“Should I charge entry fees for my locals?”
<p>First of all, thanks a ton for being open to me sharing all of this, I really appreciate it and really admire your take on FGs and the FGC at large. I’ve learned so much from everything you’ve written and I really draw a lot of inspiration for my own local and the “journey” I’ve been on per the FGC from based on your really “community-focused” philosophy. Which is why I’m writing today to ask a question or for some advice if you’d be willing to offer.</p>
<p>Some background:</p>
<p>I started a local at the tail end of 2019. It ran with about 4 guys and we all just had a good time playing games. We started out not charging entry fees, just venue fees, and by 2020, we had a reliable core group of about 16 players (all online because of COVID).</p>
<p>Now our local re-opened and we’re starting to average around 35–40 players over six games. I’m at a bit of a crossroads as the “leader” of it though, in that, now I’m feeling the tension of which direction to take it next.</p>
<p>The folks who started all of this are mostly casual, hobbyists who all work, have families, and just enjoy watching the community grow. That said, fewer and fewer of them compete because they’ve either moved onto other things or are just not playing fighting games right now. These were the people who just didn’t care at all about prize money though and just wanted to play for fun.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I have a younger crowd who are all super try-hard, but they compete regularly and really stick to their games. I feel a pressure to incorporate prize money for them, but so far we’ve stuck to our guns and hit our numbers nonetheless.</p>
<p>Now I feel a little torn. I feel like as the group has grown, I have lost some of the original community that built it. We’re drawing a younger, hungrier crowd, and they want something different from me that I’m not particularly interested in catering to — or at least wasn’t when it all started. I feel a pressure from some of the players to grow the group though, and of course I want the event to grow, but I don’t want it to “become work”.</p>
<p><a href="https://pattheflip.medium.com/should-i-charge-entry-fees-for-my-locals-cb9d3eb8f818"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>