The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 1

The Official RIT Call of Duty Handbook

Published Summer 2020

Robert L. Cuddeback [email protected] Rochester Institute of Technology Call of Duty

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 2

Table of Contents Contributors 3

About RIT Call of Duty 4 ​ Our Objective 4 About Us 4 RIT Call of Duty History 5 Visualization 5 Creation 5 Competition 5 Fall 2018 5 ​ Spring 2019 5 ​ Fall 2019 5 ​ Spring 2020 6 ​ Fall 2020 6 ​ Spring 2021 7 ​ Leadership History 8 Fall 2018 8 ​ Spring 2019 8 Fall 2019 8 ​ Spring 2020 8 ​ Fall 2020 8 ​ Spring 2021 8 ​ Ethics and Responsibilities 9 Admin Positions 9 Admin Selection 9 ​ ​

Teamwork 10 Scrimmages 10 ​ Methods 10 ​ Learning 10 Strategizing 10 ​ Communications 10 ​ Composure 11 ​ Team Respect 11 ​ Social Media 12 ​ ​ Websites 12 ​ ​ Social Media 12 ​ Appendix 13 Brand 13

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 3

Contributors

Name Contributions to Document Approx Time

Robert L. Cuddeback Draft May 2020

Ben Garvey Revising May 2020

Robert L. Cuddeback Proofing May 2020

Robert L. Cuddeback Published May 2020

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 4

About RIT Call of Duty

Objective

RIT Call of Duty is an eSports club within RIT eSports that allows students to pursue competitive Call of Duty during their time at RIT. Not only do we offer a competitive atmosphere, but a leisurely one for anyone not interested in competing. Our main objective is to provide students an atmosphere to meet others who love Call of Duty and a platform to play in on.

About Us

RIT Call of Duty is a group of students from multiple majors and years at RIT who have come together simply for their love of gaming and competition. RIT Call of Duty gives you the ability to showcase your competitive mindset and skill within the Collegiate Call of Duty League (CCL). Our coaching and admins help our members learn each Call of Duty to the best of their ability giving them the best chance possible to excel within the league. Aside from competition, members are constantly playing Call of Duty public matches and other modes. RIT Call of Duty also competes in major tournaments throughout the nation allowing members to get a taste of the high level competition within the game.

RIT Call of Duty hosts a myriad of events throughout the year to bring together members of both our club and the RIT community. We host online and local tournaments to put the spotlight on our players. Such events for example would be our Public Safety Event organized mainly by Ben Garvey (Former Club Manager), GLGamingLounges Online Tournaments (Hosted by GLG) and the Toronto LAN (Hosted by Humber in Front of Professional Players from Toronto Ultra). Each week our club hosts a Friday meeting for all members to attend to touch base on all events and activities currently happening within the both RIT eSports and RIT Call of Duty.

When members have finished their homework and scrims they tend to get online and play public matches, CDL playlist, and the battle royale mode within Call of Duty. Members frequently meet outside of the discord for lunch and dinner while also coming together to watch Call of Duty professionals perform at major tournaments within the Call of Duty League (CDL). We welcome anyone to these events and activities.

RIT Call of Duty puts a huge importance on education and school work aside from gaming. We highly encourage students to manage their time so that all school work and studies are completed before engaging in any activities within the club. All that we ask is that you remain active with members and admin even during your studies. During the school year, if any issues arise please reach out to your peers and admin so that you can receive any help you need.

Each year RIT Call of Duty competes within the Collegiate Call of Duty League in which we have the chance to scrimmage other teams, play matches, and compete in playoffs.

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 5

Club History

Visualization

In the Fall of 2018, two RIT Students (Derek Gonzalez & Robert Cuddeback) approached RIT Esports in hopes of creating a Call of Duty Esports Team. They met with an admin also interested in such a task.

Creation

RIT Call of Duty was established in the Fall of 2018

Competition Fall 2018 Collegiate Call of Duty League

RIT Call of Duty officially enters the Collegiate Call of Duty League for the first time.

Fall 2018 Tryouts

RIT Call of Duty hosts their first official tryouts to select the starting roster for their first year of competition in the CCL. The first official starting roster consisted of players Robert “Robstro” Cuddeback, Derek “BearPaws” Gonzales, Chase “Shoobie” Schuster, Trevor “Loafy” Davies, and Brandon “StewPwnsU” Britton.

Spring 2019 Collegiate Call of Duty League

RIT Call of Duty competes for the first time in the newly formed Collegiate Call of Duty League under the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 title.

