Ethnography
CEA: Rainbow Six Siege
Role
Team Leader
Duration
This project was done over a three month long period (October - November, 2021)
Category
Virtual Ethnographic Research
Executive Summary
The purpose of this project was to discover the cultural customs of the CEA and Rainbow Six communities. The goal was to answer the question, “What does competitive Rainbow Six mean to you?”. We did this through observation of the CEA Rainbow Six discord server, live Rainbow Six matches, and interviewing multiple players on the Rainbow Six competitive team from Kennesaw State University. We observed multiple sub-channels spanning months back.
What we found was that there were different Discord channels for different purposes. There was a chit-chat channel along with an announcements and events channel. However, the main channel was a hub for communication between players, team leaders, and channel administrators. Most of the communication was to acquire information for the competitive league and tournaments. This would include scheduling, league rules, team statistics, and distributing administrative responsibilities. We also found out that there are way more moving parts in a competitive team then we assumed.
Approach
All of our observations and research were done through a virtual field, Discord. Once we were granted permission to observe on the official servers, we used a non-intrusive technique to gather data.
Tools Used
Discord
Miro
Microsoft Office Suite
Canva
My Role
As a team lead, I was responsible for gaining access into our field as well as all of the research submissions. Creating deadlines and timelines was essential in establishing a solid research environment.
Introduction
This project was a culmination of 20 plus hours of observation in a virtual field. Our goal during this semester was to answer our main research question "What does competitive Rainbow Six Siege mean to you?". The field we set our eyes on was CEA: Rainbow Six Siege Discord server. CEA is a organized hub that is comprised of administrators that monitor and schedules matches. To get the best results, we had to gain access to this field and begin our observations.
This process page will go over the methods used during our research as well as the fieldwork. Due to the vast amount of data we have collected, it was important to have it organized for future analysis. We did encounter various challenges along the way and this page will go over how we addressed them.
Methodology
During this course we were tasked with conducting virtual ethnography. For the best results, we used a non-intrusive approach where we watched and observed the communications within the server. We also conducted interviews with users from within the server. This allowed is to get the most accurate information and to get a better glance at what Rainbow Six Siege really means to its players.
Our goal was to not intervene and to simply sit back and write down any interesting interactions. The focus was to answer our main research question:
"What does competitive Rainbow Six Mean to you?"
To help us answer this question, we looked into a variety of fields but settled on CEA. Due to its vast player base and a solid reputation in the competitive community, this organization made the most sense to observe.
CEA is short for Collegiate E-Sports Association, and it represents the competitive collegiate community. This association is responsible for matchmaking and guidance in terms of rules and ethics. Being a competitive community, the general mindset is quite different compared to the casual scene. To have a better understand of what certain terms mean, we also participated in various games as spectators.
Having the access to the servers various channels was crucial in monitoring the day-to-day communication.
Due to COVID-19 limitations, we were bounded to solely virtual ethnography.
Fieldwork
We conducted over 30 hours of observation within the server as well as live game matches. To keep our work organized, we complied our research into notes and jottings. Jottings allowed us to quickly put down information on the go. Notes gave us a chance to analyze the jottings we have gathered throughout the day.
During our observations, we noticed that the CEA server was used as a hub for team captains to communicate with admins. The server it self has various channels that focus on different topics. Anything from questions to general chit-chat was allowed.
For our jottings, we recorded significant dialogue, slang, perceived between the players in games and themes we noticed in conversations within the members of the CEA Discord server. We recorded this criteria because it would give us insight into how the members of the community perceive Rainbow Six Siege. The overall consensus was very laid back. Server members did not hesitate to ask questions even if they were repetitive. Everyone displayed a significant amount of respect towards the admins.
In terms of patterns, we definitely observed a reoccurring theme throughout gameplay. Laughter saves the game. From what we have seen, teams with laid back attitudes that don’t stress out, tend to have a bit more laughter and humor throughout their games. It is especially noticeable during gameplay. Whenever a team begins to lose, they tend to begin to start throwing names or making judgement calls, they focus on rebuilding the team morale. During this process, everyone stays on board and takes the seriousness away. Even though most matches last at least two hours, well made teams find ways to stay entertained. Based on what we observed, Rainbow Six is a very diverse game in terms of gameplay. Having a good team moral makes it more enjoyable. One key point we noticed during our observations was how the team hierarchy is built. There are clear and distinct roles on the team that vary between each player.
Roles for attack:
Hard Support
Soft Support
Primary Entry
Secondary Entry
Flank-watch/Flex
Roles for defense:
Intel Denial
Anchor
Roam
Lurk
Wall Denial
Each role has a specific set of rules attached to it. These roles are implied and are not specified in the game itself, but it is common knowledge amongst the Rainbow Siege players. Based on each members skill and knowledge of an operator, their roles is chosen mostly by the team captain. Certain players perform better on specific operators in game. There are currently 31 different operators solely for attack, so having a good understanding of their gun recoil and ability is essential. In terms of defense, the same applies. Each operator has a unique ability that can benefit the team in its own way. Knowing how to utilize that ability is key in success.
