The Girl Fighters Workshop

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The Girl Fighters Workshop

description

The Girl Fighters Workshop is aimed towards female gamers who have little or no experience in the fighting genre and/or long neglected by male gamers. The purpose is to simply educate female gamers with the 101 on fighting games. Workshop made by AWYN (Emi) (c) 2009.

Transcript of The Girl Fighters Workshop

Page 1: The Girl Fighters Workshop

The Girl Fighters Workshop

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Workshop Introduction

Welcome to the first ever Girl Fighters Workshop. This workshop’s simple objective is to make female players conscious about fighting games. This workshop is aimed at female players with little or no experience at the genre and/or neglected by their male counterparts. Hopefully you girl players will benefit from this “self-help” workshop to gain new perspective as well as to increase your competitive ability. Fighting games are seen as male thing and my biggest hope from this objective is to have you girls open your eyes; that you must take this genre seriously as you would with a platform or RPG.

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Workshop Outline

Topics› Myth: “Girls can’t play fighting games.”› Debunking each myth with facts.› Fighting game glossary.› Typical fighting game layout.› Overview of well known titles.› The command button issue.› Reasons why girls don’t play fighting

games.

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10 Common Myths

1. “Girls find them too complicated.”2. “Girls just button mash away to victory.”3. “Girls just stick to female characters.”4. “Girls think fighting games make no sense.”5. “Girls expect things to happen too fast.”6. “Girls just want to pair pretty characters.”7. “Girls don’t understand command issues.”8. “Female players are too easy to beat.”9. “Girls think fighting games are too violent.” 10. “Girls are offended by female characters.”

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Debunking Myths with Facts

1. “Girls find them too complicated.”No game is ever easy whether it’s platform, RPG, or

in this case, fighting games. It takes practice to master them and a whole lot of patience since they’re required to master moves for each character.

2. “Girls just button smash away to victory.”Not true. With patience (and strategy), they can

succeed without button smashing away besides, button smashing gets old fast.

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3. “Girls just stick to female characters.”Only at the beginning. If they master all the game’s

females attacks, chances are they’ll try out with the game’s men (and they’ll master them too).

4. “Girls think fighting games make no sense.”Only if they detest fighting games (and video

games in general). Any female player should appreciate the genre as they would for RPG and platformers.

5. “Girls expect things to happen too fast.” Only if they button smash helplessly. When female

players want to take their fighting game seriously, they’ll find a way to strategize to victory.

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6. “Girls just want to pair pretty characters.”This is especially true if they’re anime fans with

yaoi preferences. It’s nice to fan girl a male character but they must know his background before attempting anything for their fan works.

7. “Girls don’t understand command issues.”And so do some males. Like I said, it takes time to

master the basic controls. Therefore, master each character’s movements.

8. “Female players are too easy too beat.”Sadly, female players aren’t seen as competitors

but rather as a distraction. There are still female players who are equally good in fighting games as men.

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9. ”Girls think fighting games are too violent.”Any video game, regardless of subject matter, is

violent in some way. Fighting games are no exception. Girls who think that way have their minds too narrowed.

10. “Girls are offended by female characters.”Sadly, most of these games are done to grab male

attention therefore, those games have highly proportioned females to attract male players (like they say “Sex sells”) while alienating many female players. Luckily some female players don’t pay too much attention to this and continue playing anyway. After all, the point of these games is to have fun. There are feminine looking males too.

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Fighting Game GlossaryThe following are the basic words from each fighting game.

Each game has its own vocabulary.

PunchDone by using fists on a low, medium and/or strong range. KickDone by using legs on a low, medium and/or strong range. BlockGuarding against any type of attack. Some are unblockable. Special MoveAn individual character’s special move. Super MoveA more powerful version of character’s special move. ChargeHolding itself for a brief period before executing an attack.

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Typical Fighting Game Layout

2D

A typical 2D layout consists of health bars, super bars (for super attacks), timer, points, and victory badge count for both player and opponent. The key to victory is to successfully drain the opponents

health until it reaches zero. The above example is from Street Fighter Alpha 3.

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Typical Fighting Game Layout 3D

A typical 3D layout consists of health bars, timer and victory counts. Super bars don’t exist because it obstructs the 3D point of view but

characters still do super attacks. The objective of 3D fighting is the same as 2D fighting to drain opponent’s bar to zero. The above example is

from Soul Calibur IV.

