The truth about E-Sports

For quite some time now e-sports has been growing at a rapid pace and becoming more and more accepted by the public. The cash prizes for tournaments are getting bigger with every year that passes. Every year more television stations, newspapers, and magazines add segments about how videogames are slowly turning into the next sport. Teams have not only been getting paid enough in salaries to live off of, but players are being sent around the world to live in a new country and practice these games. With every big tournament and worldwide press coverage of e-sports, gamers are getting closer to making this the next big thing. Although e-sports is growing bigger all the time, it is not growing at nearly the pace it could be. E-sports has been stuck in a sort of dormant state for a while and not getting bigger, but not losing too much popularity, but it will happen.
The biggest part of any sport is the coverage that it receives for the fans to watch. Any major league sport was made for the spectators. People don't pay MLB, NBA, and NFL players millions of dollars a year so they can have fun playing the game they love. They pay them millions of dollars to win and to have the spectators come give them more money to watch them play. Right now in the counter-Strike world, as far as coverage goes, it is definitely not headed in the right direction.
To make e-sports grow to its potential there has to be more fan involvement or it will never progress. There was a time when you could sit at home on a CAL-invite night and say to yourself, "There are so many matches tonight, which one should I watch?!". This is no longer the case. As of lately, the case is, "There are only 2 matches on HLTV tonight and I don't like either team. I guess I'll just check later to see who won." If we want to get Counter-Strike out of the state it is in there is going to have to be a lot more coverage of not only CAL-i nights, but even major LAN events. On CAL-i nights it could be so simple to get a major sponsor that can put up HLTV for every match of the night and have people debate on which match to watch. If there was this much coverage, it would be so easy to progress e-sports with a lot more stats, articles, and just people being able to watch their favorite teams play. Right now, unless you are lucky, the only people that know what happened in most of the matches are the 10 people that played in it.
Now some major teams may or may not agree with this idea, because of the pure reason that they do not want their tactics to be public. This is also a major set back. In every sport, teams are able to sit down and watch game film on their opponents for hours at a time and analyze everything they do. This is not a bad thing in any way at all. Being able to watch your opponents is a key factor in making any sport interesting. If a team was able to run the same plays in every game, because nobody knew what they did as a result of poor coverage, nobody would enjoy it. More coverage could ideally make Counter-Strike a more interesting game to play again, just because of the fact that teams had to make new tactics constantly.
There is also another major set back in the progression of e-sports, and that is the silent feud between e-sports sites and competitive leagues. While the heads of 2 major organizations for e-sports communities may have their differences and dislikes of one another it is very much hurting the entire community with what is going on. All disputes must be set aside and a meeting needs to be held between the heads of these organizations and discuss how to get e-sports out of this dormant state and to the next level.
What everyone needs is to sit down and ask themselves is why they are a part of the e-sport community? Do you want to just make money off of this fun hobby? Do you want to be a pioneer for the next big thing that could possibly be the next widely accepted national or even worldwide sport? Some people are satisfied with the way e-sports are progressing right now and think it should take its time. The fact is that there is so much more that everyone could do to get this ball rolling. Everyone knows what is needed to get this to the next level, now the question is just pretty simply, are we dedicated enough to do it?




Hackers and CS

Hackers: Why They Hack, and How They Kill Our Game
If you've played CS, you’ve had sureley had experience with hacks. That's how it is. From aimbots to wallhacks, you've seen it somewhere in a pub, and maybe even in a match. You've been headshotted in mid-air, through the most ridiculous wall, by a terrorist running around using an AK like it's a MAC-10. It happens, sadly enough, all the time.
