The Inaugural Mobile Legends TeleTrip Campus

The Inaugural Mobile Legends TeleTrip Campus

There were many first times in TeleTrip Campus Informatics – Mobile Legends on 23 March 2019. It was our first time working with Informatics students to organise TeleTrip and to have Mobile Legends as the title game for TeleTrip. We are thankful to be part of the MLBB Esports For Everyone Project which allowed us to award in-game diamonds. We greatly appreciate the players who joined us so enthusiastically and share  TeleTrip to their friends!

Warming Up

Confirmed TeleTrip participants were added into a WhatsApp chat group a few days before TeleTrip to get to know each other. We love the energy of this group as we were pleasantly surprised to have almost 200+ messages within a span of thirty minutes! They were sharing their in-game profiles and even inviting each other for games. It was amazing to see how they interacted despite not knowing each other prior to this.

Like the previous TeleTrips, most of the players arrived early and had the chance to chat before TeleTalk started. It took some time for the players to introduce themselves as they were quite shy at the start, but proud that they were able to do it nonetheless.

After TeleTalk, the 30 players moved to their allocated teams and discussed their game plans before playing their warm-up matches. Most of the warm-up matches resulted in a one-sided win, which meant that the teams had a lot to discuss on what and how improve over lunch.

During TeleMatch, the teams were matched against teams that they had not played against during the warm-up games. The pressure increased and situations arose that tested a team’s teamwork and determination. It was definitely challenging but all the teams overcame them with lots of fun and joy!

Here are some lessons that were learnt from the teams’ experiences.

 

Overcoming Tough Situations with Positivity: Team 4

What do you do after your team suffers from a bad loss? Fight harder, of course! Despite Team 4’s collective effort to come up with an effective game plan earlier, they suffered a crushing lost during the warm-up game against Team 3.

It definitely affected the team’s morale slightly, but they focused on feedback and ways to improve their coordination to prepare for their first series against Team 2. When asked if they could win Team 2, they jokingly answered “yes” unanimously. With that, the team’s spirit lifted and they played with ease. They managed to win two games against Team 1 to proceed.

It was time for a rematch against Team 3. Again, the same question was asked, if they think they could win against Team 3. This time, they answered, “we will try our best”. There was definitely a shift in their mindset and how they communicated.

Although they ended losing two games to Team 3 again, this time the games were really close compared to the warm-up game. This loss motivated them to work harder after experiencing improvements and progress as a team.


Small Things That Matters: Team 5

Team 5 had players who were strong, but their lack of communication held the team back from performing. They tried changing up their roles but had no effect on their results.

We realised the experienced players were much older than the other players, which made it more convenient for the experienced players to communicate among themselves while the younger players shyly kept to themselves.

In order to create stronger bonds and accountability in the team, the team decided to change their in-game roles such that an experienced player would be paired with a younger player in a lane. Although the younger player did not play tank, he was willing to trust the team and go ahead with the plan. They also swapped positions such that the players in the same lane were sitting together to facilitate communication.

With this new arrangement, the team’s communication improved tremendously. The young teammate admitted that he had a low win rate in ranked games as a tank, which made him avoid playing tank ever since. He was surprised that his team won multiple games as he played tank. He was greatly motivated to try more roles now.

Team 5’s efforts paid off as they started winning their remaining games convincingly, which even earned them the prize of the “Best Improvement Team”.

Understanding is Key: Team 1

Team 1 started well with a great team morale, communication and even lots of laughter especially after winning their warm-up game. Everything looked great until their first series against Team 6, one of the stronger teams.

As Team 1 was playing their second game against Team 6, it was obvious that the team morale has dipped as they were not communicating and coordinating. They ended up losing both games.

Things got heated as they argued on how the game should be played and how some of them were not performing according to their roles. In order to resolve their differences, every teammate was encouraged to share their concerns instead of suppressing them.

