Table of Contents
I. Mindset
II. Communications
III. Yin & Yang
IV. Teammate Relations

I. Mindset
You need to understand that a team is a system; it is comprised of many different elements that all work together. Every action you take effects the rest of the system, because of this you need to calculate your actions solely based on what is best for the team as a whole. You need to see yourself as a servant to the team. Those who do not have this mindset play selfishly; they don't comm, off-class the entire game, say "fuck it, let's just push" when there is 0 advantage, attempt to take on improbable 1v2s, say "lol im bored" and switch to a pick class when a pick isn't needed and bomb the enemy medic when generating an uber advantage is not needed... all for the sake of boredom and shiny frags. There are many selfish plays, these are just a few. If someone is playing selfishly, they're shooting the team in the foot. When one element of the system isn't working towards the same goal as all the other elements, it is useless. Don't be useless.

II. Communications
I cannot stress how important comms are. They are so fucking important and it seems some people think they can get by with just frags and "ah fuck im down" and "oh my god that guy is so lit". TF2 is a fast paced game and there's no mini-map like in CS so you need to literally comm everything.
Every time you comm you plant a marker in all of your teammates heads letting them know what's up. Your teammates will make better decisions based on these comms. If you don't comm enough you are literally blinding your teammates, keeping information from them that will help them make better decisions. Why would someone do that? Got a speech impediment? Stop being so insecure, your teammates don't give a fuck. Can't talk and aim at the same time? Learn to aim and shoot at the same time. Too shy? Don't be shy. There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be comming.
Essentially you want your team to know what you know, if you know something that your team doesn't then you're doing it wrong. Here's a basic list of what you should be comming in no particular order: predictions, position, enemy position, health, damage, actions, enemy actions, and your target.
Now let's talk about useless comms. Don't say anything that doesn't matter. Here's some examples on what not to say: "whaaaaat how is he still alive", "wow hooli is carrying these guys so hard", "*DEAD* what the fuck who does that?", "wow that guy is so shit" and so on and so forth. Instead, during downtime(team wipe or in between rounds) let your team know what's the problem and suggest a solution. If it won't help your team they don't need to know, all you would be doing is cluttering comms. I've rang for teams who have full blown irrelevant conversations during rollouts. Disgusting.
Another thing that teams do is dwell on the past. If you've ever played with me you often hear me say "play in the now". Sometimes undesirable things happen and you need to learn to acknowledge, accept, and move on. The past doesn't exist, the only thing that exists and the only thing that will exist is now. You need to comm what is relevant now, at this very moment. I've played with people who whine and try to justify them dropping uber 10 minutes ago and I'm sure you have too. Sure you need to talk about mistakes but save it for when games aren't live.
Ragers not only clog comms but they also disrupt team morale. They have no place in competitive TF2. But hooli, sometimes things don't go my way. Acknowledge, accept, and move on. You have to understand that when you rage at something you're actually deciding to get angry. Nothing externally controls your emotions by default but we are conditioned to feel a certain way when certain things happen. So next time your jimmies are rustled, realize what's happening, stop yourself and don't rage. ez
Your team should have a main caller that the team follows above everyone else. Lower teams should not counter call the main caller even if you know you're right, if the main caller never makes any mistakes they will never be good. Don't get mad at bad calls, just learn from it and move on. When you get to a higher level of tf2 people generally know the game better and counter calls need to be considered because your teammates may know something that you do not.

III. Yin & Yang
You have to understand balance and how it plays it's part in TF2. You have yin; the soft, passive, feminine and supporting principle of the universe. Much like the nourishing and life giving breasts of a women(that is why females are physiologically inclined to play medic). And then you have yang, the hard, aggressive, masculine and offensive principle of the universe. Much like my penis. These principles exist within everything in our universe. Night and day, 0 and 1, cold and hot, etc... When you're playing tf2 you there needs to be a balance among your team for things to work properly. Teams need to understand this and each player needs to easily switch from yin mode to yang mode and vice versa. But hooli, how do I know what mode I should be in? I can't answer that, everything is situational and you have to gauge each situation yourself. Here's an example: your team is pushing through a choke getting ready to pounce on the enemy combo(yang). what do you do? take a moment to watch corners and flanks to ensure your medic isn't forced prematurely(yin). Inversely, if you see your teammate watching behind and waiting for that flanking roamer (yin) you need to adapt a yang play-style and push towards the enemy. These of course are very vague examples, you need to use your comms, skills and intelligence to make the right decision for each situation.

