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When you look at the world of competitive gaming these days, it’s hard to separate it from corporate money. Esports, the commercialisation of various gaming scenes run by big organisations and enveloped into annual marketing plans, has firmly planted its roots into what was once an entirely grassroots space. But what if we brought it back the basics, by the community, for the community? What if you were to do it yourself?
The answer may lie in a new event called DIY coming to Brooklyn, New York City, next month. A cocktail comprised of fighting games, punk music, and some of that New York FGC spirit, the event promises to bring back some of that grungier, imperfect soul that many have felt has largely left the world of gaming. To find out more, I sat down in a call with the core trio running the event to talk about DIY’s inception, why Punk and fighting games works so well, and why regional representation and support is so key to that FGC energy many fell in love with in years gone by.
The three lead organizers are well known within their respective circles, both within New York and the wider American community. Helst is the director of NYC Tekken, and commentator and tournament organizer. Bunch, founder of the casabunch fighting game online tournament circuit, and Sway who co-owns anime fighting game institution Team Stick Bug. Together, alongside a crew of mostly New York talent all with ample experience running fighting game events, are coming together to bring a new east coast major to life. Something that had been bubbling away in notebooks and brain matter for years.
Bunch: “One thing we noticed is that New York organizers tend to do this thing where they’ll go and help other states and get their event off the ground. They’ll go to the MidWest, Florida, The South whatever. But we looked around and noticed, nothing is really happening here! We were like, yo, what are we doing?” It’s just East Coast Throwdown (also known as ECT, based in Connecticut). It can’t just fall on the shoulders of Joe, Zack, Walter and John all the time. There needs to be new blood. There needs to be a new reason.”
VG247: How did the idea of DIY come about?
Bunch: I was in the military, and was living between Boston and New York for the past 12 years. I would always drive down and work with Zack and Walter from ECT who’d put me next to these two, Sway and Helst. I’d nag these guys and say, we need to work together! They were like, alright man, cool. When I finally moved back to New York, me and Helst were kicking it at the bar, and he started going on this rant…
Helst: There’s a story behind the bar itself, but basically Sway and we were there drinking. Casa was giving this daunting speech about how we were the best TOs in the East Coast and how there was no one better than us. We were like, okay Uncle Bunch, time to get you to bed. But on the plane ride home, the words stuck with me.. I have this notebook of one-off ideas I wanted to do for stuff, but didn’t want to waste them whenever. I wanted them to be for the right moment.
“So I was listening to music, punk music is what I listen to mostly. The name came to me. DIY punk shows are a very common thing, I’ve been to plenty of them in my life, and that idea of a DIY punk-themed fighting game event came to me, and all my ideas started fitting together. The pieces finally made sense. So I started scribbling the concept down in my notebook, and by the time I landed the next day I DMd Bunch and said, I need to talk to you right now. Then I idea vomited for three hours while he typed it all up into a more coherent format. From there bringing in Sway was a no-brainer and it all snowballed from there.”
But what now, and why a DIY punk themed FGC event? The culmination of years of ideas, decades of collective experience all pulled together for this one new event – what made the trio think this was the right way forward. Not only to bring something cool to the community they’ve spent a good portion of their life with, but to make it something special.
Helst: Well, I didn’t want to make Skateboard deck trophies for random locals! I wanted to get the most bang for my buck, and I’ve had this skateboard deck for like five years. The big three things in my life was punk music, skateboarding, and arcades. So having an event that highlights all three of them just makes the most sense. It makes the most impact when they all play into each other.
VG247: Why do you think the punk DIY aesthetic works for a fighting game event, do you think there’s a connection between the two in terms of grassroots community organizing?
Sway: “Right now especially, we’re seeing a lot of decline where only the big tournaments are getting the shine. A lot of that doesn’t really happen in New York. New York is expensive obviously. A lot of major corporations don’t want to work in New York. So we have all these big events in Chicago, the West Coast, Saudi Arabia or wherever. Ultimately what we want is something that is authentic, so it’s not something where some outsider comes and goes ‘Yeah New York blah blah blah’ before throwing money at it. This is something made by the community, for the community, from people who are very well intertwined.”
“We’re working with LunarPhase who works with City of the Wolves, Houseof3000 who’s been doing Smash in New York for God knows how many years… Everyone we’ve been working with, those running the brackets to the commentators, all of them will have been in the scene. Even in terms of our own history before DIY, we wanted to do something so we did it ourselves. I stepped up to take over Team Stickbug because no one else could do it.
“So when Helst and Bunch came to me I was immediately for it, because would we really let some random tournament no one likes represent New York?”
Let’s be real for a moment, money is tight right now! Cost of travel, cost of hotels… and that’s just for attendees! For these three, there’s the cost of a venue, internet cost, electricity, equipment costs and more. It’s a fundamentally rough time to run a new gaming event, let alone kick off a brand new venture. With online infrastructure in fighting games improving vastly across the fighting game genre too, how daunting is the task of getting people to actually turn up and make the event sustainable? Well, it certainly is, but the DIY guys have an approach they hope will get people to come down.
Bunch: “When I go to Next Level Battle Circuit, the turnout isn’t great. People prefer to play at home. The shift we’ve seen with netcode across fighting games getting better in the FGC – I’m not going to say it’s a bad thing – but it has certainly affected what we all fell in love with to begin with. I think that’s what we’re trying to bring back here.”
