[[Pretty much. #fgc https://t.co/JvYmPU81fs]] I am not very good at fighting games. This will not come as a shock to anyone that's fought me, or seen me play on Twitch yes this was a plug always be plugging. That said, it certainly doesn't stop me from playing, and it shouldn't stop you either! I've been thinking about this as SFVI approaches, along with Mortal Kombat 1, the rumored sequel to Under Night, and Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, in what feels like a fresh new wave of fighting games that look to be great fun to play. It's important to consider because despite loving fighting games, I never really considered myself part of "the FGC." But what I've come to realize is that the reason I felt like this is because I held onto a belief that I think a lot of people outside of the genre might have, which is that you have to be good at fighting games, or an "active member of the community" to fit into the FGC. There's this emphasis on competition and being a good player that sort of lurks under fighting games as a genre. As an example, if you don't play fighting games, I'd guess that your most prominent exposure to the genre is EVO or another tournament. This makes sense given the grandiosity of the event, but it's also somewhat misleading. The community might put an emphasis on the top players in a particular game, much in the same way that people who watch sports do. But in reality, EVO wouldn't be possible without support staff, TOs, and even the people who sign up to go 0-2 (that's me I'm people). But the reality is that the FGC exists beyond that scope. It exists beyond character discords and locals and the top talent. The FGC is also a group of peeps hangin out, doing Rugal mirror matches or only hitting random on the character select. It's you teaching a buddy how to do a 623. It's being a player that's fun to be around, even if you take more Ls than Ws. I'm probably rambling a bit here, but the point is this: A phrase we like to throw around in my friend group is that as long as a fighting game has two people playing it, then it's not dead. On that same token, if you're playing in single player, grinding out ranked, TOing, or even never touch a game but devour the lore or make fan-art, then that counts as being in the FGC too.