The View Never Changes – Hitbox and Eternal Stasis

There are roughly three topics that will always come up in any discourse related to fighting games, and they are all very dull: The first two are boring in the sense that it always seems to devolve into arguing about a weird, Highlander-like future in which there can be only one, which leaves zero room […]

Road Diaries – Meet the New Evo, Now With 100% More Crypto Schemes

I heard it from LI Joe,, I heard it from an almost totally unrecognized Paul George, and I heard it several times throughout the weekend: Evo 2022 was like a family reunion. I’ve never been totally comfortable with using “family” with regards to a large gathering of fellow hobbyists and acquaintances, but I’m not made […]

This is What Capcom Wants, and They Will Never Stop

Capcom certainly kicked off the announcement of Street Fighter 6 with a doozy, eh? For anyone who hasn’t heard, Capcom recently published a long post on the Capcom Pro Tour website that explained, through extensive legal language, the assumed responsibilities of any organizer, no matter how small, who wished to use Street Fighter V at […]

Road Diaries – Frosty Faustings, a flint that sparks hope again

Living in the valley under the sun, snow isn’t really something you get used to, unless you’re one of those sickos that goes to NAU. As my flight landed at O’Hare a couple weeks back, though, I could see I was in for it. I actually ended up skipping the worst of it by a […]

Is Private Equity Coming for the FGC?

Imagine, if you will, that you’re a screenwriter. You start your career, but you need help. You need someone to fight for you in a shark-infested town. So, you get an agent, who works for one of the three biggest agencies in Hollywood, to get your stuff made. Okay, maybe not so intense. Either way, […]

Response to Hold Back to Block – Everything is a “Product”

I watched a video the other day, from a group that I’ve enjoyed a lot in the past – Hold Back to Block. If you haven’t seen it, they created a killer documentary on Killer Instinct that is almost required viewing if you’re a fan of fighting games. This is in addition to a ton […]

Confronting Labor Abuse in Communities

CW: Links to stories of sexual abuse An owner that doesn’t want to pay the staff that organizes for him, let alone refer to them as “employees,” because “then I have to treat it like a business.” Management that sacks an employee the day after booking them a flight to a foreign event, forcing them […]

Insert Coin to Continue

I heard a great story once: It’s California in the late 30’s. A lawyer, fresh out of Duke University School of Law, is trying his first case in the Los Angeles Municipal Court. It’s nothing too serious – a civil case over some money owed. But what should be simple turns sour when the lawyer […]

The Slippery Slope Arguments About FGC Issues Are Pointless Punditry

When did everyone become a pundit? I don’t mean the strictest definition, which is a so-called expert in an area giving their opinion to the public; I mean more so in how every argument is longer about defending or arguing for anything on principle, but defending or arguing for what the reaction would be by […]

Fighting the Rot in the Fighting Game Community Pt. 2 – Star Players and Power Imbalances

A couple weeks ago, I published the first of multiple blog posts which looked to examine how the fighting game community (FGC), as a whole, was uniquely served to set up situations of abuse and harassment, largely in response to a wave of incidents that have come to light in the recent month. The initial […]