Split-Screen :: The Game-Geek’s Daily Read

by Sumedh Balan

Welcome to the third edition of Loading. So you think you have formed a clan? Oh, you have even won a couple of matches? Hmmmm…

Well I guess its time for your team to enter the Tournament Phase of your CS career. As I advised you last week, one must only start the tournament phase once the clan is comfortable with each other and knows all the maps and has a few games in the bag. That’s how one should ideally start but that’s not how I started.

I just grabbed a few friends and rushed to this tourney known as ESWC (not even knowing what it stood for) with no intention of winning anything.

It’s a funny story how we decided our lineups for each match. We had a team of seven and so when our first match was scheduled to be on De_Inferno we all were taken aback. Soon we sat down and discussed our so called “Strategies” I asked “Have you ever played inferno?” A boy in the team answered, “I`ve only seen one site - the A site.” So we sent him to Site A. Another boy said he has only seen the house so we positioned him at house. As for the rest of us, We just ran around the map like our ass was on fire and ended up killing a few… teammates.

ESWC is the Electronic Sports World Cup. It’s probably the biggest cyber games tournament in the world rivaled only by WCG (World Cyber Games). I like to refer to ESWC as the world cup and WCG as the Olympics of E-Sports. ESWC this year is happening in June and the Grand Finals for India is going to be at Delhi.

When approaching a tournament of such a magnitude there are bound to be several contenders. Each city sees plenty of teams turn up for the qualifiers and stay on to watch the best fight out for a shot at the grand finals and in turn the International Finals to which only one team the best team of the country makes it.

It is a dream for almost every gamer who has stepped onto the tournament field. Whether its CS, FIFA, Quake or Need for Speed. Last year we saw more than 30 teams show up for ESWC and the tournament took two days to complete. When going to a tournament one must keep in mind to practice for the tournament. At least a month before the tourney you should start making your strategies, finalize your lineup, make sure every one is in the same mindset and are putting in equal number of hours into CS.

Rectify all your mistakes from you earlier matches by watching your demos. The most important thing about CS is that the game revolves around rectification. The more you play and figure out your mistakes and correct them, the better you and your clan will do.

The tournament atmosphere is overwhelming. Eve if you play your first match against noobs your hands will shake. Try and drink a bottle of water or have a smoke (children please suck on a lollipop) while in-game if your hands shake just move your legs or think funny thoughts. Nothing can go wrong if your team is well prepared and you have done your homework. You never expected the exam atmosphere to show up at a gaming event now, did ya? Well that’s exactly how it goes.

Please do not make last minute changes to existing strategies. It could further confuse your teammates. It may seem simple to you but you are the one who thought of it so its not necessary that your teammates will understand just as quickly. Keep your strategies simple and tell everyone on the team exactly what they have to do. Do a few dry runs at your café. Make sure you don’t keep using the same strategy over and over again especially against opponents you have played before.

Photo Courtesy: mistshoo

Have key targets on teams you have played before figure out their weak points and weak men and attack that weakness. Lastly do whatever it takes to win (except cheating of cource) if your score is 2-11 and your team is leading 10-4 Don’t worry as long as the teams winning don’t even care about personal milestones. While your are in the middle of a match stop using the team message mode to say things like “nice 1″ or “oh no oh shit I had him” etc. Keep the message mode clear. Only type in your money and whether you need a gun.

Avoid using the radio commands for fun only use them to communicate with each other while game is live. Don’t unnecessarily press affirmative or enemy spotted it sends a wrong signal to your teammates.

If there are problems like lag spikes or graphic problems please sort it out before the start of the match. When your team is ready all of you should have practiced a few rounds and completely satisfied with the settings. Lastly do not fight while you are in-game. Please refrain from saying “what was that?” or “why dint you kill him you blockhead” or anything like that.

If there is a problem, wait for the match to finish and then sort it out. No point hurting your teammate’s game. It might have been a mistake and ultimately the team will be the one to suffer. Hold back till the end and then let loose in a constructive way please. I think you guys should now start preparing for this years ESWC. You have exactly 2 months to prepare.

Any questions, comments or ideas for future Levels? Please drop in a message. I have been reading your comments. Thanks for the words of encouragement and hope you are having a good game.