Counter-Strike hacks are terribly one-dimensional. Every one is designed for one purpose: to compensate for human error. If you're the kind of gamer that I am, then you've played games like WarCraft II, Diablo, SimCity, etc. Enter in "you pitiful worm" in WarCraft II and you'll lose. You won't win. You won't receive 10000 gold and lumber. You'll immediately lose. What's the point of the cheat you ask? Well, there isn't one, really. It's about having fun. Cheats are meant to broaden the experience of playing the game, so the developers just included everything they could think of. "radio free zerg" in StarCraft plays a secret song sung by the overmind. But cheats in CS aren't like this—they're malicious. They're all designed to give you a competitive edge over other players, not to let you experiment with the game. In Diablo, if I got bored, I could find an editor, and hack an item to my heart’s content. I once had a ring that did -20 light radius and -20 to all stats. It didn’t make my game easier, it was just fun and ridiculous. But wallhacks and aimbots and whatever else CS players use are all the same in one important way: they make the game less fun for a lot of other people. As one of my interviewees said, "go cheat in other games like on consoles, and play multiplayer games straight."
We all know that hackers ruin our fun, though. The real question is, why are they ultimately so harmful to the game? It's not because they have an unfair advantage. It's not because they can get the same kills, but without the skills. It's because they create such an intense atmosphere of distrust among the players. The mere fact that hacks exist gives a player who was just killed an excuse as to why he died. Few people are ready to admit that there are quite a few people out there who are much better than they are, or happened to do the right thing at the right moment.
For instance:
Here's a common scenario I've found myself in several times. I'm an admin on a server or two, and it's my job to keep the game flowing smoothly, and get rid of the riff-raff. Unfortunately, I've made some mistakes about who exactly is riff-raff, and I've probably kicked or banned people who didn't actually use hacks. Sadly, I end up having to follow the basic philosophy, "getting rid of a few innocent people to get rid of the real ones is worth it." So, I have to accuse someone of hacking, get in a brief argument, get called a "fgt," and then kick the guy—whether I’m right or not.
This is the danger of hacks. I've used them. A few of my fellow writers and I hit up a private server with some hacks, used a few, and took some screenshots, so I could get an idea of what I'm writing about. I hated them. I played worse with them. Admittedly, there are those who do better with them, but considering the effort it takes to adjust to them and learn to hide them, I'd rather spend the time doing well on my own. Regardless, they didn't make me a better player. The only thing they did was spread the disease of distrust. You probably read that paragraph and thought "yeah right…bet he h4xed up a pub, and kept them on his comp, and keeps h4xin." Believe it or not, I reinstalled Half-life just to be sure that none of my files were affected, and changed my CD key to be double-safe. But there's the rub: you probably don't believe me, because our entire community is permanently suspicious—and, sadly, with good reason.
To help figure out why the hackers who create this distrust choose to hack, I asked as many as I could get hold of. I got varied answers. There are several types of convicted hackers:
1) The repentant. This hacker has openly admitted to using them and has apologized for his stupid mistakes. Unfortunately, because of that stupid mistake, he'll never be trusted again. People like this said that they did it because they were "young and stupid" or "just trying them out" and didn’t realize the pain they were causing in cheating someone else out of a win.
2) The resentful. This hacker was caught using them. He did it to get a heads up on the competition because he wanted to win. He gets mad when he's caught, and still tries to convince the world that he didn’t use them.
3) The comical. Embodied in people like [myg0t]g0d is this hacker group. They're people who hack because it's funny, or just because they can. They want to be the best hacker, for no other reason. They keep on hacking, and try to "stick it to the man" or whatever catch phrase you choose. I personally know several people who fit into this group.
Any person in group 3, who's hacking to have FUN in Counter-Strike, will be so over the top that he's either in a server that allows hacks, or is going to go from 0 to banned in record time. Most people use hacks to get a foot up over the competition. The majority of those I spoke to fell into group 2. They were caught hacking and were pissed about it. They're maliciously using scripts or client hooks in the hope that they can shoot someone through a wall when an admin isn't looking. These people are the reason none of us can play Counter-Strike anymore without wondering if that random person who just headshotted us while running is legit or not. They are the ones who have helped to cripple online CS.