Fall 2019 Tryouts

RIT Call of Duty hosts their second official tryouts to select the starting roster for their second year of competition in the CCL. The tryouts gained the attention of over 40 students while only 8 were selected to officially compete. The official starting roster consisted of players Robert “Robstro” Cuddeback, Derek “BearPaws” Gonzales, Zach “SupahSayin” McMurray, Zach “Boater” Tatro, and Brandon “StewPwnsU” Britton, Marc “Meeval” Molnar, and Hunter “Paul-Hunter” Ruff-Matthews.

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 6

Spring 2020 Collegiate Call of Duty League

RIT Call of Duty competes for the second time in the Collegiate Call of Duty League under the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare title. The team approached the season in a new and improved way which led to making playoffs for the first time in club history.

Spring 2020 Public Safety Event

RIT Call of Duty paired up with RIT Public Safety Officers for a 2v2 Gunfight Tournament streamed live and played in person on stage in front of a packed audience.

Spring 2020 Humber Event

RIT Black played Humber CoD for an official Collegiate Call of Duty Match in Toronto, Canada in front of Professional Call of Duty League Players Brack, CleanX, and Mayhem.

Spring 2020 GLGamingLounges Tournaments

GLGaming Lounges is a startup company by Ben Garvey that throws online Call of Duty tournaments in which anyone one (especially members of the club) can compete to win prize money and gain more experience with competitive Call of Duty.

Spring 2020 Collegiate Call of Duty League - Playoffs

RIT Black competes in the Collegiate Call of Duty League playoffs and matched up closely against Full Sail Armada and lost a close series. The team ended in the loser bracket and lost to UTK.

Fall 2020 Collegiate Call of Duty League

RIT Call of Duty officially enters the Collegiate Call of Duty League for the third time.

Fall 2020 Tryouts

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 7

TBA

Spring 2021 Collegiate Call of Duty League

TBA

Spring 2021 Collegiate Call of Duty League - Playoffs

TBA

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 8

Leadership History

Fall 2018 Manager: Marco “zSmgl” Assistant Manager: Ben “BeingAmazing” Garvey Black Team Captain: Robert “Robstro” Cuddeback Orange Team Captain: Atlee “Atlee” Hasson

Spring 2019 Manager: Ben “BeingAmazing” Garvey Captain: Derek “BearPaws” Gonzalez

Fall 2019 Manager: Ben “BeingAmazing” Garvey Assistant Manager: Trevor “Loafy” Davies Assistant Manager: Jason “HawksNest” Cardella Captain: Marc “Meeval” Molnar

Spring 2020 Manager: Ben “BeingAmazing” Garvey Assistant Manager: Trevor “Loafy” Davies Assistant Manager: Jason “HawksNest” Cardella Captain: Marc “Meeval” Molnar

Fall 2020 Manager: Robert “Robstro” Cuddeback Assistant Manager: TBA Assistant Manager: TBA Captain: TBA

Spring 2021 Manager: Robert “Robstro” Cuddeback Assistant Manager: TBA Assistant Manager: TBA Captain: TBA

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 9

Ethics and Responsibilities

Admin Positions

Manager: Manages the RIT Call of Duty club as a whole and coaches the team. The manager selects 1-2 ​ Assistant Managers each year. Makes final decisions for the club and has the main effort to improve and grow the community of the slub. In charge of adding and removing members of the club along with dealing with any disputes within the club. In charge of all admin responsibilities within RIT Esports with connection to the club. In charge of preparing information for each weekly meeting. In charge of maintaining the club’s integrity, scheduling scrimmages, making announcements, and giving necessary information to all members. The manager cannot be a player. The manager can be a coach.

Assistant Manager: Assists the manager with any of their responsibilities. In charge of keeping players ​ focused and aware of upcoming events. Fills in for the manager for any task when needed. Responsible for taking notes during meetings and scrimmages. The assistant manager cannot be a player. The assistant manager can be a coach.

Coach: Manages the team directly. In charge of keeping in touch with all players and keeping them in the ​ loop. Has the responsibility of attending all scheduled team scrimmages and matches and recording them. In charge of working with the captain with all the responsibilities including but not limited to searching for scrimmages, scheduling VOD review sessions, organizing information, making announcements, and sending information to players. In charge of all team disputes and boosting morale of players.

Captain: Manages the team with the help of the coach. In charge of organizing all team duties, practices, ​ strategy, etc. In charge of boosting the morale of teammates, being the in game leader, and role model for all members to look up to. The captain is also responsible for all duties within the Collegiate Call of Duty league. Lastly, the Captain is responsible for communicating with all players on the team for various scrimmages, matches, and meetings.

