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I was just watching some footage from last year's EVO... and something is bothering me.

Why do some players affiliate with gaming 'teams' such as Complexity or Evil Geniuses?

I understand that in the Counter Strike or League of Legends scene, where there is a teamwork aspect to the game itself - those are the people that you play with, you work as a team, know each other's strengths and weaknesses etc.

However, in the hand-to-hand fighting games such as Marvel vs Capcom, the actual fighting is always 1v1, you don't have 'teammates' per se. In fact you probably spend more time fighting your teammates then you do rooting for them!

So what are the advantages of being part of a competitive team for fighting games?

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    I think this is too subjective, different people will have a variety of opinions on the pros and cons.
    – shanodin
    Jul 11, 2013 at 3:43
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    You do have a point @shanodin.... but I'm not asking for an opinion if it's good or bad, i'm asking what are the advantages (and since we are at it, what are the disadvantages) of being part of a team.
    – Fredy31 ♦
    Jul 11, 2013 at 3:52
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    I'm going to have to agree with @shanodin on this. It doesn't seem like there would be one definitive answer but rather a list of plausible reasons. It's possible this list even changes based on the game (although the games are only mentioned in your tags).
    – Batophobia
    Jul 11, 2013 at 4:20
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    I see no reason why this question requires additional information or clarity. It's a very direct and simple question and the advantages the same for every team in competitive gaming.
    – Decency
    Jul 11, 2013 at 21:31

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It's mutually beneficial. The players represent the team and the team's sponsors, and in return the team's management takes care of the annoying crap that players don't want to deal with like talking to those sponsors, setting up travel and hotel rooms for events, etc. The better players who are on more serious teams will also get some sort of a salary so they can spend more time focusing on being a competitive gamer and less on day-to-day mundanity.

Being a part of a team is also a great way to develop new tech and get a variety of eyes on it without having to show it off publicly. You'll notice how pretty much everyone on EG plays Rufus in SF4- this is because they as a team have spent so much time building up knowledge on the character and his matchups that they can all utilize what is widely regarded as a mid-tier character at the highest level. There's a lot more of that on a smaller scale with new mixups, responses, matchup knowledge, etc.

Teams in the fighting game community right now are a lot more casual and laid back than in other competitive games, very similar to how "clans" were in the original StarCraft. When the scene starts getting more sponsorship interest, you'll see a lot more teams start to form because it's just the logical response. Many players or groups of players will be picked up by multi-gaming organizations like Na`Vi, Quantic, Mousesports, etc. if that interest ever develops.

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  • Regarding everyone on the FGC branch of team EG playing Rufus, that's not true. Only Justin and Ricky main Rufus. PR Rog mains Boxer, K-Brad mains Cammy, Momochi mains Ken and Chocoblanka mains (as one might guess) Blanka.
    – casperOne
    Jul 15, 2014 at 14:29
  • @casperOne Was more true a year ago (when I wrote this) when three or four of them were playing him seriously. I agree though.
    – Decency
    Jul 16, 2014 at 3:29

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