So, I wanna have a discussion and talk about all this stuff how pros are getting burnt out playing the game online.
Firstly, I am from Russia and my English isn't perfect, so I'll try to use Google to make my post possible to read. Let's begin:
Over the past months I read a big number of posts about pros talking, how playing the game competitively is harder because there are no LANs, no travelling with bootcamps, (especially) no big prize pools (some tournaments lowered prize money from like $500k to $150-200k.)
Stewie post about morning matches. Ofc, now it's a meme, nobody cares, people are joking about it. But he wrote it seriously:
NBK interview where he said that it's an unhealty system of playing a lot of tournaments and you must always win to be at the top.
Big number of NA pros, orgs are leaving CS because there is no opportunity to shine, earn easy money and other stuff
But, actually, are there really a lot of tournaments and games right now? Let's look at T1 CS and it's schedule:
There were 3 big tournaments in last 2 month:
-
ESL One Cologne NA
2) IEM New York NA
3) Blast NA
4) IEM Bejing NA
Let's start with Liquid.
15 matches in 50 days. With spare time between matches for 2-4 days.
Also, in this 15 matches they played 7 good teams and 2 low tier. There were no "new" teams to play against, they played EG, C9, Furia a shit ton of times so it's just a clash of experience, skill and luck.
Matches vs Mythic and Team One are LUL, because this teams are not T1-1.5 and a team like Liquid should crash them easily as they did.
From 19 to 29 of August Liquid played 14 maps that were 35-50 minutes each so they wasted 14-16 hours of competitive CS in August, 21 maps in September, 25-30 hours and only like 6-8 hours in October. So from August to October Liquid played for 45-56 hours of competitive CS.
Yep, there are things like scrims and practice, interviews, streaming. But it's a full time job, yeah? In my country people are working from 7 in the morning to 5-8 in the evening 5 times a week or even 6 if they need money. And they get $400-600 for it (in big cities like Saints-Petersburg or Moscow). Yep, you can say that it's people fault that they are working for a low salary and they were not born in Norway or Germany where people get good money, have great medicine and education.
And what professional players get for playing a game? Travelling to shit ton of countries, having a huge fan base, free devices, PC specs, $15-30k salary EVERY MONTH, and earning money while playing their favorite game and not watching angry people who want to buy something and you listen to them 9-12 hours a day while smiling.
7-10 years ago, in Russia people who love Dota and CS were playing LANs for Baltika beer and fastfood, while training every day, living in shitty appartments and having a salary of $150-200 max. And now when you can win a tournament, get a ONE-TWO MONTH salary you can buy a fucking FLAT in a good city near centre for which NORMAL PEOPLE are working 10-15 years, collecting money. Bullshit.
2 room appartment in SPB
$64k for it
So a pro player of CS needs 2 month or 1 tournament win to buy this flat when a normal russian worker 15-20 years :)
I am not bitching about low salary in Russia here. I am earning enough money to live with my gf happily and it's cool. But seeing how this players are bitching that it's so hard to wake up and play the game at home for 5-7 hours max while drinking coffee. And after that they can go for a walk or do any shit because next game will be in 2-4 days. It makes me quite angry.
So. Whose fault is this?
Valve? With their TI and 40 million prize pool. Lots of pros of Dota are bitching right now too because there is no TI and no $1-5 million winnings for players and only "shitty" online tournaments for $150-250k and it's boring to play.
Players? Maybe stop playing CS everyday and find new activites, have hobbies? Many players are really just grinding FPL and I think they all hit their limit with how they can shoot, throw smokes, tactics on the same fucking maps: Vertigo, Dust, Mirage, Inferno. Because they have so much money right now that game gives no fun and it's all about bigger prize pools and cool parties after the game? Now you should sit at home, train, learn about your enemies, try something new and it actually requiers effort?
TOs? Because every month there are tournaments and it's boring to play EG for 5-6th time on the same maps?
What do you think? Let's have a discussion about it.
Edit: Also, it really makes me sad about Valve and their feelings about their games. Dota got $40 million of Battlepass and they did fucking nothing. No DPC, no plans, no updates, no speaking with community. I played Dota for 6-8 years and CS for 3-5 and it's sad to watch this games turning into same shit like smoking ciggs when it gives no fun but you no other stuff gives joy
