Question to the Community: e-Coaches?
July 2nd, 2007 by Justin CarmonyThese last few days I’ve spent wondering some “bottlenecks” for eSports and competitive gaming. To give some background, I have competed at a state level in High School swimming and water polo as a player, and later in life I was a Swimming Coach for a High School team that had a good amount of success. I’ve thought about similarities and differences between the eSports and Swimming/Water Polo, and where they stand. I constantly come back to the same question and one very large difference between professional gaming and other sports: where are the coaches?
Now, when I mean coach, I don’t mean a “strat-caller” or a team manager. I look at a strat-caller like a team captain, which I don’t mean to try to diminish their position. They are vital to a team’s success and help with the chemistry of a team. Team managers on the other hand handle issues that many times players don’t need to focus on: helping with scheduling, sponsors, keeping operations. They allow for players to focus on the game, and hands down a good team manager is a very strong addition to a successful team.
But when I say a coach I mean an individual who solely focuses on training and guiding a team to victory. A person who is solely focused on the game, but isn’t “in” the game. They need to have experience, but they don’t play in the matches. They are the eyes of the team, watching every move and mistake. They run practice, they watch and critic scrims, they give direction from the sidelines during the game. Many people think this is the same role as a team captain, however it is not, because I have been both and there are distinct differences. There are several things a coach provides that other positions aren’t as well apt to provide.
First: a solely focused individual on a team and not their own skills. A coach in basket ball doesn’t have to drain every 3-point shot, but he needs to know how to teach and train it. In eSports, a coach can focus on strategies, tactics, skills, and other aspects of his team, but not worry about himself. He offers pure knowledge and experience. A team captain can’t do that, because he still has to worry about maintaining and improving his personal skills. A team manager in general should be focusing on sponsorships, leagues, etc. to keep his players “worry-free” about those things so the players can focus on playing, and so the coach can worry about coaching.
In my opinion, this is a huge limiter for eSports. As a swim team captain, I gave encouragement and motivation, but I was still too busy swimming the workouts and perfecting my skills to focus on everyone else’s skills and physical condition. However, when I was a coach, I could gain a few pounds and not worry about it, and I could dedicate my sole focus on my team. I had team managers who did most of the managerial work of running a team, allowing me to focus on my areas. I’d say almost every team in eSports, with the exception of a few, does not have this luxury. Their team captains play the role of coach, which while they do a fantastic job, they still can’t give it the sole focus a coach can.
Second: a figure and enforcer of authority. Many might be surprised about this, but countless times a lack of authority has caused severe problems, even on a professional level. We’ve had team managers come on the Ventrilo to discuss a problem because they are the “head of their organization,” come to a resolution, tell the team captain and player, and the player totally and completely disregard their manager’s instructions. In many cases that I’ve seen, managers have little control over their teams. They don’t run practice, the captains do. They don’t handle discipline with fellow team members, the captain does. However, when problems arise and they try to do something, there isn’t the respect and communication, which leads to players not following their manager. I’ll leave out names, but there are many professional teams who have faced this very problem and have cause us large headaches.
A coach, however, provides the medium where he can be strict and get things done right. A team captain can’t enforce as well because it can cause friction between players on the field. A coach can be far enough removed from a player that they can provide control and not damage relations on the field. A coach can discuss problems and give orders, where a manager many times fails to do. This leads me into my third topic.
Third: a removed individual. To help explain, while I was still a very young coach in college and I could easily get along with my high school swimmers, if I got too “buddy-buddy” they would walk over me. I would not be able to enforce stricter practices. I would not command the respect needed to get things done the right way. Now, I’m not saying that coaches are to be jerks. But when hard decisions are needed to be made, like who to play and what to do, a coach is far-enough removed to do what is necessary to achieve success. A team captain is supposed to be a close “buddy,” and provide that needed leadership in-game. But when a team captain has to make hard decisions that affect their team, it can cause for him to lose the chemistry that he has created for his team. Great team captains lead their team, while a coach needs to direct and command his team.
