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Article by davvv

I would like to dedicate this article to one of my best friends, Kenny Nadel, who, being part of the US Air Force, now finds himself stranded in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on an island smaller than my house. I also want to dedicate it to my lovely Kari.

I am writing this article as a sort of follow-up to my previous article, “CS Pro Mod: A Developer’s Perspective”. I’m not sure what influenced this article most: Jonathan Colet’s article, Colet’s Corner; Bobby Hicks' article, the Weenus CPL Wrap-up, or; watching “Dodgeball” for the 37th time last night. In any case, if you take away the comedy, satire, and horrible innuendo in this article then you'll be left with several good points. This article is not meant as a satire, but hopefully as a wakeup call for the gaming community at the dawn of the Professional Era. If you felt offended by my previous article, this one will most likely not be for you, but I received numerous requests to do another article, so here it is folks. I would like to start off with the history of competitive electronic gaming to show you that we do indeed stand on the shoulders of giants.

As we move on through gaming history (from the early 1960s to the turn of the millennium), one thing is easily observed: an incredible exponentiation of the number of games developed. The first computer game is generally accepted to be “Spacewar!”, developed at MIT in 1962. Ironically enough, the very first game ever developed was more or less a multiplayer game (one player controlled the left ship, and the other controlled the right ship). The natural tendency of human player versus human player competition has always been a goal of every computer game developer. Of course, the MIT crew coded it that way because adding an extra user-controlled event is much easier then coding an AI construct - clever, eh?

Eleven years later the famous “Pong” was released, and the whole world entered the dark ages of professional gaming. Pong tournaments were not unheard of in the mid 70s and early 80s, but these were only isolated tournaments in scattered arcades around the country. The Internet, still in its Precambrian stages, was but a minuscule network spanning from university to university, quite unknown to the general public. Personal computers were incredibly rare in the 1980s, and the world was still worrying about the security of such systems (see War Games, 1983). The first IBM desktop was the IBM 5100 portable Computer, released in 1975. The price was at an average of $15,000, far too high for most people to afford for work, let alone play. The Macintosh computers had the upper hand for quite some time, until the release of Microsoft’s Disk Operating System and, later, Microsoft’s Windows Operating System.

During this evolution of the personal computer, the gaming platform of choice was naturally the Nintendo Entertainment System. Some of the more prestigious games ever released were first developed on the NES: “Mario”, “Zelda”, “Final Fantasy”, “Donkey Kong”, etc. During the mid and late 80s, most consoles only supported two controllers; multiplayer play couldn’t really be any more competitive than just seeing who gets the higher score at a game like Tetris. Due to the death of the original Pong hype, and the later Pac-Man hype, most arcades reverted to hosting Pinball tournaments - to which I can personally attest, as I know someone who played Pinball professionally for about five years and made a fortune. The smaller, less bulky consoles were taking over the gaming industry. Ironically, the man who saved the computing industry is a man most of us despise today: Bill Gates. With the introduction of his DOS on current IBM PCs, user-friendliness improved, and computer sales skyrocketed. Synapse and Infocom were some of the first companies to write games for PCs.

The next few years of the early 90s computer gaming brings itself to level with the current consoles. With famous releases such as “Castle Wolfenstein”, “Loom”, “Return to Zork”, “Myst”, “Alone in the Dark”, “Lemmings”, “The Incredible Machine”, “Sim City” and many many others, the computing industry was definitely pulling its weight. Even though computers were much more expensive than an NES or SNES, they had an incredibly important feature that the first two lacked: serial ports, which allowed the PCs to connect with each other. The first interlinked computer gaming took place. I remember playing the Apogee game “Rise of the Triads” with my sister on a serial network. The dawn of online play was here. Modems started being widely available, and internet connectivity was generally cheap, around $40 per month.

During the mid 90s, Windows 3.11 was replaced with Windows 95, and the software accelerated games programmed in DOS were finally able to run using Microsoft’s DirectX. Unfortunately, this was a fiasco. DX was hardly up for the tests programmers were putting it to; Direct X would have to wait until its 6th version to be widely used by programmers. Glide and OpenGL soon became the API of choice, thanks to 3DFX and their Voodoo line of video cards.

From 1995 to 2000, the Internet has grown to 10 times its size. Pages that were getting 1000 hits per day in 1995 got 1,000,000 hits per day in 2000. This could mean one thing: people were getting online. With people getting online, game developers wanted to provide more and more online access with their games. One of the most famous games that could be played online in this time period was Quake.

