In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (CoD), the big tournament of the CDL (Call of Duty League) is coming up and the pros are training hard. However, since top gamer Scump from the Chicago Huntsmen is also playing the fun party game Fall Guys on the side, he is heavily criticized by some fans.
What happened? Seth “Scump” Abner is a pro gamer in Call of Duty and plays for the top team of the Chicago Huntsmen. They are currently gearing up for the upcoming big tournament of the Call of Duty League (CDL). The tournament kicks off on August 21 for the Huntsmen, with a substantial prize pool of 4.6 million US dollars.
Of course, they are training hard, but Scump and his buddies have also been seen hanging out in Fall Guys between practice sessions. This colorful party game is a type of battle royale with little bean-shaped characters that troll and shove each other on insane obstacle courses. So it’s the complete opposite of a hardcore shooter like CoD!
Should pros play other games before the tournament?
How concerned fans reacted: Since it involves a lot of money as well as fame and glory, some fans were worried when they heard about their pros’ Fall Guys escapades. According to some fans, it is unacceptable not to train to the maximum for such an important tournament.
- “Just imagine if Tom Brady [a US football pro] were to play soccer a week before the Super Bowl?” said Phaedrus via Twitter.
- Dev Shah stated, “I mean, the more hours you can invest before a 4 million tournament starts, the better. In the off-season, they can grind Fall Guys. Because if they find out they could have invested more work and fall short in the tournament, they will regret it. But it’s up to them what they do.”
- Fan IndigoTheory even went so far as to make the team manager H3CZ aware of the situation: “Please make [the team] focus on preparing for the championship. I’m a concerned fan and I see a lot of Fall Guys and that makes me nervous. I want the guys to earn a ring this year.”
How the pros are reacting: Scump himself commented on the matter and defended his Fall Guys escapades. It would be outrageous for someone who has trained up to 5 hours of CoD daily for the past year to be forbidden to play a few hours of Fall Guys dressed as a hotdog with his buddies.
Other top players also supported him. Teammate Arcitys sarcastically said: “No, you can’t go to the gym or do groceries either. Just CoD!”
Other pros chimed in, such as Chino from OpTic Gaming: “People seriously believe that you forget how to shoot when you play something else.”
Diversity is good: Indeed, teammate Arcity later noted that one can play a game too hard and then performance would decline. It is therefore quite right to blow off steam in a completely different game from time to time and relax. This also applies to professional athletes in physical sports. It is known that pro football players like to play a round of Fortnite to unwind.
