New York, NY – Recently, due to the proliferation of the COVID-19 Coronavirus worldwide, many fighting game circuits have been forced to cancel tour stops or even entire events all together for various games like Tekken, Street Fighter, or Mortal Kombat. While organizers are rightfully putting the safety of attendees first, other community leaders are making the incredibly short-sighted and irresponsible suggestion to instead hold online tournaments, or even qualifiers.
While newer, younger members of the fighting game community may not be at risk to the adverse effects of online tournaments, the older “OG” members of the community are more lag-averse and vulnerable to the risks and perils of online play.
Even more worrisome is the woefully outdated infrastructure here in the United States that simply isn’t up the the task of supporting online tournaments in the unfortunate event that they start taking off. Whether it’s the poor netcode of most fighting games, subpar internet connections across the nation, or reliance on overburdened bracket systems like Challonge or Smashgg, we simply aren’t prepared for more cases of online tournaments.
Experts have cautiously warned the public that the only known solution to online tournaments at the moment is prevention.
“We need to stay vigilant and stop the increase in online tournaments before they even start,” warned Alan Hayes, a tenured researcher at The Arc University. “There is no turning back the clock and we need to do everything we can to contain this situation. Eat healthy, wash your hands, and under no circumstances participate in an online fighting game tournament.”
