Hot take: Stop running tournaments in the Vtuber space.
Here's why they don't work.
I've spent over $100,000 running and sponsoring a huge amount of tournaments before, including OWEC, which was the predecessor to the CAH circuit in OW2.
Everyone knows the fundamental goal of tournaments is to reveal the most skilled team. This sure seems obvious, but fundamentally creates a problem within the Vtuber space itself.
When you're in the esports sphere, everyone is inherently united with the intent of being the "best" at the game. But as Vtubers?
Look, if an Apex tournament happens, I KNOW who will win.
If a Marvel Rivals tournament happens, I know who will win.
Same with Overwatch and others.
The skill gap is just that wide, and even then, those people won't do great in T2, not even talking about T1.
The point of Vtubing isn't to be the best at the game. It's to foster different kinds of relationships and communities, while using the game as a vessel to deliver that experience.
While skill can be part of the reason people come and watch, it's not inherently why people stay-- otherwise, they'd likely go watch a pro stream instead!
Vtubers are good at being entertaining through the MEDIUM of Vtubing. This involves moments that can be over the top and more expressive with the vtuber avatar, or more intimate and cozy because of the environments and characters that can be built with vtubing.
The skill of ENTERTAINMENT is hugely different from the skill of WINNING. Many great entertaining non-vtuber streamers, for instance, don't tend to do fantastic in actual high tier esports because making flashy plays for content is a wildly different skillset than the discipline and knowledge required to excel in the height of esports.
Crank that specialization of entertainment a step further, and we get the massive skill gaps between Vtubers-- and yet, we wouldn't say that one vtuber is OBJECTIVELY better than another as a VTUBER just because they're a higher rank at the game. Their performance on the stage for their audience matters much more than their inherent skill in the game.
When tournaments get held like this, the goal fundamentally shifts into something that Vtubers don't do as a core activity. Yes, you can enjoy the game and be entertained by it, but competition isn't the core of Vtubing (not even mentioning that disciplined competitive play can be SO BORING SOMETIMES OH MY GOD Apex I'm looking at you), and so when we create tournaments for "Vtubers," we fundamentally are drawing this strange line where we go, "hey entertainers, DON'T do what you're best at. I wanna see you do something COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT INSTEAD."
It'd be like taking popular home cooks and making them compete with competitive hot dog eating just because food is involved.
Sure, it's an entertaining concept and might be fun to watch the first time when everyone is being good natured about it, but it gets awkward and not fun once people start to actually try and win, and you wonder why you're even watching that to begin with.
In my opinion, any Vtuber tournaments should compete on creating hilarious and fun moments, using creativity and vtubing's inherent strengths to create a semi-competitive atmosphere only as a vehicle to make things more fun.
Rulesets and victory conditions should be about how many good memories and exciting moments are created, NOT on a raw display of skills.
This is a common problem that happens in fleshtuber communities as well, with many infamous examples of last minute rule changes on ranks leading to immense frustration everywhere as TOs try to make impossible rulings on inherently flawed premises.
Now, here's the thing. Do I think tournaments of ALL KINDS shouldn't exist in the Vtuber space?
Absolutely not! They can be fun spectacles when not taken seriously and made for entertainment as the primary driver.
But I'm running out of characters here.
Maybe I'll do one sometime to show how it should be done, eh?
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Yomi
「 狐女神 . . .」
「 狐女神 . . .」@ApocalypticYomi
So I'm going to be the one to bring this to light but this win is quite unfair. Legacy benched two of the vtubers they had and replaced them with non vtubers making them run 3 non vtubers in the games.
The rules of the tournament specify that you are only allowed 2 non vtubers. x.com/LuminaraLegacy…
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