In Part 1 entitled “How Do You Train a Next Generation？”, I wrote about the training next generation that takes place at Shinobism, Inc., a company I launched with my partner Choco. In Part II, I would like to continue to address this subject.

Player Momochi

Why Apprentices?

While perhaps a cliché answer, the younger generation is, more than ever, decreasing in numbers, even I can see it. Looking at the lineup of fighting game players active both nationally and internationally, we thought we needed to shift our attention to the “younger generation” who will be the founders of the coming era, and create a base on which they can find footing.

A profession gaming team signs contracts with players that meet certain standards, including a proven history and the guarantee of exposure. In the world of e-sports, however, never did we see a gaming genre that nurtured the abilities of the younger generation such as we see in the youth sectors in the professional sports world. “If there is going to be such a genre,” we thought, “let’s make it happen.” And, that is how it all started.

Player Momochi (farthest right) and the Shinobism players in training, Yamaguchi (14), Haku (14), and Johnny (19), from the right

Many of us, actually, were taught in our tweens and teens how to play games by those in their 20s to 40s at game centers. What we were taught, I now sense, was not limited to games. Rather, we learned about a wide variety of other things, including society in general, various social matters such as interpersonal relations within the community of the game center, perspectives on work, and world views.

While some of the things we learned were directly taught (“XX is XX”), often what we learned was something sensed, something mixed in the conversations or communication between adults. Whether it was something you should not do, persons who were not good players but good people, permitted words, forbidden words, acceptable actions, unacceptable actions . . . without being directly taught, we naturally learned about the world, both inside and outside the game.

Long ago, even in the country where I was raised, there were local game centers. In the small communities that unfolded in each game center were formed communities, groups of people who came to know one another and compete against one another through games.

At that time, a child such as myself in his tweens was given the opportunity to be among adults and learn to socialize within the community. The adults were attentive to the younger kids who lacked refinement and were slightly obnoxious, sometimes offering light conversation as they watched over them. Such times, such locations, were not few and far between, and really are no different from a person today creating his or her own base as a professional gamer.

On the other hand, with the decline of local game center communities and the transition to game communities in online communication venues such as SNS, I get the feeling that there must be more skilled players and more strong players than ever before, even among the younger generation. Yet, when we view the gamer population as a whole, the population is clearly on a decline and many in the younger generation have learned nothing beyond the meaning of “game strength.” The thought occurs to me that today’s younger generation still lacks experience in certain areas.

I have been taught by and have come to many realizations through the help of persons of various generations whom I have gotten to know through games. Now, being the age of those who mentored me, I would like to do the same for the generations below. Taking on apprentices gives me the chance to do for others what others so kindly did for me at a young age. Today’s game centers do not readily offer such an experience.

As I mentioned in Part I with regard to training, we do not give specific instructions or teach techniques in detail from 1 to 10. Even if we practice with students, we make sure that we do not spoon feed specifics, as is done in Japanese cram schools. We have our students think for themselves over and over during practice, verify counter actions when they run into walls, and search for answers on their own. Our students do not obtain information from someone, but rather find the information on their own.

We want our apprentices to experience and feel various things. That is what we hope. Whether inside or outside the game, when a student attempts to advance in a direction that is clearly wrong, we do say something, but otherwise it is the student’s life. A student remembers a mistake, a painful experience, a scolding. Perhaps going through such experiences and then making a change is a good thing.

Whether inside or outside a game, there are those moments when you think “This might be wrong . . .” I have similar thoughts when I watch the younger generation, but if I say something each time to such students, they will grow up not knowing why the action was wrong. (This is related to game progress as well.) To say why something is wrong is, in and of itself, easy. But, I believe you learn through what you experience and do on your own, and therefore want the students to do more, fail more, and grow.

For example, we recruited a second year class of apprentices in 2017 as well. What lied behind the recruitment results was the question, “What is it that you want to come and learn? Come up with an answer on your own.” Did the person, on his or her own, consider the apprenticeship and apply without merely wanting to strengthen his or her game? I strongly feel that the three persons who we are working with today as players in training requested an apprenticeship with clear, specific intentions from the application stage. This is as best as it gets.

What do you hope becomes of the apprentices?

One of our goals of our training program is for our players to, at some time or another, become world champions. Yet, the title of being the best in the world is, by its very nature, limited to only a few. There are many other goals and paths to be achieved and traveled in the world.

We hope that those who participate in the Shinobism training program are glad for the experience. Even if a student does not become a professional, even if he or she ends up no longer playing fighting games, I would personally be quite pleased if, at some time, the student feels it was worth it, worth the experience of practicing something seriously. That is my goal.

Three players in training appearing on periodic Shinobism broadcasts

While I ultimately became a professional gamer, even if I were living my every day as a businessman, my memories of life at the game center and playing games are good ones. My friends and rivals who logged the same hours at that center and spent the same amount of time playing those same game titles also, though now with their own families and jobs, still smile as they talk about those days and the great old games we played in earnest.

Each day that we live presents us with personal options. Just as I have selected the way I am “now,” I hope to continue to relay to the next generation what I inherited from my predecessors in the game community and, with gratitude for my encounter with games, continue activities that improve future options and the future vision of the younger generation, through games and through training.

I am forever thankful for encountering something in which I can fully immerse myself, regardless of wins or losses. I am also thankful for the many who provided an environment that allowed me to devote myself to such a passion.

■ Click here for Part 1.
Professional Gamer Momochi“How Do You Train a Next Generation？” (Part 1)

■日本語版はこちら！
プロゲーマー・ももちの「後進の育成について」（後編）

■ Related links:
Twitter account of player Momochi
https://twitter.com/momochi212?lang=ja
Shinobism
http://shinobism.com/