Home advantage or unsportsmanlike action? (2017 Worlds in China)

Notadoctor·Oct 28, 2017·32 votes·3,975 views

Basically I have watched every SKT games and whenever they go against a Chinese team. When SKT has any setup or gank potential, the crowd would yelled and warn their team (crowd yelled baron when SKT is doing it for example which the Chinese team turned towards baron), I do not know if the crowd do the same thing to other teams but thats what I saw and I am sure many others saw it too. Now to clarify..

I am a SKT fan, thats what i watched every single team of them.
I think is completely fine for the crowd to show more support to their home team, like every other sport
The only problem I have is when the crowd hint what the other team is doing which may result in disadvantages especially when it seemed to happen. (I dont know what their headset setup is but from the micheck video you can hear the crowd still so I assume thats the case)
I have been watching SKT games since S3 and I have not seen or hear any crowd from other countries would shout and hint their team as much as the Chinese crowd, hence I am complaining about that. To sum up, I think home advantage is a fair element in any games, because a top tier team should be able to show a strong mental state to withstand those pressure, make sense. But when the advantage given is something that will affect the game play that much, especially early ganks, dragons, barons that can impact the game so much, it feel like a dog move. you can call me crying about it whatever, but this only happens during this years worlds but I have never seen it before in any other years. Sorry about the long salty paragraph. Have a good day P.S. this post is made before the RNG vs SKT match finish (currently 0:0) so I am not crying because SKT loses (thats if they lost though, even they win, its still a big problem.)

56 Comments

Stars ShaperOct 28, 201723 votes

Players should stay in a soundproof room imo.

Ppl (especially supporters) are a bunch of exploiting kids and only cause problems to the players with their screams.

NotadoctorOct 28, 201710 votes

Thats true but there is no complete solution to it. It loses a live esport element if putting them in a soundproof room. PPL has good people too but they just seem to not respect the fact that its a competition enough. I think the only solution is to not host tournaments in China, but then RIOT will lose a lot of $. sigh.

FableBlazeOct 28, 20179 votes

Why are you pretending that it is somehow related to China? This thread pops up every year no matter where worlds is held.

NotadoctorOct 28, 20176 votes

I have said, I cannot hear those crowd years before. But this year I can hear about it, I am posting it so I am putting my opinion. If its loud enough for viewers at home, its loud enough for the players.

CowseedOct 28, 20171 votes

I believe they used sound reducing glass boxes/rooms for the teams to play in at some events. I don't think it messes with the live element if you can clearly see the competitors. Besides, they're gonna be looking at the game itself most of the match.

KinjishiOct 29, 20171 votes

They use them regularly in LCK.

NotadoctorOct 28, 20173 votes

Stars ShaperOct 28, 20176 votes

That's easily solved by having windows/screens that show the players.

In LoL you need to see the action in the game, not ppl face-down on the screen.

NotadoctorOct 28, 20172 votes

yeah like the LCK ayy, they have that installed, wonder why a region can do that but not in Worlds

HaIlMonitorOct 28, 20174 votes

I am pretty sure sc2 games are done in soundproof glass rooms, so I dont see why riot cant do it too.

To be fair though crowds cheer about random stuff like ward kills and such. I haven't payed full attention honestly, but I they are pros and are probably more aware of things then we give them credit for.

NotadoctorOct 28, 20171 votes

got a perfect example, game 1 5:00 in when faker gank bot, its so obvious

Blackstone01Oct 28, 20171 votes

I don't understand why they don't. Watching other big tournaments a lot of the time each team is in some sort of glass soundproof room on stage on top of having their headphones.

Walmart PornNov 1, 20171 votes

nah an easier delay would be to have the viewing screens on a 30 second delay or such like twitch. Any advvantage gained would be lost by the 15-30 reaction time

EbololOct 28, 201716 votes

The thing is, this is clearly a factor even outside of worlds. When watching broadcasts I have heard casters mention things such as "When you hear the noise of the crowd, you notice something is up" etc. I think this needs to change because no doubt it's a factor of what team decision making can be, even if it's not a big factor. Yes they have noise canceling headphones, and yes they do tend to 'zone in' to their games, but judging by the crowd's roar on the broadcast, it is hard not to imagine the players do not notice anything at all.

