Communication on Ventrilo For Dummies

Written by thedroop

Sunday, 17 February 2008 19:19

Communication on Ventrilo For Dummies
Mike "mrk" Kummerfeldt

Many players have been on that team where everything works really well. The teamwork is down cold and the skill is evident. However, something seems to be missing. As a person who has been to open finals and played seasons of main with negative tension and beyond compare, I hope to help. One of a team's main concerns should be communication. If each player of a team is confident that they know what is going on with their teammates who are on the other side of a map, he or she is able to direct a lot more focus to his primary objective of holding a spot. There are many different obstacles teams face when confronting the issue of communication, and once players are aware of these obstacles they can begin to overcome them. Here's a foundation for which your team can improve/change:

•   One of the single most important things is the fifteen seconds of freeze time. Only the caller should be talking at this point, and let the caller tell you what strat to run (if any) and do as you’re told. As the leader of many teams, I know how quickly things can fall apart with no strategic direction.

•   When you get smoked out, flashed, etc. please do not follow the typical assumption of a full rush, and call "All B!" Many teams get thrown off balance because of this call, and over rotate. It's pretty simple really, just call when you have spotted the bomb to ensure that your team does not over rotate. Calling numbers does work some of the time; however, the bomb is the most important thing when you're on CT.

•   When on T side and you die alone, give a location of where you died and where you think the CT will be heading with the extra time you get to see him on death cam. The more the team knows about the opposition the better it will be for the guys who are still alive. Obviously, if it's a rush this will change. If a rush is done properly then you won't have enough time to say what you need to say. Most of the time your team will know where you died from anyway, however, saying the position quickly will probably help your team.

•   Another suggestion is to have names for everything on the map. Every box, corner, stack, and gay spot should have a name (and one that the entire team knows). It actually gives your team the opportunity to have fun with names. Make sure you go over every spot on the map thoroughly so it will help you say what you need to quicker. The faster the better.

•   Do not spam stupid things on your mic at any time (especially during match time.) Running around talking about how retarded you were being with your friends last night has nothing to do with a rush going long A. Small talk usually happens after freeze time. This time could be used to decide what your teammates are going to do in a different position. Talking needlessly is a distracting element in freeze time, and all it will do is take their mind off the game. Talk about something you can do differently, or something you can do the same because of how well it worked.

•   Do not say anything when you are dead. If at a LAN, once the fade to black goes on you aren't allowed to talk. Why should online 1.6 be any different? Have a typing frenzy if you need to but for the most part you should be a mute. Nobody needs to hear what you want to say and being quiet will increase the focus of those remaining. If you see somebody doing something wrong, make a note of it and reflect on what you guys could've done better as a team at the end of the scrim. The only thing that should be communicated is ways to overcome the problems experienced in the last round, or new ways to do things.

•   Stay positive! Countless times I've seen people argue over nonsense. Name calling really does bring down team morale whether you realize it or not. Take it from somebody who did their fair share of trash talking. It doesn't do you any good! It's better to treat everybody on your team with respect because that's what the game is really about. It doesn't really matter if you're winning CPL or losing week one in open. As long as you're having fun and trying to improve.

•   Do not try and talk over the strat caller. Talk with your leader about any issues afterwards and go over it separately with your team. The strats that are being called should have been practiced Nobody wants to hear this phantom strat that came out of nowhere that has never been practiced.

•   If you are the caller that dies you can do one of two things. Let your team talk about what they want to do and how they want to approach it. If nobody on your team is saying anything and you're on T side, tell them to talk to each other. This will really start to bring the teamwork together as long as you make sure that they are talking to each other. The second is to tell them what to do but I really discourage this. Let your team talk to each other.

This list will help you get started and I hope that it has helped. Remember to constantly be thinking about ways to improve your team, and stay positive!

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