At the time of this writing, it has been 43 minutes since four names were severed from a pool of twenty. Weston “Westballz” Dennis, Justin “Syrox” Burroughs, Michael “King Momo” Morales, and Diego “Deegs” Gundersen were eliminated from the Smash Summit 5 voting phase.

Westballz’s departure, especially, is shocking because so many followers of the game expected him, given his popularity and status as a Summit alumni, to go the distance. When I asked Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez what he thought his biggest obstacles for garnering votes would be, he replied, “lots of competition [from players] who were previously invited, like Westballz and PewPewU.” The assumption was that it would take considerably less effort for these players to mobilize their followers. Now, with twenty-three hours remaining before the next group is eliminated, one of the two is gone.

These early removals reminded the Super Smash Bros. Melee community that the voting phase of a Smash Summit is incredibly stressful. The opportunity to participate in Beyond the Summit’s must-see event means that the participant has a shot at winning cash prizes, and also has four days of uninterrupted play time with the best players in the world. But, is choosing to opt into weeks of heavy campaigning, deep emotional investments, and harrowing financial maneuvering worth it?

Every Valley Shall Be Exalted

Four days before the first Smash Summit event, Alex “Alex19” Ruvalcaba sat across from me, inside a loft above the Esports Arena, nursing a heinous hangover with a knowing smile and a familiar shake of his head. He described his elevator-pitch impression of what he thought the first Summit event was going to be: “Extremely exclusive. Some 007, Casino Royale, shit. It’s like the Smash Community meets The Real World.”

For the first four events, there were only two ways for players to enter Smash Summit.

The first way was to be one of the highest ranked players in the world and to earn a direct invitation from the organizers. These invitations were reserved for ten players.

The second way was to opt into the voting phase and to campaign for votes from fans and supporters. The players with the most votes at the end of the voting period would fill out the remaining six spots. Eligibility rules for the voting phase change with each new event, but the cutthroat nature and feelings of desperation stay the same.

In the weeks leading up to the first Summit, opted-in players felt the psychological crunch of campaigning the hardest. Two years ago, no one knew Smash Summit would eventually become an ongoing series of events, so participants were willing to do and say anything to win a seemingly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Players were quick to accuse other participants of lying and cheating if doing so could potentially cut the field or provide an advantage.

Back inside that Esports Arena loft, Alex19 said, “Let’s take [notable canadian Melee player] Kage for instance: Sweetheart in person, but [because of Summit campaigning] I saw colors of him come out. Colors I’ve never seen in my life.”

Alex was referring to Roustane “Kage” Benzeguir’s attacks on other candidates through Twitter and Facebook. Kage believed his opponents were forming unfair alliances that combined voting power from seemingly isolated corners of the community. It was these attacks and similar social media posts that opened up endless conversations and arguments over who should be allowed to go to Summit. Ultimately, the controversy leading up to the final ballot tallies made it painfully obvious that successfully “making it” into Summit went beyond playing Melee well.

Getting into a Smash Summit event was never entirely dependent on the skill level of the player. As with previous years, the qualifications required to opt into the voting process for this November’s Smash Summit 5 allow for a wide range of participants. According to the rules defined on the Smash Summit 5 smashgg page, voting phase eligibility is extended to “the SSBMRank Summer 2017 top 50 players and those who placed [65th or better] at EVO 2017 or Shine 2017.”

If we remove the eight invited players from this pool of potentials, that leaves a group of over 140 players, of varying skill and popularity, competing for ten coveted spots[^the-summit-field]. While in-game skill made it possible for competitors to be eligible, whether or not they move onto the next phase is determined entirely by how well they market themselves.

This lack of objectivity in filling in the remaining Summit spots gives the highly competitive voting phase an air of uncertainty and makes the whole ordeal stressful and emotionally taxing. Kevin “PewPewU” Toy, an alumnus of all previous Summit events, says, “It’s pretty aggressive and gruesome for the [players]. There’s a stigma that Summit voting ‘brings out the worst’ in the community. It makes the [players] jealous and stressed. Last year the stress made me highly depressed and anxious because I felt like we all needed to do whatever it took to get one little vote.”

