The following is a theory based on personal ideas and experience. It is as to be seen as a theory and nothing more. It is not an attack on anyone, but is only a theoretical thought process of the birth and potential death of Goio’s competitive scene.
The entire topic is open to discussion, further theories on the subject are welcome. Critique and addition is only making the debate better.
Before a brief description of the birth of the competitive scene can be made, I will introduce you to my theory of the current competitive scene in goio. I have named the theory as such: The pillar theory. The name comes from old discussions with various clan leaders, that the community’s active clans each represent a pillar of foundation holding up the roof which represents the competitive scene. It can be visualized as such:
A few
definitions are needed to be understood before the theory will be explained.
The competitive scene: Is defined by the total amount of events happening currently and henceforth, this is not including inter-clan scrimmages or practices. An event that has happened is in the past and part of the history, and bears no relevance to the current competitive scene.
Active clan: Is a clan that is actively participating in the competitive scene. It does not involve clans that are casual and not participating, or clans that used to participate.
Strong pillar: Does not refer to clans being stronger than other clans, it refers to the amount of events the clan participates in. The more events being participated in, the stronger the clan is in the foundation.
Weak pillar: Does not refer to clans being weaker than other clans, it refers to the amount of event the clan participates in. The lesser events being participated in, the weaker the clan is in the foundation.
Team/clan/pillar: essentially the same in this theory, teams are products of clans or cooperation, no distinction will be made.
Understanding the theory can be simplified by the figure, if the pillars disappear the roof falls to the ground and breaks. The competitive scene survives and is only supported by the clans that are holding it up, each being a pillar of support.
It is also to be understood that pillars hold different strengths of foundation, Active clans that participate more than the other clans, represents a stronger and wider pillar, like the ones seen on each side. While active clans that only participate in some events, and biweekly or even more rarely represents a weaker and thinner pillar.
Together the wider pillars can hold the roof, but the foundation will be weak in the middle, whereas the thinner pillars can hold the roof, but the foundation would be weak from left to right. The former and current competitive scene in goio has had a mixture of both wide and thin pillars, which is what will be discussed in the analysis.
The theory can be summed up as such: The competitive scene is supported by both strong and weak pillars, each making the foundation for the survival of the competitive scene. It is supported from beneath and not from above. Simply: If there is no interest in participating in the competitive scene, it will crash to the ground.
Historic perspective:I have arranged goio’s competitive history into three parts, the beginning, the expansion and what I call the professionalization. All of goios competitive history can be found here:
https://gunsoficarus.com/community/forum/index.php/board,8.0.html starting on the last page is the beginning of the cogs, while for events like claiming the fjords, you have to visit the old forums.
The beginning:The beginning of the competitive scene was characterized by an overall weak foundation, with uncertainty of the future. A few strong clans was represented, amongst these clans was what we call the Old Gents, the Old ducks and zills merry men/merry northern storm. These three clans were regarded as the best and the strongest. In between then a lot of weaker clans were represented such as Kings Gambit (later Corvus), SMAC, Pastafarians, falconeers, polaris etc. weak clans that hadn’t reached the same level of consistency as the more organized and experienced clans.
The competitive scene itself was a weak roof, based on initial events such as claiming the fjords which was a onetime event, and the cogs which permitted more skilled teams to play regularly while lesser skilled teams were unable to play weekly. This was heavily criticized, and Cogs entered a process of change, to the point where the system in some players eyes were regarded as good, and in others regarded as confusing. Meanwhile the onetime events happening were characterized by a failing amateurism. The cogs were put on ice eventually and that marked the end of the beginning.
The expansion:As a counter to the cogs the consistent weekly event the Sunday Rumble was introduced, and later the Saturday box special. Both events based on best of three, single elimination tournament style. It was run by Urz who alone scheduled and organized the events, with help from his usual caster staff. The events were set up as the current Sunday community skirmish. Teams signup weekly and then participate only that week, until they sign up again. A slow shift in the pillars happened during this period. The old ducks and old gents slowly became weaker pillars, and eventually disappeared due to no longer participating in the events for various reasons. Zills merry men aswell became a weak pillar, but is still occasionally participating. This however spawned new and stronger pillars in a bigger quantity. Clans like bully boys, glowwater thralls (former corvus at this point), new gents, overwatch and new ducks (the mandarins) all became strong pillars for a long period of time, with weaker pillars such as the flying Dutchmen, the celestial dragons all were weak pillars, and often shortlived teams. The competitive scene in itself became bigger and vaster, needing stronger pillars to hold it up. Eventually interest was lost from different teams, and eventually Urz stopped organizing and left the competitive scene, leaving the pillars left with no roof to support. This marked the end of the expansion.
The professionalization:When there was nothing in the competitive scene, a few organizers and former competitive players started the Hephaestus challenge. This was greatly supported by Letonator, who came in and brought together the casting community for events like this. This era was marked by a more professional tone, and a shift away from casual handling of events. Teams themselves became obvious to this change and in some way swapped from casual play to a more professional style, in order to participate. Ranking was introduced in the competitive scene and marked a more elitist way of playing. Teams like Ryder, Thralls, Sacrilege became strong pillars holding the foundation with various weak pillars such as now overwatch, mad hatters, the clamour, holy roman army etc. Hephaestus challenge was criticized in various ways, some of them being that no event should take place while the game has problems with bugs and lag. However the competitive scene waits for no one, it is a continuous process if it stops working every pillar becomes irrelevant.
