WWFOG (aka 'people have thought up better satires than me')

As I was getting used to my new frugal lifestyle preparing for graduate school (gone are the days of cheap Chinese food and hello 'crackers with peanut butter' and 'rice'), I was reading one of my favorite forums and came across the gem of a flame thread about the WWFOG.

To the uninitiated (read: people who aren't as dorky as I am), the WWFOG is a venture trying to unite professional gaming across the States under one banner, trying to serve as somewhat of a regulatory body similar to the NFL, KeSPA, and the editors of Science and Nature. The company promises sponsored leagues, tournaments, teams, and boasts a roster of '200 professional players,' many of which are situated in one team; Empire Arcadia. In order to participate in this league (and the term participate means 'be able to post on the WWFOG forums'), one must pay a yearly few of ten bucks, the equivalent of twenty packets of ramen noodles, enough to feed me for twenty days (thirty if I'm willing to pass out from low blood sugar).

As much as I like this idea, I can't help but be skeptical that the founders haven't done their homework. Admittedly, I'm going to cheat on my homework (as I only keep up with two 'professional' game scenes and one of them is a children's card game not named YGO) but just from the way these two scenes handle leagues, I forsee major, major problems. For one thing, WotC and KeSPA have strong, established bases within a very narrow range; the former caters to 25 year olds who love doing math in their head and playing with effects like 'destroy,' 'counter,' and 'exile,' and the latter live at their computers until being forced by the program to order a pizza (oh, whoops, wrong game). What the WWFOG is trying to do, however, is go multi-platform and this is a major, major problem. Instead of focusing on the solid fundamentals of a small and rabid fanbase, they attempt to appeal to the mass 'market' of gamers and thus, expose one fundamental misconception both within the old man financial founder of this enterprise and those who would currently support their logistical failings.

'Gamers are all the same.'

Gamers, sadly, are not all the same and if you didn't reach this conclusion from the financial powerhouse that is the Nintendo Wii (Samus x Team Ninja = amazing, btw), then you're either an ostrich or a moron. With so many genres prevalent in gaming, comparable to the variety within other entertainment industries such as film and music, it is a fallacy to say that gamers are somehow one 'large target minority of a demographic,' which is sadly exactly how WWFOG is treating them. Gaming is mainstream now, with middle aged women playing Cooking Mama (the irony here is delicious), young girls playing Hannah Montana's newest digital adventure, and even old women playing Wii Sports. The fact that I'm using all female examples with a high prevalence of occurence supports my statement even more; gaming is mainstream. If you want to appeal to gamers, you can't treat the whole body of gamers as the same body, and from WWFOG's perspective, that would be people who play games to be the best at something. Out of scope.

Even within professonal gaming, the variety of genres across the board means that focusing on a smaller player base is simply a better idea. A pro-SC player could care less about YGO, and a pro-SF4 player could care less about a Disgaea DS tournament (do these even exist?). How can you try for a mass-market appeal if the majority of your target market won't care about the other members? Simply put, you can't. It's folly to try. Gamers will be divisive, and you're better off making the individual leagues in specific games and then having your fanbase diversify as they see fit. Bad business is bad.

Well, at least internet drama will entertain me while I'm starving to death.

Today is sunny, but USPS screwed up my mail. Hence, I'm lazy.

Cheers.