#how autimatic really plays csgo

[openwatches-blog]

Watch this amazing video here: https://goo.gl/PYYtwj

[kastle09]

Why don't we love esport orgs?

I am a huge football fan (that's soccer football, not any other kind of football) and just recently I saw my childhood team, LiverpoolFC, win the Premier league title, our first division title in 30 years and first since the Premier leagues inception.

Like all the other fans, I felt the same mixture of emotions: relief, tears of joy, uncontained excitement, and great love and admiration for the players, the manager, and the club.

Thinking on it since, I've began to wonder why I don't feel that same love for esports organisations. I in no way feel the same kind of romanticism surrounding them. Why is that?

Players being bigger then the Team

While there are definitively Star players, important players that are match winners that have lead to Liverpool's success this season, no player no matter how good they are are bigger then the club. Stars will walk in and out of your doors and you will love them while they are here, and either you will cuss them when they jump ship or clap them off when they retire.

For another example think about when Lebron James made the move to Miami Heat. For Cleveland fans they were absolutely distraught at the time. But that doesn't mean you stop supporting your team. It just means you hold bitterness and resentment to the people that leave. The team always comes first.

In contrast to esports though, people tend to jump around teams on a constant basis, there isn't really the same semblance of loyalty, and it doesn't really seem fans care all too much either. As a fan of fighting games and Starcraft, both 1v1 competitive games, its almost expected that your hero is the player that plays your character/race and you are going to follow them regardless of where they go.

But even in team esports, it still hasn't held up. As an Australian watching the core line up of AZR, jks, jkaem, Gratisfaction and Liazz move from Renegades to 100 Thieves, I didn't really give a second thought about ignoring RNG and being a 100T fan. I just wanted to watch my team, and my team was the roster it wasn't the organisation.

So is that the key? Do teams need to form a bond by representing a region and that's how they can keep fans.

International fans and Club Identity

If you look at the past ventures in esports when we began doing long seasonal competitions from the ground up, Not only did they choose to go the franchise model, they also tried to tie it back to a City. The Championship Gaming Series in 06-08 took this approach as well as the Australian Gfinity (both now defunct I might add).

For a  recent example take Blizzards attempt at forming a privatised league with the OWL with again having teams be City based: Seoul Dynasty, London Spitfire, Houston Outlaws.

Now this is actually a proven model for success if you look all over in real sports from Major League Soccer and A-League for soccer, Indian Premier League and Big Bash League for cricket etc. So it makes a lot of sense to try and copy.

One benefit is if you have less interest or investment,as a first time viewer when you tune in you automatically have a team you can identify with and to cheer for purely because you live in that part of the country.

The problem is esports is quite an international reach, A city itself, isn't really enough to sustain a team, it has to be representative something larger. Its probably why what more often happens is we are attracted to a philosophy and a style, and that's what makes us fall in love. Because of a particular way this team plays and more importantly what it represents to us.

I am obviously on the other side of the world to Liverpool, and if I think about my relationship with Liverpool. I haven't yet visited the city or to Anfield (Its on my bucket list to watch a game from the Kop end) but I identify with that club more then any other because of what they represent to me. Liverpool was a working class region of England during the industrial boom and its reflected in scousers as people.

I was growing up in the early 2000s among Man Utd fans and being ridiculed and jealous of how easy success seem to come to them, and how hard we had to work. But with that also came the beautiful moments of triumph, like Istanbul. There are picture perfect moments that represent what it is to be a fan of that club, there are Players that embody everything about what that badge on the front represents.

I think esports can deliver that feeling but I think there is a big reason why they are currently failing at it.

Neglecting history

Even though I didnt grow up in the years when Liverpool were dominant and successful, the club does its part to make sure for any new fans, you will learn and be proud of that history.

Club Icons like Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard are still attached to the club often in ambassadorial roles. Having the past generation let you know what the values of the club are, what's expected of you and reminding the current players exactly what being a part of the club represents.

But we don't do that in esports.

This is actually something Duncan “Thorin” Shields has talked about in a video before and I'll echo some of the same sentiments here. But esport teams, even the longest running and financially successful ones seem to never acknowledge the past very often.

A League of Legends example I think about is Hai Du Lam. I don't follow Lol very closely but I know Hai and I know Cloud9. Hai is what would be considered a Cloud9 Legend but because of the nature of it, Cloud9 seem disinterested in doing anything to celebrate something like that and especially with Hai forming his own team it doesn't feel like that relationship would be allowed to happen.

Keeping on Cloud9 for another moment because their CSGO team seem to illustrate this lack of understanding. The Cloud9 I remember, the one I feared was the NA Galáctico squads.

A team of absolute star players, a team that would constantly bash heads with Team Liquid and would stand head and shoulders above the rest of the continent.

This is the only North American team that has won a CSGO major. That team of Skadoodle, Stewie2k, autimatic, RUSH and tarik. Cloud9 have set a precedent with everything we have been talking about.

As of the writing of this blog, Cloud9s current squad (JT, motm, oSee, floppy and Sonic) is a poor reflection of that history. This is nothing against these players they are all capable players but if this team was named anything else, they would not even be giveing a second look at them. Would those fans who bought jerseys two years ago be proud to stand behind that team? No not a chance.

When you play for Cloud9 the expectation is be “Best in America” and at the moment they are 3-4 placings at best, behind where they should be.

Is it even a problem?

For a lot of people that are into esports there is always a temptation to compare ourselves to the established mainstream sports that exists.

Sometimes we have waved that flag in their face to go “pfft, who cares what you think, we do it better then you” while at the same time behind close doors try to emulate them more and more.

Maybe the real motivation behind this whole post was just an excuse to talk about how much I love Liverpool and how much I want to rub it in every Mancs face (especially you Tyson!) but I do wonder at the day where I would feel the same amount of emotion I did last Thursday when I woke up and actually cried because something amazing had happen. Will I ever be that invested about an esports team? I'm not sure yet.

- Krisna “kastle09″ Siv