VG247: So how do you get people to actually turn up to an event like DIY
Bunch: “You’ve got to give people something different. That was my main thing with this. Y’know I have no punk rock roots whatsoever, maybe my father played some in the house when I was younger, so I’ve been learning from these guys the whole time which has been a treat. They’ve been bringing up bands and aesthetics I’ve never heard of which is a breath of fresh air. I love when tournaments do that. I hate when people just make a tournament and there’s no creativity behind it. It’s just a double elimination tournament…”
Sway: “In a hotel lobby!”
Bunch: “With an ironic tournament name based on a mechanic from their favourite game, and they go alright send it out and hope people show up. It’s like, okay 50, 60, maybe show up and that’s cool. People are okay with that. No offense to those people, I know they work hard, but it’s like where is your imagination, you can do better for sure.”
VG247: Speaking of that DIY aesthetic, you showed off some skateboard decks which will be trophies for this event! How did that come about?
Helst: “I think there’s far more connecting skateboarding and fighting games than people realise. They both are about individual effort with a strong sense of community around them. I’m sick of acrylic trophies. I’ve seen so many of them, I’m over them. Like Bunch said, we can do better. When I first brought up the tournament idea I was like, skateboard deck trophies, frame one and out the gate”.
“So I worked with Drewface, he also has a background in skateboarding, and he’s done a lot of work for a number of esports orgs across the fighting game community. We’d talk for hours about our favourite graphics and how to make it work. We started the design process around a year ago, going back and forth with ideas and sketches, and eventually we nailed it down to one for each game. Each is a homage to an iconic skate graphic, and I was surprised how many people picked up on that! But yeah, we didn’t want to do the basic thing with acrylic trophies and medals that you buy at the same place you get little league soccer trophies.”
Sway: “And we’re not stopping there. Our merch will be interesting, the in-person experience will be different, the stream will be different. I’m super excited for even those watching from home to see what they’re missing out on.”
Bunch: “We are like 90% done with the floor plan, and not to give too much away, but if you’ve been to a punk show you’ve got a good idea on what is coming.”
Helst: “I wanted to capture the vibe of Chinatown Fair back in its hayday. It was cramped, a little noisy, and a little uncomfortable. Now we’re not going to make it a one-to-one replication (laughs). We don’t have to live like that anymore, but being shoulder to shoulder with the crowd watching people play high level games…”
Sway: “Feeling the excitement of people standing next to you… You don’t want people sitting down and not paying attention. Some places just have drinking off to the side or whatever. We want you to feel the energy, people popping off in the centre of the stage. You feel that excitement.”
“There’s always the game being played on stream, but that feeling when Diago is playing offstream, people are standing on chairs watching. Again, it won’t be that uncomfortable, but we want that feeling where people know they’re watching something special.”
Bunch: And I think the venues in New York lend into that. We’re already dealing with a smaller size venue, so it behooves us to play into that atmosphere.
But perhaps most importantly, the event is based in New York. This city has for decades been a hub for fighting games, so much so far its cultural reach has spread across the world. Chinatown Fair, mentioned early, was a proving ground for many legendary players and community members. Justin Wong played there, for crying out loud. So how will DIY bring that New York spirit to the modern player?
Sway: “A lot of it is really just the players. New York has the rawest talent, and that IDGAF attitude when they’re playing the game. Like, this dude is going to beat you in Third Strike, and he’s gonna pop off on you. The energy is around is electric when anyone plays. You see it at locals now! Even though not as many people go these days, you’ll be watching a stream with even like 3-4 players entered and they still get excited over it, it’s not about the paycheck.”
Bunch: “Like Sway said, the energy. We could paint the walls pink and put unicorns everywhere. The tone you get from New York is, we don’t care where we’re playing, as long as New York is winning. That’s how I was raised, I’m sure that’s how these dudes were raised…”
Sway: “That’s how I met you, in Chicago or something. You came up to Manny and went, this dude’s New York? He was like yeah, and I just heard this guy yelling behind me. “
Bunch: “That’s how I get down. Thank god for Start.gg where they put the New York sh*t, because I just sniped New York players. That’s my favourite player.”
Sway: “There are a lot of regions coming through too. People from Connecticut, Boston, Up state, New Jersey. There’s going to be a lot of that regional rivalry.”
Bunch: “I want out of towners. I hate advertising, or feeling like I have to advertise, to New Yorkers. I should be hitting you up telling you to bring your UK homies to New York and we’ll show you a good time. But in tournament, I don’t know you, I don’t love you.”
VG247: You might lose if UK players come, you know.
Bunch: “Yo, in what? You definitely ain’t touching us in Third Strike that’s for sure.”
Helst: “I just want to point out last time we did a 5v5 New York vs London, New York f*cking slapped!
VG247: When was that, like 2011 or whenever. That’s ages ago.
Helst: “No it was 2019! And last time NA played EU in Tekken we beat them as well.”
Bunch: “You know what else is crazy, Problem X and Ending Walker didn’t make Capcom Cup. So why are you talking to us right now? Your best two players didn’t even make it!”
VG247: They’re UK! I have to support them.
Sway: “He understands the assignment (laughs).”
VG247: “Their monitors were laggy, they were jetlagged, the hotel bed was rough, the flights were delayed, they weren’t feeling well, it wasn’t their fault.”
Bunch: “That foolish pride, I love it. iDom played like sh*t at Capcom cup but I don’t care, he’s the best.”
If this sounds like your sort of thing, get yourself down to Brooklyn on May 3-4. They’ll be running Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and of course Third Strike.
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Kurt Indovina
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