In this article, we visit Solita's Rocket League halftime games, predict the upcoming playoffs of the eighth RL season of Kanaliiga, and consider the effects of the transition to remote work on community.
It's a bit exciting. After all, I have received an invitation to the holiest of sports teams.
To the dressing room.
Solita's RL culture was previously presented to the Kanaliiga audience here. Now Juho "Hilloh" Leinonen opened the doors for me for a day to the legendary lunch games of Solita's Rocket League division, which have been brainstorming between work for years.
Solitaires playing racket play three rounds twice a day. The arrival of an outside follower on the server messes up the patterns, and someone jumps into the field even before it was intended. Game time starts to pass.
– The games started a bit unexpectedly. As always, someone gasps.
Rocket League has a maximum of four players per team on the field, although modders have recently managed to break the player cap, as for example in this YouTube video by SunlessKhan see you.
- Usually both Rumble and normal game format are played. If not every time, at least every day, Leinonen says.
When the ninth player enters the server, a practice is introduced where the one who scored has to be replaced.
- A tactical bet to arrive a little late, so you can join the leading team, it will be acknowledged.
There's going to be a queue too. The tenth person who came online states that they would rather play on public servers.
– Then I shout for a goal again at random moments.
THE WORKS CAME TO SURPRISE
One of the points of the lunch games is to offer a little break and an opportunity to think about something else.
It's not always possible. Timo "Dutch" Mäntyvaara's phone rings, and he jumps off the field in the middle of the game.
The name must be something like before the team of Snufkin D, KillerFox and Rumbledore sovereignly dominated the Rumble match. The situation is already 4-0 for the blues when the match has been played for three minutes. Antti scores a narrow goal from close range when Hilloh first caught the ball towards the goal by sitting inside the goal.
- How many players were there when the Hoops Rumble was played, Hilloh asks.
– Was that Hoops Rumble still played with a cube?
A small grimace comes to the face just from the mere thought.
During the game, it also appears that Bluekka has put his Nintendo Switch up for sale. Someone is wondering if this could be played on a Nintendo balance board. The oranges start to rise, but the lead of the blues holds until the end.
The second set also starts unevenly. The situation is already 5-1 for the orange at its worst.
- Should the blue retro ones be kept in between, someone suggests.
Someone is also in the office during remote working hours, because the Oulu office's playroom code solita_oulu is running on the server, but is unable to choose a team and gives up. The latest update has apparently produced a new bug where in private games it is not possible to change the team except by leaving the game and joining again. The update has been released quite close to the RLCS game weekend of the Rocket League championship tournament, but the bug has made it through quality assurance.
- There is no goal exchange in the RLCS, someone states.
The second match ends for orange 3-7. It really seems to be the place for retro.
The going is not terribly evened out, even if you switch to the default game mode, i.e. Soccari. Snufkin D rolls four goals and an assist on the scoreboard as the orange takes the last set of the day's first session 6-1.
RAKET CHERISHES COMMUNITY
Rocket League has been planned in Solita for years. Originally started on a shared screen in the office, the games slowly moved as the group grew outside of working hours and into Kanaliiga.
New people who joined the company were often asked if they played anything. Some discovered Rocket League as newcomers, some had played before.
Corona and the transition to remote work brought about the latest change.
- On the first day of our remote work, we thought that we should play our lunch rockets, so we switched to playing online as well, Leinonen says.
- Now, during the remote work period, the most visibility within the company has come from the fact that we have reported on our own tournaments and success in the Kanaliiga intra to everyone. There have also been people who have said that it's cool, let me try it.
The majority of people from Solita work in software development and various digital services in one way or another. Data work also requires breaks, and in Leinonen's opinion, remote work has only emphasized the benefits of the social aspects of gaming while working.
– A little gets your thoughts elsewhere. Especially at such a distance, connecting with people outside of your own project team is really refreshing and important, Leinonen reflects.
- The majority of this group are software developers, but there are also designers and people working in other roles. Not everyone is terribly active in Slack, for example, or hangs in the same circles, so you get to know other people this way.
THE NEXT GENERATION IS GROWING UP
Joonas "satou" Tiala will also appear at the 2 p.m. games. The man has been there a little less frequently because he is currently on paternity leave.
– (The child) hasn't learned flip reset yet, Tiala admits.
– But young people learn quickly. Surely he will learn before me.
We start with the normal game mode. There are again almost a dozen people at the beginning. Several are there for the second time, but there is also turnover.
The latest version of the game has brought about another interesting new phenomenon. In the past, for example, the car of a player who left the field or the game was preserved normally in the remake, even if his name plate was removed. In the replay, the car of Blueka, who scored the goal with an elegant drive, is not visible at all, and the ball seems to be wandering nicely all the way to the goal.
Soccar matches end 4-2 and 5-1. Snufkin D's superiority cannot be controlled even in Rumble, where he flies even without powerups at his own heights, firing heavy shots. However, 4-2 is not a completely catastrophic result.
Someone regrets that there hasn't been a single even game today.
– That's how it is. There are never even games and yet everything always comes together.
Kanaliga Rocket League Season 8 Playoffs 1-6 June 2021 on Twitch:
- Tuesday 1.6 at 18-21 semi-finals @KanaliigaTV2
- Wednesday 2.6. 19-21 semi-finals @KanaliigaTV
- Thursday 3.6. 18-21 semi-finals and possibly bronze games @KanaliigaTV2
- Sunday 6.6. from 17:00 to 21:00 the finals of different level series @KanaliigaTV
I will cheer for the teams in the playoffs:
- Masters: CGI Comeback vs Solita Snufkin's Angels on Wednesday 2.6. at 19:45@KanaliigaTV
- 2. Division: eCraft High Octane vs Solita Hilloholistics on Monday 31.5. at 19
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