A CASE STUDY FOR RUST TWITCHRIVALS: DISGUISEDTOAST V ALEXBY11

A 48-hour TwitchRivals event between the North American (NA) and Spain/Latin American (ES/LATAM) Teams blew up in the early hours of Saturday morning PST. The final consensus between the event coordinators and the team captains is that NA won the contentious event, taking home $64,000 for their team, while the losing ES/LATAM team walked away with $34,000 — a $100,000 (USD) total prize pool.

The central concept seems to have come from DisguisedToast himself in collaboration with TwitchRivals, as he can be seen talking about it on his stream. Toast’s motivation comes from the recent and prevalent divide between cultures and communities and his want to bring people together, build collaboration, create good content, and introduce creators and communities to people they may not otherwise know.

EVENT RULES

The outline of the event is a simple 40v40 PVP battle between NA (Team DisguisedToast) and ES/LATAM (Team Alexby11) utilizing a dog tag point system — the team with the most dog tags wins. Each player can collect dog tags by killing players on the opposing team, obtaining dog tags from hackable crates, or raiding monuments.

The map was divided into a large central island with smaller islands on the north, south, east, and west side of the island. The western and eastern islands were designated team islands, where each team had a 15x15 plot to build their base. Teams were unable to build on each other’s islands.

The last portion of the event was an all-out war that allowed the teams to raid the opposing team’s base to destroy their base’s Tool Cupboard and obtain that team’s dog tags for themselves. Unfortunately, the event never made it to the final raid chapter as Team Alexby11 pulled out of the event in the last hours.

EVENT SCANDALS

An event that started from pure motivations, creative thinking, and cultural collaboration was plagued with players calling “foul” within the first 30 minutes and through the rest of the event.

While there were problems coming from both sides, the majority of the official complaints seem to have come from Team Alexby11. Alexby11’s Twitter account shared a series of grievances on Saturday about the event that led to a forfeit of the ES/LATAM team.

The list of complaints includes:

• Everything easier for the NA side from the beginning
• Playing on NA East servers
• Using revolvers as primitive weapons
• Using pythons before they were able to
• Team DisguisedToast raiding Team Alexby11’s base and breaking things — no one giving them compensation for it
• Not returning their heli after it was stolen and duplicated
• Everything returned to Team Disguised Toast after Team Alexby11 raided their base
• Using F1 to deny dog tags
• Stream sniping
• Taking Oil Rig out of the equation at an inconvenient time for the ES/LATAM players
• Language barrier problems favoring Team DisguisedToast

There are people who whole-heartedly agree with each and every one of these points and more. Then there are people who completely disagree with everything said in Alexby11’s tweets. And of course, there are those in the middle who do agree with some of them and disagree with others as they’ve seen and witnessed streams on both sides.

THERE ARE 3 SIDES TO EVERY STORY

Here are my biases laid out to understand where I’m starting my perspective from. I was born and raised in the southwest United States. I am half Japanese. I have a great appreciation of Latin culture having lived around it my entire life and can read basic Spanish.

During TwitchRivals I was solely watching streams from Team DisguisedToast — both from streamers I followed prior to the event and new ones I discovered during the event. Most of the context I have from Team Alexby11’s side is from bilingual viewers’ perspectives who were watching the ES/LATAM streams.

From what I understand, the servers, the map, and the main logistics of the event, including the rules, were agreed to by both teams prior to the event. Yes, that includes the server location.

There were misunderstandings on both sides about the rules, how the ES/LATAM team was being communicated with, and obviously many other things.

What it comes down to is that Team Alexby11 felt that the event was unfairly skewed in favor of Team DisguisedToast. From some of the accounts, I can see where that’s coming from. However, pretending that you’re faultless won’t allow people to listen to your credible complaints — either side.

Now, the last thing I want to do is a tit-for-tat accounting of all of the complaints and accusations, and counterpoints as to why something was right or wrong. Because the core of what went wrong, from my perspective was the cultural differences and the lack of accounting for those differences.

IT WASN’T THE RULES, IT WAS THE PLAYERS

It’s incredibly difficult to do anything with two or more groups from completely different backgrounds and cultures. It’s why countries go to war, it’s why peace negotiations are so difficult, and it’s why countries have ambassadors and cultural experts to help them through critical interactions.