Taking into consideration all team mate’s concerns, the solution was to manage their expectations of each other. Everybody was trying to win, but each’s approach was different due to different perspectives and experiences.

The team decided to regroup and work together for the remaining games. The change in their attitude towards each other was so great that they ended up winning the “Most Spirited Team”.

How every team overcame their problems was definitely inspiring. We could feel their hunger towards learning and improving. Great job teams!

Prize Presentation and Pizza Party

We had five TeleTrip Campus winner tags for the winning team. We had additional prizes for the “Most Improvement Team”, “Best Teamwork”, “Most Spirited Team”, “MVP” and “Best Support” as well. The winning team received an Aftershock mouse each. “Best Teamwork” received Aftershock mousepads and “Most Improvement Team” received Aftershock backpacks.

Additional prizes:

  • TeleMatch winners received 1000 diamonds per player
  • “Most Improvement Team” and “Best Teamwork” received 500 diamonds per player
  • “Most Spirited Team” received 200 diamonds per player
  • “MVP” and “Best Support” received 300 diamonds each
  • All participants do not go home empty-hand. Those who were not awarded prizes received 100 diamonds each.

This TeleTrip, we managed to have a “Fastest Pizza Eater” contest and most of the hungry boys quickly joined in!

It was a time full of laughter as they tried to finish the slice of pizza quickly. In order to prove that they have finished the pizza completely, they had to raise their hands and stick out their tongues while making sure nothing come out of their mouths.

Irfan ended up as the “Fastest Pizza Eater”, earning him 50 diamonds and bragging rights in our FPE Hall of Fame.

Even though TeleTrip has ended for over a week, the WhatsApp group chat is still going strong.  Till we meet and play again in person… meantime, online works too!

Testimonials

Dosen “χ.тαкєσ” Low
Before: I wasn’t sure if my roaming, farming and ganking was right when I was playing marksman and assassins. I was always sticking to the lane given and didn’t help my teammates. After: I learned a lot of new things about the teletrip class. I noticed that my farming was totally wrong but as Amos and ruth explained to me the proper way to farm and roam at the same time, I slowly improved my gameplay. Another thing I learn was to communicate with my team more as I am a very anti social person XDD BUT as time pass I started to communicate with my team and we manage to get the best teamwork award which was surprisingly exciting since we all started from idk who you are or you are a stranger I don’t wanna talk to you but ya we eventually talked to each other and I would like to thanks the team for helping me get the mvp player award as it was unexpected 😂 without teamwork there is no winning!

Axl “° вαиαиα °” Teo
During TeleTrip, I learnt that even though if one player on the team is extremely good , it is useless without teamwork and whereas a team with teamwork and communication can bring the team furthur as compared to a team without teamwork and communication. To me its important to trust my teammates as well.

Thank Yous!

Thank you Informatics Academy for providing the venue for TeleTrip Campus and the Event Management students for all the help. Appreciate the support from all our partners, MLBB Esports For Everyone Project, AftershockPCPEZZOKangaroo NutsSCOGAEsports Academy and NYC in making this TeleTrip Campus possible. Last but not least, to the gamers who came and made TeleTrip such a fun and memorable day for all of us. =)

Facebook Photo Album of TeleTrip Campus Informatics Mar 2019: https://www.facebook.com/pg/soos.oio.sg/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2107889709502194

Instastory of TeleTrip Campus Informatics Mar 2019: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3ODQyNjg0OTEyMzk2NjQ0/?utm_source=ig_story_highlights_share&igshid=28het7iyleto

Details of TeleTrip Campus Informatics Mar 2019: https://www.soos-oio.com/teletrip-campus-informatics-mar-2019-mobile-legends/

Videos of the Finals 

First TeleTrip Campus NUS 2019 – DOTA 2

First TeleTrip Campus NUS 2019 - DOTA 2We ran our first TeleTrip Campus at National University of Singapore’s Yusof Ishak House on 9 March 2019. Despite registration time being set earlier at 9.30am so that the players could set up their laptops for the games, they amazed us again by turning up earlier!

