, other cool events to check out, friendly staff. I sure hope MK can make it back to more MLG events, with how it was handled, why go to EVO?

I'm a 100% supporter of E sports sports sports now.

While I love the enthusiasm, I'm a huge believer that we are all in this 'competitive gaming' or 'eSport' thing together. EVO and other fighting game events have a great tradition established and are also great events in themselves, I don't think anyone at MLG wants MLG events to kill or hurt other events. I realize obviously we scheduled over NCR, but over-lapping events are unfortunately going to happen here or there. Regardless of that, when I went to EVO I had a blast and when I go to MLG I have a blast...working...but still, don't let one fun experience prevent you from enjoying other fun experiences.

Check out this interview with Sundance, he covers some information of interest to the fighting game community. In particular: he implies this is not a one-tournament investment.

 

[garik16]

I'm sure some of you have seen this in MLG Adam's tweets, but he's basically announced tonight that MK and SCV are guaranteed back at MLG Anaheim (Though he made it seem like it's likely MK9 will be back to the original prize pool (Oh no, only 6k to the winner! :-P)) and that there will be an MLG Fighting Game Arena for SCV and MK9 in NYC soon in which everyone not from NY will be flown in to participate for money.

 

[FrothyOmen]

I have a suggestion.

Can competitors get better/more wristbands? I came in on Friday and didn't even put the thing on because I didn't want to have to take it off then redo it for Saturday and again Sunday. We get a one-use wristband that rips if you take it off that is supposed to be worn for 3 days... yet people kind of have to take it off in order to do things like showering. Is there any way that we could get a new one each day if we need, or give us an actual player pass to wear? You can even make it so we have to return them when we are done, no problem. Just looking for something that's not a piece of paper that's supposed to last for 3 days.

 

[Gengar]

First off, i loved mlg. i watched it with friends saturday and at work sunday and it was great. my main complaints with the stream would just be the giant blocks of nothing accompanied by dubstep, there was alot of dead air that could have been used to stream more matches, or at least show recordings of matches that had already happened off stream, whether theyre commentated or not would be less important, but im sure that phil didnt see all the matches, and even with it being not being live phil, as well as the home audience, still wouldnt know what was gonna happen and the commentary would still be hype. i understand that this is mks first event, and honestly it can only get better from here on out, just need more matches shown up, and i certainly was not pleased that i missed so many of the top 16 matches. next time please show ALL of the top talent, because im certain that all of the top 16 matches were epic and amazing, and we just wanna see em all! but great job mlg, sincerely, it was well put together for a first venture into the FG scene

now, my for my complaint with, well, us. Johnny cage showed up too much, the fact that there were at least 2 players tearing it up with him as a main (dizzy and curbo) coupled with the fact that even maxter and reo swapped to him made me feel like JC was being over represented. what im hoping for is that next tourney, people will be playing more characters that dont get blown up by jc, ie smoke and jax. it was a bit disheartening that i pretty much watched nothing but kabal, jax, smoke, and johnny cage fight, which is in part due to alot of good matches being off stream, but still, i saw no reptile, no scorpion, one kitana, and one good raiden, and i think even maxter only played cyrax once on stream, and thats his fucking main. JC seemed like more of a counter pick character it seemed, and that honestly is lame. i dont want us to get dropped from other tourneys cuz our top eight is nothign but a bunch of cage players. (tekken isnt at evo this year, and part of it is 5 bobs in the top 8. we CANNOT let this happen to us.)

 

[Maxter]

First off, i loved mlg. i watched it with friends saturday and at work sunday and it was great. my main complaints with the stream would just be the giant blocks of nothing accompanied by dubstep, there was alot of dead air that could have been used to stream more matches, or at least show recordings of matches that had already happened off stream, whether theyre commentated or not would be less important, but im sure that phil didnt see all the matches, and even with it being not being live phil, as well as the home audience, still wouldnt know what was gonna happen and the commentary would still be hype. i understand that this is mks first event, and honestly it can only get better from here on out, just need more matches shown up, and i certainly was not pleased that i missed so many of the top 16 matches. next time please show ALL of the top talent, because im certain that all of the top 16 matches were epic and amazing, and we just wanna see em all! but great job mlg, sincerely, it was well put together for a first venture into the FG scene

now, my for my complaint with, well, us. Johnny cage showed up too much, the fact that there were at least 2 players tearing it up with him as a main (dizzy and curbo) coupled with the fact that even maxter and reo swapped to him made me feel like JC was being over represented. what im hoping for is that next tourney, people will be playing more characters that dont get blown up by jc, ie smoke and jax. it was a bit disheartening that i pretty much watched nothing but kabal, jax, smoke, and johnny cage fight, which is in part due to alot of good matches being off stream, but still, i saw no reptile, no scorpion, one kitana, and one good raiden, and i think even maxter only played cyrax once on stream, and thats his fucking main. JC seemed like more of a counter pick character it seemed, and that honestly is lame. i dont want us to get dropped from other tourneys cuz our top eight is nothign but a bunch of cage players. (tekken isnt at evo this year, and part of it is 5 bobs in the top 8. we CANNOT let this happen to us.)

I main cage a long time ago, i didn't even use cyrax once to get to top 8, only used cyblax against reo and it was a big mistake, i was rusty with the guy, still i'll rep cyrax more if people stop believing i need him to succeed.

 

[Sabin]

I main cage a long time ago, i didn't even use cyrax once to get to top 8, only used cyblax against reo and it was a big mistake, i was rusty with the guy, still i'll rep cyrax more if people stop believing i need him to succeed.

Maxter is free