Video gaming enjoys a wonderful double celebration this week, with an anniversary for one of its more-remarkable communities and an opportunity for one of Australia's most eclectic and inspiring scenes, the fighting game community, to go head to head.

EVE Online, the enduring space MMO, is currently celebrating all things EVE as part of the annual Fanfest convention in Iceland. As is customary for celebrations of any kind in that part of the world, the developers and fans have already ventured into the unusual and bizarre by unveiling a monument to all EVE Online players (which was defaced days later) and hosting a UFC-style match between a professional MMA fighter and several of EVE's developers.

Australia's fighting game community isn't quite that offbeat, although some might be taken aback by the raw passion and intensity on display. They're celebrating in a different form this week with pure competition: the sixth iteration of Battle Arena Melbourne.

EVE Online

We'll kick things off with EVE Online. 11 years for any games is a monumental achievement, especially one relying on a monthly subscription - a model that many consider to be completely outdated in 2014.

But comparing EVE to any other MMO - or game, for that matter - is a churlish exercise. It's very much a sandbox. You make your own fun, and if you want to shape the world in a particular way, the developers aren't going to stop you.

That attitude and freedom gives rise to gaming history in many ways. You don't see 4000 people taking part in a single battle anywhere else. You don't see the subterfuge and outright sabotage that happens in EVE on a daily basis - especially the type of revenge planned months in advance - anywhere else. And the level of complexity and the range of human interactions that EVE can provide for simply doesn't happen anywhere else. At least not yet.

What makes EVE so special - and this is an opinion coming from an outsider - is the sheer amount of direction and control afforded to players. Once you leave the confines of the NPC-controlled territories and enter Nullspace, you're literally venturing into another world, one where the power of the developers is replaced by the power of player-driven corporations. Trading, logistics, defence, transportation - the players are required and responsible for every part of the puzzle in Nullspace.

It doesn't shovel a sense of direction down your throat: a highly unconventional approach for a video game. It partly explains the sheer passion fans have for EVE, so much so that many will travel to Iceland once a year to celebrate all things deep space.

Naturally, such a dedicated fan base will create a wide variety of videos. I've included a few below that should be fairly watchable for the uninitiated.

Battle Arena Melbourne 6

Battle Arena Melbourne (BAM) isn't a tournament; it's more of an institution. It's become a staple of Australia's fighting game circuit, so much so that this weekend's event is a part of the Capcom Pro Tour, a series of tournaments around the world that feed into the annual Capcom Cup later this year.

The winner of the Street Fighter tournament (the full title is Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition v2012, for you pedants) will receive flights to attend the South East Asia Majors (SEAM) in Singapore, starting June 20. The winner and runners up of the Blaz Blue Chrono Phantasm, King of Fighters 13, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Street Fighter and Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 events will also receive seeding points for SEAM, in case they want to attend SEAM on their own dime.

It's difficult not to enjoy fighting games as a spectator or a player. They are easy to understand, require little time investment yet there's a skill ceiling as high, if not higher, as any other scene in worldwide gaming .

Below you can enjoy some videos from past BAM events. BAM 6 kicks off from today, with the Friday reserved for special exhibition matches. Spectator passes, and those looking to register at the last minute, can be purchased from the BAM website - $10 for the whole weekend or $5 for a single day. A full schedule is also available.







I'd like to finish off this week with a video that ties in nicely with the fighting game theme and last week's Frag Reel Friday. Here Comes a New Challenger is a documentary on a new player trying to break into the Australian fighting game scene. Produced by Corey Hague, the video tracks the efforts of Jake Watts, who turns to fighting games while he deals with a self-described "midlife crisis."

Travelling to the Shadowloo Showdown, Here Comes a New Challenger also touches on gender diversity within the fighting game community and professional gaming in the broader sense.

Alex Walker is the regular gaming columnist for ABC Tech + Games. You can follow him on Twitter at @thedippaeffect.