These are three things I believe that eSports teams lack because of a lack of a coach. While not “nails in the coffin” for eSports, because eSports is only growing more and more, I think that these are still “bottlenecks,” or things that are stunting the growth of eSports and cause growing pains.
Chris Pipher, our Head of Game for Counter-Strike 1.6, took some time to interview a few professional players to see what their views were. We asked four questions:
- Does your team currently have a “coach” that just focuses on your team’s performance and doesn’t play or manage?
- Do you think this is an advantage / disadvantage, why?
- Have you ever played in a sport with a coach? If so, was the Coach a valuable member of the team?
- Just as your personal preference, would you like to have a coach? Why or why not?
The majority of the players thought that coaches in general were helpful and many had played on other sport teams with coaches. However, they were reserved to the thought of coaches in eSports, especially online, for a few reasons. They’re really isn’t a pool of high quality older players who can help give more insight than current team captains. Many referred to Team 3D’s attempt at having Bootman as a coach. Many others had less-effective coaches in their past, and fear the same for eSports. Others believed that current games didn’t offer an effective place in-game for coaches. However, over all, if in-game functionality for coaches was implemented effectively, and highly skilled coaches were available, professional players thought coaches would be very good additions to eSports. I set up a page here to see what these professional players had to say about e-Coaches.
I may be wrong. In ten years I might look back and say “Carmony, you were off your rocker!” However, I think most who have played a sport with a coach would agree with me. While team captains today do a fantastic job, I believe that in 5 to 10 years, when stars of today are not in their gaming prime, but they have a wealth of knowledge, we will start to see the coach appear in the main, semi-pro, and professional levels. I believe that will be a great step towards professionalism and better gaming. Hopefully there will be accommodations in future professional games to allow for coaches to be apart without being “ghosters.” Maybe I’m wrong, but if almost every other sport has some form of coach, I believe they are in general a positive influence for their sports, and one day in eSports it will be the “norm” to have a coach.
But these are just my thoughts, what do you think?
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:56 pm
sick read, i agree. When I retired coaching here i come!
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:52 am
I have often thought of this very thing and think that if there is a future for e-sports, which it looks like there will be, that it will head in that direction. The problem I think has to do a lot with the maturity level of the community. That also ties in with the fact that we are on the internet which isn’tclose, even with ventrilo, to being face to face. People find it much easier to start talking shit if things aren’t going the way they would want it to.
July 12th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
I have always thought ESports should be ran the same as any other sport and was actually suprised when CGS didn’t have GM, Coach, Assitant GM (or Coach), etc…
I do see this in the forseable future as well though good writeup also :)
July 14th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Coaches should be the 1 with the strats, am I right or wrong?
July 14th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
nice :D
July 16th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Coming from college football I have always been accustomed to coaches playing a vital part in the success/failure of a team and I definitely agree that it would also hold true in the world of eSports. As the leader of my team I have found myself stepping into a ‘coaching’ role, however as you had noted it is difficult to do that while focusing on your personal skills since I am one of the starting 5 as well as keeping team unity and still getting things done and sometimes making harsh decisions.
July 18th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
I too can relate about it being difficult to build and hold good chemistry with your team as captain, coach, and buddy and i think coaches would play highly beneficial roles in esports. Some decisions shouldn’t be up to a member of a team even if it is the captain because you have to be the one standing back and watching the progress and status of your team develop as an outsider or “critic” as he said. But when it came down to it actually working? think about it. the coach is trying to convey a message. say, stop pushing so aggressively and keep your crosshair up but he also has to explain the strat to be used and not to mention the comments hell make in the middle of the round but from experience i can say that it becomes confusing and hectic in a vent server with just the 5 players. now imagine 6 voices talking and that extra 1 talking way more than the others.
July 23rd, 2007 at 8:08 am
lol what do you mean lacking older players with insight!!?? i’m 24 and have been coaching for 4 years! im also giving my services to x6 right now!
July 23rd, 2007 at 8:52 pm
I don’t see why eSports should be different from any of the other sports, coaching included.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:59 am
I agree with you Tracey, it could become very hecktic if 5 players and a coach would just keep yelling back and forth in the middle of the rounds.
