Update: Valve has responded to requests to clarify its new rules regarding coaching. From the post: "It was important to make a decision before teams further invested in coach IGLs [in-game leaders] and we decided to rein in the role of coaching in the next Major to exclude player responsibilities."
Original story continues below.
ESL notified multiple top Counter-Strike teams via email on Wednesday about an imminent rule change to Valve-sponsored Counter-Strike: Global Offensive events that will limit a team's communication with its in-game coach, according to a report from Counter-Strike news site HLTV.
In addition, ESL will reportedly adopt this rule indefinitely for its offline events.
With the change, Valve will only allow coaches to communicate with the team during warm-up, halftime and during one of four 30-second timeouts available to each team. Currently, coaches are allowed to be an active part of the game throughout the match, often times controlling and dictating positions and strategies to their players, akin to the traditional role of an in-game leader.
The email, written by Counter-Strike level designer and Valve developer Ido Magal, states that Valve believes coaches effectively defeat the purpose of the game. Magal states that the company wants the five best Counter-Strike players to win the game via their own skill, not that of a sixth member contributing to their game strategy.
"Activities such as keeping track of the economy, calling plays, and general situational awareness are important components of CS gameplay," he states. "If a person is performing these actions, we consider them a player."
While ESL has reportedly adopted this rule already, Magal says that other third-party organizers will not be forced to abide by it. However, if those organizers want to stay in consideration to host one of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's majors -- the largest events within the scene that only occur a few times a year -- they will need to enact the rule themselves.
Other organizers include ESL's sister company DreamHack; Turner and WME|IMG's televised event ELeague; British Counter-Strike company FACEIT; and American tournament organizers Major League Gaming and CEVO. Two of these companies, excluding ESL, that have hosted major events are Major League Gaming and DreamHack.
While yet to be announced, HLTV reports that the next major event will occur in January with no specified tournament organizer or date named yet.