We’ve put a lot of focus into training players individually over the last couple of sections. Now, it’s time to learn how you well-developing players can come together to form an effective team. Regardless of whether you participate in a team or singles game, you need to be able to work with a team if you want to not only improve, but thrive. The foundation of any working team is in their communication. Sure, communication might seem as easy as simply talking to each other, but there are many ways you can improve your in-game and IRL communication.
Before beginning the section, take five minutes to talk with your players and come up with a list of good communication habits. Have students explain their choices.
Not only does communication refer to how players communicate in-game, but it also refers to how players and staff communicate with each other in their day-to-day lives. There isn’t any so-called “right way” to do peer-to-peer communication; every team is different, after all, but there are definitely wrong ways for players and coaches to talk to each other. Failures in communication can result in problems down the road, so it’s important that you take time to learn proper communication techniques, so you can keep the ball rolling on your team’s growth with as few distractions as possible.
So, how important is communication in-game? In high level competitive play, communication is as important as the game itself. After all, if you’re playing as a team, you need to make sure everyone is on the same page and working together. Without communication, teams will “break down” and people will start acting independently of the unit. When one team is playing as a united force and the other is scattered, the unified team will have a massive edge.
Think about it like this: there are times in games where you need your team to drop what they were doing and commit to something on a split-second’s notice. If you are struggling to make sure your team hears and then follows the call, and your opponents don’t have that same problem, you have to play at an extreme disadvantage. Unlike team-play in-game, though, communication is something you can practice anywhere at anytime.
Now that we all know what makes communication important, what are some basic communication habits that you can implement in your team’s communication structure? Glad you asked, here are a few of those!
Make sure the team understands the communication structure (aka, who’s job it is to talk about what at certain times). It’s easy for teams to fall silent if someone forgets to do their job in communication, which forces other players to fill the missing role or else let the team “break down.” By making sure everyone knows their role, players can help each other get back into the team communications if something goes wrong. Usually, something as simple as “Hey (name), you’re kinda quiet.” or “Talk more, (name-)” will get someone back on the right track.
If you hear someone, say something! Since you’re playing an online game, non-verbal communication is rarely useful and sometimes impossible. If someone makes a call on your team, let them know you hear them by saying something out loud, like “I hear you” or “got it.” If everyone gets into this habit, you’ll know when your team is with you when you make a call, or if they aren’t. Acknowledging each other’s communication is the first step in acting on it, so make sure everyone does this.
If the information you’re communicating is important, say it twice! Repetition will help your teammates know what you’re saying and react to the call. You can also use repetition to help your teammates by emphasizing whatever they are saying. This is especially useful for target calling or target prioritizing, since everyone is likely to do the thing that everyone else is talking about. Professional players often do this in their comms as a way to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Keep your communication as quick as possible while being clear. Don’t rush through the words, but try to shorten things for the sake of speed and clarity. For example, if you need to say “The enemy player took damage and is hiding behind that tree,” you can shorten that to “enemy lit behind tree” without sacrificing any of the important information.
Make sure everyone knows what things are called and referred to as! After all, if everyone is speaking the same language and everyone understands everything being said, the team will have faster reaction and processing speeds. There are plenty of resources online for naming conventions for parts of the game, and players will naturally come up with names for things through playing. Take time in practice (walkthroughs) to look at things in-game and figure out what you’ll call them as a team.
Keep your communication positive! Don’t complain or whine if something goes wrong. Remember, your teammates aren’t expecting perfection, just that you try your best. If you’re not having a good game, that doesn’t mean that your teammates aren’t, so don’t potentially mess them up by being negative. As a rule of thumb: your teammates would much rather hear you talk about solutions to problems you’re having than excuses.
Now that we have some basics down on how to talk to each other in-game, let’s talk about how we should communicate with other people IRL. Regardless of whether you’re a player, coach, or other staff member, you need to remember to be respectful of everyone around you. This doesn’t mean you have to necessarily be BFF’s with everyone on the team, but don’t be petty with people you aren’t too fond of or familiar with. Treat the team like a professional work environment: show up and do your best to get your job done, and good things will happen.
Out-of-game communication is crucial for teams that want to seriously develop or grow. If you have poor communication habits IRL, how will coaches be able to give feedback to players? How will players be able to talk to each other in the open and candid way necessary for peer-to-peer learning? Esports teams, and for that matter all teams, are built on the foundation of mutual respect. If someone is on your team, regardless of role, they deserve your respect as much as you deserve theirs.
Here are some other important elements in good out-of-game communication:
We’re repeating ourselves here, but you need to treat your peers and colleagues with respect. If you can’t respect your coworkers and teammates, you don’t deserve to be on the team.
Ask your teammates how they would like to be identified/called. If you don’t know, don’t be afraid to ask. Be consistent with what you would like your peers to call you/refer to you as. For example: some people prefer to go by their gamertag in-game, while others prefer to use their real name. If you have multiple people with the same name, try to avoid calling people “other [Name]” and instead make sure everyone has an unique identifier.
When people are talking to you or about you, don’t cut them off or interrupt. Let people finish what they’re saying and try your best to actively listen. Make eye contact with them if possible, and give them your undivided attention. This means that you shouldn’t prepare what you’re going to say while the other person is talking. Take time when they finish to collect your thoughts and then respond. Doing this will make it easy for your peers to give you feedback, which will make you a better teammate in their eyes. Remember, nobody wants to work with someone difficult, who doesn’t listen to feedback; and everyone loves working with someone who is a good listener and teammate.
Try to keep your emotions in check when talking to your teammates. You don’t need to bottle up your emotions; competitive games are, by their nature, emotional. Don’t let your emotions take you over, though. Stay as composed and professional as you can. When talking about how you feel, use ‘I-messages’ to clearly communicate what’s on your mind. Don’t say something along the lines of “You [referring to another player or staff member] make me mad because you aren’t listening.” Because the ‘you’ is accusatory, this can be seen as unnecessarily aggressive and confrontational. Instead, you can say the same thing like this: “I feel frustrated because I can’t tell if you’re listening,” which is much more likely to get your message across, because it’s inviting the listeners to understand your point-of-view instead of challenging them.
You will figure out what communication techniques work best for you and your team through practice and trial-and-error. One last thing for you to remember: a team that communicates well plays well. Communication is really easy to mess up if you’re not careful, but if you and your team practice good communication habits, you and your team will reap the rewards.