NotadoctorOct 28, 20176 votes

completely agree, especially when you can even hear the crowd from mic check videos from riot itself

EbololOct 28, 20172 votes

That too, I didn't think of that. By any chance, do you know which match it was where the crowd yelled baron that caused the team to turn to baron? I'd just like to see it out of curiosity

NotadoctorOct 28, 20172 votes

not sure, but i know its in week 1 against chinese teams, i will look it up and update

kagepaladinOct 28, 20171 votes

Also the way the game is from what i've seen the vision control around baron is top notch even if a ward is cleared the enemy will most likely sweep it put down stealth and vision wards as well within at most 15 seconds and if they see 5 people clear one ward their not just going to leave it be and not check.

Dr PoroOct 28, 20172 votes

When you hear the noise of the crowd, you notice something is up... or it's just a random TSM chant. [slayer-jinx-wink] TSM! TSM! TSM! (I love these random chants when TSM is not even playing. Especially when TSM is already eliminated.)

CosnirakOct 28, 201716 votes

What the crowd sees is actually on a delay. It's not a big delay, but it's enough. Riot is fully capable of using sound proof booths, they choose not to. But they aren't stupid about it, they know how to protect the integrity of the game.

Pro teams tend to know to go check the baron pit simply because of how long it's been since they last saw the enemy champions and where at, regardless of their vision actually at the pit. I mean hell, even I do that and I'm no pro.

kagepaladinOct 28, 20172 votes

MysterQOct 28, 20175 votes

Real question: is it rigged/scripted.

oLbLeifOct 28, 20173 votes

I agree, that is f**ked. they yelled so loud.

Better JunglerOct 28, 20173 votes

With the amount of focus they have on the game, the sound cancelling headphones and communications happening 100% of the game, literally no one could know what the crowd is "Whooing" about. Its not enough payoff to invest effort into listening to the crowd, especially with everything happening.

Also, there is no advantage here. Listen to when SKT walked out on stage, then listen to when RNG comes out. RNG gets a DEAD SILENT introduction, while SKT get a roaring crowd when they come out. cheering.

MysterQOct 28, 201711 votes

I mean we have seen Baron sneaks, ROAR ROAR, whole team runs to Baron pit to check a few times.

Better JunglerOct 28, 20174 votes

We've also had crowds that ROAR ROAR'd at someone walking killing the rift scuttler.

MysterQOct 28, 20173 votes

Sure. But are you just going to say the whole team was walking to the Baron pit anyways? Sure it might not always matters, but sometimes it does and that is a problem.

Better JunglerOct 28, 20172 votes

I guarantee you they don't even hear when the crowds get loud. You block out the sound of the crowd when you're hyperfocused on the match.

MysterQOct 28, 20172 votes

I can agree, you tend to zone out background noise.

but it also only takes 1 person out of 5. it also only takes 1 person who is currently not in an "intense" hyperfocused state.

NotadoctorOct 28, 20177 votes

Please stop saying they block out the sound, there are so many mic checks videos which takes the communication between players directly onto youtube and you can definitely hear the crowd cheering even they were yelling to each other while playing. Look at the video then continue to prove your point

Better JunglerOct 28, 20172 votes

I've been in multiple situations where I had to be focused with a much cheaper set of headphones. I didn't hear the thousands of people around me or the background noise, I focused on my objective. If you honestly believe that a pro team would waste the communication time to say

"Hey Faker, I think the crowd might be wooing cuz you're walking into the bush and the enemies might be in there"

then I have nothing left to say to you.. Its a ridiculous point.

NotadoctorOct 28, 20177 votes

Do you really think when the team is just clearing waves, farming, not having much action and then suddenly here something in the background yelling "baron" means nothing to them? you can see action being taken and change of direction when you hear the crowd, again, if you havent looked at the games and see it happen, you wont understand.

Better JunglerOct 28, 20173 votes

Have you ever been to a live league tournament? I went to the group stage, and finals of 2016 worlds, (san francisco and Los Angeles.) And not once in the 30+ matches I witnessed, did someone yell anything that could spoil. Not only that, but the crowd was so loud cheering over absolutely nothing, that you couldn't pass a message to the person to your right.

There are so many things going against your argument its ridiculous:

If someone were to yell out anything like that they would be snatched up by security INSTANTLY.

The crowds loud, unorganized, and cheers about LITERALLY ANYTHING.

The crowds not allowed to shout anything to the players.

The players wouldnt be able to hear even a small group of people trying to yell something in unison.

The players aren't going to use the crowd as a reliable source of shotcalling.

The headsets are SUPER noise cancelling to block out all the sound from the crowd so they can communicate.

Its really quite a feat that you believe this conspiracy theory that the games are decided by the crowd roar.

