Part of the Family: My Experience At Winter Brawl 12

Winter Brawl 12 is in the books, and with it organizer Big E Gaming brought a full weekend of intense fighting game action. We saw a full slate of over a dozen different games, including the first ever Dragon Ball FighterZ tournament at a regional major event. Alan “SRM|Nephew” Sun took the crowd in Street Fighter V, Dominique “SonicFox” McLean stood victorious in DBFZ despite being sent to Losers Bracket by NYChrisG, and he also led a 1-2-3 sweep for Echo Fox in Injustice 2 with a surprising character choice in Michelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

While I haven’t been to a fighting game tournament in some time this is not my first rodeo at Winter Brawl. Way back in 2011, I attended Winter Brawl V. I went not just as a writer, but also as a contender, wherein I wrote about my "learning experience" afterward. However, the feeling I came out of there with this time around is the same as my first time at Winter Brawl. This truly is an open, inviting group of people who just love fighting games.

Nearly everyone I talked to was open and free to discuss what was happening on-screen. If I had a question about a game I hadn’t heard of before, a player would happily answer it. If someone popped off a major comeback, the crowd turned into a chorus of shouts and high fives. All colors, all creeds, all types of people filled those Winter Brawl rooms, making it a true melting pot of gaming culture.

It’s an exhilarating feeling even for someone who’s not done it in a while (like me) or even for a brand new person. One first-timer I spoke to by the name of Alejandro Pastor told me, “to see every station filled with players, and to feel everyone’s passion for fighting games here is incredible.” When I asked if he’d be competing in a future tournament, Pastor said, “Oh, I’ll just be spectating. I don’t want to get beat up by SonicFox.” Honestly, I don’t think he’s alone in that regard, but him falling in love with the environment after just a few short hours of being there is a testament to how cool these tournaments actually are when sitting at them live.

If a brand new person to the scene doesn’t convince you, here’s a quote from longtime FGC commentator Skisonic on what makes being a part of the group so special: “When you come here - and this is the reason I’m still here - you know that everyone in the room has some shared interest with you. You can make a little inside Street Fighter joke that your friends at home might not get, but these are the people who will understand and laugh along with you.”

A lot of the modern gamer’s time is spent online, whether it be playing his or her favorite game or talking about it on social media. They may be interacting with other players and fans of those games, but the barriers of "0s and 1s" created by the online environment coupled with persisting issues of toxicity and misconduct before may make some people forget just how fun playing games with live people in the same room can be.

The fighting game community is not without its issues, of course, but none of them were on display this past weekend as far as I could tell. Winter Brawl 12 reminded me of that feeling of community that competitive games can generate, and I left the Clarion Hotel in Essington, PA feeling energized for not only another stellar year for the fighting game community, but hopefully attending more tournaments live in the future. It may have taken seven years to get over my embarrassing defeat, but after this weekend I’m an FGC fan for life.