Positive Attitude - Playing video games for hours on end can be exhausting for any esports player, professional or not. Maintaining a positive attitude is crucial for an esports player. As they play so many games a day, they need to stay positive throughout all games in order to improve. In tournaments, if a team is losing a game, each player needs to keep a cool head, making decisions and strategies to try win the game back. If players are negative throughout, no matter what strategies have been made, they will not work unless each player can stay positive and believe that they can win the game. Mental attitude throughout a game is much more important than people think, it can define whether or not players do well or win a game. For example, in the LOCK//IN VALORANT Champions Tour, it was the final game in a five game final series to win the major international trophy. FNATIC were losing the game 3-11 against LOUD, the first team to 13 rounds wins the game, bare in mind, this is the final map, meaning whoever wins this map, wins the series. FNATIC did the unimaginable, winning 9 consecutive rounds, making the score 12-11 (FNATIC-LOUD) and eventually winning the game 14-12. FNATIC would not have been able to win this game if they did not have a positive attitude about the game they were in. This characteristic is crucial for an esports player to have, without it, players will struggle to succeed in such a competitive industry.
Problem Solving - As a professional player, problem solving skills are essential. Adapting quickly to changing circumstances is a needed characteristic as esports is a dynamic and fast-paced environment. Thinking several steps ahead of your opponent and being able to change your strategies based on how your opponent is playing all falls under the problem solving skill. Within a game, critical thinking and problem solving skills are used throughout, having to change strategies quickly, predicting your opponent, adapting to your teams positions and callouts included. For example, in a professional game of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Role Models - A role model in a team would be a player everyone else looks up to and aspires to perform like. A role model should have lots of self-confidence, have the ability to deal with criticism, both self and peer provided, be able to cope with stressful situations and defeats, and most importantly they should be able to communicate effectively with their teammates. These skills can be developed by sticking to training schedules, not looking for mistakes on others, instead focusing on themselves and putting 110% effort in to every game they play. A role model should learn how to stay focused throughout a game, use positive self-talk to overcome their mistakes and learn to regulate their negative emotions, such as anxiety and frustration. These skills can also be developed over-time, however most skills need to be developed in a planned and structured way. For example, a role model in the League of Legends esports scene is professional player "Faker", known for his exceptional skills and championship victories, he is known as the GOAT (Greatest of all Time) in League of Legends. His name is chanted in tournament games and is idolised by other professional players, many people describe his as being humble. Role models in an esports teams are often in-game leaders (IGL) of teams as they are respected and have the qualities to be a good leader.
Team Dynamics - Being able to work with your team and evolving within your team is essential to improving as a player. Working well with teammates can dramatically affect how you and your team performs throughout a game. Team dynamics affect how teammates communicate, collaborate and coordinate their efforts to achieve a shared goal. Individual personality traits, work styles, attitudes and other external factors (culture, organisational structure) all influence team dynamics. Effective communication is crucial for an esports team to be successful, being able to listen and express ideas clearly greatly affects the outcome of a game. Team dynamics are one of the main reasons why most teams have an in-game leader (IGL). The in-game leader will demonstrate effective leadership through understanding their team, listening to their players and accepting feedback from anyone who wants to give it. Team dynamics allow a team to be better at decision making, be more motivated and more productive within a team. If team dynamics are not good in a team, coaches and managers will locate the areas that are affecting team dynamics, whether this be a player or their current schedule. If it is a player, they may be removed from the team or taught how to better communicate and work with their team, if it is the schedule, the coach will develop a new schedule, making sure each player is satisfied with it.
Ability to Adapt - Esports is one of the most unpredictable industries. It is continuously changing and developing to become more advanced. Players need to be able to adapt to the changing situations quickly as they will need to become comfortable performing in the environment they are in. Similarly, they will need to be able to adapt in-game quickly. If a strategy is not working and needs to be changed, each player will need to adapt to the changes to be successful. These successful players must adapt their playstyles based on the opponents they face and the dynamics of their own team.
