Discourse Community

Jared Garraway

2-16-20

Super Smash Bros Community

One of my favorite video games is Super Smash Bros Ultimate, and I’m not alone with this. There are many people out there that love playing this game, and other games that are a part of this series. The Super Smash Bros series was able to accumulate a large fan-base, to the point where people play this competitively. There are many tournaments taking place for this game, and many people playing in them, while also drawing a large audience. This is the Super Smash Bros fan-base.

Fans of the Smash series can be found just about anywhere. The game has helped people build relationships by acting as the bridge that connects them in real life, but there is also much communication that happens online. Social media apps such as Twitter are used for this community to talk with each other, and discuss anything related to the game, whether it be talking about favorite characters, or just making jokes in general. They also like to share their own creations related to Smash Bros under #smashbros on Twitter, such as fan-art and videos they’ve made on their own time. There is even also conversation on the competitive scene for Super Smash Bros games. High level players such as ZeRo, MKLeo, and Nairo are huge names in the community, especially when you are talking about competitive play. Due to how easy it was to find those that are part of the community online, researching their behavior and how they interact with others was not difficult, and because I myself am a part of this community, researching was that much easier. However, those that aren’t a part of this community will most likely be confused by the vocabulary used. In fact, those that aren’t a part of the smash community might feel annoyed with their behavior towards each other.

While the smash community can be welcoming at times, it can also be quite brutal. There is a loud minority in this community that has harsh opinions over certain things, like a new character joining the game, or a player performing well while using a character deemed “unfair”. There are situations where some players cannot handle how the Smash community treats them, and will back out of the competitive scene entirely. There are members of the Smash community that might even harass Masahiro Sakurai, the director for the Super Smash Bros series. It is things like these that give those on the outside a bad opinion of the smash community, especially fanbases of other Nintendo games. As a result, there isn’t much interaction between the Smash community and outside. To add on, there are certain events called “Nintendo Directs” which act as news to let players know what games will come out in the future, and what updates will come to games already released. During said events, most people tune in so that they may learn more news related to Super Smash Bros while passing off other news as insignificant, thus annoying other fanbases that hope for updates on their games. Such behavior has toned down fortunately, and those that do this have become more tame, but the mindset still exists.

While there are noticeable negatives to the smash fanbase, you can still join in and have an enjoyable time in it. If you want to be a part of this community, you can find some players that you can form bonds with, and have fun with through playing the game. The smash community is welcoming to those that simply enjoy playing the game, and would like to see others doing that as well. You can also find help to get into the competitive scene through videos that show you different things you can do with characters you play best with, tutors that can give you direct lessons on how to improve your skills, and friends you can play against to help gain more experience.

In conclusion, the smash community is a diverse community filled with both good and bad. While being a part of the smash community, I’ve learned that from the outside, it may look like a dislikable community, but by going further in, you can find some good aspects of it, and make some good friends in the community.

WORK CITED

“#Smashbros – Twitter Search.” Twitter, Twitter, 21 Feb. 2020, twitter.com/search?q=#smashbros&src=typed_query.