Thread by @tomi

1/ Thread: Some of the #IEM games have seemingly lasted forever, so I went through two extreme examples to understand the breakdown of time.

Summary: Counter-Strike needs rule changes to make it more viewer friendly for a growing part of the audience. @CSGO

2/ Astralis vs FaZe (nuke only)

Actual game: 1h 14m 38s / 71%
Freezetime: 15m 40s / 15%
Total game: 1h 30m 18s / 86%
Tech: 4m 30s / 4%
Timeouts: 4m / 4%
Breaks: 6m 26s / 6%

Total: 1h 45m 14s

Series ended 2-0, but lasted over 3h 7m (due to OT). #IEM

3/ Liquid vs mouz (inferno only) #IEM

Actual game: 1h 35m 58s / 70%
Freezetime: 17m 40s / 13%
Total game: 1h 53m 38s / 82%
Tech: 12m / 9%
Timeouts: 4m / 3%
Breaks: 8m 17s / 6%

Total: 2h 17m 55s

Series went the distance (incl. OT), and took over 4h 50m (!) to finish. #IEM

4/ The fundamental issue with Counter-Strike is that when games can last as little as 2h or as much as 5h, the only way to plan your schedule around it is to cancel everything else, which isn't realistic for most adults.

Shorter games would drive more viewership. #IEM

5/ How can you get there? Start by going back to MR12.

We moved to MR15 ~20 years ago because pistol rounds were too important -- that is no longer the case; in fact the economy is far less relevant overall.

Teams would adjust, and variance wouldn't really increase much. #IEM

6/ The current OT rules also need adjustment, as they cause the largest swings.

@SPUNJ recently had a good suggestion on how to potentially reduce the length of OT. There are also others, but we first need to decide to act. #IEM

https://twitter.com/SPUNJ/status/1399396925133164548

7/ Finally, we should consider reducing the length of freezetime and timeouts (sorry, production and coaches). And perhaps these games were outliers, but they make me worried about the average tech pauses in an offline(!) environment. We need to do better. #IEM

8/ To summarize:

Reducing the average length of games and making it less variable would drive an increase in viewership and likely in fan engagement overall, as more non-hardcore fans could plan their schedules around matches.

First step is acknowledging the problem. #IEM @CSGO

Addendum: I would also run some PIP commercials to decrease break lengths.

Also, the reason VP and COL could go to a 3rd map starting around 2AM local time is because the earlier games, inclusive of OTs, took way too long -- the day started at 1:30PM local time. #IEM

Addendum 2, for the "pistol rounds decide games in MR12" crowd:

https://twitter.com/tomi/status/1413655672252559360

Addendum 3: Rationale for why this matters a lot more than sone give it credit for

https://twitter.com/tomi/status/1413647178052947971

Addendum 4: What if I told you that on top of all of this, TOs generally don’t schedule with teams’ geographical presence in mind, thus further alienating would-be-viewers? #IEM

https://twitter.com/tomi/status/1412828618149928964