Taking Initiatives Together

Soon it was time for TeleTalk, our signature workshop which aligns the players through teamwork so that they are ready for play. Usually as an icebreaker, the players are encouraged to introduce themselves. It was surprisingly wonderful that the players took the initiative to walk to the front of the room before addressing themselves.

The players broke into their teams after TeleTalk, and Team 6 was incomplete, because their teammate was on the way from Johor Bahru! Instead of panicking or rushing him, they took the time to strategise while thinking about how to share all these information with him when he reaches. He managed to join them just in time for the warm-up match and lunch.

Win or Learn

The teams returned from lunch and found out their opponents for TeleMatch through a live draw. By a (strange) coincidence, they matched against the same opponents from the warm-up match again. This happened previously during TeleTrip Express, which amused the returning players.

The first match was slightly more tense as the winner of that game will proceed. After the match, the teams who lost were recommended to continue playing to work on their teamwork. For the teams that lost, most thought that they lost through draft or skill, but actually it was mainly due to lack of communication, which led to the lack of coordination.

For example, a player disabled the opponent before his teammates could reach and deal damage, resulting in the opponent fleeing without receiving any harm.

The teams diligently worked on their issues, to the extent that after every game, the two teams will discuss what each other could have done better through the replays.

The Importance of Communication: Team 5

Every team had a unique issue that they overcame during TeleTrip. In the case of communication and awareness, Team 5 struggled initially. It was to the point that it took the coach to realise that mid player was having a hotkey issue to suggest a pause. This incident caused the team to reflect and talk things out after the game. As a result, they committed to changing their roles, communicating and importantly to ask and not assume in the game.

It paid off in their third game against Team 1, when they were playing from behind with almost 20k gold difference, which meant that the opponent had a significantly higher killing potential. Despite the bleak situation, Team 5 pressed on and the moment came when they managed to catch the opponent’s mid player before pushing into the base and ending the game.

Embracing Changes: Team 6

Team 6 had a rough start as well, and nothing seemed to be going right with four consecutive losses. It was even more challenging considering that most of them had limited roles. Instead of giving up, the team continued to swap their roles so that everyone could have a chance to learn and experience each role. Surprisingly, their support player who believed that he could not play other roles, played mid very well, better than support.

With that attitude to learn and explore, they eventually ended up taking a game off Team 4, one of the stronger teams in TeleTrip.

Play on the Strengths, Complement the Weaknesses: Team 2

On the contrary, Team 2 had a strong start at TeleTrip. It definitely helped to have an experienced competitive teammate to lead and direct the team. However, it was still important to play according to the team’s strengths and they learnt this in the finals.

During the best-of-three finals against Team 3, Team 2 managed to win the first game after an hour but lost the second in half an hour. There was a deciding game next, but Team 2 seemed to remain focused on their defeat. They had a draft that looked good and should counter the opponents, yet lost so badly.

It turned out that during the second game, Team 2 indeed have a good draft, but they forgot that there were teammates who were not familiar with the heroes’ capabilities. There was a gap between the experienced and inexperienced teammates as the latter was already struggling to perform their roles at a high-stress game, let alone processing information about unfamiliar heroes.

After realising this issue, Team 2 restrategized and found a draft that is good for the team, with heroes that the team was familiar with. This time, the inexperienced teammates felt comfortable and the experienced teammates could focus on leading the movement instead of teaching about the heroes. After another nail-biting one-hour game, Team 2 managed to emerge as the winners of TeleMatch.

It was amazing to see how every team overcome their problems and not forgetting to help the other teams as well with feedback. The winning teams also voluntarily shook their opponent’s hands at the end, displaying sportsmanship. Awesome job teams!

Prize Presentation and Pizza Party

We had five TeleTrip Campus winner tags for the winning team and one “Best Support” tag. We had an additional prize for the “Best Survivor” as well. Every winner received a Sliver mousepad by Aftershock. Besides the winner tags and mousepads, the winning team brought home mouse and backpacks from Aftershock.

