Episode 2: Pain in the NECk

YouTube

1. 1 hour: “Forum” style discussion
   1. Crowd / player interactions (a la NEC)
      1. What happened – discussion thread (not sure where NEC talk starts)
      2. Who is responsible (?)
         1. Getting physical = auto throw out (unless it’s resolved quickly)
         2. Provocation / “trash talk”
            1. Physical vs psychological
            2. Intent is to disrupt someone
         3. Dealing with “the crowd”
            1. Player feeling that boundaries have been stepped over
            2. Very difficult to draw the line objectively
      3. What could have been done to prevent this
         1. Rule for any unwelcome physical contact – enables the TO to act decisively, and for the players to understand the rule beforehand
         2. What is the line re: “trash talk”
         3. Level of distraction of the individual
         4. TO makes decisions on a case-by-case basis
      4. Where do we go from here?
         1. Conflict resolution between the two players
         2. Greater consciousness within the community
   2. Smashboards leadership change and gettin’ sh*t done
      1. Discussion thread here
      2. SmashWiki
         1. Integration with the boards?
      3. AZ – PLEASE give us a direct channel to your developers!!!
         1. Leverage and support the community!!!
   3. Player Recognition
      1. Tiered Skill Groups
         1. Define players (based on accomplishments) in tiers
         2. Identify and recognize players for achievements
      2. Tiers
         1. S TIER: World-class players (top 5 world)
         2. A* TIER: Those players RIGHT behind world-class
            1. Challenge S TIER players and always beat A TIER players
         3. A TIER: ???
         4. B TIER: Local best players
2. 5 minute: break
3. 25 minutes: “News and promotions”  (contact me if you want to have something promoted! tournament / initiative / combo video / etc)
   1. “Fight Night” at Campbell
   2. The death of the Youtube Uploader?
   3. Fuzzyness’s Tutorial Series
   4. Sudden Death Tournament Series (Brooklyn)
4. 30 minutes: Q&A and Call-Ins
   1. Strong Bad
      1. Pull people who are interested INTO smashboards
   2. Peef
      1. Growing “the community” – what is the community?
         1. In-person game
      2. Rankings problems – people reaching the top and not playing anymore?
   3. Tafokints
      1. Grassroots community – how do we mobilize more people
      2. Investing in new players
   4. Stabbed
      1. SSBPD – integrate with Smashboards
      2. Moneymatch with Cactuar 😀
   5. Ten from MW
      1. Should arrange a free teams option where a top player teams with a random new player. Get a better connection with those who want to get better. Establishes a closer knit community. The top player will be able to give advice for the matchup and team dynamic experience.
   6. Critique new players

Outline

• NEC
  • “Playground rules”
  • Physical vs mental

• Definite Topics
  • NEC (Trash talk where to draw the line)
  • Smashboards leadership change and gettin’ sh*t done
  • Current Melee initiatives
  • TOs getting paid for their work? (KrIsP!)

Future Topics

• Player Tiers
• Melee’s problem-solving mechanism
  • Melee and Social Media (using Twitter, Reddit, etc)
• International Power Rankings and Player Tiers (Rank S/A/B)
• Accessibility for potential market
• EVO 2013
• BlogTalkRadio
• Rules
• Learning from mistakes
• “Code of Conduct”

Notes

• Where we need to go and how we’re going to get there
  • Top priority: Better ruleset clarity
    • Ideally – one comprehensive ruleset by December (can we get there?)
    • Rulesets for different values (stage diversity vs. limiting variance)
  • Greater social media presence – start using reddit and twitter?  –thriving subreddit asking for AMA from pro players as well as advice, frenchmelee twitter, etc.  no solid hashtags
• Changing rules
  • Incentive to winning a tournament
    • More impactful consequences
      • Seed into bracket at majors?  —
      • Run legitimate power rankings?

Meaningful wins (outside of money) –bring back trophies i.e. genesis
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