It’s not just a language barrier, which can easily be overcome, it’s a cultural barrier and a value barrier.

THE LANGUAGE BARRIER

Honestly, this is the stupidest excuse I’ve heard so far. Everyone has access to google translate. If you don’t know something, google it. NA streamers were having their chats translate things from Spanish to English when they really wanted to know. If you’re in a country where you don’t speak the language, you’re going to do something about it. If you’re competing in a tournament and you don’t understand the rules, you’re going to clarify it.

Does it make things harder? Yes.

Would it make you feel at a disadvantage in a competition? Yes.

Do you want to win? I guess that’s the question.

If I’m lost in a country where I traveled to of my own free will where I don’t speak the language am I just going to wander around hoping someone helps me? Of course not, I’m going to figure things out.

However, I will say that the communication during the event was not up to par and that was the real issue.

How things were or were not communicated.

When things were or were not communicated.

What things were or were not communicated.

Who things were or were not communicated to.

I do understand that some things were just straight up not communicated to Team Alexby11. I get that and yes, that is completely unfair.

But that’s also the last thing I’m going to say about the language barrier.

NORTH AMERICAN CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

There are some inherent differences in how each culture sees itself and the other. Being from the US, I can obviously speak better to the NA side of things, specifically the US.

The first thing I want to mention is that the United States’ foundation as a country is a melting pot of all different cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds. While it doesn’t always act that way, especially in the media, that’s what makes the US so unique. And because of this, it’s highly sensitive to racism, xenophobia, sexism, and intolerance in general. This isn’t the case in other countries.

This in and of itself was a massively missed opportunity to diversity Team DisguisedToast to reflect the diversity of NA by including some Spanish-speaking Latin content creators (as far as I’m aware, there weren’t any).

The US also values capitalism and not just from a political perspective but from a cultural one — you get what you earn and you work hard to earn more. You grind. You fight to win no matter what and you don’t quit or give up because it’s hard. If you want it, you have to work for it.

Some of the bigger NA rust streamers were doing 48-hour subathons during the event and only ended up sleeping a few hours. Whether that was for content, for a challenge, or just for the love of the game, I don’t believe you saw any streamers from Team Alexby11 doing the same.

NA culture (again, specifically the US) is extremely individualistic. It was very apparent, especially at the beginning of the event, that Team DisguisedToast was embarrassingly unorganized. Everyone was just doing their own thing, trying to figure things out, slowly making their way to their own island to group up and go from there. Of course everyone wanted to win, but it really felt like having fun was more important than winning to the NA team.

Lastly, individual transparency. Not transparency for the rules, but personal accountability and transparency. In the US, if you look like you’re hiding something, popular opinion becomes that you’re guilty, whether you are or not. Even though the US justice system is built on the notion that you’re innocent until proven guilty, a lot of the time, popular opinion is what people care about. Sometimes this looks like unfettered access, sometimes this looks like interviews, but if you’re not transparent about what’s going on, the question becomes what are you hiding?

As I understand it, that became a big issue during the event when streamers from Team Alexby11 stopped streaming their content, publishing their vods, or deleting clips. Because everyone from Team DisguisedToast was streaming during the event. This, I believe, is part of why the ES/LATAM team was so villainized during the event.

SPAIN/LATIN AMERICAN CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

Obviously, I’m less educated about the cultural history of Spain and Latin America but I will talk about what I know and what I feel are some of the relevant references.

First, unlike America which is a high individualist culture, ES/LATAM culture is more collectivist. It’s more about the group and whole than the individual and loyalty to the group is highly valued.

This was highlighted on the first day when Team Alexby11 was able to coordinate and dominate over Team DisguisedToast. They were organized, they were coordinated, and they all moved with purpose in the same direction which led to a high point lead starting out.

The collectivist value was also shown when everyone logged off and decided to essentially quit the event as a group.

We also have the socialist mentality versus the capitalist mentality — again, not politically, but culturally. Equitable distribution — fairness without regard to context. I saw this the most in the tit-for-tat conversation when base raiding was discussed. They attacked our base and we didn’t get compensated, but when we attacked their base, you replaced everything we took.