G2 Esports, formally known as Gamers2, is a German professional esports organization located in Berlin, founded in February 2014 by Carlos “ocelote” Rodriguez and investor Jens Hilgers. They have players competing in League of Legends, VALORANT, CounterStrike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, Rocket League, Rainbow Six Siege and iRacing. G2 Esports entered VALORANT in June 2020 and have since become one of the most successful organizations in the game, winning every “Ignition Series” event in the region. G2 Gozen is an EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) all-female team formed at the end of 2021 as G2 Esports' response to Riot Games’ announcement of its Game Changers initiative. G2 Esports are a professional team, having years of experience based around esports.
Craven Crusaders are a college based team from Craven College. They have two competing teams in the games VALORANT and Overwatch, partaking in The Student Championships hosted by The British Esports Association. First competing in the VALORANT and Overwatch 2022-2023 leagues, with the VALORANT team placing second in the Open League, later moving to compete in the Nationals Stage the following year. The Craven Crusaders are an amateur team, having very little competitive esports based experience and training.
Unlike Craven Crusaders, G2 Esports are a professional organisation, having years of experience in esports. G2 Esports have organised training sessions, dedicating all of their time towards progressing in the esports industry. Furthermore, G2 have coaches and managers for each individual team, improving team chemistry, training routines, progression evaluations, and more, Craven Crusaders do not have dedicated team roles, affecting performance. Before a game, G2 have extensive training and scrim matches, sometimes lasting for eight hours, Craven Crusaders did not have as much time to spare, limiting the ability to create training routines and scrim matches.
Overall, with G2 being a much more established team, they are more likely to succeed in their games, learning from their mistakes with VOD reviews, coaches and dedicated sessions for improvements. Craven Crusaders could benefit much more having practice time, personalised warm-up routines and better management (dedicated roles, coaches, managers).
Craven Crusaders Open League Results (Elimination Stage and Finals)
Craven Crusaders Open League Results (Group Stage)
G2 have rosters for many different game genres. In some of their recent games, their VALORANT team placed third in the "VALORANT Championship Tour: Masters Shanghai 2024", their all-female team placed first in the "Redbull Instalock" tournament, their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team placing first in the "Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2024" event and finally their League of Legends team placing fourth in the "Mid-Season Invitational 2024" event.
Their VALORANT team consists of: "Icy", "Trent", "JonahP", in-game leader "Valyn", "Leaf", coaches "JoshRT" and "Shhack" and team manager "Seowulf".
Their all-female VALORANT team consists of: "Rezq", "Petra", in-game leader "mimi", "Vania", "Amy", coach "Leader" and manager "Tibalt".
Their CS:GO team consists of: in-game leader "HooXi", "M0nesy", "NiKo", "Nexa", "Hunter", coache "Taz" and managers "Raf" and "Peca".
Their League of Legends team consists of: "Mikyx", "Hans Sama", "Caps", "Yike", "Broken Blade", coach "Dylan Falco", analyst "Rodrigo" and manager "Romain".
The Craven Crusaders have two rosters for the games they compete in, VALORANT and Overwatch, both being in the first-person shooter genre. Their greatest achievements have been placing second in the VALORANT Open League.
Their VALORANT team consists of: "hazmat", "BigAndy", "Esvios", in-game leader "oopslol", "Shnoodle" and team manager "Lillai".
Their Overwatch team consists of, "Noodle", "Ripper", in-game leader "InFuzed", "BigHammer", "Mono", "Dustbin", "Syko", "Soulzz", "Bigfudge76", "Reloader" and manager "Lillai".
Overwatch has a team big enough for substitutes so if something is not working in-game, team chemistry would decrease but mechanical improvements would be allowed to happen within the team.
As G2 are a much more established team, they are able to have teams for many different game genres, the Craven Crusaders on the other hand, have a very limited player count, further limiting the game genres available to play. As stated previously, G2 have structured teams, with managers, analysts and coaches available, improving their teams' overall performance, whereas the Craven Crusaders have very minimal structure, only having a general manager for both teams, worsening their teams' overall performance.
