Editorial: The schadenfreude Major

Some criticise taking pleasure in the failure of others, but it is a vital part of what makes esports so much fun.

Schadenfreude, or finding joy in the misery of others, has been perhaps the overriding emotional reaction amongst the community to the trials and tribulations teams have endured during the PGL Major Copenhagen cycle thus far. Astralis have been on the receiving end of the heaviest dose, but other teams too have seen their failures met with glee. As we approach the Major proper, these kinds of stories will play out again and we will see more examples of CS-related schadenfreude.

Some, particularly those also involved in striving to reach the pinnacles of professional CS, take a dim view of this kind of community reaction; we have all seen the tweets that are inevitably posted after a team screws up on a grand scale, scolding those who take pleasure in seeing others fall flat on their face or imploring the community to exercise sympathy.

Whilst understandable, these exhortations miss the benefit that schadenfreude can bring. Schadenfreude is an utterly vital part of what makes the storylines that arise from competition so compelling, and asking people to not indulge is perhaps based upon a misunderstanding of just how universal and almost irresistible the emotion is, and how it adds to the narratives that take place in our game.

The majority of us will have indulged in a little bit of schadenfreude at some point in our lives for it is a guilty pleasure that is nearly impossible to deny. It scratches an almost primal itch in the human brain and is deeply rooted in fundamental aspects of the human psyche.

The emotion drives enjoyment of slapstick comedy, one of the most basic and universal forms of humor and is closely tied to our concepts of justice: the desire to see people punished for perceived wrongs. Most importantly, perhaps, it is a vital component of the joy of competition. The proof of these fundamental aspects of schadenfreude and its universality lies before us in the community reaction to some of the storylines that have emerged throughout the PGL Major Copenhagen qualification stages.

Many of these storylines of course centered on Astralis, the team the community currently love to hate, and their failure to qualify for the first Danish Major. The sheer number of comments on articles related to their failed RMR run serves to prove the point that many were keenly invested in their journey, and the content of those comments serves to prove that plenty were waiting on their downfall.

"Deserved" was a word that popped up time and time again, as were comments expressing mirth or enjoyment at their failure, with one user explicitly saying "we love to see it." Not only did the community take pleasure, but also some players admitted as such, specifically René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen. Astralis were not the only target of the community's wrathful laughter, Falcons too suffered a heavy dose of schadenfreude-induced laughs, as did Ninjas in Pyjamas.

There are plenty of good reasons as to why these teams suffered the reaction that they did. Astralis have steadily but surely tanked their reputation amongst the community through a series of decisions that were questionable at best. The mismanagement of their roster, such that they went from commanding a singularly impressive era of CS to a team that struggled to make it to Majors, their involvement in the saga surrounding Nicolai "⁠HUNDEN⁠" Petersen, and their apparently shady transfer tactics; emphasised and compounded by the Stabbi scandal.

Ninjas in Pyjamas similarly squandered a legacy through mismanagement, were involved in unsavory stories relating to contract disputes and cynical business practices, and have sucked the life out of many young players in recent times. As for Falcons? The potential of sports (or in this case esports) washing and the attempt to buy success, which flies in the face of CS' meritocratic history, led to the inevitable dislike of that organization.

This leads us to the first reason why the schadenfreude directed at these teams is so potent, and why it is so important to the compelling narratives: justice. Astralis, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Falcons were all, rightly or wrongly, seen to have been punished for their perceived wrongs. Karma, or more accurately the teams' own ineptitude, has served up a slice of justice and has punished the wrong-doers for their sins, and as such the community lapped it up. Every good story needs a villain, and in their respective narratives Astralis, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Falcons assumed the role of Big Bad Wolf. Rather than eating the protagonist at the end of the tale, they were chewed up and spat out instead.

To emphasize this point, consider the Spanish community's reaction to the failures of Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García and Alejandro "⁠alex⁠" Masanet, compared to the failure of Antonio "⁠MartinezSa⁠" Martinez and 9z. On the surface it would appear there are some similarities to the ties between HEROIC and Astralis. SunPayus and alex departed a national scene that was unlikely to reach the very top, only to fail to make the Major whilst their countrymen in KOI picked up the pieces admirably and ensured Spain would once again have a team and players to cheer for at a Major.

