Noob Question About Tournaments

[sagejonathan]

Hey guys. I'm a pretty casual player that loves fighting games but am really bad at them; I understand the games and everything but I don't play competitively and don't really have time to practice consistently. That being said, I am really interested in going to East Coast Throwdown in June. I've never attended a tournament before, and honestly I don't want to enter for the competition. My question is, can I enter the venue without entering any of the tournaments just to play casuals with people? I know this is a noob question but I have no idea how these things work. I don't have a local scene to play with so I really just want to play some games with actual people for once, learn some things, get better, and enjoy the experience. If anyone can answer my question and give me some guidance, I would really appreciate it 

[Elochai]

You can go to tournaments without actually entering anything. You would still have to pay the venue fee though afaik. I went to ECT last year and I think the venue fee might have been $30-40. I don't really remember off the top of my head. So yeah, if $30 to play some casuals for the weekend sounds good to you, then go for it. 

 

I also see that you live in New Jersey. I don't know how close you are to NYC but if you have some reasonable way to get to NYC then I would suggest that you hit up a TSB sometime, especially since you play Xrd. The level of play is excellent there.

[Hollysmoke]

A lot of places will usually have a venue fee and a tournament entry fee. The tournament entry fee, for the most part, is to add money to the pool. The venue fee is so that people don't just casually walk in and tear shit up, and also helps pay for a lot of other venue-related finances. You'll have to research it but it should be fine. Good luck!

[sagejonathan]

You can go to tournaments without actually entering anything. You would still have to pay the venue fee though afaik. I went to ECT last year and I think the venue fee might have been $30-40. I don't really remember off the top of my head. So yeah, if $30 to play some casuals for the weekend sounds good to you, then go for it. 

 

I also see that you live in New Jersey. I don't know how close you are to NYC but if you have some reasonable way to get to NYC then I would suggest that you hit up a TSB sometime, especially since you play Xrd. The level of play is excellent there.

 

Yeah, I've been considering going to Next Level for a while now. But it is quite a commute, and i definitely can't go during the semester. I'm going to do my best to go during my break though and check everything out. 

 

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[Airk]

The thing is that a lot of the time, the tournament entry fee is so trivial compared to the venue fee that you might as well just throw $5 or $10 into the pool and play a couple of tournament matches.  No one is going to make fun of you for being bad or something and playing a couple of tournament matches can be a good icebreaker as well.

 

So yeah, you can totally go and just play casuals, but you might as well enter a game as well. I mean, FFS, I entered SSF4 at Evo last year.  I don't even play SSF4.  (Of course, I actually won more rounds playing SSF4 than I did in BB. OTOH, my first BB opponent was Dogura. Whee!)

[mAc Chaos]

The thing is that a lot of the time, the tournament entry fee is so trivial compared to the venue fee that you might as well just throw $5 or $10 into the pool and play a couple of tournament matches.  No one is going to make fun of you for being bad or something and playing a couple of tournament matches can be a good icebreaker as well.

 

So yeah, you can totally go and just play casuals, but you might as well enter a game as well. I mean, FFS, I entered SSF4 at Evo last year.  I don't even play SSF4.  (Of course, I actually won more rounds playing SSF4 than I did in BB. OTOH, my first BB opponent was Dogura. Whee!)

Wow, you got to play Dogura. I'd be pretty hyped about that.

 

And yeah if you enter the tournament you'll have more incentive to stick around and watch matches, become familiar with people, etc. At the very least there'd be the people you get matched up with.

[Airk]

Wow, you got to play Dogura. I'd be pretty hyped about that.

 

And yeah if you enter the tournament you'll have more incentive to stick around and watch matches, become familiar with people, etc. At the very least there'd be the people you get matched up with.

 

It was pretty funny; I looked at the bracket and my first match was Some Guy With No Handle, and then...Dogura.  Then Some Guy didn't even show up for pools.  So my first Evo BB match was Dogura. Who was awesome, though I did less badly than I was expecting. (Probably the best showing against him in my pool, actually, though that's not saying much.) I believe the technical term for this is a Woolie Moment.

[D.R.F.]

Lol dat face son

[SoulGuitarist]

You would still have to pay the venue fee but yup!

 

However, I highly recommend competing! It's a very fun experience but if you want to save the extra money, It's all good! Hope you have fun at the tournament!

[sagejonathan]

Thank you for all the replies, I really appreciate it!

[Blade]

I got a question about Venues...

 

I own a decent collection of fighting games, and am interested in bringing them to some local meet-ups for some casual play/demonstrations/whatever.

 

What would be a good means of connecting to people about securely setting something up?  I hardly know anyone outside of Dustloop and GameFAQs, so I'm just wondering where to go/what to do/who to talk to about it.

[NTR_]

I got a question about Venues...

 

I own a decent collection of fighting games, and am interested in bringing them to some local meet-ups for some casual play/demonstrations/whatever.

 

What would be a good means of connecting to people about securely setting something up?  I hardly know anyone outside of Dustloop and GameFAQs, so I'm just wondering where to go/what to do/who to talk to about it.

Facebook is your best option imo. Search for a group related to your area.

 

Almost the entire Toronto fgc has migrated from various forums to facebook just for convenience.