IV. Teammate Relations
You want to be real with your teammates. If you don't bring up whatever is on your mind then the problem will reside and there is nothing to be done. If you think your teammate needs to do something different, let him know outside of scrims and matches and talk things out. That's how problems are solved. Don't want to hurt their feelings? That isn't your responsibility. You need to be genuine with your teammates or else there will be a lot of tension among the team.
Use positive reinforcement to encourage your teammates to play better rather than insulting them when they goof. Instead comment on whenever they get a nice frag or pull off an awesome play. Your relationship will grow and they will like you more. It's important to let them know what they did wrong later on but don't rub it in their face, just make sure they understand. It also helps if your team has similar interests and actively hang out/play games with each other.
Keep your team morale high. You ever play a game where everyone barely comms and you slowly get rolled to last everytime? That usually means the team has lost the will to win. When that happens you stop comming, you stop trying and make bad decisions. Attitudes are contagious, just try your best to keep a positive attitude and keep your comms up and you team will mirror you. Also don't rage. Fuck ragers.

If you've mastered these elements you've earned the hooli team cohesion seal of approval and may be eligible to join my s13 roster, stay tuned....

This actually really helped me... gonna get dat chemistry up!

hooli wrote:

II. Communications
I've rang for teams who have full blown irrelevant conversations during rollouts. Disgusting.

oh god this part was golden

to be fair if your team is practiced you generally dont need to comm anything more than "going right" or whatever your strat call and then you can actually joke a bit and have fun playing videogames

also over-comming is just as bad as under-comming, and i'm not just talking about things unrelated to the current situation i mean if a piece of information even if its about the current game state isnt actually going to be useful to anyone then all you're doing is cluttering the channel and making things confusing for everyone else because they have to take a split second to think about what you said and then discard it

EXAMPLE if your teammate is trying to let the pocket know that the enemy roamer is about to bomb your med, but you're babbling in mumble about how you did 50 damage to a scout on the flank that nobody is in a position to attack, maybe stfu instead

ukm wrote:

have fun playing videogames

ukm wrote:

to be fair if your team is practiced you generally dont need to comm anything more than "going right" or whatever your strat call and then you can actually joke a bit and have fun playing videogames

Those teams aren't generally the ones that will need this help though

In other news just have fun playing tf2 and don't be an asshole I guess, this is a nice reminder how teams (like new ugc and new open teams) should look to build as a team, most of us with like 2-3 seasons of exp in esea should know or state what position to hold on maps unless your like a mute player were someone literally has to hold your dick and shoot there

i've found that prefacing a statement or order with a player's name is much more effective in getting people to act immediately

for example, instead of "someone kill this soldier with me on the left," it's, "pizza, come kill this soldier with me on the left"

this shifts responsibility to one person instead of the whole group, which helps with stuff like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_responsibility

meb wrote:

i've found that prefacing a statement or order with a player's name is much more effective in getting people to act immediately

for example, instead of "someone kill this soldier with me on the left," it's, "pizza, come kill this soldier with me on the left"

this shifts responsibility to one person instead of the whole group, which helps with stuff like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_responsibility

Yea absolutely, especially playing scout. Most calls will get washed over by other calls if you're making a push and your combo is saying stuff. If you make a point of calling your scout partner or roamer's name i'd say 2/3 of the time they'll come immediately, or if they cant they'll probably say so.

hooli wrote:

"whaaaaat how is he still alive"

ukm wrote:

to be fair if your team is practiced you generally dont need to comm anything more than "going right" or whatever your strat call and then you can actually joke a bit and have fun playing videogames

also over-comming is just as bad as under-comming, and i'm not just talking about things unrelated to the current situation i mean if a piece of information even if its about the current game state isnt actually going to be useful to anyone then all you're doing is cluttering the channel and making things confusing for everyone else because they have to take a split second to think about what you said and then discard it

EXAMPLE if your teammate is trying to let the pocket know that the enemy roamer is about to bomb your med, but you're babbling in mumble about how you did 50 damage to a scout on the flank that nobody is in a position to attack, maybe stfu instead

This happens AFTER you have spent quite a bit of time playing the way hooli has just talked about, and have been practicing with the same group of people for a while.

