Reflection 1
On the 6th of march (2020), I participated in an esports tournament for a game called CSGO. Several of my friends had been planning to participate but were missing a member and, therefor, asked me to participate along with them. My team and I did not expect to win, but we just wanted to participate and see what we can achieve. At the time of the event, I was pretty new to the game but had some degree of experience in it. In CSGO, two teams fight against each other. One team is the attacking team and the other one is the defending one. The attacking team tries to destroy the defending team’s base by planting a bomb. The defending team has to either eliminate all attacking team members or defuse the bomb to win a round. The attacking team has to either plant the bomb and defend it successfully or eliminate all defending team members to win a round.The first team to win sixteen rounds wins the game.
Our first game was in a map that none of our members was good at. Our opponent was a team of veterans who only played the selected map. Our team started the game as the defending side. The first few rounds of the game were pretty one sided and greatly favored the opposing team. Our team members were not used to playing with each other and had to adapt to the other member’s play style. As the game went on, we started trying out various different strategies, but the strategies kept on failing again and again. As the game went on, winning even a single round started seeming impossible. The game went on and so did our attempts at getting a comeback.
After losing several rounds, we started getting accustomed to the map and the enemy team member’s habits. We started putting up a fight and actually getting close to victory. Our team realized that certain team members were performing poorly when they played certain positions so we changed our assigned positions.This new positioning gave us a fighting chance and we started getting some close rounds. We refused to give up and kept trying, but a certain player in the enemy team was way above our league.
None of us stood a chance in a one versus one fight against the top enemy player. We started trying to figure out a way to win without being involved in a direct fight with that player or to put him in a situation where he has to face several players. By this time we had already lost 7 rounds and won none. We started the round by following the strategy we had lain out and everything was going alright. The strategy went properly and we managed to separate the strong player from the others by throwing a smoke to distract him. We managed to eliminate the other players before he could join the fight but we lost several players in the process. The top enemy player was left in a three versus one situation. He eliminated two players then threw a smoke before planting the bomb.All he had to do to win was to either eliminate our final player or defend the bomb until the time ran out. The final the player that remained was none other than me.
I knew that I was likely to lose a fight against the player, so I had to avoid direct contact with him. I decided to use the smoke that he threw to try to defuse the bomb and win the round. When the player realized what I was doing, he started attacking the smoke in an attempt to scare me. His attempt made me extremely nervous, but I decided to stick to the plan and see what happens. Our persistence was fortunately not in vain and the play I went for ended up winning us the round. This win greatly boosted our confidence. We kept saying that we can actually beat the enemy team all game, but the lack of results was greatly demoralizing. Finally winning a round was greatly motivating and helped us shift the tides for the next few rounds. We managed to win a few more rounds but the lead that the enemies had built up was too huge to overcome.
Eventually, we lost the game. Our lack of experience caused the game to be extremely one sided in favor of the opposing team during the early phases of the game. By the end, our team had learned a few things and managed to put up a fight, but we were not skilled enough to comeback from that situation. Our team’s first game in the tournament might have ended with a loss, but our tournament run was not over yet. We still had one final shot at winning the event.
The tournament was structured in a way that gave every team a second chance during the initial phase. After the initial stage of the tournament, six teams will qualify to the quarter final stage. The remaining six teams will participate in a two versus two mini tournament to decide the final two teams that will participate in the quarter final stage. The two qualifying teams will be called the losing bracket teams. The losing bracket teams are given a second chance to participate in the tournament, but they have to play with a certain handicap: They have to win twice in order for their wins to count (losing once will also eliminate them).
Each one of the losing teams sent out their best two players in hopes of getting a second chance at the tournament. Our team sent out its best two members out as well. The two members were accustomed to playing together and had great synergy so we were pretty confident at getting the second chance. The two members prepared for the game by doing some training routines that they usually perform. The game was similar to the previous one, but the winning team only had to win four rounds this time.
Unlike the other members of the team, the two members that we sent out were actually veterans at the game. I believe that these two members could have totally won the tournament if they had better teammates. They both had great experience at the game but happened to hate the map that we previously played in and thus lacked any good strategies for that map. In a two versus two situation, they were very likely going to win.
The game started and the first two rounds were really close, but small mistakes ended up causing our team to lose both of them. Our two team members tried to concentrate and managed to win the third round. The enemy team took the fourth round and now the score was at three to one. Losing one more round meant losing the game. Our team members tried their hardest and managed to win the next two rounds and equalize the score. Now the game was at its final stage. The team that loses the next round will really be eliminated from the tournament. Unfortunately, our team ended up losing that round and getting eliminated. The team that eliminated us went on to beat all of the other losing teams it faced. They qualified to the next stage and continued to win until they reached the finals. They lost at the finals and ended up getting the second place in the tournament.
Overall the experience was really fun and greatly helped my team members and me improve our team working and communication skills. During our first game, we continued to lose and learn from our mistakes as we tried several different approaches to win. Our trial and error yielded some results but our lack of experience when compared to the other team ended up losing us the game in the end. Our team members participating in the second game learned from our prior mistakes and put up a strong fight during the second game. Despite losing all of our games and quickly getting eliminated, the esports tournament was a great learning experience for both my team members and me. I hope to participate in another similar event in the future.
In any future event similar to this one, I will try to train more for the tournament and to be prepared for all the possible scenarios that I could face. I would also try to have much more practice with my teammates to have good synergy between us during the tournament. I believe that the communication skills that I have gained from this specific event will also contribute greatly to better performance in future tournaments. The final result of the tournament might have been a failure, but the experience gained and the skills acquired will definitely be useful in the future and could translate to a future success. Therefor, I consider this failure to not be a pitfall that hinders me but rather a stepping stone for future success.