Hype moments will exist, regardless of the size of a stream​

We've moved forward quite a bit from the old days of DC++, basement tournaments, and shoddy commentary/recording setups. Both Evo and MLG are including Melee again in their respective tournaments. Big E-Sports teams such as Team Liquid and Curse are sponsoring top players. It seems that the smash community is starting to receive some momentum in regards to "hitting it big."So why the title, "Have we lost our way?"After all, much of what Melee has gained in the past year seems golden. Who wouldn't want larger prize pools, player sponsorships, or higher production tournaments? Don't get me wrong, these are all very great things for our community, but there is a greater concern of the underlying trade-offs that come with the glamour.Recently, Wife wrote an article that proposed abolishing Doubles from tournaments. One of his reasons was that "doubles" is chaotic, making it messy to commentate and spectate for the average viewer. Wife does make some sound points. Online viewership does tend to drop when doubles is played on some of the more popular Smash-related streams. However, dropping "doubles" completely for the sole purpose of appealing to the "outsiders" of the community would be a travesty. It's also raised many questions about the direction of the community. One of which:"Have we lost our way?"Let me elaborate.Smash started as a grassroots community. There were no sponsors or corporate support from Nintendo for the Smash Community. Tournaments were ran in rag-tag venues (and still are to a certain degree) and people's houses. Smashers didn't really sleep at hotels; they crammed 20-30 deep into someone's apartment. Before the days of Tio and Challonge, tournaments ran on paper brackets. Results would come in the form of rumors on the mIRC chat or by rapidly refreshing a tournament thread on Smashboards. Yet, people played and participated in spite of the lack of professionalism. It was the love of the game and the community that kept players coming back.Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying professionalism isat allAside from the things mentioned in the introduction, the limelight has helped the community mature in many aspects. We, as a community, have moved on from the use of words such as "****", "homo" and "f******" to become more professional. GIMR from VGBootCamp removed a commentator from the stream a Xanadu weekly event for his unprofessional, vulgar language. In this regard, the viewer feedback has helped the Smash community grow.There comes a point in which catering to the average viewer or audience becomes cumbersome. By audience, I refer to people who are probably not active in the competitive community but would follow the scene via YouTube or Twitch.tv. Go to any Smash video on YouTube and you'll see that it's riddled with comments, most likely about the commentary or quality of the video.In essence, there is no way to satisfy the needs of people who provide very little to the community while demanding so much. One of the highlights of the community was the " Wombo Combo " (Warning: NSFW). Despite its vulgar nature, the video highlights, in my opinion, the beauty of Smash and the community surrounding it. It had an amazing combo with candid responses that encapsulate the "hype" that's in the game. In 2014, we may never see another video like it. There was a similar moment at "The Next Episode" in which the player "Lord" pulled a crazy maneuver to steal the game from "s2j" to win the set. Instead of capturing the natural excitement of the moment, we're left with the commentator, lost for words, awkwardly saying "What the crap" to remain professional.I'm not advocating for fake "hype" in the sense of yelling or screaming into a microphone for the sake of being loud.Though, I do worry that in becoming an "e-sport" that the Smash community may lose its core roots and identity that made it so special. There may be a point in which events have to cater to the viewer more so than the actual players. At this point, I may have to wrap up my controller and call it quits to a community that I've spent an entire decade with. Hopefully, the magic isn't ever lost.-Tafokints