Let’s face it. Netplay feels a little impersonal. Anyone who’s played a ranked mode of a fighting game online knows full well how easy it is to view your opponent as a name on a screen playing a character, rather than a real person who - coincidentally enough - shares your same deep interest for a game in a relative niche genre. It’s easy to forget that, and as online infrastructure for fighting games improves, so too does online infrastructure for fighting game events. After all, people often play fighting games because they want to compete, and a netplay bracket helps satisfy that niche. But that, too, doesn't solve the isolation inherent to netplay. So what’s the solution? How can we make netplay less impersonal?
I spoke with Kalma and Leon Ultra, wo of the three head TOs, alongside Ferns, for PNW-based broadcast organization Hop On. Hop On runs netplay brackets, but their biggest body of work is Knowledge Check, a biweekly exhibition series in anime games like Guilty Gear Strive, Under Night in-Birth Sys:Celes, and Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising. Each KC, regional PNW players square off in netplay FT5 sets, complete with commentary and a stream. These events seem to be uniquely great at mobilizing the local community, so I reached out to the two of them to dive into the story behind Hop On!
Leon: “Hop On started as just an avenue for me to throw together some localized netplay vanilla GBVS brackets back in 2022 when the scene was burgeoning and there weren't a lot of local brackets happening. Funny thing about the first Hop On is that I was not planning on having commentary at all but people simply spawned in while playing in bracket to commentate.”
Kalma: “A big thing for us is highlighting the region and its players. Especially in these games, being able to give an opportunity for players to grow and those at home to tune in and participate. The sense of community and camaraderie that has come out of these showcases have allowed for players to showcase their hard work and have a great time doing so.”
Knowledge Check is the primary focus for Hop On right now; but initially, they started off hosting brackets. Their move away from them, however, was pretty elegant: Granblue got a sequel with rollback, and so, there was less demand for a region locked bracket.
Leon: “Moving away from brackets for me was kind of reflexive. The games were starting to get broader netplay support with more regions being playable via rollback netcode, and we were just having less fun with it as organizers.”
Kalma: “I think there’s a very healthy amount of coverage for the online space and brackets. We don’t really want to compete in that manner with the existing landscape.”
Instead, they wanted to find a way to help give people something fresh that could help really mobilize the community around them in a way that would help scratch that competitive itch while avoiding the common pain points that would arise with brackets.
Kalma: “We have tried brackets in the past, and do support it in some communities with local effort (Rivals of Aether II, BBCF, etc.) but our general focus has been to provide a unique environment away from the traditional spaces. For a lot of people, online brackets are either a huge time investment for the day, or a rough experience where you can get eliminated in an instant…Exhibitions like Knowledge Check have been a boon for our community members because it gives opportunity for preparation in many different ways. An environment with feedback from commentators and stream, research and creativity in matchups that may be a pain point or require unique solutions, experience in longer sets with adaptation from both sides. It's a fun way to engage in the experience without falling into the same constraints that a regular bracket allows for. There is always a place for them, and we encourage people to expand their experience and try a variety of ways to train up, but this opportunity is just another to add to the list.”
As it turns out, the pomp and circumstance of a publicly broadcasted exhibition match ends up giving the players a bit more stakes than just winning or losing a bracket match - which, in turns, causes players to lock in a little more.
Leon: “I think the thing that really motivates me for KCs is the pre-event training arcs that happen. It's a zero stakes event that people do for fun but everyone takes it seriously and studies up to show off a little.”
Kalma: “I think it works great because it encourages our players to ask around for help. Finding matchup practice within local communities, asking for tips, and communicating struggles while preparing for the big day. People get super riled up and excited, rooting for their friends and cheering on the people they supported. A big example of that was through our reverse mains exhibitions. We gave players a month to prep a new character, and they play each other on stream to showcase what they've learned. We saw everyone gather around, and share ideas and matchup knowledge. We even had people who were playing against each other giving each other combo theory and tools to help support their journey on new characters! Everyone already is super excited to get a chance to showcase their talents, and having a goal to work towards always feels great. All of this translates offline as well - we have people coming around and talking about how getting to hang out with the community gives them motivation to show up and partake in offline local events. Or even how playing online against different states/provinces gives them the drive to go travel and check a local in a new area! There's so much cross representation between BC/WA for example, and having that opportunity after getting to know people online is such a great parallel.
It's not just for the players too. I feel like I would have never had a chance to interact and meet with some of these players of different scenes if we had never decided to participate in games outside my comfort zone. Going out of the way to find figureheads for local games, asking for feedback and working on these events has been a great eye opening experience for me to find friends that I would have not met otherwise.”
Knowledge Check has ended up facilitating a lot of moments throughout the entire PNW FGC that ended up translating to stronger connections offline. Specifically - they’re big fans of seeing the growth of players and sub-scenes over time.
Leon: “[A player named] Thank switched characters because of that [reverse mains] exhibition. He had been on Nanase for as long as I can remember him playing the game, but during reverse mains he got paired up with Noel, who plays Londrekia. He INSTANTLY started having so much fun with the character, bro didn't realize lond was made for him, it was really great watching him enjoy the learning process.
I also would want to mention how cool it's been watching the Bellingham community rally behind their players EVERY TIME we feature one in a Knowledge Check. There's so much support from these small subsets within our greater FGC and it creates these fun pseudo-rivalries between players. There's a great narrative that arises out of this that outweighs following the results of any one player, bracket or otherwise”
To Leon, netplay’s place in the FGC is as a tool to facilitate growth of the most important part of the acronym in question - the greater sense of community.
“I think in my ideal world, netplay would serve as both an on-ramp and a supplement to offline locals to bolster whatever community they are representing. There's a lot of fantastic existing online brackets already out in the space that work for this, but I'd love to see more communities adopt a local-first mentality, shining a light on people who have been putting in work in the scene (no matter what kind!). There's a lot space for interesting play formats that are not the standard double elimination such as exhibitions, open casuals, teaching nights, and so much more. I think in big 2025, if players are seeking a netplay double elim bracket, they are best served by the existing larger tournament series (TNS, WASD etc) and that's great! Those brackets do a lot of work to bring people into the fold and give people super valuable experience across a wide variety of players, but not everyone who likes fighting games is someone who enjoys competing in brackets like that! I think there's a large untapped pool of players, artists, commentators and other talent that would have SO much fun in the FGC if they had or knew about these 'alternative' avenues for being a part of the FGC. It's a bit corny, but the emphasis on 'Community' in FGC is something that is especially valuable in today's atomized climate.”
To them, netplay isn’t only brackets. It’s sitting in Discord calls complaining about each others’ characters, it’s exhibition matches and hyperbolic time chambers and most importantly - it’s about making friends.
As for any general advice the two of them would suggest?
Kalma: “GO TO LOCALS. MEET PEOPLE.”
Leon: “Create cool things with your friends. Go meet people if you can. Go to your locals and get the people who can’t to meet you online. Offer carpools and go to dinners. Hang out and play Lethal Company.”
Hop On can be found on Twitter at @HopOnPNW and on Bluesky at hopon.bsky.social. Knowledge Check can be found Thursdays (on a schedule) at 7PM Pacific Time on their Twitch.
