I’m trying not to sound like an old man when I say this, but back in my day, Street Fighter was all about a bunch of players crowded around an arcade machine. There were always two people battling it out, while others watched the action, talking to each other while waiting for their turns. This was the foundation for many local Street Fighter communities around the world. Unfortunately, most of that community has disappeared in North America due to the death of the arcade.
However, in 2010, a Justin.tv user Peaceful Jay may have created the modern equivalent of that community on a much bigger scale.
A few weeks ago, Peaceful Jay created an 8-man endless lobby and began streaming matches from it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I’m not sure what the stream was like during its humble beginnings, but it’s grown quite the following in a relatively short period of time. It now has over 2,000 followers, over 400,000 total visits, and an active chat room. Even pro players from around the world have started dropping in to play on the stream. It’s not every day you get to see someone like Juicebox Abel just jump onto XBOX Live, take on the world and beat 49 people in row, but that happens here. You’ll never know what you’ll get whenever you view the stream, which is part of the fun.
The beauty of the whole thing is that Peaceful Jay’s Colosseum is sort of like the 2010 version of people hanging around the arcade machine, except that it’s much bigger in reach than the one arcade machine at your local mall. Instead, you potentially have the entire world playing, watching and communicating all in the same place. There very well may be a day when you’re lucky enough to grab a spot on the Peaceful Jay stream and you’re matched up against Daigo Umehara. How crazy would that be? Daigo has not participated in the stream, but he does have XBOX Live and technically, he could jump in at any time.
Much respect to Peaceful Jay for creating something special for the community. He’s sacrificing a lot by giving up his XBOX 360 and streaming equipment for the world, but this idea is one more meaningful way to bring the fighting game community together. If you have any interest in Street Fighter, check out the stream through the link below.
In Third Person 