NotadoctorOct 28, 20176 votes

NotadoctorOct 28, 20174 votes

Did you even read what I typed? First rule, dont reply without reading the thread. I have said it clearly, this never happened in all other SKT games I watched, but when its a chinese team they are facing with the chinese crowd they are facing, this happened. Read before you speak Also, game 1 5:00 faker gank bot. the crowd woar and the bot lane retreat. In another game I can also hear the crowd yelled baron which the team responded as well. I know mandarin personally and they literally yelled out baron in chinese. If you keep wanting to believe the headset are that good. Listen to the mic check videos from riot, its taken directly from player's headset and you can hear the crowd for sure.

OfficiallyOct 28, 20171 votes

Want to know why bot retreated? It's because Faker has been out of vision for a while so it's a natural assumption that he is roaming. I literally do this in my solo que games.

NotadoctorOct 28, 20172 votes

kagepaladinOct 28, 20171 votes

NotadoctorOct 28, 20171 votes

I know you point. And for your comment about RNG got no cheers when they came out, I wasnt on that. You can hear the crowd cheering for RNG all game long anyway. But that is not the point. Its about when the crowd cheer things related to the game such as yelling what the other teams are doing. I can understand Mandarin so I can tell you in one game they literally yelled out baron when SKT is on it, and they responded, now can you tell me if its just "whooing"? an example for today is game 1 5:00 in when Faker ganks bot.

SnowplosionOct 28, 20172 votes

Those sound-cancelling headsets they are given are really amazing it is basically impossible to hear the outside world.

MysterQOct 29, 20172 votes

Except, read a bunch of post-game interviews.

Yea it is so loud, you can hear them through the headsets. Said by various players.

SEKAIOct 28, 20171 votes

This hasn't happened in any other region and any other sports or game category where the audience and the player speak the same language and in support of one of the teams on the stage, that they shout stuff/hints to the players on the arena? While it isn't entirely so, but I would like to think there is an element of confirmation bias (both employing and baiting) in this thread.

Not to mention, it's not even like the players can even be bothered with the audience while they're busying playing the game.

Also, isn't the gameplay spectate delayed by like 3 min to prevent "spec cheating" (for all levels of play)?

NotadoctorOct 28, 20173 votes

There is no or less than 5 seconds delay in live. If you dont believe me, go to game 1 5 mins in and you will hear it and you will be able to see what action did the RNG bot lane took P.S. also I am trying to say that from all the other years, this is the loudest and easiest to identify.

SEKAIOct 28, 20172 votes

{quoted}

There is no or less than 5 seconds delay in live. If you dont believe me, go to game 1 5 mins in and you will hear it and you will be able to see what action did the RNG bot lane took P.S. also I am trying to say that from all the other years, this is the loudest and easiest to identify.

If the tournament spectate is actually live without any delays, especially when the players are all out in the open, that's just dumb beyond all words, as it's literally leaving a disaster hazard unattended and assume it won't go wrong.

Some forms of delay is absolutely needed, not just for the audience but also for the fact the players can't just do a sneak peek in the middle of a match. Even just 1 min of it is gonna do the job.

But then, I am not sure if it's really delayed or not. I do hope it really is tho.

Better yet, just case the players in a sound-proof glass room (with air con), and the back of it painted black or covered, already. I don't think most players feel comfortable playing and performing in the out-in-the-open environment the current stage-format pros are playing in either.

NotadoctorOct 28, 20171 votes

I'd rather be wrong than right and I am totally with you. But when big plays happens you can always hear cheers at the same time, so i doubt there is delay, even if so it'd be less than 5 seconds. I guess if they put too much delay its not a live anymore. But again, its up to the crowd to whether they show respect to a competitive game.

SEKAIOct 28, 20172 votes

{quoted}

I'd rather be wrong than right and I am totally with you. But when big plays happens you can always hear cheers at the same time, so i doubt there is delay, even if so it'd be less than 5 seconds. I guess if they put too much delay its not a live anymore. But again, its up to the crowd to whether they show respect to a competitive game.

I always think the footage the commentators are commenting on and what the audience are screaming at is a delayed footage of the match (like, in the pros' perspective as they play the match it would be like - pros go: "damn that fight was intense". 2 min later, all the audience screams: "OHHHH THAT PLAYZ").

But I won't know. Again, I really hope Riot isn't dumb enough to actually leave the match completely undelayed with the set up they have.

TheGoomyGamerOct 28, 20172 votes

Actually, players peeking at the big screens was a problem for some of the teams, so im fairly certain they moved the screens forward so players couldn't look at them.