For anyone who's watched any esport for more than a year consistently, Sentinels falling off in the way that they have should be no surprise. Especially considering how new the game is, I don't know how many of you will recall, but after only a couple years after the release and initial competition for CS:GO, 95% of the players who were on top then were not the aforementioned only couple years later. The game is developing strategically at about the pace I expected, i.e. extremely quickly. There haven't been many surprises whatsoever, though one thing that was sort of bizarre is exactly how hard NA has fallen off in only a short amount of time, which I personally believe to be as a result of the culture both surrounding and infecting North American teams in Valorant. Hyper fixation on individualism, personal skill, and most of all, money, which is about the most American thing out there to be frank. The culture in North America, and more specifically the United States, is exactly the reason why we continue to fail to have the same dynastic success that has been seen in Europe throughout many years of Competitive Counter Strike; dynastic meaning spanning for at least or more than a whole year that a team has been able to find continual extremely high level of success. It's something I notice in how many North American professional players conduct themselves firstly, and the bases that many teams here find themselves cultivating. Unless something changes, it's going to be business as usual for this competitive FPS game, Europe, CIS, and Brazilian teams continually finding more success than we do. It's a shame considering that North America has never and I mean never, suffered from a lack of talent. It just seems as though we do not have the predilection for long term success, much of our focus being set on short term prizes, which was clearly displayed in this tournament especially by Sentinels. It's just gross mismanagement that a team would try to win tournaments with their IGL doing the job of the coach, because let's be honest, Shaz is stretched far too thin, and Rawkus is not a coach in the most practical sense. Not to mention that many players coming over from NA CS have finally exposed themselves for who they really are, players who are aware that their career is near its end and wanting to make some money by hopping into this game, exposing its publicity to make it streaming. Yet another example of the mismanagement and short sightedness of North American teams, taking a short term advantage whilst blind to the long game.
NA Has a Cultural Issue.
First of all, damn this is well written. Gj on that.
Secondly, you maybe right about this but I think it's too early to say that NA has fallen off 'so hard'. NA teams did not play good for this tourney, I would agree on that. If they don't accomplish much in the next year as well then yea you're right, they will be on this same path you mentioned about other esports titles. Only time will tell.
EMEA had won 8 more rounds than NA teams this event. That's lower than Berlin and Iceland. It's very difficult to say they "fell off" when the NA teams didn't get stomped, but it's undeniable that they did lose.
Failing to achieve expectations =/= falling off.
It's definitely a failure, though. The path back to dignity for NA is surely rough, but they've not fallen so far from grace as to be called bad at Valorant.
I disagree that individualism is an inherently bad thing. I also don't think it's necessarily as present in NA as it's made out to be; C9, Sentinels, and even Envy's players have shown a lot of selflessness in-game. If you're referring to the jett mains, I can understand. However, even the top teams in Champions right now have star players who are set up for success - CNed, scream, Keznit. It's not really super bad to focus around one player, so long as they listen.
When it comes to money, I can agree. However, it's kind of difficult to ask players in such a volatile environment to not care about their well-being. For most, being an esports player is only possible if they're able to make as much, if not more than they would work a 9-5. Securing a source of income is necessary to even think about competing.
I think these points do have merit, though. NA organizations seem to care more about money and views than the competition, just look at TSM. Players seem prone to underestimating other teams and are generally more openly egotistic than those of other regions. The work ethic doesn't seem nearly as driven as other regions, too.
Individualism has thrown a massive wrench into the works of the NA scene, too. Good IGLs feel like an endangered species, and not many up-and-coming players seem to want that role, preferring to become duelists instead. A similar, but not as desperate situation exists in the smoke and support roles, too.
Individualism itself is not inherently a bad thing, I was quite specific with my wording there, my issue is with the "hyper-fixation" on individualism that we hold to be the case culturally in the United States period. European teams obviously have star players as you mentioned, though the fixation on those individuals in how the game is played is not the same when compared to North American teams. Scream realizes that very well, considering his own track record.
Money was in reference to the proliferation of exorbitant amounts of money through other avenues, such as streaming. You look at many European teams, and these guys are zoned in on what matters, winning. They aren't at the same time sacrificing their work in-game to stream or do other things, the focus is not lost.
I agree with your other two paragraphs.
I totally missed that. Still , I kind of disagree that the teams themselves are hyper-fixated on individuals. Fans definitely are, and the orgs surely are, too. As a result, most new players aim to be like those players which I think is the biggest problem.
I don't think NA teams are at a point where their whole strategy revolves around a single player, which is why most of the NA teams at this event managed close games even during underperformance by their star players. They play as a team for the most part, but at some points depend heavily on those singular players.
However, they definitely were going in that direction. After TenZ's and Yay's incredible performances, it did feel like more teams started to rely on single players. Exhibit A: C9 and leaf. C9 under Vanity surely had the potential to develop a more team-based strategy, like their V1 run in Rejkyavik, but chose instead to rely on leaf performing. After this defeat, I think (and hope) they rethink this and go back to the pre-Iceland strategy, which I felt was more team-oriented.
My main point is, it's not so much cultural as it is a consequence of previous events.
EDIT: I totally agree about the money situation. Even players in less developed regions (BR, LATAM, SEA) seem to care more about winning than securing a source of income. However, I can't blame the players for choosing to value well-being over performance in good faith, since it's a very personal thing.
I feel as though in many cases that North American teams are sacrificing their tactical depth in favor of the improvisation that is more probably focused on their star players performing. You look at a team like Gambit, for instance, in no way does their success rely on an individual, and I would even go a step further to say that even if an individual is underperforming, their tactical depth allows for them to still come out on top because the way they approach the game is far more team constrained than it is individually.
And yes, of course, the NA teams are going to play as a team for the most part, but there is an extraordinary level of focus placed on the star players performing essentially improvised stunts that the game can, itself, hinge on. Your own examples are self explanatory there, what happens when Yay underperforms? Envy loses. What happened when Tenz had a bad tournament? Sentinels lost.
And I think it is undeniable that the fan hyper-fixation is absolutely getting into the mindset of both the organizations and the players themselves here. As I said before, the culture is the infection.
Based on my limited knowledge, I would say it is a financial issue. Since things like healthcare and houses cost ridiculous amounts of money, you need a steady paycheck and insurance. How do you get that playing video games? Get signed!
As an NA player, you need to get signed or get a "real job". This is why there is so much more concern about getting signed in NA, while in EU and some other regions as long as you are earning money from tournaments/your parents support you okay, you can get by. Sadly, the cost of living is prohibitive towards gaming in NA.
Once the NA players get signed, they need to focus on staying on the team and practices. But streaming just gives them a much more stable income for some reason (again since cost of living in NA sucks). So they are much more motivated to stream as opposed to practice for long hours, to earn a cash prize that they aren't even guaranteed to win because of the aforementioned other regions. Again, this is not because of a greed for money but a desire to survive off of Valorant money for the rest of your life.
i know i had more to say but i forgot it so let me just conclude with yeah the system in place sucks for gamers unless they stream a ton, fuck capitalism
Just their habits. Even In CSGO, TL short-era relied so much on individual skills. If you watch EU teams, they rarely ego peek, 1vs1 peek, very discipline, good teamwork, even in 3vs1 situation, they still crossfire , hold angles. I'm not saying they don't practice, lazy , just their habits. When you see player like Tenz got so much praises because of flashy plays, his Guardian one tap, etc, that even make their egos bigger
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