Good read hooli, enjoyed it.

I really do hate it when my teammates literally blind me by not calling.

"HOLY SHIT SOMEONE CALL SOMETHING!! I CAN'T EVEN SEE MY KEYBOARD!!!!!"

but if i cant talk about how amazing trekkies sign play is, or forever scar thorn with the discussion of a picture i once linked him during the rollout, what do?

hooli, what do you recommend for "team building activities"?

hooli is gr8..we team build by taking 7 day caribbean cruises together

Deathanchor wrote:

hooli, what do you recommend for "team building activities"?

Play other games together.

Deathanchor wrote:

hooli, what do you recommend for "team building activities"?

taking turns MGEing oov on spire comes to mind.

A lot of team building is just having fun together. While scrimming is sometimes fun, if you are trying to get better as a team, there can be times whereas it's very stressful too. As others have said, you could play other games together, play other mods, hang out just talking about random shit, pug for fun, play a drinking game, etc. After a while of playing, and more importantly having fun together, things don't tend to be as heated when there is minor problems like missing 6 shots, dropping uber, etc. In fact, my favorite teams that I have played with have been those that can make light-hearted fun of that shit.

All and all, have fun with the game and don't get mad at your teammates at mistakes since you will fuck up too.

Hooli, do you sell hard copies? I really want to send Mike a Christmas present this year.

tooth wrote:

Hooli, do you sell hard copies? I really want to send Mike a Christmas present this year.

its prolly not the right Version for mikes taste

tooth wrote:

Hooli, do you sell hard copies? I really want to send Mike a Christmas present this year.

teambuilding: "you're shit"

I would like to take this opportunity to ask you guys this - do you believe that knowing your teammates on a first-real-name basis helps?

I personally feel that knowing the actual names of my teammates helps me, as the medic and main caller of my team, to be able to have expectations of them to be real and genuine when it comes to their time spent with the team.

Besides, it's much easier to say "chad, come back to me and build" than "sillyaliasman, come back to me and build". It also adds a certain sense of sincere or dire need in tight situations; like I might call someone by their alias outside of scrims most of the time, but in a scrim if I call them by their real name, they know I really need their attention.

In general, if you agree with the notion that your teams chance of success depends highly on maintaining a roster with little or no change, knowing your teammates on a somewhat personal level could make your respect for each other grow. I'm still pretty new to comp, but the team I'm on now is still the team I want to be playing with down the road, I cherish the fuck out of my team and the time the guys take to play with me.

"Your team should have a main caller that the team follows above everyone else. Lower teams should not counter call the main caller even if you know you're right, if the main caller never makes any mistakes they will never be good. Don't get mad at bad calls, just learn from it and move on. When you get to a higher level of tf2 people generally know the game better and counter calls need to be considered because your teammates may know something that you do not."

^Truth

Great guide, I do the same with my team, the basic requirement I stated when I was recruiting people was that the person should not be a rager.

crespi wrote:

I would like to take this opportunity to ask you guys this - do you believe that knowing your teammates on a first-real-name basis helps?

I personally feel that knowing the actual names of my teammates helps me, as the medic and main caller of my team, to be able to have expectations of them to be real and genuine when it comes to their time spent with the team.

Besides, it's much easier to say "chad, come back to me and build" than "sillyaliasman, come back to me and build". It also adds a certain sense of sincere or dire need in tight situations; like I might call someone by their alias outside of scrims most of the time, but in a scrim if I call them by their real name, they know I really need their attention.

In general, if you agree with the notion that your teams chance of success depends highly on maintaining a roster with little or no change, knowing your teammates on a somewhat personal level could make your respect for each other grow. I'm still pretty new to comp, but the team I'm on now is still the team I want to be playing with down the road, I cherish the fuck out of my team and the time the guys take to play with me.

I sometimes call my roommates by their handle's. None of us think much of it really.

Remedy wrote:

i think it would be more helpful to the team to call your team mates by their game names irl

I will try this.

Important calls like focuses and ubers should be done with some sort of enthusiasm to bring attention to the call. If you're like me and comm everything monotone, unobservant teammates might not catch it.

"they ubered"
*3 seconds later*
"what the fuck i didn't know they ubered"
"I FUCKING CALLED IT"

This happens in our mumble too much.