Admin Selection

The Administration Members of the club are decided by a majority vote from all participating RIT Call of Duty Club members. Voting only occurs for the Manager and Captain roles. The manager is in charge of selecting all Assistant Managers and the Coach if needed. Both the Manager and Assistant Manager have the ability to take the Coach role as well.

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 10

Teamwork

Scrimmages

Each week the team is required to participate in two scrimmages. The Coach and Captain are responsible to organize these. All players are responsible to warm up prior to each scrimmage and fully participate in them.

Methods

Aside from scrimmages, players can play online tournaments, wagers, CCL 10s, private match bot lobbies, watch VODs, watch Call of Duty professionals, and study team strategies.

Learning

Simply walk through each map in a private match and learn each nook and cranny (with teammates). Make sure your callouts are the same among all of your teammates. Practice your comms and make them clear and succinct. This makes a huge difference. Work on avoiding being hectic with your comms. Listen to pro teams communicate as well. Practice with the role you plan on using competitively and speak with teammates if you want to change your role as the new game may change some things for you personally.

Strategizing

If possible, learn how other teams play (preferably the ones you have a match against in the near future). Go in a private match and run through plays for SnD for each map. Practice them. Running through them once won’t do much. Go in a private match and run through hardpoint break formations. Also run through setups for control of each hill on every map. Run multiple times. Basic setups for control of a particular point likely transfer over into each gamemode in a myriad of ways.

Communications

Listen to how CDL teams communicate. You do not want nervous/hectic comms. You won’t be able to hear the game. You don’t need to repeat a callouts 4 times out of anger in an unclear way. Compose yourself and make the callout clearly 1-2 times. Learn to callout what you are looking at when you have control of a certain part of the map. Callout where you are going. Callout what you are giving up/leaving. Learn to know where your teammates are on the map. This helps because if you die and an enemy is going towards your teammates. You can say their name before calling them out. This is much more alerting. (Derek one behind you!) compared to (One window!). The latter callout forces Derek to come to the realization that the window is behind him. The first callout immediately alerts him to turn around.

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 11

Composure

Arguing with your teammates does not have to end in bad vibes. You can argue all you want. Try to take the things said from each person and learn from them if possible. Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe you’re right. Arguing only shows passion. Try not to go overboard with it though. Be able to take constructive criticism. If you constantly yell at others but can’t recognize when someone calls you out on something, that’s a problem. Make the callout before you complain about dying. Always. Simply respect each of your teammates and learn to trust them in game. This will have an effect on how you play in game. Learn to adapt and overcome. The more to complain about the game, the longer it will take for you to improve. Grind it out and trust that the game will get better. Nobody is forcing you to play Call of Duty while in college. If you hate the game, quit. Just remember why you started playing for RIT before you make that decision.

Team Respect

Show up to scrimmages on time. Do not make your teammates, coaches, and managers wait for you. Remember, you have three strikes this year. There are many players that want your spot on the team. Respect goes a long way. We all know how easy it is to say profanity online. You can’t see the person you’re talking to and you know you’re safe in your room. Simply respect you teammates, coaches, and managers. Avoid creating bad blood and tension. There is no need for this. We are college students playing Call of Duty. Just relax and play the toy. Our managers have put in a lot of work to allow us to play in this league. They too have tons of school work and they still manage to find time to do these things in the background. Respect that and Respect them. Simple as that. One may assume that showing up to a scrim online should be easier to do than showing up to practice for a sport. Yes, I agree that turning on your PS4 is easier than getting your clothes ready and driving to practice. However, it is just as easy to show up late to practice online. It is just as easy to make excuses as there are many problems to fake when it comes to technology. Before a scrimmage, make sure your PS4 is updated, your game is updated, and everything is ready to go. Make sure you eat your dinner, do your homework, and text your family before a scrim. Do not make others wait. The worst case occurs when more than one player is late to a scrim and everyone starts to think it’s acceptable. Remember, three strikes.

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 12

Social Media

Websites https://www.esportsrit.com/ https://collegecod.com/news/ https://ritcallofduty.com

Twitter @RITesports @CollegeCoD

Youtube CollegeCoD

Twitch RITesports CollegeCoD

Discord RITesports RIT Call of Duty CollegeCoD

The RIT Call of Duty Handbook Page 13

Appendix Brand

The RIT Call of Duty logo can be found below.