Most teams also have defined roles within the team itself. "IGL" and captain are most prominent. IGL, In-Game-Leader, is responsible for establishing what the team will do during the match. A captain is responsible for setting up match times and submitting results to the administrators.
Overall, the field was extremely active and full of dialogue. We got a chance to participate in some live games and that really gave us a good perspective into how much skill this game requires.
Interviews
Our team got a chance to interview active members of the server. In total we have done four interviews that lasted at least an hour. Every single one was recorded with consent of the interviewee through the CEA Discord server.
The first person we interviewed was the captain for Kennesaw State University. He was representing the KSU Team Black and went by the name "Moros". Moros gave us vital insight as to how this game plays out in the competitive scene as well as his input into what this game means to him.
From what we gathered during our conversation with Moros, CEA functions as a hub for all collegiate based E-Sports based games. They are one of the largest communities responsible for national championships. In his experience, everyone he has spoken to on the server showed a decent amount of respect towards various teams. The administrators are mainly responsible for scheduling matches between different colleges. If a team runs into scheduling or internal conflict, the CEA administrators are the ones being contacted.
Moros is very passionate about the game but does occasionally experience frustration from time-to-time. Since Rainbow Six release (roughly 7 years ago), there have been a lot of changes done to the game. Some have been drastic and affected certain player's ability to perform during a match. One example that was brought up more than once, was the removal of operator "Ash's" ACOG sight on her main weapon, R4-C. The resent changes to her weapon recoil have also drove a lot of players away from the operator. Subtle changes in the mechanics of the game have a drastic impact in game and the competitive scene. In the end, we asked him to sum up the game in three words. His response was, "Fun, Hard, Different".
Our following interviews were quite similar to what Moros had said. Every single player experienced at least some sort of frustration with the game. Most competitive players tend to have a deeper understanding of how the game functions as well as its mechanics.
Later on, we interviewed "meinheiden", "Bepis" and "Yorbo". Every single one of them was a member on a competitive Rainbow Six team. As members of the CEA Server, their overall experience was quite positive. Yorbo mentioned how admins tend to respond quite fast and if there are any set-backs, they try to work them out on scene.
Meinheiden went over how much time it took him to pick up the game’s intricate gameplay styles. In his experience, Rainbow Six has grown vastly and with constant changes and additions, it turns into a doable edge sword for competitive players. Even though new features and abilities add more to the game, they tend to overshadow precedent issues with the game.
Bepis shared the same emotions with meinheiden. In his eyes, the game is more geared towards a casual player. He thinks that constant additions simply water down the experience and that the competitive scene cares more about the mechanics rather than gimmicks.
These interviews definitely gave us a full insight as to how this game works and what it means to the players. Although difficult and hard to learn, this game brings these players back with its vast diversity of challenges.
Analysis
The main challenge when diving into fieldwork was deciphering the slang and the game specific terminology used by the players. Much of it was due to limited knowledge of the game and the competitive scene. Different locations on various maps and the vast amount of different operators with their unique abilities is a prime example.
The behavior of someone in a competitive setting like this is very serious and decisive. From the beginning of a round, the team lead (IGL) is giving commands and guiding the team communications. It was very clear that most of the teams know each other very well because they can communicate and execute strategies with no hesitation.
Based on our research, the main driving force behind a Rainbow Six player is the challenge to try something new. Being one of the most demanding competitive games in the world, Rainbow Six holds a strong player base with its diversity. Operators, abilities, map destruction, and a vast amount of new possibilities during gameplay, attracts a certain player base. A player base that is not afraid of a challenge and looks for new and intricate ways to dominate the opponent. Based on our interviews, these claims were backed up by the competitive community members.
We organized our vast amount of data in a matrix (table) form. Here we were able to back up our answer for our research question, “What does competitive R6 mean to you?”. This matrix is comprised of all of the evidence we have collected over our observational period. The data accumulated from our journals, notes, and jottings, was compiled into a simple matrix.
Most of our evidence came from the #r6-general, #r6-support as well as interviews and live match gameplay in the CEA Discord server.
Ordered Matrix
Key Takeaways
During this course, we got a chance to observe a competitive E-Sports field. It was quite challenging to get in at first but once we got a good understanding as to how the community operates, it got much easier to comprehend.
The data collection was the most entertaining part during our observations. We learned a lot, not just about the game but how a competitive player thinks. The CEA community is extremely diverse in terms of teams and games. Rainbow Six is one of the most popular games due to its challenging gameplay and tactics.
If we were to continue our observations, we would definitely focus more on the live gameplay. Having a chance to sit-in on some games, gave us a completely different perspective. The overall mindset shifts once you're playing. A lot of competitive players share the same feelings about the game, but their tactics and strategies vary.
I think we gathered as much information as we could in the time we were given. Considering the fact that this was done in a complete virtual environment, the insight we gathered about the competitive scene helped us answer our research question.