Remediating for 140 characters
Interestingly enough, one of the most popular hashtags at least recently in relation to Super Smash Bros was #banlylat. This hashtag refers to a stage or ‘level’ in Super Smash Bros 4 that is currently able to be used under tournament conditions. Unfortunately this stage tends to be unfriendly to players and is considered to be too chaotic and unpredictable for it to be legal for Smash Bros toruanments. Because of this, the hashtag #banlylat was created to gather support for the decision to ban the stage completely. The overwhelming majority of Smash Bros players want this stage to be banned, hence why this hashtag appears on many of the top players’ tweets. A more common hashtag used by lower-level Smash Bros enthusiasts was simply #SmashBros. One of the things I tweeted out this week was ‘Super Smash Bros is such a great game!!’, which may seem somewhat basic for the amount of knowledge and experience I have with the game already, however I wanted to garner a bit of initial support as a Twitter user by just light-heartedly mentioning that I’m a fan of the game. I also retweeted a tweet of one of my favourite Super Smash Bros players, ZeRo. This guy is the best player in the world at the game and won over 50 tournaments in a row from 2015 leading into 2016. This morning he tweeted about one of his favourite non-competitive games, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Since I’ve retweeted this, a couple of people have liked my retweet of his tweet (confusing, I know :P), what this means is that they only saw his tweet because I retweeted, which means I had some sort of impact on garnering likes for ZeRo’s tweet. I wouldn’t say I tweeted anything which inspired anyone as such, but I did have some impact as that person who liked my retweet therefore ending up liking ZeRo’s tweet as well, so I can happily say I helped my favourite Smash Bros player garner one tweet, haha. My experience this week with Twitter I would say has been very interesting, it seems to be a form of social media where quick updates on people’s lives, hobbies and social and political commentary occurs. The pro Smash Bros players I’ve followed also seem to occasionally subtly hint towards their political opinions and opinions on social issues, so I guess the platform encourages and flourishes this kind of commentary.
Entering the conversation
My thoughts on this article is that it is all just arbitrary speculation, any number of these players could do well or even win the tournament. Competitive Super Smash Bros, especially Melee, now has thousands of competitors competing at the professional level, making starting out an extremely long, difficult and tiresome task what with so many well-versed players to catch up to. Articles like this however, narrow in on the best of the best, the players that have proved themselves to be consistently good at this game over and over again. Despite the article doing nothing more than enthusiastically speculating on who could win the biggest Super Smash Bros championship event of the year, EVO, it does a good job of fairly and objectively outlining and giving credit to each of the players that is discusses, without presenting a bias towards any of them. The article does a good job of re-affirming it’s objective nature towards the end, saying “Melee Top 8 is always hype to watch at Evo, and this year shouldn’t be any different, regardless of the makeup of the eventual Top 8.” I enjoyed reading this article as it was unbiased, fair and made me see it as more of a fun advertisement for the tournament itself despite it simply being speculation on who will win.
Creating Generative Value
This article on same sex-marriage reflects issues of discrimination against homosexuality. A politician named Guy Barnett is using ‘sllippery-slope’ arguments to try and get a point across about same-sex marriage that it shouldn’t be legalised because then gay sex will have to be taught in schools. This ridiculous argument is completely obnoxious because for starters, straight sex isn’t even taught rigorously if at all in most schools, and if it is, these schools will only touch on the very basics of topics like this. Secondly, his clear homophobia spools through in his attempt to jump at any hint of a reason why same-sex marriage shouldn’t be legalised. Another man, Rodney Croome, provides a counterpoint to Guy Barnett, saying that Mr Barnett’s tactics to influence people against same-sex marriage is ‘scaremongering’. This is exactly what it is, as Mr Barnett is evidently trying to get his audience to vote in favour of his views. Thankfully the article provides the counterpoint of Rodney Croome, leading to an unbiased article. My personal view is that Mr Barnett’s argument is about as obnoxious as anything I’ve ever seen in my life, and his ‘logic’ isn’t so much logic as it is evidence towards him being a homophobic bigot. This article somewhat relates to my topic of gaming on my blog, as it reflects issues of acceptance, and the nature of modern video-gaming encourages all people from all walks of life to play, leading to an environment in competitive gaming of acceptance and belonging, which homosexual people should also feel, and the fact that we’re even talking about this like there is logic towards not allowing a human right, is as insane as anything that’s happened in the last couple of decades.
