Thinking it Over

In the lecture "the game theory of ethics" Alan Watts talks about the Element of irreducible Rascality, the British philosopher describes a known facet of every person's character. Carl Jung called it the Shadow, Judaism calls it the Yetzer Hara, in Christianity it's "let him who is without sin cast the first stone" and in common English pop culture it's "nobody is perfect". It's not just because of the wordplay of the element of irreducible rascality that the topic fits the player Dong-Jun "Rascal" Kim but it's very much reflected in his career. Reference video for those interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI6bPH5H5NI Edited by Babyblu

The confirmation of another severe meta change late in the season gave rise to another round of fallacious arguments which build on a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes teams the best. The argument "The best teams should be able to adapt to every single meta" does not hold up.

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to attend the Atlantic Showdown in Krefeld, Germany. I share my experience with the event and what kind of niche for T2 presented itself for a more attractive future for Tier 2 Overwatch.

With the announcement of the powerful tool "workshop", Blizzard allows the community to creatively impact how and what is played within the framework of Overwatch. What are the benefits and is this a sign of more to come?

Mind map: https://coggle.it/diagram/W_05p8k8l8ao3fjx/t/the-overwatch-experience Two weeks ago I asked for people their feedback on Twitter on the things they liked about the game and the things that infuriated them. While the specific issues were very diverse, the underlying patterns were very similar. Here I will try to summarize the essence of the feedback and see if we can find an interesting alternative point of view to explain the experience we have.

Thanks to everyone who participated. I hope it was an enriching experience as it was for me. If you want to improve your ability consider clicking some of the below mentioned (re)sources and reiterate to make them part of your thought processes. ----------- Specific play bias The pull of the gimmick play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iraaXJDt-rw --------- Timeframe bias https://twitter.com/YiskaOut/status/1043153322113417216 --------- Book recommendation: Nate Silver - The Signal and the Noise: The Art and Science of Prediction --------- Data set bias Specifically scrims but also mentions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC5DDfVLhrQ ----------------- #esportsfallacy https://twitter.com/YiskaOut/status/950622080738955265

This might very well not be your cup of tea. I will rework the content of this video in the usual approach tomorrow. Questions: Think of an offtank player that you think is top 3 in the World at the role. Got one? Okay. Give a percentage, how certain are you of your answer? If you can, remember the number. There are many legitimate reasons to hold your opinion. Let's peel away at the layers which brought you there and see how they hold up. Self-discovery --------------- 1.)Name the things that the player does very well. It could be something like having big D.Va bombs, being flexible, having great awareness etc. (ask about ONE specific thing) 2.)Can you name the three instances where you observed your player doing this specific thing? 3.)Did you observe your player doing these things in a timeframe you think is relevant? 4.)How important do you think these things are in the grand scope of the role? 5.)Did these instances occur against top competition? Outside influence ------------------ 1.)Do you hold your opinion that your offtank player is a top 3 player in the World in part because an expert, such as a player, a coach or an analyst shared it? 2.)On what basis are you considering the people experts and how possible is it that they are biased (for reasons such as playing on a team, being a fan etc.)? 3.)Have these experts given you reasons as to why your player is good and if so, which? 4.)Do yours and his reasons overlap or do you just share a conclusion? 5.)Do a majority of people you interacted with hold this opinion about your player? Ability -------------- 1.) How big is communication for the role of a flex tank in your opinion? 2.) Do you think you've been supplied with the necessary information in order to judge his level of communication? 3.)Do you think you've been supplied with the necessary tools to assess your player's level? 4.)Do you think you've put in the necessary work to have an opinion about him and other flex tanks? 5.) You chose a top 3 player in the flex tank role. Is he better than Meko, Fury, Poko or Space? Why? (the flex tanks for the top 4 finishers) Again, give a percentage, how certain are you of your answer? Write it down or remember it.

On November 15th, former pro player and streamer Seagull made the video "the state of Overwatch" which at the time of this recording has reached almost 700k views. It has rippled through the community and was the #1 post even on the main subreddit for several hours. It kickstarted a discussion about Overwatch as a game and as a competitive experience which I really welcomed. As I tend to do, I took a step back from the flaring emotions and observed it mostly as an outsider. I found there to be a great saturation of talking points and it seems to be one of those drumbeats that can cause change within communities.