I would imagine a coach would give most of his advice in between. To met more accommodations for coaches, there would have to be some sort of timeouts for a coach to pull his team together and reorganize. If I were a coach, I’d limit my instruction in the middle of a round to a minimum and only peep up when needed, like “Watch your back, they could come up from behind” etc.
And to tinsey’s comment: When I envision older, I imagine people in their late 20’s or 30’s. More like Charlie Plitt’s age ;)
Maturity level is also another concern, and I think a huge factor. Not saying its impossible, but its hard for a group of younger people (16-18) to stick together and be professional. I think many people would agree they’ve all been on a team that disolved due to maturity issues. However, I don’t know how many current players that are not on a more professional level would submit to instructions of a coach. I can’t count how many times (I’d dare say we’ve easily passed in to the hundreds) we’ve had a captain come in and plead on behalf of his team to not be punished for the stupidity of one player who either cheated, used exploits, or just demolished any sportsmanship with the other team. Some players, while they might be a great shot and quick reflexes, make TERRIBLE teammates. Who cares if you can go 27 and 4 if you lose cause of your actions.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
I think thats what makes gaming cool. It’s a “for us, by us” kind of thing. In every sport i’ve played, coaches suck anyway. E-sports are great because of the independence of them.
August 6th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Good read, but in the end unless you’re expecting to split divisions by both age and skill you’ll turn up the same result over and over. In sports they seperate divisions definitively by an age group, certain leagues while you’re in middle school town leagues, high school leagues, etc. It’s pretty much open before high school whereas you actually have to have skill to make the team. Now, for CS, age is ignored, leaving a huge huge problem in the formation of teams which hold anyone under 18-19 years old. You may have players who are 13-14 years old playing with players 17-18 years old, that’s like having high school freshmen play varsity, extremely rare. Only when a team consists of members all either in the same age group (within a year at most) or if they’re all 18+ (even 18 is a stretch because there are plenty of 18 years old with immaturity issues.) can you even approach the game professionally. The problem is that video games are more appealing to those who are younger than this age because they need things to fill their time, people who are in college have to worry about so many different things that they often lose interest in video games and only play in their leisure, a.k.a not play in a league. Until there is “job” security and players can declare CS as a profession and not worry about what happens when the public loses interest in the game (they already have, and there is no security) there is no hope for the survival of the game let alone advancing it. After playing for 4-5 years competitively I don’t regret it at all, in fact I miss what it used to be. I have more important things to worry about now in my life than a video game and advancing it when there are literally a million others out there. The people who sponsor video games always want NEW things. CS will not interest sponsors for any kind of funding when they can just create new games that require people to buy upgrades to their computers and it will keep going in that pattern over and over. It’s unfortunate but in the end counter-strike is a video game, it doesn’t deserve to be called a sport until it’s been around for at least another hundred years, with technology advancing at the rate it is do you think that will happen? I don’t.
August 18th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Very good read, Justin. I played soccer for 11 years and coached for 5. There really is a different perspective from a coaches point of view. However there really is no physical side to gaming, the match coaching is typically handled by the team captain calling the strats. What’s left then is making sure your players show up on time for practices and matches, and encouragement for them to perform to the peak of their abilities. You have a darn good team captain if they can handle all of that. I think the coaching responsibility can be shared between the manager(s) and team captain. The big problem you run into is ego in this game. For the players to accept anybody to tell what to do they need to prove their experience and know what they’re talking about. If not you create more discord in the clan, which is usually traced back to ego. If you spread the responsibility of coaching then each “coach” can focus on their strengths in terms of how they can best provide what the team needs. This is not unlike how professional sports organizations have special teams coaches, each coach brings a certain type of expertise to the team so the team can operate as a whole. You pointed this out, “They’re really isn’t a pool of high quality older players who can help give more insight than current team captains.” There is no better reason than that supporting why you should spread the responsibility. If you remove team and player management from the team captain, they can focus on what they are good at without distraction.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:11 am
i could be wrong but i think some of the asian teams have coaches. or just a really old guy that wears the same team jacket
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