Introducing my topic
I should mention that Super Smash Bros is a topic that will be interesting to not just me, but you as well! As my audience, I should tell you all a little bit about why Super Smash Bros might be of interest to you. Firstly, Super Smash Bros is an extremely diverse and family-friendly game, much like the sport of soccer in some ways, anyone can pick up and play, without needing to be very good. Of course the diversity and broad appeal of the game also means that more competitive gamers are able to pick it up and delve into the deeper, more hard-core competitive gameplay. That’s the great thing about the game though, even if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re still able to start playing and have an amazing time, and in this sense it’s a game that draws parallels to other family-friendly ones like the famous Mario Kart. In addition to this, watching and following competitive Super Smash Bros, much like sports, can become really interesting and is something worth blogging about. Much like sports analysis shows prior to the actual sporting event, I will be using this blog in a similar manner to keep you updated on my favourite Smash Bros players as well as my own progress as a player. The current state of play in Super Smash Bros globally is one that is flourishing greatly. The most famous and religiously played Smash game of them all is Melee, the second edition in the franchise. Across the globe, many people play Melee and the latest Smash game, which is Super Smash Bros for the Wii U. One of the best things that will make Smash such an interesting topic for you guys and for a blogging platform is the fact that it lends itself to the analytical side of writing. What I mean is there is a flourishing online gaming journalism trend where many gaming journalists will keep track of and review the playing styles of their favourite players. What with it being such a diverse game, everyone’s playing style is different! And this makes for some fantastic analysis which, like I said, draws similarities to sporting analysis’. I look forward to discussing Super Smash Bros with you, and I hope you find it as diverse and fun as I’ve made it out to be in this post! Thank you!
Why I’m interested in my topic
So the reason I’ve chosen Super Smash Bros for my blog topic is because I’ve always loved the series since I was a kid. From the moment I first played the original Nintendo 64 Super Smash Bros I absolutely loved it, I remember just selecting Pikachu and spamming (the gaming term for continuously using, hehe) the same thunderbolt move over and over. The fact that this was enough to entertain me for hours on end was crazy, but add in all the other moves, characters and stages you could choose from in the game and it became this absolute Utopia of a video game dream. Since the first game I’ve played all the following renditions of Super Smash Bros, including the latest one which I now play semi-competitively. First and foremost I’m interested in the series because it’s just so darn fun, picking your favourite Nintendo characters and simply beating the crap out of other characters never gets old, it’s just such a chaotic and hilarious thing to witness, but it never seems overly violent or cruel. There’s something about the way the game is made that makes it seem like all of the characters, no matter how bashed around they get, always have an infinite amount of enthusiasm and determination to continue fighting. It’s the variety of characters, my enthusiasm for franchises such as Mario and Zelda and the chaotic hilariousness of the game that in part makes me so interested in Super Smash Bros. Now on the slightly more serious note, I’m also interested in Super Smash Bros for it’s competitive value, being a game where your reactions, awareness and ability to adapt are tested really quite well. The latest Super Smash Bros game in particular, is designed in such a way that competitive play really is a legitimate test of skill. Some characters like Fox and Captain Falcon must rely on being in-your-face to do damage to you, whereas characters like Toon Link and Pacman rely on throwing projectiles from a distance, trying to hide away and fight without putting themselves in too much danger. It’s just so cool because some characters counteract other characters in how they play, but no two characters ever feel unfairly balanced. I think there’s something amazing about this supposed children’s party game that’s underlined by this legitimately good test of skill and awareness. I love Super Smash Bros for the fun of it’s hilarious concept, beating up Nintendo characters with other Nintendo characters, but also because of the competition that comes with it.
My Personal Avatar
So this is the first rendition of my personal avatar for my online presence and blog! This is a picture of me with a Luigi hat on, coloured over to give off a sense of quirkiness and humour. Also, you’ll notice I’ve included a GameCube controller in my avatar! This is the most popular controller for playing Super Smash Bros and easily the most colourful and best looking one as well. The presentation of a bright and colourful blog is very important to me, so I’ve tried to reflect this mood in my avatar.
Personal Bio: An introduction to me
Hello everyone! My name is Louis. I’m 20 years old and a student and Curtin University. I have a bit of a quirky personality and enjoy being unpredictable, for me it adds a bit more flavour to life and allows me to have this outlet for being a bit zany and crazy. One of my many passions includes the video game Super Smash Bros! Of which I will be talking about in this blog, as well as alternative music, soccer and any form of weird or cool art. I hope you enjoy the content I’ll be putting onto this blog in future!
SuperSmashBrosBot 