Nintendo Community Tournament Guidelines: Difference between revisions

Nintendo Community Tournament Guidelines (edit)

Revision as of 02:42, October 29, 2023

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capitalization fix but also some of the archive.org sources aren't uploaded, dont have time to do that rn

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 Nintendo and the competitive side of its playerbase have always had a tumultuous relationship, particluarly the competitive scene of the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series. Nintendo has given extremely little support to the [[community]], with officially licensed tournaments and events being few and far between. Despite this negligence, the ''Smash'' competitive scene has managed to take the grassroots approach and have grown the community into one of the largest in the world almost entirely on their own. However, this prosperity has been jeopardized many times due to both internal and external forces. Incidents like the [[2020 Super Smash Bros. sexual misconduct allegations]] and the [[Cancellation of Smash World Tour 2022]] have thrown the community into disarray and have left a permanent mark on its reputation, while intervention from Nintendo like with [[EVO 2013]] and the [[Cancellation of The Big House Online]] have only built resentment between the two sides.
-During these times, a growing movement among the community to make ''Smash'' a proper eSport has been developing. Since 2019,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dexerto.com/apex-legends/ea-extremely-strict-rules-apex-legends-events-revealed-577623/|title=Apex Legends Tournament Guidelines Article|publisher=Dexerto|date=April 26, 2019|author=Connor Bennett}}</ref> various eSports titles, such as those made by [[Capcom]] and Electronic Arts, have been receiving community guidelines for their tournament scenes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.capcomprotour.com/community-license/|title=Capcom Pro Tour Community Licence Guidelines|publisher=Capcom}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ea.com/games/fifa/compete/fgs-21/community-tournament-guidelines|title=FIFA 2021 Tournament Guidelines|publisher=Electronic Arts}}</ref> This is in response to a rise in eSports industry trends, with [[China]] notably seeing eSports grow beyond traditional sports in popularity and seeing government support.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/04/1080767/esports-china-asian-games-tencent/|title=MIT Technology Review on East Asian eSports|publisher=Technology Review}}</ref>
+During these times, a growing movement among the community to make ''Smash'' a proper esport has been developing. Since 2019,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dexerto.com/apex-legends/ea-extremely-strict-rules-apex-legends-events-revealed-577623/|title=Apex Legends Tournament Guidelines Article|publisher=Dexerto|date=April 26, 2019|author=Connor Bennett}}</ref> various esports titles, such as those made by [[Capcom]] and Electronic Arts, have been receiving community guidelines for their tournament scenes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.capcomprotour.com/community-license/|title=Capcom Pro Tour Community Licence Guidelines|publisher=Capcom}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ea.com/games/fifa/compete/fgs-21/community-tournament-guidelines|title=FIFA 2021 Tournament Guidelines|publisher=Electronic Arts}}</ref> This is in response to a rise in esports industry trends, with [[China]] notably seeing esports grow beyond traditional sports in popularity and seeing government support.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/10/04/1080767/esports-china-asian-games-tencent/|title=MIT Technology Review on East Asian esports|publisher=Technology Review}}</ref>
-For the past 20 years, the ''Smash'' community has been developing its eSports culture and has created some of the largest and highest attended events in the industry. Despite this, the community had not had any restrictions on its tournaments in the past, a double edged sword that has resulted in issues like the misconduct allegations, issues with alcohol and drugs, issues with police interventions and murder cases,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Smashbro_Z/status/1062501637724418048|title=Z on X|date=November 14, 2018|publisher=Twitter}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dexerto.com/smash/smash-player-banned-from-tournaments-for-allegedly-murdering-his-mother-1861165/|title=Smash Bros player banned from tournaments after being arrested over mother’s murder|date=July 1, 2022|publisher=Dexerto|author=Dylan Horetski}}</ref> and more. All of these developments have caught the attention of Nintendo, who are aware of the potential marketing a tournament large and small can hold, and now wish to provide regulations on how their product is handled publicly to avoid being associated with controversy and bad actors.