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Overview of well known titles

Street Fighter (Capcom)

Many games prior to Street Fighter used to be beat-them-up scrolling type adventures. The debut of Street Fighter II in 1991 defines the fighting genre we know today. Since then, the Street Fighter series has spawned over 15 sequels, prequels, crossovers, spin offs and updates. The series is known for its fast paced 2D game play its famous 6-button layout. Its latest release, Street Fighter IV, continues that tradition.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

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The King of Fighters (SNK)

The King of Fighters is actually a crossover of SNK’s earlier titles such as Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and Psycho Soldier. The debut of KOF in 1994 creates path way for a series known for its plot driven stories released on a yearly basis until 2003 (98 and 2002 are dream matches). KOF is famous for its fighters being teams of three and its simple 4-button layout. Its latest release, KOF XII, continues the 2D tradition the series is known for.

The King of Fighters 98

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Mortal Kombat (Midway)

This US-made fighting game debuted in 1992 inspired by the popularity of Street Fighter II. The game caused huge controversy because it used blood and gore (known as Fatalities that involves cutting a person’s head off or burning someone to death). Its violent nature lead to the creation of the ESRB in 1994 to inform concerned parents about video game titles. Nevertheless, Mortal Kombat continues its unique tradition because it spawns numerous sequels and spin offs.

Mortal Kombat

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Soul Calibur (Namco)

Soul Calibur debuted in 1996 as the fighting genre’s first 3D weapons based combat series. Soul Calibur is popular along with Namco’s other fighting game, Tekken. Its characters fight in rounded arenas so that a ring knock out is possible. As of Soul Calibur III, players can make their own character with custom weapons and stories. There are four sequels as of its latest release of Soul Calibur IV. The series is widely played at arcades all over the world.

Soul Calibur II

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Reasons why girls don’t play fighting games

Lack of interest Inability complex Offended by female character traits Repetitiveness Lack of competitive need Intimidation View video games as “childish” Painful sore thumb after effects

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Tips

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Customize your selection at the options menu. Keep your collection small unless you want to be a

collector. Stick to a selected few characters. 5 or 6 is recommended. Cut the button smashing and the thumb wriggle. Never back off when a male gamer tells you so. Know every title’s characters. Always. Training mode is your best friend. Be patient. Don’t expect instant miracles. Never panic. Start small. Pass the game with them and experiment

more. Try to find real life human opponents if you can. Practice, practice, practice!! HAVE FUN!!

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Command Button IssueMany girls find fighting games complicated is because of the

command buttons. With practice, they can achieve victory with ease.

“Quarter Circle Crisis”Quarter circle commands are the easiest to perform by simply

imputing the require motion followed by the punch or kick button. The super version is simply repeat the same motion twice followed by the punch or kick button.

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“Undercharged” Charge moves are tricky to do but some characters depend

entirely on them so it’s important to learn them. The required command is simply charge backwards or downwards for a few seconds before pressing the opposite direction followed by the punch or kick button. The time required for charge moves depends on the title.

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“The Infamous 360 Degree Spin”This command move is the hardest to perform because

it requires circling the entire control pad 360 degrees. The super version requires 720 degrees (circle D-pad twice). This kind of command is used by large characters and they usually required to be close to the opponent. There are many ways of doing 360 moves. Some people start upwards while some prefer downwards. Thankfully, there’re not as important to learn as charge moves.

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Conclusion

This is it. The end of the workshop. I wish I could cover more but this workshop only covers fighting game basics. There are many websites that cover the similar subject but doesn’t explain fighting games in simple terms for female gamers who doesn’t understand the genre. I’m a female gamer and fighting game enthusiast. I’m not an expert myself but I have more than enough knowledge to help other female gamers in need. I’ve been playing fighting games since high school and I continue to do so and constantly improving my moves.

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Credit and Links

GameSpothttp://www.gamespot.com GameFAQshttp://www.gamefaqs.com Fighters Generationhttp://www.fightersgeneration.com All female gamers for reading this. Spread the

word.

Workshop made by Ask What You Need (Emi), 2009. Do not take without permission.