WILL 121: Week 4

How do you feel about "soft bans"?
I like the idea of soft bans. The way that the Japanese use a soft ban to improve the gameplay in tournaments is interesting.


Do you feel that this contradicts "playing to win"?
Someone could argue that it does but I don't think it actually contradicts "playing to win." Each player is still playing to win.

Also, how do you feel about the Street Fighter community's decision to outright ban Akuma from Super Turbo?
Although I've never played Super Turbo, the ban on Akuma seems justified. A character with that much strength ruins the game since he will be the only character chosen.

Is this hypocritical?
No.

Do you feel that bans are ever warranted?
Certainly. In most competitive games that I have played bans are an important part of the game. They keep the "metagame" from being stale with the variety that is usually available by banning the overpowered/unfair things of the game.

WILL 121: Week 3

After watching, please respond to the following questions on your own blog:

“Gootecks” (Ryan Gutierrez) and “Long Island Joe” (Joe Ciaramelli) have very different opinions on how far they should pursue Street Fighter. Whose position would you take and why?

I would side with Ryan Gutierrez. Gaming is a great hobby and can be very fun even in the competitive scene but the same game would get old for me after a while. Ryan knows that Street Fighter won't be popular forever so he will move on to the next fighting game that becomes popular in the competitive gaming scene.

Also, how do you feel about the rivalry between the East and West coast? Do you think it is beneficial or detrimental to the community?
East and west??? This is bias; where are the central states?!
But seriously there is nothing wrong with a rivalry between different regions of the US. It's the same as something like a basketball rivalry or a college rivalry. Rivalries such as these are beneficial because the community of both sides will thrive. They will both strive to be better than the other and they will have pride for their region.

WILL 121: Week 2

How do you feel about Richard's use of alliances to vote people off?

It's an obvious strategy that would be effective in a "game" like survivor. I guess to answer the question; I feel that it is a valid tactic.

If Richard already knew that most of the other contestants were "scrubs", do you still think it was a good idea for him to try to get votes during the final 2 by insisting that the purpose of the game is to win?

Not at all. I wouldn't say it was a bad idea either though. Each of the final 2 needed a platform to persuade the judges to vote for them. Kelly argued that the "best" person should win, in other words the most likable/amiable, while Hatch argued that the person that "played" to win should be chosen. It seems that for this game, Survivor, that this final plea weighed heavily in the opinion of the judges. In the end though, Hatch was simply better than Kelly at debating his stance.