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Crouch Hopping

This week's Soapbox was submitted by Brian Panchuk and like all Soapboxes, it is solely his opinion.

In the past few months, the ‘crouch-hop exploit’ has been brought to the attention of admins of online leagues as well as LAN tournaments and the community as a whole. The major tournaments and leagues in America have simply adopted the rule of admin discretion in dealing with this ‘exploit.’ Why has this only recently become a big problem? Should there be a more standardized rule and not left up to admin discretion? How do top pro players feel about crouch-hopping and the problems it has presented?

One of the most well-known users of the crouch-hop (also known as duck-hopping, silent-running, speed-walking, and crouch-jumping) is none other than Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg, the star player from fnatic, who is currently the number one team in the world according to GotFrag’s World Ranking . Lindberg, who is a fan favorite and often rated as the top player in the world, constantly uses the crouch-hop.

Scott ‘evolution’ Cavallero from team eMazing Gaming had this to say on the subject, “I believe that it would be a lot easier on everybody, especially tournament personnel, if crouch hopping was just made legal across the board. If it’s allowed everywhere, then everyone can learn how to do it and there will be no disputes or arguing about it.”

There have been several fads and techniques that have been discovered in Counter-Strike history, most of which were never restricted. Some of these including boosting, strafe-jumping, bunny-hopping, banking grenades off of ledges and walls, throwing a smoke grenade as a flash grenade in an attempt to make your opponent turn, stacking on a teammate’s head in order to see over a ledge or box, killing people through walls, and shooting through fake objects (i.e. the rock edge at the B window on de_dust2). While some of these techniques may be more effective than others when contrasting them with crouch-hopping, one question remains. Are these techniques or exploits?

Jon 'broodex' Gibbons from Meepins fame and current team 50cal looks upon crouch hopping favorably, "Crouch-hopping is quite frankly just part of the game now, and there's nothing anyone can really do about it. As long as the player doesn't have it bound to mousewheel, it should be allowed, and shouldn't be something that can be the basis of a match being overturned. I actually don’t mind it as much as I did at first, as long as it isn’t abused. In my opinion, it can show how CS has evolved over the years. In 1.5 or earlier versions, crouch hopping was possible, but nobody did it, so it’s nice to see a small change in terms of actual movement within 1.6."

As for major tournaments having issues with this 'exploit', the problems at the WCG 2007 Grand Finals tournament seem the most notorious. During the event it appeared as though teams disputed each other just for the sake of getting free wins. Matches were delayed for hours and the results of each dispute varied among teams. All but one of the disputes dealt with crouch-hopping. Tournament administrators were overwhelmed and made multitudes of rulings in each dispute before the disputes were finally resolved. The 'admin discretion' rule was taxed to no end by every team and very few who attended were pleased with the end results of the disputes.

Many top Counter-Strike players have similar opinions on this issue. It makes absolutely zero sense why crouch-hopping is restricted in American leagues and tournaments. Crouch-hopping is essentially just as much of an exploit as bunny-hopping is, and therefore should not be restricted. Dan ‘mehLer’ from team x3o had this to say about crouch hopping in tournament play, “After playing in both American and European tournaments, it seems generally easier to legalize crouch hopping (no mwheel though). All the top teams know about it and most use it, some just more than others. No one really gets caught off guard by it anymore so it would just be one less thing to worry about as an admin.”

This article is not intended as an advocacy for players to run around crouch-hopping the entire match. It is instead a suggestion. A suggestion that there needs to be a standardized, clear rule that all tournaments, leagues, and players find reasonable. The rule that makes the most sense would be to allow crouch-hopping across the board, as long as crouch is not bound to the mouse wheel. Since most clients used in the major American leagues most likely monitor keystrokes, log configs, or log settings already, it would be extremely easy to identify if a player was crouch-hopping by simply reviewing the logs. At LAN tournaments, it would be even easier for an admin to review whether or not a player was crouch-hopping using the mouse wheel. All they need to do is look at the player’s config or restrict it in the GUI.

Many teams, players, and organizations have already been affected by an admin’s decision on the issues of crouch-hopping. All leagues and tournaments need to realize the errors of the past in dealing with this matter, and should use European leagues and tournaments as a guiding point when creating or enforcing rules. The European Counter-Strike scene has been thriving since its conception, and does not look to be slowing down anytime soon. Obviously the game should not be played “as is” without any restrictions, but past mistakes cannot simply be ignored. Growth cannot happen without first identifying problems, and then taking steps to correct them. This article is an attempt to purge the epidemic that has been afflicting the Counter-Strike community for months. Crouch-hopping needs to be legalized as long as crouch is not bound to the mouse wheel.