 

 

After a long day, it was finally time to say goodbye to the players. When everybody was about to leave after getting their goody bags (shoutout to Kangaroo Nuts), suddenly one of the players approached us to ask for a group photo. Thankfully, most of the players were still around and managed to get a group photo!


Again, there were many players who stayed back to talk more about the games but this time, they continued to stay as there was no closing time for the students’ lounge. Till we meet and play again in person… meantime, online works too!

Highlight

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What would you do if it's the first time meeting your teammates and going against a team with a competitive player? Try until we succeed, of course! ?? . . . That was the exact situation that happened to Team 1 during TeleTrip Campus NUS – DOTA 2. Team 1 was set to play against Team 2 that has a competitive player. It can be daunting, especially knowing that a competitive player's experience could help a lot in providing a common direction and objective for the team. . Team 1 lost twice, with the latter game having a slightly worse result. Even though they were out of TeleMatch due to the loss, the team had a long discussion to find out what was the key issue. . The key issue was trying to play according to the trend without a plan, which resulted in a combination of heroes that don't work well together. While discussing, Team 1 realised that they had an opportunity to play against Team 2 again, and they were determined to overcome this issue by this game. . This time, Team 1 decided on a strategy that was based on protecting their team’s strengths and reducing their weaknesses, with simple-to-execute plans and heroes. This helped experienced teammates to focus on the team objectives and provide guidance while the less experienced could concentrate on their tasks and respond quickly. . Their determination paid off, and they took the game off Team 2 convincingly. What amazed us the most was immediately after that, they discussed with Team 2 on the areas to improve and ended by wishing them all the best for their finals. . Every TeleTrip is always a pleasant surprise, to see how gamers can actually step up as a team and overcome each game despite their ages or skill levels. Special thanks to @singaporecybersports, @aftershockpc, @pezzopizzasg and #kangaroonuts for supporting TeleTrip and making this possible ?. . Hope that you could join us on TeleTrip Campus Informatics – Mobile Legends on 23 March to experience this for yourself ?! . More info and registration link in profile. It’s open to public ???! . . . #mobilelegends #sgig #singaporeinsiders#singapore #pizzaparty #teletrip #campus#mobilegamers #mobilegamer

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Testimonials

Cassey “ReckLesS” Low
Despite being a relatively new player to DotA (since 2017), TeleTrip taught me many new things and also helped me discover new points that I can work on such as effective communication to be a better player. I also befriended many players through this platform that I can now play with online. Above it all, it was refreshing to experience such an exciting atmosphere that I thought I could only feel through watching The International 😀

Zhong Hua “Sibeibudget” Low
The teletrip was an amazing and fun platform for me to foster friendship and play with people regardless of what skill level they are in. Through this workshop, I learned to grow to become a better player be it individually or as a group because we learn to support, motivate and forgive each other even if we had bad games. Furthermore, I also want to thank Ruth for being a good host in organising and planning this event and really enjoyed myself. I hope there’s more these event, so we can keep the dota spirit alive.

Thank Yous!

Thank you National University of Singapore E-gaming Society for providing the venue for  TeleTrip Campus.  Appreciate the support from all our partners, AftershockPC, PEZZO, Kangaroo Nuts, SCOGAEsports Academy and NYC in making this TeleTrip Campus possible. Last but not least, to the gamers who came and made TeleTrip such a fun and memorable day for all of us. =)

Facebook Book Photo Album of TeleTrip Campus NUS 2019: https://www.facebook.com/pg/soos.oio.sg/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2079267272364438

Instastory of TeleTrip Campus NUS 2019: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMzUxNjUzMjczMDY3/?utm_source=ig_story_highlights_share&igshid=i02jiqk4qiy2

Details of TeleTrip Campus NUS 2019:https://www.soos-oio.com/teletrip-campus-nus-mar-2019-dota-2/