I always hear the crowd through noise canceling headsets. Sneaky plays and 1v1s unplayable tbh.. sound proof booths tho ????????????

— fnatic dennis (@fnaticdennis) 5 juin 2017

When I started to organize events with a stage, and especially in 2002 at the “Grande Halle of la Villette”, we were playing loud music on stage to prevent the noise coming from the venue. (sound of the game and casters). It was rudimentary.

In 2003, during the 1st ESWC, we were the first to invest in helicopter headsets. We had to modify the wires to make it PC compatible. The results were satisfying!

For quite a while, we stuck with that option to keep the games as humanized and vibrant while shutting down the returns and placing the speakers as far as possible from the stage.

In 2004, we even tried to broadcast the casters through infrared headphones (worn below by the audience)

Then, we’ve been working with Plantronics for the “Commander” version, which was cancelling the noise from the outside like a helicopter headset.

Once the ESWC joined the “Paris Game Week” exhibition, we started to use the noise cancelling headset on top of the earbuds. Gaming conditions are very hard during an exhibition. It’s the same at the PGW or at the Gamescom… I don’t know if soundproofed booths would have done better. To my knowledge, it creates new problems (lights, A/C, space…) with no noise cancellation guaranteed.

So yes, the issues have always been ambivalent: Having a good show, great footage, interactions between the public and the players and in the meantime, cancelling noise from the audience as much as possible and give the players the best in-game conditions. It would never be perfect in term of a “living show” neither in “room mode”. The best conditions can only be reached in studio.

I personally love the contact with the public and we can’t really have one with the booths. Today, we must play with earbuds under the helicopter headphones which slightly reduce the noise. I never got any information from the casters or the crowd. We can only hear the “ooooooh” from the audience and that’s true, it can, unfortunately, have an impact on the game.

Richard "shox" Papillon

If booths are important? Hell yeah!

It’s a shame to have $250k cashprize at events and not be able to play the games in perfect conditions. The sound in CS:GO is one of the most important aspect of the game to make the right move and get information. Every detail matters and when you hear the public through the microphones of your teammates, it’s inconvenient. And if the audience is not nice…

Unfortunately, there’s also the risk of hearing the casters. It probably already happened to any pro players: hearing information they shouldn’t have.

To me, playing in soundproofed booths on LAN is a must.

Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom