Faulkner eSports Head Coach Caleb Colquitt has officially released its lineup of games the program will be competing in for the 2022-23 season featuring five of the most popular games in eSport competition: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rocket League, League of Legends, Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Overwatch.
Colquitt knew one of the first games he wanted the team to compete in was Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or CSGO. The game is a military-style game where teams try to either carry out or defend an objective. "On the competitive circuit, it's regarded by many as the hardest eSports game to master," Colquitt said. "Despite being a bit of an older game, the shooting mechanics are incredibly realistic, right down to having recoil, which most FPS (First Person Shooter) games tend to avoid. It also takes an incredible amount of team coordination and cooperation. In this game, skill matters because of the high degree of difficulty. However, the team aspect is so integral, the less talented team can win if their teamwork and synergy is superior. It's also one of the most popular games on the competitive circuit with fans watching over 400 million hours watched."
Rocket League is a difficult to master, easy-to-follow, exciting game featuring rocket-powered cars playing soccer. "Personally, I think Rocket League is the most fun to watch out of all the games we offer," said Colquitt. "It's a simple concept, by far the simplest game we offer, but "simple" doesn't mean "easy." Watch a match with really good players and you'll barely ever watch their car touch the ground. Traditional sports fans can pick this one up easy as the same offensive strategies that are used in basketball, hockey, and (of course) soccer. Because of its simple concept, controls, and popularity virtually anyone can pick up and play this one. That high degree of accessibility also means even people that aren't eSports fans can really get into it."
One of the world's most popular eSports joins the fold in the Faulkner program, League of Legends. The game mixes team strategy with mythical "champions" battling to destroy the other team's base. "Of the competitive eSports, League is statistically the most popular as well as the highest grossing of the team events. Because it utilizes different characters, known as champions in game, you can really customize it to your playstyle and the playstyle of your team. This makes for highly varied matches where even subsequent games between the same teams can be wildly different. Different players on the field will fulfill different roles, both offensive and defensive, to give their team the best chance of winning. At its core, this is a strategy game that combines the need for sharp reflexes and quick thinking by the entire team."
The only console game in the lineup is a game that's failry popular in the gaming community outside of the eSports realm, but growing in the competitive field, Super Smash Bros Ultimate. "Of the games we offer, Smash is my personal favorite. The competitive scene consists of five one-on-one matches, so team coordination is important, but much more peripheral than the other games we offer," Colquitt said. "It's like a relay race, where there is some strategy in the order of the team, but when the player picks up that controller, his own skill is the only thing that can help him win the round. The characters are widely diverse in this game too and match up differently against each other. This is also the only console game in our lineup, as it is a Nintendo Switch exclusive. This game requires lightning-fast reaction time to react to your opponent. Preparation is also key since to be good, you need not only to know your own character, but the strengths and weaknesses of every other character, especially the ones popular in the metagame."
The fifth game blends some elements of other games to create a unique, strategic challenge with the skill of an FPS game, Overwatch. "While it's true CSGO and Overwatch are both FPSs offered by Faulkner, they are very different. Overwatch combines the role-blased play of an RPG (Role Playing Game) with a traditional FPS. For example, some players, known as tanks, have high HP and primarily act as shields for other players while their teammate focus on healing or attacking. This makes familiarity with your teammates' habits and quirks crucial to win. It also means you have to adjust your playstyle to the other team's. For example, if a team has two tanks, do you try to take them out first to leave the others helpless, or do you work around the tanks to take out their support? The right answer depends largely on what your team is good at. Furthermore, Overwatch rewards skill. Successful shots charge the gauge to us your special move, so good players get them more often."
Any players interested in joining the program are encouraged to fill out this recruiting survey.
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