For the last couple of months, both teams and the league itself have been working on improving the formula of the Overwatch League and as the result are now being revealed to us, I feel confident in saying that Overwatch League Season 2 will see an explosion of level of play on average across all teams.

Atlanta Reign is one of the first expansion teams that have given us a structure that could be a fully fledged expansion team, considering they have the minimum player amount of 8 and have a full coaching staff. They have set on a path of high-risk with potentially medium to high reward. The historic quality of their pickups range from very likely upper quartile to lottery tickets.

With yet another incident happening in the Overwatch scene and yet again on streaming platforms for the whole world to see, it made me think of the nature of the streamers experience. These thoughts aren't there to rationalize the entire Dafran situation in particular, nor are they even really closely related, but merely a fragment on what it means to be a streamer in the current climate and to hopefully evoke compassion where it is is applicable.

Overwatch has a relatively short history and thus less sophisticated language and yet overwhelming complexity. Where is the enemy? What comp do they run? What style do they play? What's their role?

As harsh as it sounds, the mantra of "I scrim, therefore I go ham" is the esports equivalent of the concept put forth by the French philosopher Rene Descartes "cogito ergo sum" which might be better known to you as "I think therefore I am". It serves as an axiom, a premise or starting point for many important arguments that flow into decisions which ultimately end up faulty because the very initial starting point is problematic and often flat-out wrong.

The 3rd annual OWWC concluded at Blizzcon this weekend. Here's a list of the exciting occurrences that were either reaffirmed or brought up at the event.

Overwatch ranked as well as cooking for a family is a chaotic experience. How does GOATS help with both exactly?

Now that the dust has settled on the announcement of the changes towards contenders season 3 as well as the following season going into 2019, I thought it was a fair time to address them, now that we have had a night to sleep over them.

Now that the dust has settled on the announcement of the changes towards contenders season 3 as well as the following season going into 2019, I thought it was a fair time to address them, now that we have had a night to sleep over them.

As we recognize timeframes we could legitimately call "Overwatch history" and the first players retire, I try to capture their greatness in time.

He was promised. During APEX Season 2 & 3 and especially the world cup he mesmerized. It seemed that only his body could set him limitations. Now he's old enough and he's signed. Fl0w3R - The Golden Child.

My recent reading of "Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones" informed some of my recent insights which I will take to heart when evaluating myself and especially the potential of teams going into season 2.

As the old guard is fading out slowly, some still maintain an iron fist on their position in the Overwatch League. (Part 2)

As the old guard is fading out slowly, some still maintain an iron fist on their position in the Overwatch League.

I muse on the unreleased roster of the Toronto Defiant, disregarding that the leaked roster might not be the one they end up with and entertain the thought experiment. Audio quality might be lower in this one as filesize limitations required me to compress. Apologies.

The Overwatch League has an age limit of 18 which must be met to a certain date. This leaves out some of the best players in the world. Who are they and what does it to Overwatch as a competitive field?

Working off of the feeling that the off-season feels too long, I first make the comparison to other American sports leagues and then suggest fitting void fillers for the Overwatch calendar.

With Blizzard announcing the ability to watch the OWWC finals at Blizzcon from different player perspective, and that the ultimate goal would be to create replays from this feature, I argue that the introduction will be a tool with exponential value.

A bit of background on Winston's lab and a short summary of the many gifts that Winston's Lab provided to the Overwatch competitive community and what an effort it was to get there.

The San Francisco Shock has augmented their roster in the off-season and, with the assets they have, should be gunning for a playoff spot next season.

Thoughts on one spectrum of approaches to Overwatch gameplay between pragmatism (here: Philadelphia Fusion) and perfectionism (here: New York Excelsior).

A Bayesian outlook on upsets, what conclusions should be drawn and which language should be used to describe them.

Observing in a way to most likely catch the actual highest impact moments would be boring to watch.