The Tekken series may be the first thing that comes to many players minds when comparing video games to real martial arts, due to the series’ infamously precise and demanding control scheme. While many professional martial artists, whether in the sports scene or not, would no doubt scoff at a comparison of the sport to a video game, it seems that Taekwondo has become the testing ground for a fusion between the two.
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A recent match shown on the YouTube channel TKD News shows a video screen occupying the wall at the back of the stage where the match took place, displaying names and portraits of both fighters as well as, of all things, health bars. The bars bear a distinct resemblance to those from Tekken and, true to form, dropped whenever one of the competitors took a significant hit due to sensors in their padded guards and doboks (uniforms). While this is not the most ridiculous crossover in Tekken history, many outsiders to the sport may very well consider it bizarre, as a health bar seems like a distinctly video game-centric abstraction for fatigue and bodily harm that doesn’t translate very well in the real world. So the question remains: why was this done, and why in an official match done by people who are very serious about Taekwondo as a sport?
The answer is actually also very much something from a video game: to shake up the current meta. The addition of health bars isn’t just for the convenience of viewers; it also represents a step in Korea’s ongoing attempts to change the scoring system of official Taekwondo matches. According to fans on Twitter, the current scoring system encourages a cautious, defensive style that many competitors and fans find dissatisfying, something players of some games can relate to. With the implementation of a health bar system, the power behind individual strikes matters much more than it does with the old scoring system.
While it is uncertain how widely the change will be implemented, it is no doubt causing serious frustration to some competitors, who will have to shake up their style considerably to remain competitive in the sport. It has probably also hurt the pride of some to have their sport mixed with fighting games, despite how technical some of those games can be.
There are many who seem to embrace the idea, however, and the benefits that it brings could be major. More power behind strikes could put the fight back into this fighting sport, and the added visual indicators from health bars may bring in fans from both the video game and non-gaming crowd. With augmented reality games like Pokemon GO making tons of money, it is clear there is a lot of money and attention to be gained with augmented reality features like these health bars implemented in new ways.
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