By Rocket Unrue
Esports is a growing phenomenon that even those that have never picked up a controller to play have likely noticed.
While many trivialized Street Fighter as a fad or a child’s toy, even in its early days a sport was forming.
In a financial review released Aug. 3, Capcom Co. stated: “the Company sees esports as an integral part of its future growth strategy and is working to consolidate its position in this expanding market with upfront capital allocation and investments in human resources.”
While Capcom Co. may have been investing in recent years, the real magic comes from the grassroots organizers and players that were there from the start.
Local to Florida is Community Effort Orlando, arguably in the top three tournaments of the United States annually. It is organized by Alexander Jebailey.
Currently, in-person tournaments are on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the streaming platform Twitch keeps the community together.
The Scribe checked in with David-Paul Mattock, aka “AutoMattock,” during his live stream to see if he could answer some questions and he did not disappoint. AutoMattock has been featured on Season 2 of Street Fighter League and is currently partnered with both Twitch and YouTube video services.
On Sept. 12at roughly 2:30 p.m., AutoMattock was entertaining on average 200 viewers and engaging them in dialog. The Twitch platform allows for the host to interact with his or her audience via chat box along with many other tools.
During this session, AutoMattock submitted a simple form for his viewers to fill out. The form allowed them to enter a queue to be invited to his play session and practice live on stream with him.
As a viewer, I watched patiently and asked questions in-between his sets when he was more likely to take notice of his chat window. During that time one of his viewers expressed disappointment in their performance and apologized in chat to all the other viewers watching.
AutoMattock took a moment to uplift the disappointed viewer with a quick reminder that: “We are here to elevate.”
It was an example of a teaching moment and a common belief in the Street Fighter community. The way to grow as a competitor is to have competition. The quickest way to have better competition is to better your opponent; just as stone sharpens stone.
While that has been my general experience over the last 6 years with the Fighting Game Community, when I asked AutoMattock the existential question about that idea, he laughed and asked me to contact him directly via Twitter.
I did reach out for further comment on if the Fighting Game Community was unique in “elevating” your opponents and if that has been his general experience.
AutoMattock explained, “Street Fighter can def be toxic” which is a common experience in online gaming. He goes on to share “but I don’t really care. Usually (sic) its a reflection of the person who is streaming. I tend to be pretty cool so it (sic) bring other people who are good to be around so again, not something I worry about.”
The personalities that make up the Fighting Game Community are as important as personalities in any major sport. They create the legends, the lore, and all the fanfare one expects to see with any championed sport.
So while tournaments may currently be on hold, the community continues to grow with the efforts of streamers like AutoMattock. To check-in with AutoMattock, he can be at
seen atataattwitch.tv/automatock https://www.twitch.tv/automattock or reached on Twitter @AutoMattock.