One might expect Spanish fans to find pleasure in the failures of the duo that departed for international waters, but their departures were not acrimonious like those of Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard and Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund from Astralis, which didn't make fans feel schadenfreude. The majority understood, even if painfully, that the desire to depart for significantly bigger teams that had better long-term chances for success was understandable. As such, it is harder to find a sense of justice being dealt in their failures, and instead fans focused on the impressive resilience shown by KOI. MartinezSa on the other hand seemingly opted to join a worse project but one in a weaker region with an easier route to the Major, and so it was easier to criticize and feel a little vindicated because he did not make it.

The tragedies suffered by these teams are also, simply put, funny. Seeing supposed titans of the game clatter the first hurdle and drop to their knees provided a slapstick-esque guffaw for many, and the manner in which events occurred only added to the humor and irony.

Astralis put together a Danish superteam as a result of stavn and jabbi's supposed betrayal of Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller, only to miss the first Danish Major, whilst those they cast off and those stavn and jabbi abandoned made it. Falcons tried to throw Saudi cash around to buy success but instead had to settle for something less spectacular and ultimately failed anyway. Ninjas in Pyjamas kicked Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin, only to watch him make the Major whilst they flopped spectacularly. There is a dark humor to be found in these stories which gives them their power.

There is also the inescapable fact that schadenfreude in some form is a key part of competition. Much of the thrill that comes in victory is knowing that someone else lost, and Counter-Strike is no different. You didn't just win, you beat someone else to win, and you derive some of the pleasure of success in seeing someone else fail.

But whilst schadenfreude is inherently negative, there has to be misery for it to exist, in the context of the storylines I mentioned above there is also a positive side to be considered. Competition acts much like a set of scales, in the sense that it weighs the merits and worth of two competitors and as one falls, the other must rise. Whilst Astralis, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Falcons have certainly fallen, and the community has taken pleasure in that fact, there has also been an immense outpouring of joy for those that have risen on the other side of the scales.

Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander was written off by many by the end of his time in Astralis. The Dane stood amongst the ashes of a fallen dynasty, the mastermind and leader of many triumphs yet unable to recapture the glory days of yore. Plenty of the captivation of gla1ve's tale came because he shrugged off his latter-day Astralis struggles whilst leading a Polish lineup, a bizarre marriage, and the squad he helmed was short of the elite-level personnel he had spent much of his glory days leading. Much of the fascination with his personal story came, however, as a result of the contrasting fortunes of Astralis.

Not only did gla1ve outperform the team that cast him by the wayside, he personally banished them to the Last Chance Qualifier and further dented Astralis' morale, putting up a powerful individual performance whilst doing so. The narrative is only so beautifully poetic if the entire narrative is considered; not just the failures of Astralis, not just the success of ENCE and gla1ve, but the whole dramatic tale.

Brollan is another player whose narrative was bolstered through schadenfreude. The two-time Top 20 Player of the Year was much maligned as his time in Ninjas in Pyjamas drew to a close and he had seemingly wasted away after showing such promise in his teenage years. Alas, not only did he qualify for this Major whilst NIP did not, his individual level has improved drastically since he departed the floundering Swedish organization. He was not carried to the Major by virtue of being on a better team, he did much of the carrying as one of the top-10-rated players in his RMR and as the second-highest-rated player on his team.

Again, whilst Brollan's personal redemption is compelling in its own right, the context makes it all the better. The fact the team that kicked him only went downhill and proved that, if anything, they were holding him back creates an even more captivating story.

ENCE's success was amplified by the struggles of their previous core. It seemed impossible that they would recover from the loss of such a strong batch of players despite the fact they had recovered from the loss of an individual like Lotan "⁠Spinx⁠" Giladi in the past. They did so in admirable fashion, and the struggles of their old core makes that fact even sweeter.

TeSeS and Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck's journey was so enthralling because of the vindication offered by the collapse of Astralis. The duo had been left to pick up the pieces after the Stabbi drama exploded the successful roster they had been a part of, with the supposed betrayers off to pastures greener. The drastic failures of Astralis only served to make the whole story, including HEROIC's success, more fun.

There is no light without dark, and the purely joyous response to some narratives was only so joyous because of the direct links and contrasts with other negative narratives. So don't take issue with the fact some will screech with glee at the failings of others as the Major gets underway. Accept it, and embrace it as part and parcel of competition, esports, and the game we all love. Understand that schadenfreude only serves to bolster the thrilling narratives that carry esports broadcasts, and appreciate how it enhances the success and joy of the stories that unfold on the other side of the equation. PGL Major Copenhagen has, thus far, been the schadenfreude Major, and that is a good thing.