In anything competitive, there will always be those people who will go to no end in order to obtain some sort of advantage over their opponent. From the legitimate methods of getting a good connection and decent computer gear to illegitimate methods like hacking the game code, all manners exist. Because of this, hacks will always be there, and the only thing we can do about them is fight back in the only way possible: practice and own it up. My clanmates can headshot through me through walls and columns, and all they'll hear from me is "DAMN! Nice shot!" Play with people you trust, and you’ll always have a fun game.



The World of Counter-Strike

Let me start off by saying that this will not be any article of greatly described facts or complex analysis. I have not kept up with the Counter-Strike scene very much since the change to version 1.6, so I cannot claim that this article will give you a better view of the different forces and strengths in Counter-Strike than others. Meanwhile, for some, this article may be food for thought, give a good general picture, or help get an overview or alternative view of some parts of the CS scene. In a simple way, it presents my thoughts on the areas I uncover. Only few of my observations are based on in-depth analysis or personal examination (for instance, going to netcafés, going to different countries to see how they play the game) of the exact matters I deal with. Instead, it is based on intense attention to what is expressed by many in the worldwide Counter-Strike community, conversation with top players, what I can see through demos and what other vague knowledge I might have that leads in a certain direction. You can compare it to foreigners writing professional travel-guides about your country after a visit: They never really seem to know your country as well as you do, but to your surprise they have noticed the most common things in your country, and even picked up on a few things that you did not realize or consider yourself. Then, of course, some of these travel-guides will also be complete rubbish.
First of all, I will look at what areas of Counter-Strike different countries are normally good at. Of course, as an individual, it does not really matter what coutry you are from. You can still be a great aimer, teamplayer or have good reflexes. However, from what I have observed, some countries, most of which are the leading ones in Counter-Strike, have certain specialities. This often means that the players in this country will have a "special touch" in this area or just that the occurrence of this ability will be more common in the specific country. This might be dictated by the general playing-style in the country, cultural gaming background, differences biologically, mentality or in ways of looking at serious gaming. I am aware that this is a controversial topic, and many will deem my observations as rubbish, but I am sure others will also recognize some of the things I tell you about. You can compare it to other stereotypical, more common references on the Counter-Strike scene: "French spray a lot", "Russians play extremely randomly", "Finnish players are normally not very good on LAN", "Asians have no tactics". These may or may not be true, but are some of the impressions that have come through time. Meanwhile, I will list for you some more well-considered and specific marks for certain countries. Find an explanation of the terms I use at the bottom of this article.
Americans - Shooting, logistics
Finland - Aiming
Germany - Thinking, teamwork
Sweden - Aiming, organisation
Russia - All-around, teamwork, organisation
Next up, there is the talent mass distribution in Counter-Strike. The talent I describe can form in many ways, but basically evolves around having a good touch with the game of Counter-Strike. It can be how well you shoot, think, react, etc. This varies from nation to nation, and often depends on natural flair, seriousness of play, and the general level of competition. However, my ranking below does not account for the density of talent, but rather for the total amount of talent in a country, which is more relevant when it comes to the prospect of how many good teams the country in question could produce for competition.
Top 5 talent masses (countries):
1Germany
Germany have a very well-organised culture for playing Counter-Strike, and often good settings/playing conditions due to Germany being a well-developed nations with good sponsorships and possibilities for Counter-Strike teams. They have a very punctual approach to their team effort and play. This aids to the individual player's understanding of the game, especially the tactical aspect. In fact, Germans give a lot of thought to things, and similar to the Americans they feel an urge to communicate about the views on and aspects of the game, only on a higher level and to a higher degree. A thing that inspires the German players is that Germany has always had great tradition in having many well-developed clans to look up to. Thereby the heritage from the former great German clans still lives on in the German teams today because the German try to aspire to the same level of play, especially with focus on the teamwork and flow in the game, which has earlier been exhibited by many German clans.
