Similar to other years, I volunteered at EVO Japan this year. It is a very different experience from joining as a competitor or spectator, so I thought I would write a bit about it here.

I won’t go into too much detail; at the orientation meeting the organizers requested that people not post pictures to Social Networking Services or talk about the “behind the scenes” details. I’ll respect those wishes, but I think it is entirely reasonable to talk about the general volunteer experience, the things that I enjoyed about it, and try to convince people to volunteer for their locals and/or regional major tournaments.

Schedule

The call for volunteers usually goes out a few months before the tournament, and perhaps a month prior to the tournament you are notified and start to get details about the schedule. Usually the day before there is an orientation in the afternoon, and perhaps some setup work into the evening.

I’ve volunteered to run pools in the past – though there are other jobs, like staffing the desks for badges or registration – and usually for that you work all day the first day. This year there was nice information prepared beforehand around how to run pools (e.g., running double elimination brackets).

The second day as the day proceeds there are fewer pools, so you may end early as the work switches over to the paid staff (as opposed to the unpaid volunteer staff). In my case, I ended up a bit free in the afternoon, but towards the evening got busy due to my bilingual Japanese / English skillset.

The third day is a free day for volunteers. You actually get a three day pass when you volunteer, so you are free to spectate. You get the regular entry only pass though, no special VIP seating or anything like that.

Running pools

It is always fun to run a pool at EVO Japan. There are often huge crowds around the pools – Daigo in particular always draws a crowd. It’s the standard setup where you get a bracket printed on paper, and run people through the bracket. We’ve got a Discord channel now for the pool judges, and sometimes we may message the organizers about the Winner’s final match and whether that should be run on stream or not, but for the most part you do your standard pool running stuff. This year there were very few DQs. I’m sure this is due to the change (since last year I think?) of charging an entry fee. I think at the first EVO Japan, where I also ran pools, there was almost a 50% DQ rate because of so many people that signed up, but in the end didn’t even come to the country.

Meeting and helping the community

One of the best things about volunteering is that you get to meet people in the community and make sure that they have a good experience. In the picture above, you see Jeni, a differently abled gamer, who is active in promoting Accessibility and putting on events of his own. He ran a crowdfunding event last year to go to EVO Las Vegas, and there is a documentary about his trip on YouTube with EN subtitles, you should check it out. I mention this because for the past few years I’ve been running into Jeni at EVO Japan, and I learned about some of things going on in Japan around accessibility and fighting games thanks to him.

I’ve met a number of people volunteering (the same ones!) over the years, and it is always fun to connect up again each year. It takes a ridiculous amount of people to run these events, and it is a really nice feeling to know that you helped make it happen. So if you are able to, give volunteering a chance. It’s a different experience than going as a competitor or spectator. I wouldn’t say it is better or worse, but it is different. For example, every time I’ve volunteered, it has then taken me like a week or more to go back and watch the streams that I’m interested. That said, the one year I didn’t volunteer, I had to do the same thing since you don’t ever really sit and watch everything end to end when there are so many people around and booths to visit.

Fun stuff

When I was off duty I had fun walking around meeting people. I had many friends from overseas come through, so that is always fun. I also took some pictures with and of cosplayers, some of whom I’ve met multiple times now.

This motorcycle by Suzuki was set up for people to take pictures with. It was cool! It was also at Capcom Cup, so it’s been traveling around a bit.

I saw some cosplayers, and asked for some pictures. Here is NyakkyU as Juri.

Sometimes people say hi to me that I don’t know. This is Nizza, who runs the Friday night Tekken event at Shot Bar Lucy. It is always nice when people recognize me and come up to say hi. It’s also great that we have all these community members running regular events across Tokyo – just about every night of the week there is some sort of fighting game event going on, and that wouldn’t be the case without people stepping up to start them.

There was one area where a bunch of cosplayers congregated, so I asked them for pictures. I always feel awkward about asking cosplayers for photos, but usually they are happy to let you take a picture, and I try to ask for their social networking presence so I can credit them.

Lots of people in the background as well.

There was lots more fun stuff – meeting with friends from overseas and lots of fun conversations about Street Fighter or other games.

On the final day you do get free admission with the volunteer badge – but I’ve bought tickets every year anyway to support the cause – but the setup wasn’t great for spectating this year. I didn’t purchase the VIP ticket that got you into the seating area – some folding chairs – so instead after chatting with some friends and watching the SF3 Cooperation Cup finals, I went back to my house where I have a very nice comfortable recliner set up in front of my nice display with a great air conditioner.

It’s always a fun time volunteering at EVO Japan, and I’m always impressed at all the people that come out for it. It’s just been getting bigger and bigger each year, I’m looking forward to volunteering again next year!