On the Topic of Power Up

    This past weekend, I sat down in my messy t-shirt and ugly pajama pants not totally sure what I should do.  Perhaps play a video game, browse the internet, or some other such nonsense.  In my daily romp over to http://www.shoryuken.com I took a look at the daily stream section to see something that perked my interest -- the Power Up tournament series.  Seeing that it was a relatively big deal, I sat down to watch it with some interest.  I honestly had very little to do, so I figured that I may as well take a look.  Perhaps someone would have new ideas and strategies that I could blatantly steal to improve my own game.  What I found instead was a bit of controversy.

    I am of course speaking on the matter of Justin Wong and his alleged match fixing in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, as well as the strange happenings with the top 8 brackets for Super Street Fighter 4.  For the first time since Street Fighter 4 released and ushered in a renaissance for the modern fighting game, we've seen something important happen.  It wasn't about "cheating" or anything of that nature (which for the record, I don't believe was the motive behind Justin's behavior).  No, the important event in fact is what happened *after* the fiasco.

    I'm talking about timely, and official response from the Evo Staff.

    For those who don't know, in last weekend's Power Up tournament, Justin Wong, a representative of the gaming team Evil Geniuses and a highly regarded player in both Super Street Fighter 4 and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was accused of cheating on two accounts: First, on attempting to influence the Super Street Fighter 4 tournament's brackets by asking to be moved in such a way that he could play a certain player of his choosing.  Below is what is seen as evidence to the fact.





Secondly, his poor performance in the loser's finals of the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament has sparked accusations of "throwing" the match.  Below, if you skip to 1:55:00, you can see the match that he allegedly underperformed intentionally during. (Warning: NSFW due to swearing and graphic images.)





    Seeing the community in an uproar over this matter for one was very interesting.  Generally, disputes and debates in the fighting game community tend to be over things of little consequence.  Tiers, matchup charts, nerf/buff wishlists, etc.  However, for the first time people were arguing about something far more real, and worthwhile.  Something I hadn't seen before, and it lit a fire in my heart to see people speak of these things.  Morality.  Ethics.  Fairness.  Good Faith.  Competition.  But one stuck out to me more than the others.  Justice.  It wasn't enough for many to simply see and expose this sort of behavior, people wanted to see something done about it.  It was a crowning moment that could have broken the community if it was handled improperly, but thankfully the staff of the Evo Tournament Series was there to patch things up.

    In a brief, yet telling statement this morning, inkblot (a moderator, and high ranking Evo staff member) posted a special bit of news on the front page of shoryuken.com detailing what the matter was, and what was to be done along with a few statements from the parties involved (see the newspost here).  I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a swift response, and one that was neither too harsh nor too lenient.  It was backed by a solid set of rules clearly defined prior to the incident, and most importantly, was official and binding.

    Now, these circumstances wouldn't be so troublesome if it were somebody the community didn't put in the limelight.  If for instance these things were done by myself, the impact would be relatively small.  However, Justin Wong is not just any player.  For many, he is the poster boy of fighting games -- especially the Marvel vs. Capcom games.  A multi-national champion, who has been in contention to be called "The Best" for many years.  To see someone who has attained what could be called celebrity status in the fighting game community be reprimanded is a warning, and a reminder to everyone that the rules are there, and will be enforced.  This is about far more than accidental pauses, and the rulings regarding those.  This is about more than button checks.  This ruling is a reminder that the intent in these competitions is to find the best player -- not to find those who are most capable of socializing and making friends.  This, in my belief, is the first step to becoming an organized and respected community.

   In the end, Evo staff and officials decided that there was indeed no foul play on Justin's part in the first matter -- it is his right to speak out and make it known who he wishes to play, though it is up to the tournament director's discretion as to whether this is indeed the best way to promote fair play.  In fact, in light of new evidence and testimony on the event, it would seem that the brackets in question were not yet created when Justin voiced his opinion.  Thus, the coin flip used to decide who should play whom was indeed the correct choice.  Despite this however, there is still a heavy lesson to be learned that hangs in the air.  As for the issue of under-performance,  Evo staff had this to say:

   "Justin is NOT being cited for losing. Everyone misses combos, makes a wrong guess, gets "upset" by a player perceived to be weaker, or just plain loses. All of that is of course acceptable. He also explained that he had not been practicing MVC3, and so was "rusty." We of course understand that a player may not be in top shape for every game they play in, and that a player may not end up performing well on any given day.

The issue, however, is not that Justin lost. It was HOW he lost, coupled with the fact that his loss would benefit a close friend.

Regarding his explanation, we accept the claim that Justin was out of practice in MVC3. Unfortunately, simply being out of practice does not explain the decisions he made. If someone is out of practice, choosing less familiar characters and ignoring accepted strategies seems like an extremely bad idea, if their intention is to win. Beyond the dropped combos, etc., Justin chose to play characters he was clearly unfamiliar with....

...As a result of these choices, we can only conclude that he did not play the match in a good-faith effort to win."

    With this set of events, we move forward in the 2011 season of tournaments with very little changed, save for the atmosphere.  I fully expect to see more fierce competition, with everyone -- even the tournament organizers -- at full alert.  Top players should know now that matches cannot be "floated" without a good reason.  Tournament finals will be played with vigor and enthusiasm, as they should be.  In the end, the gaming community will only benefit from having a watchful eye about to keep players, tournaments, and the competition respectable.  May the best man win.

-O'Hickey