The league structures for professional and amateur esports are very different. Professional leagues have more stages, with every win being crucial to progressing in the tournament, whereas in amateur leagues, there tends to be more fall-back games, meaning there is more room for error. For example, in professional play, the "VCT: Masters Shanghai 2024" event formats as follows:
12 teams will participate from each of the four regions of VALORANT (EMEA, NA, Pacific and China). The top three teams from "Stage 1" will qualify for the main event. The main event will have two phases, the "Swiss Stage" and the "Playoff Stage". Each team that finishes first in their "VCT League 1 Stage" receives 3 Championship points and a bye game (a free win) to the "Playoffs" bracket. The remaining eight teams will participate in a "Swiss-style" bracket, similar to a previous VALORANT event. Four teams will qualify for the playoffs bracket and after the completion of the Swiss Bracket, a draw will take place, the team who received the bye game (free win) will be able to select their opponents. These four teams will be randomly drawn into the pick order to decide which team gets the first pick. After this is decided, the top eight teams will play against each other. As there are only three days for the "Playoffs Stage" to take place, the top eight teams will play in a direct "knockout" format, this means that teams will have to play two games a day during VCT Masters Shanghai.
Format (Simplified - Source https://liquipedia.net/valorant/VCT/2024/Stage_1/Masters)
Swiss Stage: March 14th - 18th, 2024
8 team Swiss System format
All matches are best of three
Round 1 teams will be paired against teams from a different region
Each round 1 match seeds a Kickoff winner against a runner-up
Rounds 2 and 3 are seeded based on each team's win-loss record
Teams that reach 2 wins advance to Playoffs
Teams that reach 2 losses are eliminated
Playoffs: March 21st - 24th, 2024
4 Team Double-Elimination bracket
Teams with a 2-0 record are seeded against a team with a 2-1 record in the first round
All matches (excluding Lower Final and Grand Final) are best of three
Lower Final and Grand Final are best of five
The rules of the tournament follow the usual VALORANT rules, the map pool is always based on the current maps in the competitive rotation unless a map has been released mid-tournament season in which case the map rotation will stay the same as the map pool before the release. Each game is live-streamed on Twitch and YouTube, allowing users to stay updated with the esports scene.
The league structure for an amateur structure is semi-similar to a professional structure, however amateur structures tend to have more fall-back games, allowing teams to lose games and still have the opportunity to qualify for the next stage. For example, the format for the Open League Student Championships event formats as follows:
Two regions, North and South play in separate "Swiss Stages" for eight weeks, winning a certain amount of games allows you to move forward to "Division 1" and if you do not qualify for this division, you will be placed in "Division 2". Division 1 could also be labelled the "Upper Bracket, and Division 2 could be labelled as the "Lower Bracket". "Division 2" will then compete in another "Swiss Stage" and the top eight teams from both regions will advance. Both of the "Division 2" regions will then to the "Elimination Stage". Only sixteen teams can qualify for this stage, then the top eight teams will qualify for the "Quarter Finals" stage, the top four teams will move to the "Semi Finals", finally leaving the two remaining teams for the "Division 2 Finals". "Division 1" will then compete in their "Division 1 Eliminations" stage, with eight teams from both regions qualifying for this stage. The format then follows the same as the "Division 2" format with the top eight teams qualifying for the "Quarter Finals", the top four teams qualifying for the "Semi Finals", leaving the last two teams to compete in the LAN event, "Division 1 Finals".
The difference between amateur leagues and professional leagues is in amateur leagues (or in this case), the Swiss Stage, is based on a points system, based off wins and rounds won in the game. For example, if "Team A" were to win their game against "Team B" 13-1 but "Team C" won their game against "Team D" 13-9, "Team A" would be above "Team C" in the league. As the games are best of 1 (BO1), the points system is an effective way of keeping track of where each team is in the league.
Similar to the professional league, the tournaments follow the usual VALORANT rules, however, the map pool can change in the middle of the league. Say for instance, the map "Haven" is rotated out of the pool, and the map "Fracture" is rotated back in, there would be a two week period in which "Haven" would stay in the pool and after this two week period, "Haven" would be unavailable to play and "Fracture" would become available to play.
