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phlsphr
Member
Oak Harbor, WA
Posts: 5 |
This was my first, and most likely last, CGS. I was on vacation in Newport, NC, from Oak Harbor, WA, when I heard about CGS. It turned out that a friend of mine was going to be working at a booth and so I figured that it would be interesting to go. I filled the tank with gas and headed out for my 2 hour drive.
Once I finally arrived I searched out the table to buy a badge to ensure that I wasn't going to get kicked out. It seems that the decision was made to change the doors at which the badges were sold. I had no problems with that. I found my friend, got free shwag from his booth and immediately headed out to find more free stuff that is normally common at expo's. This was, unfortunately, all the stuff I would get. That was fine, I had plenty of money to spend. The only stuff that I found somewhat enticing was the T-shirts upstairs and the food. I bought the food, passed on the shirts.
I'm a huge Halo fan and wanted to spectate during the tournament. This was most likely my biggest disappointment. I came to find the door locked and was quick to learn that the people in charge of the Halo events were panicky. It seemed that they weren't ready for the pressure of their task. I talked little, only asking if I could spectate two or three times. The first time, during the FFA tournament, I was told no, flat out. During the 4v4 portion of the Halo tournament I was allowed in after catching one of the staff in between panic attacks/yelling fits.
I was lucky, it seemed, to get to watch two games of low-skilled teams play before being told to "GTFO". Having a *staff member* give me, a 28 year old man with a career and a family, this level of respect was less than great in convincing me that my $10 and time was well spent. I gave them no problems and obeyed all instructions given. I did not deserve this sort of treatment. I understand that they were in a stressful position, but if they can not handle the job then they shouldn't have it. I also did not see why the other patrons there deserved this sort of treatment, either.
The CoD4 tournament was closed off at all times, it seems. The highlight of the experience for me was probably watching two games of the GoW2 tournament in an overcrowded room.
There did seem to be freeplay areas but they all seemed to consist of games that I had no interest in whatsoever.
Altogether I am disappointed with the level of professionalism and organization of the CGS. I come back to visit North Carolina every year and I believe this may be my first and last CGS. |
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jisatsudreamer
Member
2009 CGS
Goldsboro, NC, USA
Posts: 4 |
While I totally understand your want to be able to spectate at the halo tourneys, the reason they don't let people randomly in just to watch is because often times they talk, and then players start getting frustrated because their concentration is off. I'm not saying that all spectators do this, of course, but it happens quite often.
And it seems that you aren't the only person unhappy with the person that ran the Halo 3 Tourney. I'm not a Halo fan, but I know if I was in your position, I would have been just as upset. |
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bomberman0
2009 CGS
Volunteer
2008 CGS
Organizer
Moderator
Member
Goldsboro, Wayne
Posts: 136 |
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Yeah, I just started this year and I failed to plan for people flow into my tounrament (SSBB) But now I see how things work and I can address them threw out the year. I attended 2006,07,and 08 then I become a director in 09 and I now understand how to make the people flow. I am making changes as of right now |
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phlsphr
Member
Oak Harbor, WA
Posts: 5 |
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I disagree with the idea that spectators talking would have any major effect on the outcome of any of the tournaments. Any strong player should be able to maintain under the stress, just as any good director and organizer should. The only players that would not be able to maintain in a setting where spectators are talking would be the ones who would have trouble competing against any decent team in the first place. If players feel that they cannot tune out the background noises then they should probably invest in a headset. |
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runawaytaco
Member
2009 CGS
nc
Posts: 2 |
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yea, spectating has no affect on the 4v4 concentration, most of the guys who were good, are used to lanning and having people shit talk and yell and having people all around being loud. that was the only problem i had as well was not being able to spectate, i had to coach a team in order to go into the room during the 3rd and 4th rounds and sneak in for the semis. |
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Keebler
Member
2009 CGS
Lumberton, North Carolina
Posts: 17 |
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Thats odd cause I got to spectate almost every halo round with no problem. We were actually nice to the directors and stuff though. And if you would hear how some of the directors were getting treated by like 13 year old gets. You would be pissed if you were them. About the concentration thing, some people hardly get to LAN and it does get to them and distract them. especially with 3 other teams shouting call outs and playing on a 4 inch portion of the screen. |
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phlsphr
Member
Oak Harbor, WA
Posts: 5 |
You were there when they kicked everyone out? When they told everyone to leave if you weren't a member of a team playing is when I decided to just give up on spectating. I was polite and respectful to the coordinators but was still treated rudely.