+For the past 20 years, the ''Smash'' community has been developing its esports culture and has created some of the largest and highest attended events in the industry. Despite this, the community had not had any restrictions on its tournaments in the past, a double edged sword that has resulted in issues like the misconduct allegations, issues with alcohol and drugs, issues with police interventions and murder cases,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Smashbro_Z/status/1062501637724418048|title=Z on X|date=November 14, 2018|publisher=Twitter}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dexerto.com/smash/smash-player-banned-from-tournaments-for-allegedly-murdering-his-mother-1861165/|title=Smash Bros player banned from tournaments after being arrested over mother’s murder|date=July 1, 2022|publisher=Dexerto|author=Dylan Horetski}}</ref> and more. All of these developments have caught the attention of Nintendo, who are aware of the potential marketing a tournament large and small can hold, and now wish to provide regulations on how their product is handled publicly to avoid being associated with controversy and bad actors.
 ==Reactions==
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 On the other hand, several players reacted more positively to the guidelines, with some mentioning security breach issues and major controversies that happened in some tournaments or within the community, such as the cancellation of Smash World Tour 2022 or the 2020 Super Smash Bros. sexual misconduct allegations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025175508/https://twitter.com/Miss_JoyCon/status/1717166241230577751|title=NVR <nowiki>|</nowiki> Deathspade @ BLM on X|publisher=Twitter}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025175508/https://twitter.com/JonComms/status/1716852740096241914|title=Jon Cartwrighton on X|publisher=Twitter}}</ref> YouTuber {{sm|Technicals}} notably reacted with pride, claiming it was "his perfect victory",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025175508/https://twitter.com/Technicals_/status/1716910625996308689|title=Technicals on X|publisher=Twitter}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025175508/https://twitter.com/Technicals_/status/1717269947154391041|title=Technicals on X|publisher=Twitter}}</ref> which caused strong reactions from the community. In addition, many tournament organizers within the Japanese ''Smash'' community reacted with less skepticism. Within hours of the announcement, many prominent Japanese TOs came up with several solutions on how to deal with the guidelines.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/SchoolFromSean/status/1716835523468410904|title=Sean from School's Tweet on Japanese TOs|publisher=Twitter}}</ref>
-Alex Jebailey, the founder of [[CEO|CEO Gaming]], responded positively to the guidelines<ref>[https://x.com/Jebailey/status/1716951653310427451?s=20 Jebailey on the Guidelines]</ref>, noting that it finally gives [[tournament organiser]]s direct paths to obtaining licencing. That in mind, he inferred that large-scale established events should have no issues going forward. This reaction accompanied a video on the topic.<ref>[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OtIJ5gc88kI Jebailey's video on the guidelines]</ref>
+Alex Jebailey, the founder of [[CEO|CEO Gaming]], responded positively to the guidelines<ref>[https://x.com/Jebailey/status/1716951653310427451?s=20 Jebailey on the guidelines]</ref>, noting that it finally gives [[tournament organiser]]s direct paths to obtaining licencing. That in mind, he inferred that large-scale established events should have no issues going forward. This reaction accompanied a video on the topic.<ref>[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OtIJ5gc88kI Jebailey's video on the guidelines]</ref>
 Moon Channel, a lawyer YouTube channel, released a video<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exm8xCSQ9AY|title=A Lawyer Analyzes Nintendo’s Tournament Guidelines|author=VG Law Review|publisher=YouTube|date=October 27, 2023}}</ref> giving some legal analysis regarding the guidelines. He speculates that rather than necessarily "cracking down" on events, believing that they are more of an olive branch. With US copyright laws extending largely worldwide through trade agreements, its grey areas become problematic, resulting in less certainty and thus more regulation by the company is required; to illustrate this point, he cites Nintendo's hands-off approach with its fanbase in Japan. With Nintendo's uniformity in guidelines, it becomes reasonable to speculate that this isn't a crackdown a la fan games, but more of an IP protection measure. Moon Channel goes on to mention that while third party controllers are listed as banned in the guidelines, this is actually a commonality in most guidelines, and Nintendo's own End User Licence Agreements, and is not actually enforced, being used as, again, an IP protection measure; these aren't laws, but policy. Furthermore, he argues that these guidelines are for community tournaments rather than supermajor events, as stated in the guideline's introduction, and that by following these rules, it could aid in reconciliation between Nintendo and the ''Smash'' community at large. Thus, Moon Channel infers that they could result in a more stable community, criticizing big content creators for wanting to run unlicensed tournaments in protest, noting that while the full licence agreement hasn't been published, said licences being provided are discretionary.