FGSCene Inc. Documentary Film & Community Work

After May of 2018, when I had set out to make an honors project about the intersection and clash between the fighting game community and eSports, I already knew there was a huge story to tell, because I had been living in that story for years. Having been a member of my local fighting game community in Buffalo since 2014, I have witnessed almost the entirety of the growth and the pushback against eSports' influence in the community.

This video essay and documentary film of mine, FGScene Inc, is in the unique position of being a work that was both living and archival. To tell this story, I had to constantly be mindful of events in the community that fit into the overall narrative of the grassroots fighting game community and its complicated intersection with eSports and the forces of incorporation.

An idea from my own imagination, the boomers x zoomers 2v2 series was my solution for generating cooperation across the generations of players in the local buffalo scene, taking advantage of an older game that recently got access to improved netplay. Text explanation doesn't do it justice, but the trailer does.

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