The Importance of a Team

In earlier entries I have discussed the importance of communication regarding eco rounds and how to manage your teamplay. Without communication it could be hard convincing random players in the matchmaking cue to upgrade their sub-machine gun since you died and lost yours. This is where playing with people you trust and know is important.

When I went to high school, I played counter-strike in a clan. A clan was the e-sport equivalent of a team back then. Nowadays, I am sure we call them teams in e-sports as well. Anyway, back then I had a clan to play in and we played every single day. In school, we discussed strategies and when we did not play matches or practiced aiming we studied demos from professional players. All in all, we wanted to be good and we went a long way of making that happen. The thing is, we all wanted the same thing, so we had a good basis for cooperation.

I am not saying that you should not play with your friends or for fun, all that I am saying is that if you would like to be as good as possible in cs:go, you need to find people who share that attitude. Otherwise you will find yourself with random people from the Internet on your team, and chances are that the average internet dweller could be a troll, a griever, or someone who does not even try.

Another person who could frustrate your games is the solo player. The solo player cares for one thing. Himself. To him it is more important to have good statistics rather than winning. For him it is more important saving up a personal bank rather than dropping weapons. Usually, this is the same kind of player who is flaming when it goes poorly. In other words, calling teammates names and questioning their skill, intelligence, or even sexual orientation (!). Such a player's reasoning is simple; if I could hold my own, so should everybody else.

The problem is that if you guard your personal bank so that you always will be performing at your personal best, your team will not be functioning at its best. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a team game. The sum of the whole is worth more than each of its parts. It is as simple as that.

An explanation to why it is hard to make a team of randoms cooperating could be that everybody is used to being attacked by other players. Many times when I tried to communicate with team mates I did not know, trying to give them a tip on how to handle a situation, they would become defensive and not realize I was trying to help. There is no easy solution to such a conflict in-game. A way around it would again be playing with people you know.

When you play with a full team of premades communication is important. That is the reason you are bothering to  match your schedules to be able to play together. Without communication there is no difference playing with premades and randoms.

Good communication within your team is synchronizing your actions. Play long enough with the same crew and this become second nature. Soon enough you almost take for granted that your 'mates will push with you and lend support. Examples of synchronizing your team's actions are:

• Let's go long A.
• Wait for the smoke and the flash.
• Push short now!

There are other times when synchronization is used, but I think you get the point by now. Other important parts of your team communication is informing everybody on your and enemies' location:

• I'll watch short.
• Leaving middle, care for arch.
• Two guys coming tunnels.

Other times it is more important to have a dedicated player caring for the overall communication within your team. This person is called the "caller" or "stratcaller". The caller's job is to inform the team on what plays the team is going to run. It is important that every player on the team accept and trust that the caller's decisions are beneficial for the team. If you need to eco, the caller calls it. If you are going to rush B like idiots, the caller calls it. If you are going to camp and go for picks, the caller calls it. I hope you get the idea. The point is, if the caller calls for a certain strategy or tactic, going rogue is harmful for your team's success.

It is a good idea to rehearse strategies together so everybody know their part. This reduces the need for in-game communication which leaves more room for concentrating and playing at your best. Before I end this entry, I would like to stress some examples of when silence is preferred over communication:

• That f@cking lagger, luck-shot, maggot! He is so lucky. He gotta have WH! Cheater, report him. Ass reported.
• ... and then my boss was like 'hey, try to do something', and I am just like 'what does it look like I am doing' and then I got fired and security escorted my off the premises.
• You probably should have went B instead of A.

That is it for this time. Happy fragging everybody!