The Cost of One Little Vote

On February 15th, 2017, a guardian angel attempted to save DaJuan “Shroomed” McDaniel.

Ten seconds before the two top candidates were going to secure their spots at Smash Summit Spring 2017, a benevolent individual contributed 13,200 votes to Shroomed’s campaign. Shroomed jumped from 10,816 votes to 24,016 in an instant. But despite the massive leap, Shroomed was still below the cut-off to reserve a Summit seat. What could have been a simple underestimation, may have cost him his entry into the event.

Smash Summit Spring 2017 Voting Reactions — Start at 0:19 to see Shroomed’s Spirit Bomb Donation

On February 14th, 2017, the day before Shroomed’s spirit bomb, a Redditor with the username, minitimmy3, wrote a comment, detailing his involvement in the voting phase of Smash Summit Spring 2017.

Now I’m going to be honest with you all, I’m about spent here, I’ve dropped close to 17,000+ votes in total this Summit, and a little more that $7,000 on Shroomed. I believe that much in this man.

From his comment, we can infer that he was most likely the “Guardian Angel” that dropped the spirit bomb that increased Shroomed’s total votes by 13,200. His sincerity and support shine through in his words, but unfortunately, his efforts were thwarted by the rapidly increasing cost of securing one summit seat.

Smash Summit Spring 2017 Votes and Costs (at approx. 2.2 Votes per Dollar)

As you can see in the table above, the race was kept relatively close in the 1st round. Around $1,360 separate the candidate in 1st place (Infinite Numbers) and the candidate in 4th (Shroomed).

But once, we move into the second round, there are differences are larger. $2,640 separates the 1st place candidate from the candidate in 3rd. Also, Lucky raised more than $6,000 to jump from being behind Shroomed in the 1st round to being ahead of the entire pack in the 2nd round. This means that in order to secure his spot, Lucky had to raise nearly half as much as the 1st round winners did in one day.

In the final round, we can see that Ice and ChuDat jumped from being below Shroomed, to the 1st and 2nd place respectively. Incredibly, they raised $10,000 in one day in order to secure their 3rd round spots, and these spots, in total, were worth nearly twice as much as the 1st round ones.

This fundraising escalation game is a tremendous mental strain. Depending on how badly the individual wants to enter the event, there is a strong external pressure to dramatically increase or tweak their campaign promises and offered services to entice more and more voters with each new round. The worst part is that even if the candidate raises enough money, or donates out of their own pockets, there is no guaranteed return on the investment. A loss is a loss not just for the candidate, but for everyone else that was willing to vote with their wallets.

When I asked Hugo “HugS” Gonzalez what his thoughts were about Summit, he was one of the few participants to acknowledge how a Summit campaign can affect his, and his fans’, coffers.

For a while, I disliked [Summit campaigning] because it seemed like a process where your fan base had to be drained of funds [for the participant] to make it in. However, after last Summit, I learned that there was a way to organize your supporters in a way where no one person has to invest everything to get you in. If you can get your supporters together, you can get in without anyone having to break the bank.

For all future candidates, one could only hope they arrive at a similar breakthrough.

“Because It’s There”

After he dropped out of the voting phase for Smash Summit 3, Griffin “Captain Faceroll” Williams sat down for an interview with Ashkon Honardkoost. After reflecting on Captian Faceroll’s campaign experience, Ashkon described Summit as a “crap shoot”, and Faceroll, with a knowing smile, elaborated on how right effort and dedication still counts.