Finally, a very specific thing that has helped the development of talent in Germany is the ESL leagues and ladders, which have created really serious and interactive competition in Germany and pretty much brought the country back to where is was at the end of the 1.3 version in terms having many good teams. eSport seems to be really progressing in Germany, and attracts a lot of different people, who are all really enthusiastic about the concept. There really are a lot of players for the bidding in Germany, and a fair share of those with the needed talent. The slight lack of abilities in-game such as logics, co-ordination and aim would be the only way I could explain if we do not see many more German teams prove their worth at international LANs in the next period of time.
2.Sweden
The Swedish have always had many good clans, and they seem to be good at teaching each other how to play the game. In the big Swedish cities, it seems that clans are often based on close playing relations, and especially through the many netcafés the Swedes join up to explore the game thoroughly together. Both due to the competition in the top being very huge and hard, very few of the many very talented Swedish teams, and probably the biggest amount of well-developed clans in any nations, get into the lime-light. Still, they seem the have a firm belief in their skill and seem very persistent and realistic in their attempt to join the top. As with Germany, eSports is in a high state in Sweden. Especially internet-cafés seem to be predominant. But also sponsor and interest-wise. As in other Scandinavian countries, the Swedes seem to have a good sense of how to administer their game and how to improve themselves. This gives the Swedes a good all-around capability, as they look at themselves to improve both teamplay, tactical understanding and more basic in-game skills. A great amount of Swedes put their spare time into serious Counter-Strike, which really makes for a huge crowd.
3.Russia
Russians have a very strong natural touch with this game. Plus the ones of them that train seriously train very intensely and down to detail. They seem to be very straight towards the facts of the game and consider everything very intensely. The Russian players have instincts that allow them generally great aim and quickness. Meanwhile, they don't seem particularly well built for handling stress and long time focus. The Russians make up for this by keeping a really good discipline, with the players often sticking to their particular responsibility or function, and they can seem down-right stubborn in performing their assignment the right way. To sum-up on mentality and building, the Russians seem more suited with a calm but still dynamic kind of play, where the calmness is more emphasised or reflected in the attitude of the players. The Russian sense of teamplay, which I have mentioned as a speciality of the nation in the paragraph above concerning the topic, basically lies in both their touch with the game, discipline and detailed evaluation of the play.
One thing that can bring the Russian players down is the hardware and playing-environment, maybe also software in some cases. Playing with 40 fps, shots not registering and having no space to make yourself comfortable, your play often suffers, and you might even find yourself unable to concentrate. I know that some Russians have had to play like that, especially at badly organised tournaments. It is not necessarily that the computer technology in Russia is not advanced enough; it is just that not everyone has it, and especially the right places to play from are missing. Things such as LAN centres or huge rooms for LANs are scarce, and often the newest computers are not bought, but the Russians keep trailing a bit behind on the hardware level. However, this might well work the other way around when the Russians come to play in perfect conditions, like seen in many Eastern European countries: They will be able to hit their shots and control their game even better than the ones who are already used to the perfect conditions, because the hard conditions have made them struggle with that part of the game much more and they get a better understand and possibly appreciation of how these things work in better conditions, although lacking routine in this environment.
A thing that also really helps the Russians is that they practise just as much on LAN as on internet, which is quite rare in Central European and Scandinavian countries. Practising on LAN always makes it easier to approach your problems and improve, plus the terms of play are less random than on the internet, which makes it easier for players to clarify how exactly your techniques work, whereas LAN practise is also always a good thing for teams when they have to play big LAN tournaments. Compared to the multiplicity of the people who play Counter-Strike rather seriously in Russia, the country is the one with the biggest density of talent in the world. You very rarely see a Russian player with no control of the game whatsoever.