Again, background noise has little to no effect on the outcome of games. The only players that the background noise would effect are players likely to lose anyways. The ability to stay focused and think clearly under pressure is a quality of a skilled player. If a player doesn't have that quality then they are likely to lose whether the distraction is a spectator or their own nerves unraveling from the pressure of the challenge of a decent, if not good, player. I can say this from experience from Gameclucks of Lynnwood, WA (where SK, Neighbor and Hysteria frequently play, among others). If you think that playing against a NC random is tough with spectators talking around you, try playing one of them with a riled up crowd.
[Edited on 02/08/09 @ 1:49AM] |
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Keebler
Member
2009 CGS
Lumberton, North Carolina
Posts: 17 |
They also dont have 2 games playing at once and people SCREAMING from the other game. Not using it as my excuse. And we didnt get steak tacked like the rest of the 1st round loses. Considering it was our first time playing together as a team I think we did good.
But they just kicked people out between matches so when that happened I would go check with my friends back at the CoD4 tournament to see how they are doing. (They took 1st in it, TryHard FTW.)
Another reason noise has no effect on them... you see the turtle beaches and astros pros use? yeah. I didn't bring any because I thought it would be too much of a hastle. They block out pretty much all background noise. They also dont split screen |
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bomberman0
2009 CGS
Volunteer
2008 CGS
Organizer
Moderator
Member
Goldsboro, Wayne
Posts: 136 |
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WHO me? no I did Smash brothers. I just as putting what I think need to be done so I can Communicate with 100+ people effectively, once I do that then next year will run much better. |
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phlsphr
Member
Oak Harbor, WA
Posts: 5 |
Pros do split screen. MLG doesn't put up VOD's of the open brackets. Either way, my suggestions are to make the event more spectator friendly. I noticed at least one television downstairs that displayed random gaming stuff that I didn't really care for. That could have been used to display live gameplay from the tournament. If that isn't possible then it's probably best to relocate to better facilitate spectators. The wish to spectate was glaringly apparent, the crowding was enough to show that. That and the overall organization of the tournaments is probably something that can be worked on. The GoW2 tournament seemed to flow extremely smoothly and only seemed to suffer from the problem of crowding. I must admit, however, that I didn't watch enough of that to say for sure that the entire thing went well, but it was well done from what I witnessed.
One idea that could be incorporated is to just set up televisions and allow people to bring their own equipment for freeplay areas. Simply let people check out a station, plug in their stuff and play away. In order for this to work is must be clear that people are "bringing at their own risk" and must monitor their own equipment. Having them sign a waver stating that you are not responsible for their equipment helps drive this point home. The only stuff that needs to be set up in advance would be the router/hub/switch and the televisions. |
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xtruder
Member
2008 CGS
2009 CGS
2011 CGS
2012 CGS
Raleigh, NC
Posts: 188 |
When you have a game where the players like to scream like howler monkeys in heat, I don't think having spectators talking would be a problem. And if the TDs were experienced, they would have known that it is rarely (an by rarely, never) a problem to have spectators helping another team.
[Edited on 02/08/09 @ 11:52AM] |
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roback
2009 CGS
2008 CGS
Member
Goldsboro
Posts: 86 |
I was monitoring GoW2 almost the whole time, and it pretty much went exactly how you saw it. Some people would come and go based on what teams were playing, so sometimes it wasn't as crowded.
Badder than old King Kong, meaner than a junkyard dog.
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Keebler
Member
2009 CGS
Lumberton, North Carolina
Posts: 17 |
It wasn't as much as the spectators talking then the other game being played next to us and trying to decipher our call outs from theirs. It was our first LAN though so what can we expect from ourselves. ya know?
and to the OP I thought pros and semi pros dont have to split screen at events due to their status. guess i was wrong. sorry. |
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PROFESSORhacker
Member
2008 CGS
2009 CGS
Posts: 85 |
to clear up the question of splitscreening at events...
any team that is ranked top 16 doesnt have to ever play split screen.
all other teams that pro thru AM bracket have to split til winners 4 and Losers 5
AIM- Professorpwns
G2Expo 2007 2nd place Halo 2 4v4
5th Place TGN Raleigh
3rd place CGS 2008
2nd place 4v4 CGS 09 top 16 FFA
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PROFESSORhacker
Member
2008 CGS
2009 CGS
Posts: 85 |
to clear up the question of splitscreening at events...
any team that is ranked top 16 doesnt have to ever play split screen.
all other teams that play thru AM bracket have to split til winners 4 and Losers 5
[Edited on 02/10/09 @ 8:58PM]
AIM- Professorpwns
G2Expo 2007 2nd place Halo 2 4v4
5th Place TGN Raleigh
3rd place CGS 2008
2nd place 4v4 CGS 09 top 16 FFA
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Keebler
Member
2009 CGS
Lumberton, North Carolina
Posts: 17 |
thanks rukus. thats what I had thought as well. thanks for clearing it up for some.
Righteous Kill going to meadows? |
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