Ashkonversations Episode 8: Interview with Captain Faceroll

So the main thing (that’s sort of like the meta) is that you have to be really organized. The fault with my campaign (and Druggedfox’s as well from what I’ve seen) was that there wasn’t much of a concerted effort. […] But like other people went like hard. […] The takeaway there for me personally, you have to be more organized and more purposeful. […] On that end it’s not a surprise that I got knocked out […], but it is a surprise that Duck got knocked out because [he went all out].”

Captain Faceroll’s words echo what many other players have commented on in various capacities via twitlongers, and Reddit posts, and YouTube talks: that mobilizing a campaign for Smash Summit is time consuming, logistically difficult, and never a guarantee even if you are organized.

After participating in the voting phase at least once, many players quickly discover just how unrewarding the process could potentially be. Sami “Druggedfox” Muhanna, rank 11 out of 100 on the latest SSBMRank, says, “First time I tried making a combo vid and asking for support [but after not making it in], I just [opted in to future events] and don’t market and it never even comes close. I don’t want to put that type of effort in.”

Despite earning incredible results and being ranked above 98% of the other eligible players, Druggedfox does not want to “[sellout] to have a shot”. Pitching their candidacies and selling themselves to spectators is much harder than it seems.

When I asked Captain Faceroll if he was going to opt in for Smash Summit 5, he responded using similar words. “I feel like I don’t have a decent chance of getting in without hardcore advertising and stuff. I don’t like asking people to spend money on me if it doesn’t amount to something (which would be the case if I didn’t make it in).”

A successful campaign hinges on how well a participant can come up with distinct reasons for why others should vote for them over the dozens of other candidates that are equally as deserving.

When I asked Michael “Mike Haze” Pulido, rank 22 in last summer’s SSBMRank, what he thought would be his campaign’s biggest obstacle, he offered a direct answer.

My biggest obstacle will be getting people to understand why they should vote me in. I think I’m a pretty clear cut great option overall in terms of personality and skill, plus I’ve never been to a Summit. […] The problem is that the majority of people who don’t follow the community closely may not know that. Many of them only follow the top 10 or top 16 players, so hitting that audience is crucial and difficult. [I’ve] been planning ideas with Beast Coast, some close friends on Discord, and we’re going to be approaching things a little more uniquely in the past, but the main goal is visibility.

For many nominees, recognizing that campaigning is a crap-shoot popularity game that tests skills not usually associated with Melee, is the first of many difficult steps towards reaching the Summit. Unfortunately, this pivotal piece of knowledge is never truly understood, or believed, until the participant has already invested so much time into crafting what they hope is a convincing platform.

From Bolder to Bolder

In the past, players used a variety of voting incentives to make their platforms stand out. These are the equivalent of the “campaign promises” that someone running for office would make. For the casual observer, watching the nominees do everything in their power to earn a vote is the most rewarding and fun part of the campaigning phase. Viewers are meant to be the biggest benefactors of nominees recording rap diss tracks or eating raw onions.

ChuDat eats an Onion! (Smash Summit Spring 2017)

On the more mundane side of the reward spectrum, some players offer critiques and analysis of voters’ competitive matches in exchange for a certain amount of votes. This type of reward is great if the participant is able to produce quality critiques that people would want to consume. But if that player is not ranked as high as the other participants, or if their personal brand screams “up-and-comer”, critiques may be a very hard sale.

Other players and communities found different ways to incentivize spectator votes. The Smash scene in New England offered raffle tickets for tiered prizes in exchange for votes for New England candidates. At one point or another, almost all candidates used similar tiered models for their campaigns. During the voting phase, it is common to tune into a candidate’s Twitch stream and see them raffling off player-specific memorabilia and signed swag to hundreds of live viewers.

Usually though, the best voting incentives are built on the strengths of the candidates personality and history.

James “Duck” Ma’s strongest campaign moment, from the Smash Summit 3 voting season, went beyond giveaways and matches.