4.United States
The Americans seem to have a more hardcore gaming culture than anyone else. Their history as the most progressive nation technologically and what this has put of marks on the culture would seem like a natural cause for this. The Americans give and receive much feedback, and are naturally curious about what the other teams do. This gives the American teams very diverse areas of expertise, and often many strong forces. Like the Finnish described below, the Americans seem to have a good flair for the individual skill part of the game, if even a more advanced one. Once again, I think culture has a role. The good control of the hardware (mouse and keyboard) and the generally well-rehearsed techniques and reaction skill seems to give the Americans a natural edge shooting-wise, even though they do not practise as intensely as others do. Despite the apparent lack of intensity, though, the American culture also seems to offer particularly unhealthy dozes of computer use at times, which leads to some people becoming really good of the game due to playing it non-stop (in a much higher degree than similar cases in other countries), most likely without any direct purpose to begin with. While it is limited just how broad coverage the talent of the American players gives (in terms of different abilities and attributes, all-around players), a lot of Americans play the game, and ultimately this results in a lot of talent, which is centred in leagues like CAL and UGS, but often unknown local American LAN-teams will surprise you, too.
5.Finland
The Finnish players seem to have a good flair for the game. As players they are often more "independent" than, for instance, the Germans. The abilities concerning individual performance are always well in place. It seems that the Finnish players are not afraid of testing themselves, and that, combined with a relatively big portion of official games, helps them gain great confidence in themselves. The fact that the Finnish mentality in play is very straight-forward often helps the fact that the individual skill is at a generally high level. For some reasons, most Finnish players have a good understanding of how the different aspects of the game work. Meanwhile, their focus is much on the challenge right in front of them, and not so much the aspect of development, event and consequence while the match is played.
All-around: An all-around player is a player with a good level in all areas of abilities.
Shooting: Shooting is a definition of both aiming and shooting-techniques. While aiming is simply put about hitting the target, shooting techniques might be combination of movement and shooting, control of recoil, timing and use of weapons, etc.
Aiming: Concerns the accuracy when a person aims at something/someone. It is not about the rate of headshots, for instance, but how quickly and smoothly they can be made by dragging your pointer, the crosshair, from one point to another. Of course, a part of aiming is also to know where to hold you aim ready, for instance knowing the head-height in a certain situation. Meanwhile, it is not good aiming to shoot someone through a wall only using two shots if you use three seconds to direct your fire, however, if you instantly shoot the person you see running behind the wall, it is good aim.
Teamwork/teamplay: Teamwork is about utilizing the most thoughtful manner of assisting your teammates in a given situation, but even more importantly about how you coordinate attacks and defences with them. If you do this in the most effective way, and in that show that you understand what your teammates do and act accordingly, you are a good teamplayer.
Organisation: Organisation concerns your organisation in-game, meaning the handling of action between the five players on a team; how well they substitute positions, handle simultaneous attacks from different directions, how they build up attacks, etc. A single player can have a good sense of organisation, whereas his teammates might not. Organisation is not quite the same as positioning. With positioning, you are able to find the position most effective for the given situation and alter that position in a smart way when action develops, to, for instance, avoid getting shot in the back or being surrounded. Meanwhile, while positioning yourself as a player with a good sense of organisation, you also consider the positions of your teammates when choosing you spot and movement manner. Organisation is one of the most important things in a team, and can help you avoid getting killed by opponents who try to make smart moves on you, and it can help you not to be surprised by opponents in a pushed position and the like. When you are well organised, you will be able to make use of the mistakes of your opponent much better, because you can strictly perfect certain actions without error.
Logics: Without deep thinking, the player is good at finding the logic consequence of an action, and therefore finds quick and smart solutions to a specific situation, which, for instance, can prove very useful in some 1on1 situations, but also gives you a good opportunity of being one step ahead in the direct action.
Reflexes: This means how quick you are able to react upon spotting an opponent, grenade or whatever visual element might make you react. It is simply about how sharp your instincts are concerning reaction, and not so much about the thinking.
Recoil control: When you use weapons they all have recoil, different depending on the weapon. With good recoil control, you should never lose control of where your bullets are going. People who perfect this ability will know exactly where and in which way they will have to fire to control the weapon they use fully.

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