G2 Gozen are the female VALORANT team for G2. In 2022, they won the VALORANT "Game Changers Champions" event and became VALORANT world champions. In the "Game Changers EMEA 2023", they competed and won the EMEA series, giving them a invite to the "Game Changers Championship" event, where they placed third overall.
Throughout all games they have played, their highest win-rate is on the map "Icebox" playing 28 matches in total, winning 26 of these games. 14 of these games were played with the team composition of, "Sage", "Viper", "Sova", "Jett", and "Killjoy" and they have won 13 of the 14 games, giving them a 92.9% win rate.
The G2 Gozen 2022 roster consisted of: in-game leader "Julliano", "Petra", "Glance", "mimi", "Mary", coach "Carcass" and manager "Tibalt". In 2022, "Mary" became the youngest female to win an international VALORANT event.
In 2022, G2 announced their all-female League of Legends team, G2 Hel, made up of prominent women in the League of Legends esports industry. This new team was formed as part of G2's goal to empower men and women to compete alongside one another in mixed leagues and to create more role models for female gamers.
In 2022, G2 Hel competed in the PATHFINDERS 2023 Split 2 and won first place. Their roster consists of, "Sha", "Shiina", "Lizia", "Caltys", "Colomblbl" and coaches "Emtest" and "Knok1".
Like many teams, G2 go through extensive practice to help them improve as a team. Many coaches put their teams through team practice every day, allowing the team to improve. The coach will have a set schedule that fits each player, giving them the opportunity to practice as a team and individually.
In 2020, G2 organised a Redbull "mind and body" boost for their "Counter Strike: Global Offensive" team. As professional players, they need to have a variety of different attributes to compete at the highest level with extreme reflexes, hand-eye coordination and the ability to stay calm under extreme pressure being only a few of the skills needed.
The coaches put them through a training scheme which included massages, visit a sports psychologist and fitness from a personal trainer. Diet and nutrition was a big eye-opener in terms of providing the correct energy with psychologists employed to help deal with stress better as they sit for long hours behind desks.
Damien 'maLeK' Marcel quoted "It's priceless to see players see the benefit of a healthy lifestyle and actively want to do better, so the team can perform at a much higher level."
When a tournament is upcoming, G2 coaches organise for the team to be flown or driven out to the G2 Bootcamp in Berlin where the team can practice and train together.
The Craven College Crusaders have a much less intense schedule, only competing in one game per week. Due to the Crusaders lack of a coach, they do not get as much practice as they should, instead having to organise sessions themselves and due to players life schedules, consistent practice sessions are not hosted.
However, due to the Craven Crusaders being a college-based team, part of their course specification is to learn about health and wellbeing in esports, partaking in physical activity weekly whilst being given recommendations on how to stay healthy whilst spending so much time playing games.
G2 Physical Training
G2 CSGO Team
Craven Crusaders VALORANT Team
Every professional team has a dedicated coach. Esports coaches are responsible for mentoring esports players, helping them to reach their potential and be successful in the industry. They work closely with individuals and teams to develop strategies, identify weaknesses and build on existing strengths. One of the biggest requirements for an esports coach is that they must have extensive knowledge of the game they are coaching in, alongside having excellent communication skills.
A coach is often responsible for recommending roster changes and scouting out new talent. For example, in the Game Changers 2023 event, G2 Gozen did not look as strong as they previously did in the 2022 event, therefore, it was Gozens' coach, "Carcass" who recommended role changes within the team, moving their "Duelist" player to a less aggressive role and moving one of their confident "Initiator" players to the "Duelist" role. As a result, they succeeded and progressed further with these role changes.
With the lack of a coach in the Craven Crusaders team, role changes and player substitutions were all decided by the players competing. This resulted in clouded judgement from the team, wanting to succeed without the assistance of a different perspective in areas they needed guidance in. Furthermore, the Crusaders lacked practice sessions and scrim sessions, decreasing their team chemistry and in-game performance as they lacked strategies.
