OpTic Gaming Call of Duty team captain Seth ‘Scump’ Abner has revealed some insight as to how Gentlemen’s Agreements are organized in the pro scene.
While technically not allowed by the CoD World League, GA’s are a crucial aspect of every competitive season, as pro players and teams come together to agree not to use certain weapons, items, and, in this case of Black Ops 4, specialists.
“Why do they do it? Just to try and make the game more competitive,” Scump explained. “And take out all of the cheesy stuff.”
While its common knowledge that there are numerous GA’s forged during each season, the exact process for how they come to be is not often talked about.
In an answer to a question posed to him during a live-stream, Scump explained that when a pro player or players notice something they don’t like about a certain weapon or item, they reach out to the rest of the pro scene and propose that it gets banned via GA.
This is normally done via group DM on Twitter, at which point each team then internally discusses the implications of the GA and has their team captain vote on whether to agree to the GA or not.
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Several pro players are known for proposing GAs quickly and often after a new game is released, especially Luminosity Gaming’s Slacked and 100 Thieves’ SlasheR, the latter of whom has been coming under criticism lately for certain GAs.
Since Scump doesn’t go into more detail, it would be interesting to know how many teams are represented in these GA discussions and votes, especially since these agreements tend to resound to the rest of the competitive scene.
With there being no official list, it’s not always clear which items and weapons have been banned via GA, especially since GAs often change throughout the course of a season, often following a major update or patch.