Been a while since I have updated this blog. I have been meaning to sit down and write about a few things for the past couple of months, but after having to take care of a parent after major surgery, getting my own injury, having to look for an internship, and rebooting up a local Counter-Strike group, some things ended up going by the wayside.

When I haven’t been attending to all of that, in the time I can find outside of work and karate, I have been playing a fair amount of vidya of course. Recently, I picked up faceit premium and have been enjoying my time with the matchmaking…

…maybe a bit too much. Faceit I think didn’t calibrate my rank right, as I used to use faceit as a service where I could play pick-up games with friends who weren’t as good at the game to not hinder my stats on ESEA. Now that ESEA no longer exists, it seems to be the only way to go. But this low rank has given me a very interesting outlook and perspective on the people you meet in the lower ranks of the game:
Somehow, they’re all nicer.

I was queuing with a friend who is in a far better skill group with me. Naturally, the game was balanced as such when we found one. My teammates in that specific match were all absolutely terrible. CS:GO is a team game, but they were all not using their mic, trash talking teammates (mostly me, for being a low skill rating) and generally making bad decisions in game. It made me question why exactly that was. All of my other games where I have solo-queued, I have had some of the best teammates in all of my pugging career. They comm perfectly, they support their other teammates, and they trade and play angles far better than what should have been the higher rank players. They play the game like it actually is a 5v5 and not a deathmatch where they just outaim other people.

So what happens at higher ranks? It’s paradoxically a worse experience. My theory is that players with higher ranks and higher numbers have a higher ego. Higher ELO = higher ego, basically. They think that they can somehow 1v5 rounds or at the very least 1v1 5 different people and win rounds. They figure ‘hey, if I can get a frag, then my teammates should be able to as well, right?’. That sort of playstyle never works in organized play. To quote an old teammate, “we look like ants out there!’ when teams play like this. Unorganized and just swarming random points with no rhyme or reason, it’s a playstyle that is doomed to lose unless the other team is also doing that.

At the end of the day, pretty much everything you do is as very much mental as it is physical. Your body and mind have to be one. If you think I pulled that from my martial arts training, you are absolutely correct. Why do so many players act like they don’t even want to play the game? Maybe they need to just touch some grass or at the very least play something different. I just think it’s a shame that there are so many people that just want to ruin other people’s experiences by being toxic. For me, I try to be a good player no matter the circumstances. Sometimes I get a little tilted, but I usually bounce right back.

Last note- if you have friended me or are reading this now with the intention to friend me on Steam/faceit, I unfortunately have to decline your offer. It’s nothing against you, but (probably for very similar reasons I have laid out above) I get at least 3-5 friend requests a night whenever I play MM or pick up games and cannot feasibly add everyone. My slots are reserved for people I know IRL or people interested in RochesterLAN.
Pro-tip: Join RocheserLAN if you are in WNY.