Recent roster changes, such as those with compLexity and OpTic Gaming, have spawned a wealth of debate within the eSports, or competitive gaming, scene. I chose to distinguish, or make it apparent, or make it known, that in terms of teams and Call of Duty roster locks, I don’t necessarily agree with the notion, or paradigm, or principle, that rosters need to be consistent for communities, notoriety, awareness, or even relevancy for growth.

The term eSports could certainly be applied, or could have been applied, to a franchise team, a grand organization, a behemoth of viewership and competitive adornments; the compLexity and OpTic of the industry. You most definitely, definitely, definitely could apply it… But, in this realm, this scene, this space, this unbeaten path, this road less traveled, this proverbial Robert Frost of competitive gaming, I do not believe it should.

Even in the realm of actual sports, with which parallels are often drawn thanks to titans like League of Legends and Starcraft II, team and roster changes remain as relatively frequent and as relatively controversial… LeBron.

The hubbub is real.

In the wake of these changes, OpTic Gaming, often jokingly referred to as being recognizable by a single face, Nadeshot, has been wistfully lead to such fate. Comparably, EnVy, in my opinion, will actually grow as an organization because of their team changes, regardless of the initial bandage rip of Scumpii leaving OpTic.

Why will they grow? Scumpii has a following; a single player is able to draw an enormous amount of backing in the competitive gaming, or “eSports” scene. Competitive gaming and eSports has never been reliant on teams to garner progression. Players like Walshy, Tsquared, Fatal1ty, Dyrus, HuK, and Justin Wong, with numerous others, all have copious clans of followers because of who they are as an individual, not because of the team or organization they are tied to. All of these players have or were capable of standing on their own two, virtual, pixelated legs.

Nadeshot, Walshy, FlamesworD, and enable are all players that have an individual sponsorship with Red Bull gaming, running the course of a handful of years, leaving them with the residual benefits and self worth that come along with such a powerhouse sponsorship. Without knowing the actual inner workings and facts and figures of Red Bull gaming, I’d speculate that sponsoring and individual player, rather than an entire team, leaves them in an advantageous position in terms of exposure, branding, and promotion over something like compLexity and Creative Labs Sound Blaster being bound together in a Chinese finger trap like notion. They are able to raise awarenss for eSports through their individual athletes.

The entire idea feels wrong



The idea that, instead of sponsoring individuals with trickle down benefits to teams, we would rather lock down rosters, create punitive league systems, and perpetuate potential pyrotechnic clashes of personalities in its place. Sponsoring individual players leads to tremendous flexibility it its once rigid, team-based place. It seems backwards to see droves of Call of Duty figureheads pushing for this idea. In the midst of 2K, 5K, and championship points and seeding, adding another layer of rule sets to team changes and roster locks would be more alienating than the team changes themselves.

“Hey, why hasn’t compLexity dropped Clayster? Their personalities seem to be clashing and their drive just does not appear to be the same.” “Well, if my calculations are correct, the amount of pro point penalties they would suffer for dropping a player when figuring in the two upcoming 2K series tournaments alongside the ever approaching UMG Philly championship event would net them a loss of 283.3, repeating of course, pro points per player, reducing their seed to third overall instead of first.”

See the problem?

Call of Duty roster locks are a notion unneeded; the rules and regulations regarding rosters do not need to change.

The way the community thinks about organizations, team sponsorship, and team followings versus individuals, individual sponsorship, and individuals followings does.

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