I’m not sure if this is a common saying elsewhere, but in the US it’s often heard that “life isn’t fair”. This is ultimately where the capitalist value comes into play. Fairness requires context in the US.

My last point, on the ES/LATAM cultural difference is the proudness factor. While, yes, American pride is a thing, America is also built on criticism of the government and the nation — there is no ethnic culture to be proud of.

Latinos are proud people. I could be wrong, but I see it similarly to Asian cultures where your ‘outer’ face is just as important, if not more important than your ‘inner’ face. Where embarrassment is not tolerated.

And let me be very transparent, I could be extremely mistaken, so please correct me if I’m wrong.

HOW WE SEE EACH OTHER

Let’s be honest. Most of the world sees the US as a giant dictating overlord. We’re not seen very well in the eyes of most developed countries.

Obviously, we see ourselves differently. We’re a nation of underdogs who have built up their country to be a major global power. We put in the hard work so we deserve to be looked up to and respected as such.

A lot of countries disagree. They feel like we are overprivileged, self-centered, and egotistical.

What did this event do? I would say it confirmed a lot of what people think about NA or the US.

Here’s what I’ll tell the ES/LATAM community. We didn’t have any preconceptions going into the event. The streamers just wanted to have fun. Yes, they wanted to win and would do a lot to get there, but so would you.

I think empathy is important in these types of events. Not just from the event coordinator’s perspective but the player’s perspective as well.

CONDUCT IN ESPORTS

I don’t know enough about esports to accurately comment on this as a whole. It doesn’t seem like in professional esports events this is much of a problem. Or it could be a horrible problem that I’m not aware of.

Either way, it doesn’t seem like there are many rules in esports about sportsmanlike conduct the way there are in regular sporting events like the NFL, NBA, MLS, etc. If a player shows unsportsmanlike conduct in a global or national sporting event, they get penalized.

In a tournament like this, it’s bound to be difficult to referee unsportsmanlike conduct as trash talking and bad-mouthing are a part of the game, especially in a game like Rust. And while content creators participating in TwitchRivals may not qualify as professional esports players, if you’re participating in any type of recognized tournament, you should conduct yourself and be held to the same standards as any other player, esports or not.

A lot of money, time, and effort went into this event. When you see professional athletes do similar things on a public stage, there are repercussions. Professional sports teams don’t just walk out of matches because they don’t like referee calls. This is your job. I think content creators forget that sometimes.

WOULD CHANGING THE RULES MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

I’ve heard a lot of discussion and opinions on this since everything started blowing up. The main topics seem to be about having better-defined rules, having no rules, having specifically designated times you can or cannot play, and of course the language barrier.

I, personally, loved the 48-hour format and believe that it made for a more equal playing field than having designated times to play. If you were to designate specific hours, you would be playing to one side’s time zone versus the other. Having an open 48-hour playfield gave people a choice to grind as some playing did.

I do think the rules added to the strategy of the game. Would I have loved to see a no-rules PVP? Sure. But would that anarchy have gotten us to the same place? Who knows.

The event, in my opinion, was very well thought out. It was the players’ attitudes that made the difference.

LAST THOUGHTS

There’s so much more I want to say about this event. It’s a fascinating social experiment, and I wish I were fluent in Spanish to see Team Alexby11’s side more clearly.

I also want to mention that I’m not addressing the conspiracy that TwitchRivals was intentionally rigged toward Team DisguisedToast. It’s malicious and completely unsubstantiated. The only support points someone has to defend this viewpoint is the lack of organization and communication. Anything else is taken out of context and irrelevant.

Obviously, I’m biased, but I do think more empathy needs to come from the ES/LATAM side — and NOT everyone. I do group everyone together in this article, but I know there were individuals on the ES/LATAM side that wish things would not have played out the way they did.

This was a perfect example of what’s wrong with the world right now. Obviously, this was a game where two sides were pitted against each other, but there’s a point where that gets taken too far, and that line was crossed.

It doesn’t matter how much the chips were stacked against Team Alexby11; quitting the event was wrong.

I’m curious what your take on everything is — especially if you were watching the streams from Team Alexby11; I’d love to know what you think.