As you may or may not know, MLG is a console-only tournament circuit that includes Gran Turismo 3 in its competitions. Unfortunately, low interest levels might cause GT3 to get cut from the games roster, which would be a sad day for all of us. The last event, held in Dallas last weekend, saw only 4 competitors show up to compete in GT3. And with $1500 in prizes being given out for it, MLG obviously won't want to continue using the game if interest doesn't pick up. It's been like this for all three events so far, although the first two had slightly higher attendance.
I have been wracking my brain for reasons why attendance is so low in comparison with Soul Caliber 2 and Halo, and for ways to spark interest. Initially, I just thought we needed more publicity, so I tried that for Dallas. I told 15 different web sites about it, but that only got 4 people to come in, so that wasn't the problem. So what is it? Why does Halo get more than 30 times as many people to show up as Gran Turismo 3? Is it because they can't play online like we can? No, they have X-box Connect that allows them to play Halo online against other highly skilled players. They have to come just as far as we do to hit up competitions, and they, like us, have a pretty good idea of how they're going to place. Yet they still come, even though they know they won't win. Why do they come for Halo while almost no one comes for GT3? Is it because of the audience demographic? Are GT3ers just too scared to lose? Is it just because of the kind of game it is? Is live racing too intense for us? Is it simply because GT3 is almost 3 years old (Halo is only 5 months younger)? I've been thinking about this for months, and I can't come up with any logical reason for the lack of interest. Everyone that goes to an event has an absolute blast. So much so that 2 of the competitors have been to all 3 events, spread out between New York City, Philadelphia, and Dallas. So why can't we get anyone to come, despite all our efforts?
I really want this to take off, and not just because I voulunteer as the official GT3 go-to guy of the organization. I like GT3 as much as anyone else here (I even have GT4 Prologue, which I said I would bring to Dallas if enough people showed up. That didn't accomplish anything), and really want to see these competitions take off so that people like us can make money doing what we love. So I'm on a crusade accross the GT world to find out why no one's coming, and what I can do to fix that. There are two things you can do to help me with this: first, give me your theories on why GT3 is so different from Halo. Second, tell me what MLG can do to make you and others come to an event. At this point, I'll take any and all suggestions and pass them along to the people in charge. If we think it'll really help the situation, we can make a lot of stuff happen. Do you want a different competition format? Rule changes? More people per race? Prizes for lower placement than 3rd? If so, what? T-shirts, hats, pins, undergarments, dinnerwares? Would you come if there were Driving Force Pro wheels on hand for use and demoing? Would you come if you could play Prologue? If there was free food? Bigger TVs? Drift competitions or exhibitions? Better chairs? Some things may be less doable than others, but you can tell me anything you think would make the competition better, and I'll do my best to get it done.
I have been wracking my brain for reasons why attendance is so low in comparison with Soul Caliber 2 and Halo, and for ways to spark interest. Initially, I just thought we needed more publicity, so I tried that for Dallas. I told 15 different web sites about it, but that only got 4 people to come in, so that wasn't the problem. So what is it? Why does Halo get more than 30 times as many people to show up as Gran Turismo 3? Is it because they can't play online like we can? No, they have X-box Connect that allows them to play Halo online against other highly skilled players. They have to come just as far as we do to hit up competitions, and they, like us, have a pretty good idea of how they're going to place. Yet they still come, even though they know they won't win. Why do they come for Halo while almost no one comes for GT3? Is it because of the audience demographic? Are GT3ers just too scared to lose? Is it just because of the kind of game it is? Is live racing too intense for us? Is it simply because GT3 is almost 3 years old (Halo is only 5 months younger)? I've been thinking about this for months, and I can't come up with any logical reason for the lack of interest. Everyone that goes to an event has an absolute blast. So much so that 2 of the competitors have been to all 3 events, spread out between New York City, Philadelphia, and Dallas. So why can't we get anyone to come, despite all our efforts?
I really want this to take off, and not just because I voulunteer as the official GT3 go-to guy of the organization. I like GT3 as much as anyone else here (I even have GT4 Prologue, which I said I would bring to Dallas if enough people showed up. That didn't accomplish anything), and really want to see these competitions take off so that people like us can make money doing what we love. So I'm on a crusade accross the GT world to find out why no one's coming, and what I can do to fix that. There are two things you can do to help me with this: first, give me your theories on why GT3 is so different from Halo. Second, tell me what MLG can do to make you and others come to an event. At this point, I'll take any and all suggestions and pass them along to the people in charge. If we think it'll really help the situation, we can make a lot of stuff happen. Do you want a different competition format? Rule changes? More people per race? Prizes for lower placement than 3rd? If so, what? T-shirts, hats, pins, undergarments, dinnerwares? Would you come if there were Driving Force Pro wheels on hand for use and demoing? Would you come if you could play Prologue? If there was free food? Bigger TVs? Drift competitions or exhibitions? Better chairs? Some things may be less doable than others, but you can tell me anything you think would make the competition better, and I'll do my best to get it done.
)
)
I hope a lot of people show up (well more than 4 would be nice).
