It was just like any other after school day. I got home, grabbed a drink, took off my socks and headed up to my game room. I open my drawer and pulled out my Turtle Beach headset, plugged it into my Elite Xbox controller, and waved my finger over my limited edition Advanced Warfare Xbox one. I was adjusting my microphone until I got an invite from my friend, Joey. Joey is my best online friend. As a matter of fact, I talk to him Sunday to Saturday, considering I play Xbox everyday. While it is common to get invites from Joey, I never get one as soon as I get on. I accepted the invite to the chat party to see what he was doing. He greeted me with his usual “Hiya, Murk!” in his rather cheerful voice. I replied back a simply “Hey” and started a quick conversation about school.
Halfway through, Joey told me he got  Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. We eagerly started up the game and played a few games. After our third game, some of our other friends got online. One of our friends, Ryan, suggested that all six of us get in a game together. He said we would have a huge chance of winning. All of us agreed to it and entered a game of Safeguard. In Safeguard, one team has to escort a robot to a certain point within five minutes while the other team defends. We found one server. The enemy team also was a full party of six, but were at least twenty times higher than us level wise. I knew we would get creamed.

The game was about to begin. I chose my assault rifle class. The gun in it, the HVK-30, was a rapid fire assault rifle great for taking down enemies at close quarters. I chose it considering most of the map we were on is inside. Ryan, Gabe, and Joey all chose sniper classes, while Lee and Anthony chose shotgun classes. Judging by the classes everyone picked, I knew we didn’t stand a chance. We rushed towards the robot to begin the escort to the base. We got the robot a good fifteen feet before bullets went flying and explosions went off. I was able to land one hit before getting killed. Our entire team died within ten seconds after that. We kept trying to rush in and escort the robot, but the enemy would always overwhelm us. With about a minute left on the clock, I switched my class to a submachine gun. I hoped my Kuda would do better than the HVK. I was able to clear out five of the six enemies, while Joey picked the last on off. With now only twenty seconds left, Ryan, Lee and myself were able to start escorting the robot. We got it halfway through the map until an enemy with a rocket launcher killed me and Ryan, leaving only Lee alive. Lee jumped back from the robot, leaving it unguarded. The enemy launched another rocket, disabling the robot for fifteen seconds. On the time, it showed only seven seconds left. The robot couldn’t reboot in time. We lost the first round.

The countdown had started for the next round. I decided to speak up. “Guys, we have to focus. These guys are pros. We need to find their weaknesses. Choose a class that you feel would counter them”. The game went silent. The countdown finished without a word. I chose my assault class. Joey and Lee chose shotguns. Ryan and Gabe got Light machine guns, and Anthony chose a submachine gun class. This round, we had to defend the base from the robot. We ran to the chokepoint where they kept us for most of the first round. Two enemies ran through the doorway where we were heading. Our powers combined easily took both of them out. We went through the doorway and rounded the corner to see only the still robot. No one was around to escort him. All of a sudden, a sniper picked off Joey. We hid behind some walls and waited for Joey to return. Waiting was a mistake. Two enemies came from behind the walls. Ryan and I died from this surprise attack. Our voice chat sounded like chaos from the previous round. No one would listen to each other. Without this clear communication, no one would know what to do. Everyone was running around like a pack of deer that had been frightened by a gunshot.
I had to take action. I got my mic close to my mouth and yelled one simply: “Quiet!”. The whole chat went silent, much like the beginning of the round. “Focus”, I said in a softer tone, “We have to be coordinated. We have to act as one, not six”. Joey spoke up, “He’s right. Were getting creamed, but we can reverse that”. Agreement piped up in the chat. It seemed everyone had switched their classes to anything with a rocket launcher. Within the next three or so minutes, we had disabled the robot around seven times. Barely anyone had died. Because of this, our ammunition for our launchers was very low. This allowed for the enemy to escort the robot more. Thirty seconds on the clock. The robot was about eighty-five percent of the way to the base. All six enemies were escorting. No rockets, only guns. I yelled out to the chat to focus all fire on the robot, no matter what. A shower of sparks surrounded the robot as bullets rained upon it. With twenty seconds left and the robot a footstep away from our base, we disabled it. We eliminated the enemies that were left as the clock ran out. We had successfully won the second round. I had felt like a true team leader.

Cheers erupted from our chat. Everyone was complimenting everyone on our strategy. We excelled at defending, but in the third round, we had to escort as well as defend. We all chose high powered weapons that could eliminate an enemy in a second. Anthony stated we should all stay as close to the robot as possible. We all stuck to this rule. Everyone gathered around the robot to protect it. We all moved as one with the robot. No left the robot unless they died. Through this strategy, we were able to get the robot in the base within a minute and a half. Now, the enemies had to escort in less time than we did. We chose our previous strategy of using rocket launchers. We all camped, or sat in one location, the entire round. Every time the robot would be in our line of sight, we would lock onto the robot. With one word of ”fire!”, we would instantly disable the robot. Through our teamwork, we didn’t even let the robot leave its spawn room. We had won the whole game. I was second place in the victory circle, with Joey in first and Lee in third. Everyone had leveled up after the round. I can’t quite remember who, but someone had suggested that we keep playing, considering our we were undefeatable with our strategy.

I entered the game thinking we would get destroyed. In the first round we were uncoordinated and sloppy. In the second round, our teamwork allowed us to secure a victory. I had never realised the major importance of teamwork. Teamwork doesn’t only apply to video games, it can be used in the real world as well. It is great for school or work projects that require maximum effort. Without our work together, we would have been the deer again, scrambling at the sound of a gunshot. I know when we work as a team and not individually, we are unstoppable. I keep this in mind everytime I turn on my Xbox, and get the game invite from Joey to play Call of Duty.