In the world of video games, many view the fighting game genre as a highly competitive and difficult genre to get into, but for Duce Thomas, Dylan Burbey and Jonathan Everly, it’s what makes up their Thursday nights on campus.
The three are members of ABXY, a video game organization on campus devoted towards bringing together college gamers for a sense of community. Within ABXY, there are leagues and nights devoted to a particular genre, with Thursday nights being Fight Night.
Fight Night has been a major staple throughout ABXY’s history, though it has seen revisions and often removal as its popularity falls and rises. Throughout the years, however, Fight Night has been focused on bringing in new players and showing them how to play.
“It’s usually a mix of both,” said Thomas, a junior majoring in management information systems. “We get surprised with a couple of new people, and then there’s the usual regulars that come through. We’re always definitely looking to grow and promote. When we have these high-key events and such, it brings in a person or two and it makes for a great time.”
Thomas grew up playing fighting games with his brothers, watching them play “Mortal Kombat” and wanting to get better. The first game he really started to learn and hone his skills was the first “Super Smash Bros.” game on Nintendo 64.
With new players, Thomas is ready to be a mentor and help them learn the ropes. He sits new players down to teach them the game and to help them learn combos while still keeping the game competitive enough.
“We want the environment to be a learning experience while also reminding you that ‘hey, remember when it’s time to get to it, make sure you can either keep up or if you do have that passion, you’re able to learn, adapt and grow with us’ because by no means is anyone just a God-tier player,” Thomas said.
Thomas said the best advice for new players was simply “start playing” and to go through tutorials and finding the right character to fit a play style.
“Switching around from character to character may seem fun at first, but then when it comes down to more picked up battles, you may fall off on some things or drop something that may be basic to someone who plays exclusively that character,” Thomas said.
Throughout his years in Fight League, Thomas has seen players of all skill types come through the doors. During a casual match, Thomas was playing normally while simultaneously focusing on a conversation with another group member when the match got heated as the other player was struggling to keep up.
“They got angry to the point that to where they literally got up over to me and took me by my head and just pushed it downward into my own controller,” Thomas said. ”Thinking back on it now, it’s quite funny. Initially, at the time, I was just like ‘oh, goodness.’ “
For Jonathan Everly, a junior majoring in criminal justice, and Dylan Burbey, a junior majoring in business management, fighting games weren’t always their first choice when picking a game to play. The two started playing fighting games in high school, with Everly enjoying games like “Killer Instinct,” while Burbey stuck to anime-style fighters.
As a freshman, Burbey had trouble fitting in and finding a group of friends until his first ABXY meeting.
“Our old president, during my first ABXY meeting, came up to me and complimented me during a match,” Burbey said. “It was one of the first times I had really played a fighting game, and he said ‘hey, you’re pretty good!’ He made me feel welcome, and that’s honestly why I’m getting more involved … I want people to have the same experience that I did of feeling welcome in an environment of people who like a bunch of different things. Chances are, you’ll find someone who likes the same thing you like.”
Much like Thomas, the two suggested new players practice to learn game mechanics and how to apply them in a competitive environment.
“Don’t stick with one training regiment for too long because it gets dull and you’ll lose interest,” Everly said. “Spend two hours and practice quarter-circles or half-circles. Spend two hours learning positioning or learning about the frame data.”
Everly said that while learning the moves through practice modes and tutorials were key, playing against the computer was a losing battle due to the AI’s attack patterns. Fighting other real players, be they online or on the same couch, was a shared rule amongst Thomas, Everly and Burbey.
“[New players] come and they have fun, but they usually get blown up by the people who have been there, but sometimes they’ll play each other and have a good time,” Burbey said. “It just depends.”
During Fight Night, the general consensus is to play a standard versus mode with members passing around controllers and commenting on matches, but Burbey said the vibe of the group dictates the modes and games played each Thursday, with the stranger modes like “Mortal Kombat’s” Test Your Luck mode only being played by request.
The current games at Fight Night are “Street Fighter V,” “BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma EXTEND” and “Guilty Gear Xrd.” Occasionally games like “Super Smash Bros,” “Killer Instinct” and other niche titles will appear.
The three, as well as other Fight League members, meet every Thursday in the Ferguson Student Center from 6-10 p.m. Additional Fight League events are hosted at various times throughout the semester, with schedules posted weekly on ABXY’s Facebook page.