In conclusion, one of the main reasons why G2 succeed in a lot of their games is because of the guidance they recieve from their coach. They are able to get a different perspective on the game, work through strategies, and make roster changes based on performance. The Crusaders lacking in having a coach means they are unable to gain insight from a coach and cannot see from a different perspective where improvements need to be made.
Recruiting new players for an esports team is a challenging process. Looking for replacements, back-up players and fresh talent requires consideration of various factors. You will need to consider what role, skill level and playstyle you are looking for in your recruit alongside looking at all the considerations for fitting in with the rest of the team, for example, looking at the teams' goals and objectives, values, ensuring everyone has similar visions. In many teams, it is the coach and team manager who look for new recruits. If they are recruiting a replacement for a player in a team, they would have to ensure that the new player does not interfere with the chemistry of the existing team, instead making sure they add to the chemistry.
After identifying potential recruits, analysing and assessing their performance rigorously plays a huge role in considering how a player contributes to the team's long-term success. Paying attention to their decision-making, adaptability, and consistency in different games and situations is essential in making sure you are recruiting the best player. You would also need to consider their performance under pressure as esports can be intense, you will need to recruit players who can maintain composure when needed.
In professional teams, there will often be a trial period, in which the player will be able to play alongside their new team, allowing the coach and manager to assess whether they are good fit for the team. It also lets the player themselves see if they feel comfortable with the team they are playing for. Professional teams will only announce the roster change after they have found the perfect fit for their team to create less confusion and more certainty for the public (making sure the public know the coaches have replaced a player with someone capable). For example, after Evil Geniuses (EG), a professional VALORANT team won the VALORANT Champions 2023 event, some players (Demon1 & Ethan) parted ways with EG, moving to a different team (NRG). However, NRG did not announce they joined their team until they assessed and concluded the players would be a good fit for the team. Professional teams will look at previous tournament statistics, rankings and previous scrim results to further conclude if the player is a good fit for the team. For example, the recruitment period for a player like "Demon1" was much less rigorous due to his previous record of winning the VALORANT Champions 2023 event, also being the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the event.
In amateur teams, there is a recruitment period, but due to amateur teams having very little experience in the competitive esports scene, they will recruit the best players possible, often disregarding the team chemistry aspect and looking at pure skill of the player. For example, in the Craven Crusaders VALORANT team, they had four members in the team, they still needed one more, therefore they held a recruitment period where any players who wanted to join the VALORANT team would play against each other, with the current members of the team too, in a game. Those who performed well would be considered for the team. However, due to the limitations of students in the esports course, it was difficult finding a perfect fit for the team, therefore they had to recruit players based on skill, not on communication, teamwork or chemistry. Often with amateur teams, they will accept players straight into the team after the recruitment period, allowing them to play games straight away with the team, this could be a waste of time if the player does not fit with the rest of the team, losing valuable time for the team to find a new player who fits better in the team.
In conclusion, the difference between professional and amateur team recruitment is very different. The recruitment for a professional team is much more rigorous and timely, whereas the recruitment for amateur teams is much less competitive, recruiting members based on skill alone.
In most cases, every esports team has a team coach and a team manager, if not multiple of each. A coach and manager are in charge of managing a team, managing team visions, setting of goals, recruitment of players, administrative and financial responsibilities.
Managing an esports team requires clear visibility of your goals and visions. You need to understand what you are trying to achieve as a team, what your values and principles are and how you are wanting to be viewed by the esports community. Having these clear visions will help you align your actions and decisions with your desired outcomes. It will also allow you to communicate expectations and standards to your players, sponsors and fans. Recruiting and retaining the right players is a huge step to managing an esports team. Looking for players who have the skills, attitude and personality that fit your team's visions and culture is what makes up an esports team. As a manager you will need to provide support, feedback and incentives to motivate them to perform at their best and stay loyal to their team. As stated previously, considering the diversity, responsibilities and compatibilities of your players in the team is also part of the coaching role required in esports team management.
