Crowd signaling: Cheating or part of the game?

The Rio Major has got off to a flying start, with the addition of the crowd to the opening stage of the biggest tournament on the CS circuit elevating the tension, hype, and gameplay in the opening days. Like all large events, Rio has not been without its problems, as there seems to be a reoccurring problem with players experiencing midgame crashes, with some players questioning the ESL admin team's communication on the issue. Another area of controversy has been the accusations that the Brazilian crowd has been attempting to give info to the Brazilian teams.

Before we delve into the issue itself, I think it would be remiss for us as a scene not to acknowledge that this is not a new problem. There is a reason that it is seen as an advantage to have a 'home crowd' at the big CS LAN's. Stockholm crowds will always root for Swedes, Katowice went crazy for the Polish Virtus.pro roster and who can forget BIG's run to the Cologne final in 2018?

So if a crowd is in your favor what benefit can you actually gain from it other than the positive atmosphere? Well despite the best efforts of tournament organizers and strides in the development of noise-canceling headsets, players are still able to hear the sounds of the crowd. Whilst they won't be able to hear a viewer shouting to "rush B", a collective "oooooh" as the crowd holds their breath watching a crosshair pass someone in smoke can absolutely be abused.

There are enough instances of these moments happening to fill out multiple Youtube compilations, which you can find at your own pleasure, but some of the more famous examples include Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer at ELEAGUE Major Boston 2018 and Virtus Pro's Paweł "byali" Bieliński at PGL Major Krakow 2017. So any talk about crowd cheating should not be taken personally by the Brazilian fanbase, rather it should be acknowledged as a wider problem that is coming to the forefront due to just how passionate and loud the Rio crowd has been (which is a net positive).

As just mentioned, whilst it has always been a problem it is being put in the spotlight now due to Rio being the first Challengers stage to have a live crowd, and with just how loud and engaged the Rio fans have been so far it has been difficult to ignore. In particular, during the 0-2 games where two hometown favorites 00NATION and Imperial had to battle for their tournament lives, the crowd, naturally, wanted to help their teams succeed.

Vinicius "VINI" Figueiredo admitted in his post-match interview with Dust2.us that there was one instance where the crowd reaction made them check their flank and got them a kill. Whilst a clip of 00NATION's AWPer Santino "try" Rigal in a 1v1 in their match against IHC has gone viral as he flicks between angles with the crowd making noise once his crosshair is on the angle the IHC player is peeking from.

I don't want to imply that the Brazilian teams are actively making use of the signaling given by the crowds. In fact, in try's situation in particular, it is fair to argue that the players are so locked into the moment that they are purely focused on their screen. However, the intentions of the players don't eliminate the fact that crowd signaling is an issue of competitive integrity.

Competitive integrity issues still exist even if the teams don't make use of them, so it would be ignorant to pretend that there isn't a problem just because teams say they aren't actively trying to abuse them. It is also important to mention that a crowd, especially a big crowd who are emotionally invested in the teams that are playing, will naturally react to situations they see on the big screen, and that is the joy of having a crowd. These are not the situations that the community is taking issue with, but rather the moments where there has been clear intent to give information to players they shouldn't have.

So we have established that the problem isn't just an issue with one set of fans, but one that has been highlighted due to the nature of the Brazilian crowd, and also that there is an issue of competitive integrity regardless of whether the players actively try and abuse the information or not. FURIA IGL Andrei "arT" Piovezan said in his own interview with Dust2.us and later on Twitter that players are so locked into the moment that they tune out the crowd, but even then he did acknowledge that there is a crowd problem at every event.

Now that we have explored the very real possibility of a competitive integrity issue, irrespective of if the players seek to capitalize on it or not, what can actually be done about it? An initial reaction from many in the community has been to bring back sound-proof booths, and this is an incredibly poor idea.

Sound-proof booths have been used on occasion at CS events in the past, however, players have mixed opinions on them and it certainly reduces the connectivity with the crowd. It negates the point of having a crowd and furthermore, they aren't nearly as effective as some will have you believe, with the aforementioned byali clip from the PGL Major Krakow 2017 utilizing sound-proof booths. It is a known fact that sound-proof booths can't fully eliminate noise, and in some cases, the vibrations that are caused inside of them can cause more noise/distraction than the sound of the crowd itself.

There is also some suggestion that booths would be classed as a fire hazard and therefore wouldn't be allowed to be used in certain countries/cities, although I have not seen any evidence of an occurrence of this being the case. So on the whole booths are a net negative; they would not only ruin the crowd and player experience, but they aren't even hugely effective in their intended purpose.

So what can be done instead? Well, ESL's response in Rio has been to turn off the x-ray and mini-map on the arena's big screen, in an attempt to limit the amount of information the crowd can give to players whilst keeping the crowd interactive and reacting to the game. There seemed to be criticism of this move, from certain sections of the fanbase, however, I think this is probably as good of a solution as you can get with the technology available.

The move to a live audience for the opening stage has certainly enhanced the prestige of the Challengers stage, with the raucous Brazilian crowd being one of the best crowds, (certainly the loudest), we have had to date at a CS Major. The massive passionate crowd has its downsides though, and for now, I think ESL's response to deny the crowd additional information is a solid temporary solution to a problem that will not go away.

Competitive integrity should be put above all else, and if there's an obvious attempt to give out information, alongside players fishing for information that needs to be challenged in some way. However, generic crowd reactions are part of the game and the scene needs to be careful in addressing the issue to not go too far in policing reactions and ruining the big stage atmosphere.