Later in the professionalization the idea of MLG was introduced as the ultimate professionalization of the competitive scene. No longer is it in the hands of the teams to be the ones organizing or discussing what they wanted, but rather an above standing institution would decide the rules and specifications wiping away the former amateurism of organization. Teams are now regarded as participants only, while organizers decide the format. It can be perceived as both a bad and a good change, bad in the way that some teams will find themselves overseen, while other teams are happy that they no longer have to discuss rule sets prior to events. This professionalization marks our current competitive scene.
The following analysis will first be based on how clans act in this game, and why they will or won’t be interested in the professionalization of the competitive scene. Using the pillar theory, if more clans won’t be interested the competitive scene will crash to the ground, whereas if there are more and sufficient teams wanting professionalization, then it will not crash.
Before giving my suggestion of what will happen, I want to briefly discuss and analyze why clans act like they do.
I am using the definition of weak and strong clans, as they are the only relevant clans when analyzing the competitive scene.
However weak and strong clans do not refer to their internal structure or their behavior towards the competitive scene. Some clans like to play casually in events, these clans are usually defined as weak. Other clans like to play with elitism, these clans are usually defined as strong. Between the two kinds of clans, we find a third kind. The third kind like to mix casual with elitist behavior, they compete to do their best, but in the process are casual towards elitist teams, the rivalry to be the best does not influence their mindset.
In the professionalization of the competitive scene, the casual clan will feel like they are not being able to participate and have fun, the weak pillar they represent will disappear. Whereas both casual/elitist and pure elitist clans will have different opinions. They are not alike in any way, they all act differently and shall be seen as individuals. The strong clans will either perish in this professional system, or become even stronger than before. This attitude stems not from participation in events, but a personal decision between each and every clan of what they want.
But why will some clans perish in this system? And why do some clans prevail? Before I give my perspective on the matter I want to stress the importance of: You cannot please each and every one, someone will always feel left behind. Progress is something that divides players.
The internal clan issues:Clans on the outside are easily seen as competitive or casual in their way of competing. However when you dig under the surface the clan is a living being of discussion and common goals. Every clan has individuals with different ideals, some want to be elitist while other just enjoy playing. Pressuring each other too much ends with conflict. A clan with many casual minded players will dominate the elitist players and can eventually cause a divide where the elitist players leave the clan to join or create new ones.
Analyzing internal clan issues is a hard process and can only be done vaguely. Member to member relation are an important factor, but the individual inspiration and drive to compete might be the defining factor. Clans that have been competing for a long time will eventually lose interest and inspiration in both the game and the competitive scene; it is a natural process that you cannot play the same game forever. This lack of inspiration or drive can easily be fixed by change in roster, but the nail in the coffin for the clan is when the leadership no longer shares the interest.
The external clan issues:We are here to have fun! Or we are here to win! It is all perspective. Some players have fun by participating, and some players have fun by winning. What is important is that the player and the clan have fun playing.
I argue that a more serious tone in the competitive scene will take away the fun from the teams that just want to participate; just as well as a more serious tone will cater to the elitist teams and raise the competitive rivalry. It is good entertainment, but the teams unable or unwilling to play up to this level will be left behind.
This problem give thought to both sides, as the progress can be seen positive in an e-sports environment, but also be seen negative as the change can be too sudden and too professional. This analysis does not support a specific side of the matter; it rather states that it is an undiscussed problem. With the analysis in mind I want to discuss the future of the competitive scene, and why this sudden shift might mean its death.
Future prediction:As with any part of the competitive scenes history strong pillars become weak or eventually disappear. The current foundation for the competitive roof is weak as a whole; there are few strong pillars and not many weak pillars holding it up. The Hephaestus challenge was placed at a time where a lot of players were on summer vacation, and thus had more time to play the game, however the professionalization continues even after the vacation is over. The old guard from the expansion is slowly dwindling. Former strong teams like SIR, OVW, DUCKS, SAC are no longer consistent and has become weak pillars. There has been only a few new teams entering the team, and of those teams only one has shown current potential to become a strong pillar.
I argue that the disappearance of the strong pillars and the lack of new strong pillars entering the scene, ultimately leads to the death of the competitive scene. If a new guard was created it would survive, but be at the brink of crashing. I do not know what the future holds, but there are not many new teams participating in the competitive scene. New teams usually go two ways, they either become a weak pillar, or they disappear before they even stated themselves as a foundation. The professionalization can be too much for them to handle, when the skill level is as high as it is. So they rather not play, than being beaten over and over, because there is a lack of equal skilled teams on all levels currently.
Conclusion:The competitive scene no longer has the same strong pillar foundation as found under the expansion era. The professionalization is a sudden change amongst both new and older teams. Where older teams can be defined as the old guard is losing interest in the game, while newer teams find themselves unable to participate. The professionalization poses a current threat with lack of newer teams’ unwillingness to participate, as the old guard is slowly dwindling away. It is uncertain if this change will be positive or negative, but concerns towards the latter have been analyzed and discussed with the use of the pillar theory.
There are more intricate factors that could be relevant to this topic, however the vague analysis of the clans and teams are not giving a definite explanation as to why there are lesser teams today, or even if this will lead to the death of the competitive scene. However I presented a theory and analysis for future discussion.
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