Gamer Tuesday: Finding a Team

We all start as warriors

The warrior finds one thing he does well (shotgun battles, sniping, creating strategies, or micro-management), or one small aspect of one game that allows him to excel. Suddenly, in his own mind, the warrior has perceived value. He feels valid, perhaps even superior. Now he wants recognition for this one thing he does well. No matter what actually happens, no matter how badly he does or how many times he loses, in his own mind he's still great because he's still "the best" or "really good" at this one thing. This is where everyone begins.

Balancing weaknesses and strengths

What the player must do is acknowledge the places he (or she) is strong and then acknowledge all the places where he is weak. What value is that strength if the team doesn't have a need for those abilities, or never gets an opportunity to use his strength? The player must make sure he has the capabilities that are important and necessary to the team. Then, he must play to his strengths, and he must acknowledge his weaknesses, such that he teams up with people who compensate for those weaknesses. What truly matters is what the player accomplishes. The only way to accomplish anything is with the right team.

A good team knows three things:

• The roles that players must fill.

• The best types of players for the various roles.

• The strengths needed in each type of player.

Now that you've identified that your team needs your strengths, and now that your team realizes that all that matters is what you accomplish, now is the time to make a plan and set goals to accomplish it. The way to approach the plan and the details of this plan will vary from game to game but it is crucially important on the individual scale.

Forming a Strategy

On every single map or round, there must be three parts to a strategy: early-game, mid-game, and late-game. This way there will always be something to drive the team forward, give them direction and something to focus on. This will lay the foundation for what the team accomplishes.

For examples, I'll use Gears of War 2. Among other reasons, this game has extremely fast rounds, and the precepts I'm discussing here apply very directly to each round. The over-arching strategy will look something like this:

• Early-game: Getting the power weapon.

• Mid-game: Getting the enemy team down to two.

• Late-game: Downing the last two.

The details of how to accomplish these things will change based on variables both within the game and within the context of the game. In the opening of the round, the tempo of the game will be hectic. Both teams will be charging towards each other and striving to gain the upper hand. But when going for the power weapon, whether you run with two members high and two members low or change it to three and one, or whether you use ink grenades to block a lane of attack, or whether you focus on long range fire or close battles, all will be variable. No matter which version you choose, the primary focus must remain the same. Your team is trying to get the power weapon. Everything you choose to do must always work towards that specific objective. Always. If you lose sight of the goal you will, most likely, lose to a team who has not lost that focus.

Once you have the power weapon, the focus becomes getting the enemy team down to two members. At this point, the tempo in the game will shift. The team in the worse position will have to focus on reducing the stronger team's advantage. The variables are now changed based on which power weapon you have, how many members you have and how many they do, or what the map looks like, but the focus must always drive towards reducing their numbers to two. The soldier's thought must always be, "what is the best way for our team to down another member of their team right now?"

Finally, once the enemy team is down to two members, how does your team approach cleaning house? Again, the tempo will shift as the losing team must try to delay the inevitable, or gain some advantage. At this point, the power weapon can be the tip of the spear while the remaining teammates support him, or the teammates can box the enemy in for the power weapon's kill. Either way, time is on the side of the stronger team. What must be kept in mind is that the goal is to kill the last enemies. Getting clever with ink grenades or flanking maneuvers are only useful if they work towards the goal directly. Always, always, always consider how to achieve the goal.

The early-, mid-, and late-game goals are crucially important to remember and always be focused on. All too often gamers have a tendency to sit around waiting for something to happen while they're not sure what to do. There must always be something for them to be working towards, to be focusing on, and for them to be trying to achieve. This is what separates a truly effective team from a team that sometimes wins. Soldiers are always working to achieve the goals of the team plan. Warriors seek to do the things they personally want, often at the expense of the team's goals. You must be a soldier!

Individual tasks

Now that your team knows its goal, and has worked out a plan to achieve it, next you need each player to have a task towards that goal. What is your individually specific job within the plan? Each player must have an individual focus that's part of the team objectives, and they must be consistently working towards their job. One player has to grab the power weapon. One player has to throw the ink grenade. One player has to delay a flank attack. The player must always be asking themselves, "What am I doing? How does this accomplish my job? What is the best thing I could be doing in regards to accomplishing my task?"

Two things are especially important at this point. Firstly, it's important that the player's task utilizes the player's strength. If the player is aggressive and good with a shotgun, they should be put in a position where they consistently have the chance to engage in close combat with the enemy. An accurate player should be given the sniper rifle, and so on.

The second consideration is that the player must always be finding the best way to accomplish his task. If his job is to delay a flanking maneuver while his teammates take control of the middle, then it may not be necessary to kill any of the attacking players. All he has to do is delay the flank attack. The requirements necessary to accomplish this will change based on what's happening in the game, but neither being caught up with excitement and getting in a shotgun duel, nor feeling overwhelmed and backing away will achieve what the player set out to do. So, the player must stay focused both on what their task is, and the best way to accomplish that task.

Knowledge is power

In addition to knowing the overall team's focus, you must know the individual pieces that will accomplish that goal. This means you must know how your job connects to the team plan. Knowing what your job means to the team allows you to stay focused on the best way to accomplish it. It also allows you to know how that task needs to change based on what happens in the game. As things change, you must continually re-evaluate how you're doing your job. Knowing how your job helps the team accomplish a goal allows you to choose the best way to execute it.

The second half of knowing the individual pieces means knowing all of your teammate's jobs as well. This will let you know what the team is trying to do and how well things are coming along. Knowing this will allow you to adjust what you're doing to best support the team's initiative. In addition, knowing everyone else's job allows you to help everyone work towards the team goal. As an example, a player might get an opponent down but not dead. In this situation a warrior will assume the best action is to rush forward to finish off the enemy. A soldier will understand that the threat is removed for fifteen seconds, and will check to see if there's a better way to assist the team before finishing off the enemy.

This cycle of knowing your job in context to the team, and knowing the team's job in context with what you're doing, and continually analyzing and updating both to maximize effectiveness is what will allow your team to achieve great things. This is how you win!

So now you know what your team needs to accomplish, you know what you need to do to help your team, and you know what your team will be doing to accomplish it. But what happens when not everything is working the way it's supposed to be? The next thing to address is how to effectively give and receive criticism. This is where proper training plays a crucial role in team development. In future articles we will discuss how to approach training and how to make it effective.- Jordan "Doomhammer" Kahn and Jerry "LordJerith" Prochazka.

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Thanks again to Jordan Kahn and Jerry Prochazka for another great article!  I learn something new every week!  It should go without saying that the folks at vVv Gaming really love competition and are doing everything they can to promote pro gaming!

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