Match of the Millennium

The highly-lauded yet controversial competition known as the New Fighting Generation has concluded its first season, with Iraqi-born fighter Djamila Fadel taking the championship and winning the prize pool of $100000 USD after defeating Japanese student Ichika Kasumoto in the final match. Her sponsors on Team Metal, including Ultratech, Arctel and Mint Panesh, have been given co-ownership of an undisclosed piece of real estate in Southtown and will have the opportunity to choose how to divide it between themselves. While the conclusion of the event was clear, the public were left with many questions and concerns surrounding the outcomes for other participants in the competition. Perhaps the most controversial event was the partial destruction of the Metro City Arena and the threat to life represented by Japanese-born fighter Junko Daidoji, who was described by witnesses as undergoing some kind of metamorphosis after her semi-final match with Djamila. Speculation has been made as to the nature of Junko Daidoji's change, with some believing she underwent some kind of divine or demonic apotheosis. The event also called into question whether Junko Daidoji's true power had been known to Professional Fighting Worldwide all along, and while no loss of life occurred at the time, some have claimed that allowing Junko Daidoji to continue in the competition after demonstrating a lack of restraint that resulted in extensive property damage in Metro City and life-changing injuries to one of her competitors was gross negligence on the part of Professional Fighting Worldwide and the sponsors behind the New Fighting Generation. In fact, the matter has been pursued by a legal team employed by the family of Constance Coalbridge, the fighter who suffered extreme burns during her fight with Junko, who have sought compensation from Professional Fighting Worldwide in spite of waivers signed by Ms. Coalbridge and other participants on the grounds of negligence, citing psychological damages, medical costs and loss of earnings. Rumours have circulated that her family have been pursuing high-end and possibly experimental medical care to reverse the disfiguring injuries, but the results of those negotiations have not been made public. The controversy of the New Fighting Generation did not begin or end with Junko, however. Within hours of the announcement that Djamila Fadel had won the competition, rumours began circulating online that the winner had a history of abusing fellow teammates and Team Metal personnel. While Kenzo Kuroiwa suffered severe injuries reported by Team Metal to be a training accident while fighting Djamila, footage has been released of an encounter where Ms. Fadel baited one of the guards from Team Metal into fighting her and feigned weakness in order to deliver a severe attack to the security officer, who was forced to take two weeks' medical leave after being belittled by Fadel in the recording. The officer in question was not available to comment due to restrictions put in place by Team Metal. The nature of the officer's injuries being similar to those suffered by Kuroiwa as well as actions taken during her fight with Buford Maclanky have generated speculation that Ms. Fadel has been perpetrating a campaign of unwarranted violence and abuse against men and that her violent tendencies have been covered up by PFW and its sponsors. Further adding to the controversy is the disappearance of Donald Miller, Fadel's father, who has been sought in connection with an assault against Fadel in Sunshine City earlier this year. The sponsors have not been without controversy, either. Shortly after Team Frost's elimination from the competition, Juri Han, one of the mentors for Team Frost, was implicated in the murder of Metro City businessman Harold Tull. While Professional Fighting Worldwide were quick to distance themselves from the incident, the potential involvement of an NFG sponsor in a high-profile murder has led some to question whether Professional Fighting Worldwide has shown sufficient diligence in screening these mentor relationships. Buford Maclanky, who has expressed increasingly extremist views in interviews since the inception of the New Fighting Generation, has been cited as an example of indoctrination into chauvinistic gang mentality due to associations with former Mad Gear boss Abigail. However, others have pointed to a history of Canadian fighters with poor public reputations such as Abigail and Alexis Lovell and suggest that Buford is simply a typical example of the famously toxic Canadian culture. And earlier in the competition, multiple fighters from Team Thunder as well as sponsor Zog Hammer from Team Blaze were involved in a public disturbance wherein they fought with locals at a soup kitchen in Sunshine City. Despite concerns expressed by locals such as Fred Franks of Corona Row, no charges were pressed against any of the participants, leading some to speculate that this too was covered up by Professional Fighting Worldwide in dealings with the local authorities. Other New Generation fighters have had controversies of their own. Hawksley Moore notoriously recorded a message to his fans asking where he could find popular street drug crack in Metro City. However, fans were quick to point out that the earnestness exhibited showed that his request was a subtle parody of poorly-trained undercover police officers. Other participants in the competition have been sighted in Sunshine City's Pink Paradise for recreational purposes while the event was being hosted across the country in Metro City, leading some fans on social media to point out the reckless abuse of air travel and disregard for environmental impact by Professional Fighting Worldwide. Rumours have been circulating that Zarine Cernik may have been connected with the disappearance of fourteen European construction workers. And, of course, Nixie Greene was nearly responsible for a grenade attack against civilians during the RUMBLE, one of the New Fighting Generation's crowning events. With all of these controversies having apparently been systematically swept under the rug by Professional Fighting Worldwide, one has to wonder: what will be next for the New Fighting Generation Project? - Article on Fighting Insider Online (repost from board 9)

The first season of NFG has concluded (but don't miss out on the Afterparty happening in stage 2!), and it can be said that it has not been a season free of consequences for the fighters involved. I'm sure that a lot of you feel that there are threads that are still hanging loose for your characters or for others - and that's great! In reflecting on the season as a whole, I think it's fair to say that this has been one of the most successful events in terms of player participation and RP generated that I've had the chance to be involved with here on Match of the Millennium. I know that some players are feeling burnt out after several months of storylines that have, in a lot of cases, been pretty intense. I'd like to say well done to everyone, including those who've had to step back before the finish line, because all of you have made a tremendous contribution to keeping this event going for a run that has basically been unheard-of and to miraculously finish on schedule. This season used an experimental approach to AP, with the participating characters having a bonus AP pool to earn through play. It's my feeling that this approach to characters who begin their journeys at low ratio has been very successful. It's our intent that this system can be ported to the broader game as a general policy so that characters who begin at less than R2.5 will have a 'catchup' mechanic as well as an extra incentive for activity, so keep an eye out for this! This has also been an opportunity to experiment with different approaches to showcasing the action and the efforts that everyone has been making. I hope that you've all been enjoying the additional content, as I've enjoyed producing it - and I think that the work that everyone has put into writing interviews and cutscenes has really made the game feel alive, so thank you to everyone who's participated. Thanks also to everyone who wrote stages, and look out for more opportunities to earn rewards by doing so in the future! This season has also held some other learning opportunities for me as a staff member, particularly when it comes to things like processing OC applications for NFG characters and workload management, so I'm going to be attempting to take those learnings into the new year. Once again, thank you all for participating... and stay tuned for more information about the upcoming season! - Pringer X