Which professional is writing there? Counter-Strike pro Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth of Team Astralis recently played with his team in ESL Pro League – Season 10. After being eliminated with his squad, he shared his thoughts on the current tournament format on Twitter.

He says that playing in front of a live audience in CS:GO matches causes problems when the audience can hear. He says this even though the audience actually tried to help him in one scene.

That’s the problem: In live tournaments, the pros sit at computers set up on a stage.

Although the players wear headsets designed to reduce ambient noise, critical information still leaks through. For example, he said, the audience can be heard through the headsets. This gives players important information that could give away the position of opponents.

In the process, the audience doesn’t even have to clearly shout out positions. If it gets loud in the audience as soon as a player looks at a position in CS:GO, he knows that an opponent is sitting there. Because the spectators see both sides and become louder when a key moment in the game is approaching.

In a recent example, player Xyp9x is seen looking toward a wall. He suspects enemies behind it, but doesn’t see them. He repeatedly looks at the spot, each time eliciting loud reactions from onlookers.

The fans get more involved in the situation with each glance at the wall. Because Xyp9x guesses correctly: there are opponents behind the wall. And the spectators know that.

Finally, Team Astralis can get a kill at this point. That’s where the viewers played an important role. You can see the situation in the Twitch clip:

“Bring on soundproof booths!”

Here’s what Xyp9x has to say about it:

Being on stage for an important match puts a lot of pressure on you. You rely a lot more on instinct and intuition. Reacting to the excitement of the crowd is pure instinct. When the crowd gets loud, even though there’s no action in our field of vision, players get paranoid about what’s going to happen.”

But viewers were not the only influence, he said. Already in 2017 the professional wrote a post on Twitter and explains there that the speakers are also perceptible to the players. “Usually the Spectator camera shows places where there are a lot of players. If you throw a grenade there, it provides bass sounds that are very easy to hear.”

This way, he said, you can quickly determine if there are enemies in places you can’t see. If the grenade goes off and is shown to the viewers, then there are probably enemies there. The players then perceive this as bass.

His solution to the problems: He wants soundproof booths for tournaments. “And I’m not talking about booths that just look a little bit like soundproof booths and players can still hear the crowd and the bass. I’m talking about real soundproof booths that eliminate outside noise.”

He says in his post that fan excitement is an important part of live tournaments. He doesn’t want spectators to be allowed to say nothing for the entire match and only clap at the end of a round, as in tennis.

“I think we need to work together to overcome these hurdles to ensure the best possible fan experience while protecting the competitiveness of our game,” he adds.

Loud crowd disturbs pro team in CS:GO, even if they help

This is what other pros say: After the match of Astralis also turned player Dupreeh on Twitter To the community. He writes “Shouting positions or verbally betraying them is a disgrace. Regardless of the fan. Getting excited about flanking or sneaky moves is a common LAN factor.

Trust me – When the crowd gets excited, every player on the server is looking at flanking or unenlightened positions. Not a single person on this planet would ignore that. If anyone says they do, they’re lying. It’s the same for both teams and sometimes it’s not beneficial.”

Player Twistzz voin Team Liquid explains on Twitter, that the spectators are part of a tactic. “Every player always looks at positions when the audience goes berserk. Luring the crowd has been a tactic for a while. It’s just a clever use of his environment.”

Problems of a different nature were shown by Reginald from Team SoloMid back in 2016, who explained at the time that LoL spectators in Las Vegas were so loud that you couldn’t understand your teammates through their headsets. He also addressed the competitiveness of LoL, because spectators became louder as soon as an important gank was about to take place.

This CS:GO player was so confused after quite a few games that he went looking for his teammates at his desk: