ReD's Corner: Farewell CoD4 - ReD's Corner

It’s been a while and after a busy summer, but its now time to get back to writing the odd prose for our Heaven Media sites. Whilst some of you may not know me, this column gives me the chance to explain who I am and what I do for Heaven Media, the people who now own the Tek9 site. For some time now, I have been working for Heaven Media as their Director of eSports content, mainly responsible of all of their gaming based websites. What this entails will probably bore you silly, but suffice to say that each site has a manager (for Tek9 that is Steven) who reports to me on a regular basis. Whilst that doesn’t mean I have a direct involvement in Tek9, I do care what its up to, what is working, what doesn’t, how we can improve it and how we can offer the kind of investment in terms of money, servers, support and staff to ensure Tek9 continues to grow.

So, whilst I don’t have a role that means I get involved in the day to day running of the site, I do have a responsibility to it. As with any business however, each site needs to be profitable and whilst none of you will (or indeed should) care about how we make money, ultimately the more money we make, the more we can spend on the sites we own and run, including Tek9.

There are some great developments going on in the background which I would love to share with you, but for a number of reasons cant. Rest assured however, we are working flat out right now to make improvements to the site, the servers, the code, the infrastructure, sending more people to tournaments and hiring staff to compliment an already excellent team here at Tek9.

As many of you already know, I part own and run QuadV too and that hasn’t changed since I took my role last November with Heaven Media.

With that out of the way, if anyone has any questions on how the relationship works or what my specific role is, feel free to drop me a message and I will be happy to help. The boring stuff done, I wanted to take this chance to commend the COD community and indirectly the Tek9 community.

It is not for nothing that I have enjoyed the Call of Duty 4 matches and tournaments over the last few months. More so than perhaps any other game’s tournaments that have taken place (save a couple of immense CSS games by Vitriolic at TEX). I tried to think whilst watching and commentating on the COD4 games at Tex and standing behind players at OOF, why I should be enjoying a game I don’t particularly enjoy playing all that much. I wouldn’t say I hate the game, but I have hardly had time to play it, either in mixes for fun or god forbid, seriously. So what is it that has made so many matches this summer, so special for me?

It is difficult to put my finger on one thing, but I’ll start with the format of the game itself. Unlike many other round based objective games, Call of Duty 4 uses MR12 and despite the obvious deviation from more successful games using MR15, it really works. The rounds are much faster (usually) and the match takes less time to complete. Interestingly, studies in to watching behaviour on video streams also shows that people who tune in to these kind of games tend to turn off after a certain period of time, especially if they are watching casually, however with COD4 streams, they seem to stay until the end of the game more often than any other game. Sure, there is the fact that CODTV doesn’t exist, but that doesn’t really explain why they stay tuned in, when in other games that do have a TV client, they decide to disconnect after around 30 minutes. I believe it is the fact that the game doesn’t take as long and appears to be far more dynamic.

Whilst the round amount doesn’t account for great games, it certainly aids closer matches and that’s something (bar the odd hiccup at OOF, upper bracket final anyone?) I have noticed more in COD4 than any other game. Some argue it also makes it a little more random and whilst that might piss the players off, I am, as a spectator, ok with that. It mixes things up and means the scene doesn’t get stale with win after tournament win being chalked up by the same team. We still have periods of perceived dominance from the odd team like fnatic recently, but even they have an off day and another team steals a win away. TCM too have been fantastically consistent in 2009 but even they haven’t dominated every single event.

Despite its self imploding nature, the community also plays its part in making games exciting. You guys appreciate a great shot, a great tactic, a superb piece of clutch play and possibly more so than any other community. I say this through my experience of having seven or eight hundred people in the QuadV channel during a match. Despite the odd lemon head, it’s usually full of enthusiastic fans of the game. People who play the game, understand its difficulties and complexities and appreciate the skill being shown on the stream and more than anyone else, you are mighty vocal about it when the time comes. I love that, I really do. Its one of the main reasons I love my other job so much, that of shoutcasting, because for me, it’s nothing without passion for the game you are watching.

Another thing that has helped me enjoy the games and although perhaps doesn’t actually aid them being great games, is the players themselves. In this community there is something for everyone. There are outspoken players, quiet players who just get on with it, some big ego’s and most of all, highly skilled gamers who seem able to pull off the impossible and not just once, but on a regular basis. Every game needs these players, whether you love them or loathe them at the very least you all seem able to appreciate the incredible reflexes and skills they have. It would be wrong perhaps for me to mention names, but just some of the players who have given me special moments through the summer of COD4 deserve to be mentioned, if only because it would be right to thank them occasionally for giving us something memorable. For me, it’s a mixture of players from home and abroad and from varying teams. I have no allegiance to any of these people and to varying degree’s like and dislike them personally, but there is no doubt these people have given me amazing COD4 memories this year.

I couldn’t write this piece without mentioning people like Stevy from fnatic who was simply in a class of his own at OOF where I watched him 4v1 from an impossible position or roby from TCM who has been an outstanding scope seemingly all year long and lets not forget about Blackmane either, a player who gets a huge amount of abuse, yet somehow rises above it all to deliver exceptional performances time and time again for his team. There have been others who have given a lot to COD4 this year and whilst I can't mention them all, here is a collective thank you to all of those who made COD4 what it was.

Yes, you heard me, I effectively said goodbye to COD4. i38 will be the last time I commentate on the game and not because I dislike it or don’t play it much myself, but because my commentary road leads me in the direction of something I love passionately and that’s Quake once more. Lets also be honest, there aren’t a huge amount of tournaments remaining for the game and with Wolfenstein offering ironsights, I am certain a few of the current codders will be heading to pastures new over the next few weeks and months. COD4 also has a clouded future with MW2 on its way and with promises of pro mods and tv clients, surely that in itself will be enough to kill off COD4. Compared to COD2, the 4th iteration wasn’t as good, technically speaking, but it sure will be remembered for giving us some phenomenal action and some superb memories.

I wanted to finish by saying, I am a very private person, particularly with my private life and I know there are some rumours flying around right now, so I would like to put them right. Yes I have split from my former partner and it was 8 months ago and yes I am dating someone from within eSports. Why the interest in it when there is so much more out there to focus on is beyond me, but whatever floats your boat people :)

See you in MW2 or possibly learning new german words in Wolfenstein ;)