The landscape of fighting games is much different than what used to be the established norm. Smoky arcades and late-night house sessions aren't the only formats of play now, as sprawling tournaments and local beatdowns have been added to the mix. The real game-changer was the implementation of online play, though. Those who can't sit side-by-side can boot up and face-off in a virtual lounge for their fix. While never perfect, netcode can be a substitute for those unable to meet.

In the current climate, being able to play online has become integral to a game's players. Many local venues are temporarily closed, resulting in the cancellation of tournaments and circuit events, but there are a few who've already fostered a strong online presence, waiting with open arms to receive new challengers. Joe Munday, head tournament organiser of the r/StreetFighter Online Local, has been providing a weekly stage on which internet champs can test their skills, but it's a different beast to run something where you can't be physically close enough to communicate.

"One of the largest pitfalls of any tournament, be it live or online, is that very few entrants ever read the rules. When you're at a live event, for the majority of the players that's not a huge deal, because you can very quickly yell your question to the nearest bracket runner and almost always get your question answered fairly quickly," Munday says, noting how difficult it is to quickly catch and correct player issues. "Typing all caps in the event organiser discord doesn't have the same impact as tapping your tournament organiser on the shoulder and asking who's up next on the stream."

Tournament organiser Ryan 'Callisto' Price was forced to transition The Waifu Dome, an anime fighting game event, to the digital hemisphere after the original venue closed temporarily. Brand new variables had to be considered, such as time constraints, charging money for something competitors might have a bad time with outside of their control when it came to connectivity issues, what regions could be included and more. Not to mention the $4,600 investment in gear, copies of the game, downloadable content and more for equipment meant for offline.

"As far as the logistics of interfacing with players to actually run the tournament, I'm mostly just lucky that 10/0 had prior experience running online events that I could draw from to model things after," says Callisto. To be able to have something to adapt to, netplay it might be, is still fortunate and something he can build from.

For those who've already gone through hurdles of online events, this is their element. The Online Local has been around the block. "We saw the need for online tournaments, simply because it's what players wanted," says Munday. "If there wasn't such a huge portion of the player base who wanted a type of structured online play, we wouldn't have hosted a tournament every week for the last seven years. I feel like something that gets lost in the mix in the day-to-day FGC conversation is that there are still loads of people playing Street Fighter V years after its release."

That reliability has brought in some amazing players, creating the kind of quality matches you'd expect at a major event. The competitors use this as a space for improvement and fight just as hard as if it were offline. "For me, it helps reinforce the importance of tenacity," says regular entrant Spaceboy, whose Sakura play has been the bane of many contestants. "Right now, I'm the highest-ranked player at the local, but it's not because I'm the best player. Unlike the other high rank players, I make sure to enter every single tournament each week."

The need for these netplay skirmishes has become more important than ever now and the community is stepping up to keep the fighting game community active. The weekly Ronin Rumble online tournament, created by Geoff The Hero, expanded from a premiere Samurai Shodown battleground to including Granblue Fantasy: Versus in the rotation. Local venues such as Fighting Game Meetups, Next Level Battle Circuit and Wednesday Night Fights have migrated as well to keep the matches flowing. It's imperative, as interest needs to be kept high, so that there's something to come back to once the fighting game community can find normalcy.

Playing online isn't the most optimal of experiences. If the developers implement subpar netcode, hitches, disconnecting and other problems sour the enjoyment, none of which would be on display during an offline bout. This diminishes the pool of potential warriors and neuters the lifespan of the game. Many modern titles of the genre are barely up to standard, so working around the unfortunate quirks tests the resilience of the community. Still, there are many willing to withstand those issues, because they enjoy the spirit of competition and there are many willing to provide a space for them to showcase their talents.