The Value of Community: EVO 2025 and Fighting Games
Share your passion, find your people
Whether video games are your passion or not, community needs to be.
People who struggle together, challenge each other, improve together, learn from each other, and celebrate together create beautifully human bonds.
EVO is an annual Olympics of fighting games from mainstay franchises like Tekken and Street Fighter, to newer games like City of Wolves. It lasts all weekend and more than 10,000 people attend live to watch the world’s best players face off in their favorite games. Millions of people watch online.
This year, a young man from the Dominican Republic, MenaRD, won the EVO Street Fighter 6 world championship at the annual competition in Vegas. Pakistan’s Arslan Ash took his sixth consecutive trophy as the Tekken world champion.
After MenaRD won in an unexpectedly quick third match against Kakeru, the EVO hosts were quick to ask him how he felt. Yes, there was the requisite bravado of any competition, but when he was asked what message he wanted his legacy, his win to send to the world his humility brought the house down, “I don’t want people to look at what MenaRD did today, I want people to look at what we all did today. Being part of this show is the biggest privilege of my life, and being able to perform in front of all of you just confirms that we’re doing something beautiful. Thank you so much.”
There are so many communities based on sports, hobbies, languages, identities, illnesses, addictions, and interests. Find one or two or more that give you purpose, connection, and even laughter.
Your passion will lead you to your people. And we need community now more than ever.
Video games aren’t just for teenage boys. Female players of all ages are finding their place in that community too.
Runa Momoi, known by her gamer name Betty is carving out her specific niche by targeting fighting game legends. She’s a young Japanese player gaining fame for being the lead in OG Hunt or Oji Hunt. In Japanese, “oji” or “ojisan” means uncle or old man.
Betty is taking down old guard FGC players and even some retired players. She’s also intent on dethroning royalty like Justin Wong. Although she lost to Wong at EVO this weekend, she has beaten six OG gamers: Ohsu Akira, Kokujin, Handsome Orisaka, Isshi Pro, Soushihan Keisuke, and Aru.
For those of us who know precious little about video games, let alone the fighting game community specifically, Betty’s ambition and high-profile endeavors debunk the myth that video games are just time sinks for teenage boys.
Of course, any hobby can become an unhealthy obsession. Addiction is a disease that takes many forms. But the video game players committed to skill-building, excellence, competition, and community demonstrate that demographics don’t have to define you or limit you.
Some couples play video games together. Others compete together. One set of grandparents went viral at a tournament playing Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, just one of several games they play at home with their family.
Kim 'Tinker' Cutchins, 62, and husband Craig 'Arachis' Kvien, 71, also wanted to gain more tournament experience in order to provide and host a regional tournament back home in Georgia, where players have opportunities to compete more locally. Their experience at the CEO 2021 tournament showcased the very best of the fighting game community: hospitality, kindness, support, good-natured rivalry, good-natured trash-talking, genuine respect, and fun.
No one went easy on the senior citizens, out of respect for them as legitimate fellow competitors. And even though all the attendees teasingly boo-ed anyone who beat them, every match was followed by handshakes, fist bumps, and group photos. Popular influencers were quick to admit how heartwarming it was to see the older couple playing, that watching them enjoy such a warm welcome brought tears to their eyes, and how affirming it was to see people of any age doing what they enjoy.
The local and global FGC might not be your community. But the FGC always highlights how shared interests can create a natural connection and an abiding community.
Not only are we navigating troubled times, worldwide authoritarianism, and environmental crisis, it’s all live-streaming every day. When terror and hopelessness feels inescapable, it’s hard to go through the motions of your daily obligations, let alone fight fascism.
You are feeling distraught for very human reasons. We are witnessing unconscionable cruelty and daily suffering. Your nervous system is dysregulated.
Joining a book club or finding a weekly hiking group won’t save humanity. But it can save you. Take a dance class. Join a language Meetup. Volunteer.
Some people will find their community or communities right away. Other people might have to search a bit. Keep searching. Human beings aren’t meant to be alone. It’s not human nature to be an island.
When MenaRD finished his acceptance speech this weekend, the crowd of fighting game enthusiasts broke out into chants of FGC! FGC! FGC! It was celebratory without being cultish. It was a joyful moment in a chaotic world.
You don’t have to dominate on a world stage to find a meaningful community. But not only will you gain a sense of purpose and belonging from a community that’s meaningful to you, you can inspire others. You have so much more to offer than you might realize.
Skill-building is not frivolous in an age of authoritarianism. Building community is not self-indulgent. Community is life-giving and it can empower you to create hope, solutions, and trajectory.
Not only will your community sustain you, you can sustain your community. If you haven’t already, may you find your people in these traumatic times. You will get out of it what you put into it.