An esports team manager is the primary administrator for a team, organizing the team and making sure the players are prepared for competitions. Managers handle the logistics of scheduling practices while also scouting and recruiting new talent. Managers handle the creative duties with the teams branding, they select team colours and oversee logo designs, uniforms and equipment. They also manage the search for sponsors, partners and patrons alongside registering the team for competitions and tournaments. According to team Vitality's Fortnite manager "Samy Mazouzi", "A manager is expected to lead the overall project...On paper the balance can be complicated and their primary responsibility is to ensure that players only have to worry about the game. And make both parties understand the needs of the other".
Each team also has a financial manager, they are responsible for managing the financial operations of their teams. This includes managing financial reporting, creating and managing budgets, analysing financial data and making financial projections. Their primary goal is to ensure that the organization's financial operations are running smoothly. They may be responsible for negotiating contracts, managing cash flow and overseeing accounting functions. For example, they may create player contract budgets, sponsorship budgets and team equipment budgets, seeing how much money can be put into where.
However, in amateur teams, financial managers, team managers and coaches may not be available within the team. Due to their lack of experience in high-tiered esports events, many people do not want to be apart of a team they wont benefit from, no matter the experience they gain. This means amateur teams suffer from not having these positions filled, they will receive no guidance from a coach, may struggle with budgeting without a financial manager and may not schedule practice sessions often enough, causing the team to not gain the practice needed to improve.
In conclusion, coaches, financial managers and team managers are essential for succeeding esports teams. Without them, they will suffer dramatically in many ways. As stated above, they will struggle with finance and budgeting, management of rosters, scheduling practice sessions, they will also lack guidance and more.
There are many roles involved within an esports team. Some of these roles include, professional player, coaches and analysts, team managers, social media managers and more. Most, if not all of these roles are essential in creating a successful esports team, a lack of these roles are partly why some teams never succeed as they should.
A professional esports player is an obvious role within a team, alongside coaches and analysts, they are arguably the ones who do the most up-front work for the team, the other roles in an esports team are essential, but do more background work than up-front work. Professional players are the best of the best at their game of choice, they sit within teams that have specific roles based on the game, for example, a professional VALORANT team all have roles in-game, each player has a dedicated role, there would be a "Duelist", a "Sentinel", an "Initiator" and a "Controller". Professional players practice for about 10 hours a day so within the industry, there is a huge focus on health and fitness to avoid burnout.
These roles help prepare and train professional players. Coaches are a key part of a professional player's career, an analyst or coach, watches competition recordings to pick out areas of improvement, allowing the team to see where improvements need to be made, refining their playing skills. Coaches and analysts keep up-to-date on opposing teams playing styles, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their team, supporting their physical and mental health and helping to strategize for tournaments and events. This role requires the same amount of time and effort as professional players, when your team succeeds, so do you.
As stated previously, the team manager oversees everything, working with both coaches and players to get the best results they can from their team. The manager has the responsibility of making the decisions about the direction of the team, covering everything that a typical team owner from other sports would be expected to do, including, hiring players, branding, marketing and planning. Managers handle the logistics of scheduling practices while also scouting and recruiting new talent. Managers handle the creative duties with the teams branding, they select team colours and oversee logo designs, uniforms and equipment. They also manage the search for sponsors, partners and patrons alongside registering the team for competitions and tournaments.
Successful marketing activities bring sponsorships and partnerships, bigger tournaments and more money. It is a very complex job that requires careful navigating. Reputation of your organisation/team is everything, one mistake or accident can push your team off path long term, disrupting opportunities for players, the team in general and the overall organisation. Marketing in esports means promoting the team in a positive way to the whole industry, hours can be long but it is a rewarding career to see your organisation or team grow positively.
Evaluating the strength of an esports team requires consideration of many aspects. Key factors include individual player skills, such as mechanical skills, game knowledge and consistency. Team chemistry and coordination are equally as important as effective communication can significantly improve execution of strategies. Performance evaluations from previous events provide insights to the team's resilience under pressure, also allowing an organisation to see the effectiveness of the coaches and managers. All of these aspects are essential elements for understanding a teams strengths and weaknesses, allowing a team to see where improvements need to be made and what individual strengths a team has.