CS:GO pro Kristian ‘K0nfig’ Wienecke thinks that soundproofed, two-way booths would be the only way to prevent live audiences from helping teams during LAN matches, as was seen this week in the ESL Pro League Finals.
K0nfig, who currently plays for Complexity, tells the HLTV Confirmed show that he thinks more needs to be done to eliminate audience influence but that he has in the past been guilty of using it to gain an advantage. The issue of audience callouts and reactions has been a hot topic in the CS:GO community this week after Astralis appeared to be listening out for reactions from the home crowd at the Pro League Finals in Odense, Denmark, during their semi-final match against Mousesports.
K0nfig also explains how players can additionally take advantage of the game audio and commentary that are played to the crowd in the arena to assist them in locating enemy players. Due to all of these external factors, he believes the only solution would be to introduce soundproof booths with two-way glass.
“If you’re flashing somewhere and you can hear in the speakers that the flash explodes, then you know that they [the opposition player] are blind and that someone is near you,” K0nfig explains.
“You use it to your advantage all the time, and I think when you’re sitting at home you can’t use it so I don’t think it should be possible to use at tournaments [either].”
He then goes on to admit that he has used external factors to gain an advantage in LAN events before by spam-aiming at walls and listening for a reaction from the audience, who can see the outlines of enemy players on the big screens inside the arena.
K0nfig’s solution is to bring in booths for teams, which has been seen at CS:GO events in the past but is far from the norm. He believes that by having blackout glass which allows the audience to see the players but not the other way round – and presumably soundproof them too – will eliminate audience influence.
Despite the controversy with Astralis’ supporters assisting them at the Pro League Finals, Mousesports still came out on top and went on to win the entire event.
However, as CS:GO crowds become bigger and bigger with the growth of the esport, these issues could become even more prominent in the future if a solution such as team booths aren’t implemented.