Duck’s Thoughts on Leffen (Smash Summit 3)

In his “Duck’s Thoughts on Leffen” video, Duck, called out William “Leffen” Hjelte, one of the best players in the world, to a best-of-five $1,000 money match that would have been played out at Smash Summit 3. By referencing their match-up history[^at-the-time] and publicly calling out his “big-name” opponent, Duck was hoping to garner votes from fans that wanted to see the dramatic events unfold.

The day after the video was uploaded to YouTube, and despite Leffen declining the challenge, Duck was voted into Smash Summit 3. Duck knew exactly the type of promise he could make that would mobilize the fans that wanted to see him secure a very realistic victory as the underdog.

Zain Naghmi’s recent challenge to ChuDat is a similar example. But instead of only leveraging a better player’s notoriety to gain exposure, Zain upped the stakes by introducing a punishment for losing the challenge set: “Loser buys 1,000 Summit votes for the winner.” Judging by the current community reaction to the challenge, it may just be just as successful as Duck’s.

Not the Mountain We Conquer

Two days ago, the organizers of Smash Summit 5 hosted an Ask Me Anything thread on the main Smash Bros. subreddit. One user asked: “Are you looking to do any events in other esports that you haven’t delved into yet?”

Ken “Hot_Bid” Chen, one of the main organizers of the event and an Esports legend for his work with Team Liquid, answered with:

We’ve considered events in a lot of different esports, but we usually have to clear it with publishers and determine if the game can support an event, there are several factors, the biggest of which is whether the game has personalities and history that are able to make a good couch and house. In our experience the best games are ones with the longest history (Dota, CS, Smash, Starcraft) and big sweeping storylines.

It’s no secret for any Smash Bros. fan, that part of the appeal of following Melee as an esport are the personalities and the narratives. Not many gaming communities outside of our own have narratives as fleshed out or as captivating as Mang0’s, Isai’s, or Mew2King’s, just to name a few. I mean, we even have a whole documentary that follows the histories of some of our most legendary players. So it stands to reason that our narratives and our personalities are the lifeblood of our scene.

And it’s this lifeblood—the marketing, personal branding, storyline-building, community-rallying skills; the same ones that allow us to have our best and most entertaining players host marathon streams and collect donations, subscribers, and followers; the same ones that essentially sustain the people we admire most—it’s this lifeblood that’s tapped into, through a combination of clever design and unintended consequence, and it is run dry for staying alive in a cutthroat election of sorts.

Our community is torn on the Smash Summit campaigning phases. Many players are quick to air their grievances about the stress of having to compete and plot and “sell out” in order to earn as many votes as they can get; yet, some of these players are the same ones creating new and exciting content to entertain anyone with a passing interest in Melee personalities. And ultimately, it is this duality of player strain vs rapidly manufactured community content that jams our “good sense” radar of ascertaining the true value of it all: that it lies somewhere between great for Melee and absolutely horrible for the individuals participating.

If we look back at Andrew “Practical TAS” Nestico’s comprehensive “Smash Summit Rant” (which, honestly, invalidates most of this piece), all the details were already spelled out, plain as day:

Smash Summit’s voting system isn’t based on skill or popularity, because neither of those would be able to generate enough revenue to fund a Smash Summit

Nothing in Melee raises money for a tournament the way voting players in does, so the general idea of the system needs to stay as it is

Beyond the Summit takes a surprisingly small cut of their shop’s revenue, and even less of that revenue is profit because they need to spend money running the tournament

The main problem with the voting system is actually the amount of stress it puts on everyone involved

To be clear, Smash Summit is a fantastic event that’s entertaining as all hell, and no one puts on a show like Beyond the Summit. But, with Westballz’ early elimination, Hax’s incredibly poignant, “might-as-well-join-em-but-Ill-drop-it-if-doesnt-work-out” donator sign-up sheet, and the subtweeting exclamations of exhaustion from candidates still in the race (and let’s not forget ChuDat’s chronic gastroenteritis), one can only wonder how much longer our eligible players will be able to keep up with the fervent demands of our diss-track starved community.