CONEY · @CONEY
13th Aug 2015 from TwitLonger
Let Mii Play
PREAMBLE: I'm writing this because I'm burnt out. I originally wanted this to be a discussion--you know, like, a talky thing we could do with our mouths--but everywhere I try to turn, I'm met with the same stuff I see everywhere else, which is...nothing. In talks about this subject (and a similar one you might remember!) I'm seeing little in the way of discourse or even mentioning each other's points. Instead you've got top players gloating or posturing, TOs grandstanding and self-appointed "community leaders" dragging their feet about offering any real resolution, intentionally or otherwise.
So since I'm tired of talking to brick walls, I'm going to throw this idea at one and see if it sticks.
Mii Fighters are divisive. Some people think they belong squarely with Custom Moves in the "yeah we kinda sorta tried it but nah" bin, while others that look to preserve them think they're the last remnant of one of the most unique features about Smash 4. Personally, I just think it's a damn shame we're on the brink of soft-banning three entire characters from our game, turning away players and potential growth because it's "easy." We as a playerbase have always been at odds with ourselves, something that comes from us having to basically mold the entirety of our metagame from scratch since Nintendo didn't do it for us. And while lots of people think this is just our latest fork in the road, I contend that it's not. There's a middle ground we're not considering.
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Here's a quick rundown in case you're unaware.
In general, the major concerns tournament organizers (TOs) have with Miis are:
- Logistics (Letting people create Miis could POTENTIALLY take a lot of time, ESPECIALLY if they're allowed to swap moves)
- Standardization (There are an incredible amount of size and move combinations, which means the matchup is never solidified)
- Fairness (Why should they get 12 moves when everyone else only gets 4?)
This issues are real. But Mii players have legitimate concerns as well. Namely:
- Accessibility (Miis moves don't need to be unlocked, and the characters are selectable on the CSS even with customs off--this is CRITICAL)
- Consistency (Other regions around the world are allowing Miis full access to their moves. Our current "solution" not only makes them unappealing for current and future players, but nearly strips them out of the game for international players that might want to play the character on a global scale)
- Context (Since Miis were designed by the developer to use whatever the player wants--and since we already defined why that can't be the case--Mii players assert, accurately, that they weren't balanced for *any* level of play unlike normal characters, and that 1111 is as arbitrary a moveset as 2313. This leads to 1111 Miis being vastly inferior characters, without any thought of their intent. Put simply, Sakurai didn't design these characters and they turned out bad--they weren't even designed)
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Both sides have real questions and concerns for their representative factions, but as of yet, neither seem willing to budge on a solution. But I think I've come up with one that will make both sides happy. TOs, I'm asking you to consider running this rule at your events, so please listen.
I'm bad with names. We'll call it the "Let Mii Play" Rule. That can be the short name, but here's the rundown:
- Default size only (This is because they are ideally attached to Guest Miis, which are on all Wii Us. If someone wants to play as their Grandpa Mii but keep it within the same size, that's at the TO's discretion)
- Only the following movesets are allowed: ____ Brawler, ____ Gunner, ____ Swordsman
...that's it. *That's all you need.*
This solves issues with...
- Logistics (Miis will be standard on all Wii Us, meaning there's no time to create multiples of them--if a Mii must be created, it takes less than a minute, comparable to a button check or handwarmer, and is there forever)
- Standardization (ONE moveset and size means ONE matchup)
- Fairness (They don't get 12 moves, and can't "counterpick moves." If they want to play a Mii, they're locked into that four-move combination)
- Accessibility (Since Miis are selectable with Customs Off, they survive the Great Customs War in the tiny bunker that is the Mii CSS box)
- Consistency (While we might not totally adopt full customization of Miis, we offer other regions the chance to actually compete with the character, rather than shackle them to what usually amounts to a much weaker version of an already existing character)
- Context (Miis weren't balanced within the context of the rest of the game, and in a way we're sort of handing that responsibility to their players, even if they've never made a game)
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So, you've read this far and you're wondering "how do we fill in those ____ boxes?"
We go full Occam's Razor: Let the players decide.
We reach out to the subsets of Mii Fighter players and ask for their character's most optimal moveset. We tell them to consider the past, present, and future of their characters...because they only get one shot. Once that set is chosen, their Mii of choice will stay that way forever. No counterpicking moves, no making multiple Miis, no size "jankiness"--it just is.
This will probably get a lot of blowback from the Mii Fighter communities, but this is what it's going to take to assimilate into the normal game. Fully customizeable characters are a nightmare on a number of levels. They're simply impractical, for all the reasons listed above.
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Tournament organizers: Listen, I get it. This isn't an ideal situation, but I contend it's the cleanest solution we have considering what we've got. I get that it's not elegant--we're essentially crowdsourcing developers here, and only a year into the game's meta--but haven't we done this kind of thing before? Didn't we develop a standard for a refined stage lists, and then adopt a rule to prevent exploiting it (DSR)? Didn't we solve the question of how to approach time-outs in a non-traditional fighter? We've tackled things way bigger than this in the past, and I think we can put this behind us, too.
I implore you to consider using this rule at your next event. Thanks for taking the time to read and, hopefully, consider. Shoot me a tweet @coneyzz if you want to discuss--ACTUALLY discuss--or if you have any questions.
- coney
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ISSUES AND QUESTIONS -
- What about Palutena? She has all moves unlocked at the start too, why can't we use her?
No. She can't use customs unless Customs are turned "On." That's gone.
- We had a hard enough time getting people to agree on 10 sets of customs. What makes you think they could agree on just one?
Because they have to. Give them an ultimatum. As a subset of the community, you must come up with ONE set, or your character is banned (or worse, 1111).
- Why do they get more moves than everyone else?
They don't. They get 4. You're right in that we're allowing them to choose, a concession offered to the counterpoint that 1111 is totally arbitrary. They also only choose once, so no "but we want ____!" in a year.
- What if down the line we want to change the moves because they'd be more fun/competitive/hype?
Tough. We can't change any other character's moves as the game progresses. Miis shouldn't be an exception.
- Why not 1111/2222/3333?
I personally would be okay with this, but others have raised issues about it being just as arbitrary as 1111, which holds weight. If TOs want to do 1111/2222/3333 as an alternative to this
- How will Mii Players decide on a set?
We'll figure it out. Go where they are, ask, make sure they're the only ones answering; we've done this kind of stuff before in matchup threads and the like, so don't act like it's impossible.
- But this poll that said 75% of players want all customs available!
What kind of players? Anyone could answer that poll. Consider the fact that Smash has a HUGE casual fanbase, and since that poll was open to anyone, it means their votes counted with just as much weight as people who have actually invested in competitive play--players, organizers, et al. It's a consideration, but not THE consideration.