When Nadeshot started 100 Thieves I felt like he was blinded by his unquestionable passion for esports and content creation. He was also blinded by his own brand and the money that came from being a successful independent content creator in the days where Call of Duty DOMINATED YouTube. He was also blessed to be on a "Content First" COD team...that turned into AN OVERALL successful COD team later on in its existence aka Optic gaming. However, times seem slightly tough for Nadeshot and 100 Thieves as a handful of layoffs were announced it by people personally affected by it on Twitter. As I write this blog nothing has been mentioned about it. Not even responses to people's post that were laid off. I'm kind of torn in this situation to be honest. I think it's not OUR business to know how Nadeshot and crew run their business. It's just odd that this company loves to give "behind-the-scenes" access to their company via content, but these layoffs have been pretty hush hush. I think it can come off as disingenuous to the fans. The topper to this though is the lack of "feeling out the room". As an owner of a business, if it got leaked/got out that I made some hefty layoffs, I think I would hold off on posting videos of the company partying. Somehow, we are here. Literally less than 24 hours after the layoff news got out a video was posted on the 100 Thieves Twitter of everyone partying with EDM megastar Zedd. Also comes out that some of the people that were let go were involved in the creation of this video and event. Is there anything criminal to this.... hell no. It just feels super shitty to literally be dancing on the graves of these people like this. I am also aware that this most likely wasn't done with ill intentions, but do you guys have a PR department?
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It's pretty damn hard to write this blog with all the tinfoil on my head, but I will do my damn best continue. Recently in a blog post, Riot Games announced starting July 13th they will be using bots in Valorant's voice chat to monitor harassment/toxicity in game. To some, this is controversial. A handful of people believe this is just another way for a company to MINE OUR LIVES FOR MORE DATA! These same people probably have a Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and use search engines. Breaking news folks, they use and have in some way sold your data and have been for years. I think that kind of "fear" is a little outdated. I am more sympathetic to people on the "privacy" side of things when it comes to this voice chat stuff though. If I'm with a group of friends and we have "edgy ball busting" voice communication between each other, I think we should be about to do that and not risk the chance of getting banned. I know the point of this whole thing is to remove "toxicity and harassment". I just think in this day and age we throw the word "harassment" around too much. Personally, I think harassment in online gaming is when a match/game is over, and some asshole is still going after you relentlessly with hateful shit. I also have to stress I have NEVER seen a game or game launcher that does not contain some form of a mute option. It normally takes less than 30 seconds to do so. The Twitter response to this is will obviously be "I shouldn't have to mute people." well, if you think the world should be all sunshine and rainbows you are correct. Realistically, we live in a world where people have free will and therefore humanity will always have a handful of assholes in it. Finally, and most IMPORTANTLY we must realize that Riot Games is a private business and as a private business they can run their products any way they want to.
Since signing with Cloud9 Training Grounds (C9TG) my life has been swallowed up by Rocket League. Since this is the first time C9TG has run Rocket League, I've been doing a ton to make sure that this season is as successful as it can possibly be, so I've been working on lesson plans, videos, stream, working with the social media team, even playing more RL just so I can personally improve my game, which will hopefully improve what I have to offer in my coaching. However, your boy needs a break sometimes.
I was rummaging through my computer and noticed I still had Valorant downloaded on my computer and since a lot of the other Rocket League coaches I speak with ALSO coach Valorant I said "Fuck it, let's give it a Poliwhirl". Being a GIANT and longtime Counter-Strike fan I felt like I was committing treason. I started with some deathmatch to figure out the shooting mechanics and it felt a lot like CS:Source (shout out to "boomers"). The main guns, the Phantom and Vandal are Riots take on Counter Strike's AK (Vandal) and M4 (Phantom). A major difference I noticed from my time playing was the guns give you a few more bullets to shoot before you have to start REALLY controlling the spray. I also felt like EVERYTHING is a headshot. If my first, second, or third bullet of my spray isn't a headshot I will 100 PERCENT die from a headshot. Speaking of headshots, the sound you hear and the visual effect you get when you hit a headshot is a drug. You will train more on your aim just to satisfy that itch. Super well designed. My only gripe with the game is when I started playing ranked. In ranked you get introduced to the character's abilities which what makes Valorant the game that it is. Most of these abilities either help gather info or IN MOST fucking cases blind or obstruct your god damn vision. In CS, it's just a flash bang and a smoke grenade. In Valorant, you got speedy parrots, curving fireballs, ball of ghost smoke, a WALL, TWO WALLS, flashes THROUGH a WALL. In addition a lot of these abilities last what feels like is a LIFETIME especially the smokes/walls. This may be just me being a wimp, but the smoke-like abilities are....for a lack of better word...abrupt. In CS, the edges of the smoke are semi-transparent and it gives you kind of a chance (though small) to get a little peek at a portion of what is being smoked. When you're walking through the smoke the picture of the world on the other side fades in (quickly) infront of you...its nice. I'm still disorientated, but I still feel like I have SOME chance. In Valorant, you are either in the smoke or you are out of the smoke INSTANTLY. Can I also add, the amount of these damn things is BANANAS. I get bomb down, it's just me versus four, I can feel the Twitter clip forming in my soul and in the tips of my fingers. As soon as I think I got this clutch, I'm reading brail four different times in 30 seconds, and when I cornea's finally work again....I'm dead. I'm only a Gold player and I can only imagine what it's like when you play at a higher rank. If you are thinking about picking this game up full-time...purchase some cataract glasses and good luck. |
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