G U I D E Do it Gaming Power of three: AL characters Bloodhound, Wraith and Gibraltar TEAM TACTICS STRENGTH IN NUMBERS Battle royale mega-game Apex Legends has one simple rule: play as a team or die. <strong>The</strong>re are a few life lessons in there… No person is an island. Throughout history, humans have depended on each other to survive, and nowhere is this truer than in smash-hit online squad-based shooter Apex Legends, which notched up a million players within eight hours of its unannounced launch in February, and more than 50 million by the end of its first month. This popularity is, in large part, due to its deeply satisfying team gameplay, built around a fast-andeasy communication system that pings vital info to your allies. One press sends a basic ‘go’ sign or tags in-game objects, a double tap pings enemy locations, and holding down brings up a menu with quick predictive messages. No need to voice chat with strangers or guess the intentions of a mic-less team member who has sprinted into an enemy’s kill zone. “<strong>The</strong> best teams happen when you have a mutual dependency but trust one another,” says leadership expert Jo Owen, who has travelled from high-powered boardrooms to remote jungle tribes, seeking out what makes teams tick. Here, he decodes the Apex Legends (AL) squad skills and applies them to reality… TRUST IS KEY AL teams you up with strangers, so how can you build trust? In business, as in life, trust is gained in two ways: by talking about shared experiences to establish commonality, and by achieving credibility through your actions. <strong>The</strong> ping system satisfies the second of these, keeping your team informed of developments (including real-life dashes to the loo), while neatly sidestepping the first. “That you don’t have to talk to, text or see your teammates is genius,” says Owen. “You could be blue with two heads, and no one would care as long as you can ping and shoot. CLARITY IS CORE Players of voice-mic’d multiplayer shooters invariably hear something like this: “<strong>The</strong>re’s an enemy by that tree.” <strong>The</strong> inevitable response in a landscape dotted with identical trees is, “Which one?” “Trust needs good communication,” says Owen. “What AL does is allow communication that isn’t only frequent but clear – a ping [tagging a specific tree] can’t be misunderstood. In business, people will say, ‘Will you fix that report?’ ‘Which report? What do you mean ‘fix it’?’ Never assume your team knows what you mean – spell it out.” LEADING EDGE AL randomly chooses a ‘Jumpmaster’, the team member who decides where to drop into the map. After being nominated, you continue to lead on the ground by pinging destinations for your squad to move to – if they agree, that is. “Leadership has to be earned, and you have to keep on earning it,” says Owen. In business, people assume that a grand title makes them a leader. “But they’re wrong. <strong>The</strong> title has nothing to do with leading; it’s about what you do and how you do it. In the game, if you don’t behave as a leader, within 30 seconds you’ll no longer be leading.” <strong>The</strong> game’s world is distinctly post-apocalyptic EXPERT PROFILE JO OWEN Team wrangler An entrepreneur and author, Owen has launched eight not-for profit organisations with a combined annual turnover of more than £100 million, delivers keynote speeches on leadership and teamwork, and has lived with tribal peoples. His latest book, Myths of Leadership, is available now on Amazon. Apex Legends is out on PC, PS4 and Xbox One LOYALTY CARD “In business, leaders tolerate incompetent followers much longer than they do disloyal ones,” explains Owen. Loyalty, he says, comes from the realisation you’ll do far better as a loyal member of the team than if you’re alone. This is a key reason for the success of AL: unlike in other team shooters, roaming as a lone wolf is not a viable strategy. “Apex Legends is ultimately tribal warfare, which is pretty brutal. As I’ve seen when studying tribes, people are 100 per cent loyal because they know they won’t survive outside the tribe.” ROLE PLAYING “You can have mutual dependency and trust but still lack a team,” says Owen. “Everyone has to have some idea of their role. Am I the one taking a risk (a salesperson) or am I a safe pair of hands (an accountant)?” <strong>The</strong> player characters in Apex Legends fall into the standard video-game archetypes of defensive, offensive and support, but you also need to know how your teammates’ roles interact with yours. “<strong>The</strong>re’s no point in picking a medic role, then running ahead to be first in contact with the enemy,” Owen says. “Likewise, you don’t want your legal advisor betting their houses on roulette.” ELECTRONIC ARTS MATT RAY 106 THE RED BULLETIN
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