What if...?

Posted by: bsl

Article by David «Olander» Olander-Persson

I am sure that many of you out there that are interested in the CGS have ever thought «What if I was a general manager».

I won’t lie and tell you I haven’t thought of that and I remember even saying to goodeh, who does content at thecgs.com, that if I get drafted I will be one step closer to my dream of working with E-sports. Why is the general manager position so important and what makes it the best job anyone can have in E-sports?

Well, that’s an easy question for me because I’ve been one of those fortunate players that have actually met a few of these legends.

Background: What happened?

This story actually begins when I first saw the videos of the North American draft at the playboy mansion. «Oboy, that’s cool», I thought when I watched the videos of the general managers picking their players for their new franchises. I started to think what if I had that power and could build a team with skilled and fun players and be able to hang out with them and help them develop in something that they love so much. That had to be the best job there is I thought.

When the CGS came to Europe a bit later and announced the online qualifiers for Counter-Strike:Source I was currently in my second year of college and playing with another team than I am today. To participate in the CGS you have to be over 18 years of age and I was currently playing with a player that was only 17. I knew that if I would to realize my dream of becoming a player in the first ever professional league I had to do something and soon. Time went by and I soon had a new team.

What happened at the European draft is history and I have no idea what went on in the heads of Jonas and Emil during the first few days. The first two ever general managers of the first two ever European Franchises, Berlin Allianz and Stockholm Magnetik had the hardest job ever and had to put together a team of people they didn’t know and they had to do it fast because after the job was done the European Finals waited.

The first few days was nervous, I won’t lie to you. I knew Emil from before when I used to play Counter-Strike 1.6 but this was the first time I’ve met him in several years. We talked some and it was all fun and I was happy that he seemed to be happy that we had come to the draft. We knew that he had to pick a Swedish team for Counter-Strike:Source since he was the one representing the Stockholm Franchise but we had no idea who it was going to be, us or «EYEBALLERS».

Time went by and we played the tournament and we played all the showmatches that the general managers told us to play. The thing that was fun is that we didn’t get a single showmatch from Emil but only from Jonas. This gave us a little more faith and we thought that maybe he is interested in us. We played on and we were so tired by the last day, this was something we have wanted for such a long time and finally the wait would be over.

I don’t really know how to explain it but I just wanted it to be over. If we didn’t get drafted it was back to square one but I would never give up either way. This is something I’ve waited for my entire gaming career and I knew that if I just got the chance I would do everything I could to make my general manager proud.

The minutes went by and we just sat there, «EYEBALLERS» got picked by Emil and the Stockholm Franchise and I guess that was kind of expected since they won the combine tournament. Jonas started out by picking the two PGR players that he wanted and that was good I thought, hopefully we would end up in the same team as them.

It was now or never, and I looked up into the roof of the Omega Sector and just said to myself, Come one, I want this so much.
I don’t know how to explain this but the feeling after Redeye called ‘Team NoA’ and it was done that we would be one of the two first ever professional Counter-Strike:Source teams in Europe is something I will never forget.

My life was about to change...

Hello! I'm the GM!

Now back to the topic, what if I was the general manager of a team, what would I look for and what would I love to see in my players? Well the first thing I would look for is, are the players having fun and do they love what they are doing, do they look dedicated?

I think that to become good at anything the key ingredient is that you never give up, especially in the CGS since every point count for the entire team. If we would have played a game versus another team and we lost it very early, the following rounds would be crucial for our team, that’s why I would look for a team that never gives up.

What about team spirit? That has to be important right? Of course it is. This would be another key ingredient. If a team is very close with one and other outside the game this would help the players to evolve inside the game as well, since you have a lot easier to talk with someone you know outside the «ventrilo server».

So this gives us a team with dedication and team spirit, what else do we need? Some of you might say skill! And of course that is very important, because you have to win matches. The thing is that if you have the potential to become even better, I would have to say that I would prioritize the dedication and team spirit before skill. Skill is something you develop, team spirit and dedication is something a bit harder to become good at.

Finally for all players in my team, I want players with the right attitude and they have to be able to act professional every minute of the day. That means, always being on time when they are supposed to be somewhere. They always have to be polite when someone is doing an interview with them. They have to act social and help the other players in the team not playing the same game as he or she does. There isn’t any I in team, so that is something I would look for.

What does this give me, does this give me a professional time? I think so. If you have the will to win and to become better everytime you play, if you are willing to learn new things from other players, if you respect everyone around you. You will reach the top. The question isn’t if you will reach it, the question is when.

If I was a general manager I would look for a team with all of the above and I think that so far all the general managers in the CGS has done an excellent job. It’s a hard job and when you stand in front of the camera on the day of the draft, you will change the life of ten players. Not just for a year, but forever. So choose wisely, as Robert Eddison said in the movie «Indiana Jones and the last crusade».