For several years, the community has been arguing about the importance of online games in the current world of CS. Someone says that online results are irrelevant, and online leagues are not interesting to viewers. Someone believes that this is still an integral part of modern e-sports and online matches have their weight.

A couple of weeks ago, the online part of one of the most important leagues came to an end, the results of which again fueled interest in this topic.

As you know, Astralis and FaZe did not qualify for the EPL Lan Finals. And Virtus.pro once again flew out of the league. And what was the reason for such a result, according to the opinion of the best e-sports experts? Bad shape? Irresponsibility? Tiredness? Nope. The reason is that the league goes online!

One of the most scandalous analysts commented on the result as follows:

«Two of the world’s best teams (Ast and FaZe) don’t qualify for EPL LAN but garbage tier nV does. Classic online play.»

Pretty rough, is not it? But this is only one of such tweets. A lot of people share this opinion.

As you can see, Navi, EnVy, Faze and Astralis have the same number of points. So why did those pass, not others? In this league, in such a situation, the following factors are taken into account: face-to-face meetings, rounds difference and the difference of rounds face to face. Why am I telling this? In order to give importance to every match, every map, and every round.

So what is the difference between online and LAN matches?

As a person who is indirectly connected with this, I really wondered why the results of top teams online and at LAN are so different and what factors affect it.

Ok. Let’s go

I started my analysis by referring to a person who knows firsthand how important online games are and how unpleasant it is to lose them – Dauren Adren Kystaubayev.

Gambit shows excellent results o LANs. For the third season, you keep the status of major legends. But when it comes to online matches, you turn into another team. What is the reason in your opinion?

Adren: Honestly, I don’t know how it happens. We always play almost the same everywhere: online, and on LAN. Well, at least I think so. And I understand that we need to work hard on the online part, but how, this is another question.

TECHNICAL FACTOR AND COMFORT AREA

Words like netcode, hitreg, ping, etc. sound like curses to me. But yes, they do influence some things and can give an advantage to one of the teams during online matches. All these “things” do not matter at LAN which is a definite plus of the events.

Nevertheless, I wouldn’t include here just the moment with the Internet. The tournaments have also their own technical factors that can affect the result. There are lots of stuff like bad monitors, uncomfortable helicopter headphones, lack or presence of cabins with noise insulation. Technical delays etc. However, for some reason, no one takes into account these factors. Yes, the teams remain in the same conditions. But all these little things can affect differently for each team.

How do you think, what is the main difference between online and LAN?

Adren: On LAN you are completely removed out of your comfort zone, different factors can affect you and your game, such as the audience, stage, your opponents, uncomfortable gamezone. Playing online, you are sitting in the place you are accustomed to, half-naked with a cup of tea in your leather chair and nothing bother you.

I hope no one began to imagine a half-naked Kazakh in a leather chair?

It seems Adren’s answer says that playing on LAN is much more difficult. So why the same Gambit are playing worse in comfort conditions for them?

CONCENTRATION AND MOTIVATION

At one of the forums, I read the following comment: «Why the fuck are you using it (online cs) to decide whether the best teams in the world can play at LAN. It’s fine for the lower teams, but why are teams like Astralis and Faze not just being invited to the events? “.

Indeed, for many major events, such teams receive direct invitations. But I keep thinking that this is the reason why many of them relaxed. They know that in any case, they will receive their invitations at LAN. So they don’t have to do anything to get there.

Players often claim that their unsuccessful online results are caused by problems with concentration. “We can’t concentrate while playing online”. Some are also indignant: “Why didn’t we get an invite to the tournament and should play qualifiers?”. If you think you worth this spot, why don’t you easily go through these qualifiers and prove that you really deserve it?

And that’s the problem. What if the organizers of major tournaments will cancel all invites and make open + close online qualifiers? I’m not 100% sure that all the teams that are on the first lines in the ranking would get their spots for the LAN-finals. And you?

Is it really more difficult to find motivation when playing online than in games at LAN?

Adren: Well, depends on the tournament. To focus on a full tournament is easier than one game in the league. Perhaps, it looks easy, but in reality, it is more complicated than it seems. This can even be traced in professional sports. In football, many teams play much better in the Champions League than in their national league. They understand that there will be many games in the league, but in the Champions League, every game is worth its weight in gold.

Let’s try to compare the online part of the EPL and any national football league. The system is similar. Long league, everyone plays with everyone in BO2 system. So can, for example, Barcelona afford themselves to relax during the season, losing a few games to weaker teams? And did anyone call Lester City garbage when they “accidentally” won the English Premier League in season 15/16?

And we return to the question, are online games really not important? Yes, for top teams that have experienced the taste of the game on stage in front of thousands of spectators, the atmosphere and sense of responsibility for the result may be lost. Especially if it’s such a long league. But how can professionals use this as an excuse?

TIREDNESS?

We all know how busy the schedules are now for the top teams. Several LAN tournaments per month, bootcamps + Online leagues. It seems why are they needed? But, on the other hand, what would you and I do during the breaks between tournaments? What would force the team to keep itself in shape at this time?

If there was a chance to cancel all online matches, but you would have to fly several times a week to play an official match, what would you choose?

Adren: I think that constantly flying for matches would be difficult in terms of schedule. Now there are so many different tournaments on LAN that some teams even refuse their invites. I’ve been already in such situations a couple of times when you have to travel that much so I would choose matches online, although it would be beneficial for us to constantly fly to the LANs.

When I was shown the schedule of tournaments for the next two months, I was, to put it mildly, in a shock. Yes, this is not the first time, and yes, at least once every six months there are such situations that the teams are not at home for several months. But is it worth it?

To give some clarity:

29.05 – 04.06 EPL Finals

17.06 – 19.06 DH Summer

22.06 – 26.06 ECS Finals

28.06 – 02.07 PGL MAJOR QUALI

04.07 – 09.07 ESL One Cologne

15.07 – 23.07 PGL MAJOR

Imagine now that such leagues as ESL, ECS, ESEA will be played on LAN as well. Not surprisingly, teams refuse to participate in tournaments, setting priorities. But it’s hard to get tired of two or three online matches a week.

So why it is so hard for the best teams in the world to defend their titles online?

So many questions and very few answers. But I know for sure that playing any match, everyone should be “here” and nowhere else. Because there is only this moment and this match. This is the key to victory for both LAN and Online matches.

Have the EPL Lan Finals members found their keys?

Will Cloud9 defend their champion’s title? Will Mouz and EnVy prove that they deserve their place on EPL Finals? How will the representatives of the American division show themselves? And who will raise the ESL Pro League Season 5 trophy? We will found it out very soon…

Stay tuned…