Soon enough, computer gaming leagues were starting to form, with the most notable one probably being OGL which was established in 1997. Even with the release of the Nintendo 64, the console game developers were finally realizing that they lost the multiplayer war. Tournaments for “Starsiege: TRIBES” were springing up all over the country in the late 90s with big corporate sponsors such as 3DFX, Matrox, DELL, etc. At the same time, deep in the underground decommissioned missile base “Black Mesa”, several semi-known game developers were creating arguably the best computer game ever made. The team went by the name of VALVe and the game was “Half-Life”. Just a year after the release of HL in 1998, Counter-Strike was released by a group of college students who decided to code a mod with the incredible HL SDK. This mod would prove to be the most played computer game ever known to man. Unfortunately, due to nVidia buying out 3DFX, “Tribes” slowly but surely died out. It was a game optimized for Glide, but Glide disappeared along with the Voodoo line of cards. Rest in peace 3DFX. The unrivaled successor of “Tribes” was “Quake 3 Arena”, being played at the first CPL in 2000, and the following two in the same year (FRAG 4, and Babbage’s). CPL became the renowned LAN Party of choice for all gamers; a sort of unparalleled shrine where every gamer has equal ping, and the equal chance of winning. Just don’t forget the gaming gloves and mousepad.

Counter-Strike was first played professionally at the Babbage’s CPL event in 2000, with cash prizes exceeding $120,000. This was the first time gamers around the globe thought about playing computer games for money and for a living. Whereas playing one versus one was pretty old, team play was a new concept. You practiced together, you played together, and you won together. It wasn’t a personal thing, it was the dedication of several people that decided to put up with whatever crap the person next to them will spew out just for the sake of the team. Computer gaming was at the beginning of its glory. With Team 3D picking up huge sponsors such as Subway, Compaq, nVidia, and CompUSA, with new leagues such as CEVO that promise cheat-free play, and with team contracts constantly being created, who is to say that CS is not getting closer and closer to professionalism? Me.

Unfortunately, there are several very important factors that CS still lacks, and I will go over these in the historical perspective I have created. People compare computer games to a real sport all the time; I find that amusing, yet somewhat true. CS should be treated like a real sport, but it is very premature. It is premature for several reasons that I will cover in detail.

First of all, I would like to coin a statement: “the Jason Lake complex”. This mental state allows you to unprofessionally and personally attack other teams, boasting that you have money, skills, and that current top-tier teams are “washed up”. I’m sure we all know what I am alluding to. Unfortunately, Jason Lake has created a precedent and hurt the professional CS community greatly. We see this complex today with the team “JaX Money Crew” spewing out the same sort of accusations and self-praises. Not only does this look ridiculously stupid, it hurts how sponsors and corporations look at Counter-Strike as a professional game, and perhaps harms their perception of professional gaming as a whole as well. Realistically, Jason Lake was correct since Complexity is now a top American team - and Alex Conroy might be correct, also. However, politically speaking, they both made huge mistakes by staining the community. This sort of attitude will not help to move the professional aspect of the gaming community forward. The bottom line here is that these managers shouldn't be talking crap, whether or not they're able to back it up.

Most of you who read my previous article already know how strongly I feel about the point I am about to bring up, so I won’t go into a lot of detail. The idea is genius; with the proper backing, team, and time span, miracles can happen. Unfortunately, the people in #CSPro aren’t the ones that will take the game to the next level. It's obvious that their primary focus is on idlers, fame, and fan support. For the Pro Mod to be a reality, the community must come together as a whole. We must go to VALVe and request assistance. We must go to the CPL and request acceptance. It’s not as easy as it sounds, and it certainly doesn’t sound easy either.

The next aspect occurred to me when I was watching Craig Levine’s installation of “How to go Pro” found on the Esports Entertainment Association website. Torbull was saying “um” more then he was saying “gamer”. I’m sorry, but for professional gaming to be considered serious, we need communicators. Obviously Torbull knows what he’s talking about - he did get major sponsors for Team3D - but he’s just not the right person to tell you about it.

Now, GotFrag? is a wonderful community of gamers from all over the world. Unfortunately, their comments aren’t so wonderful. Only when GotFrag? is able to reduce useless and stupid comments to less than 10% of all posts will this news site rival something like ESPN, at least in content. What famous news sites offer users the ability to post regarding an article? None. CNN doesn’t do it, Reuters doesn’t do it, neither should GotFrag? If any disgruntled reader wants to contact the author, an email address is provided. Most gamers reading GotFrag? are 13 to 25 years of age, which tends to be a very tricky age group. It is the age group that everyone wants to influence, from Playboy, to Bengay, to Corsair. These are the people that consume the most pornography, sporting goods, and computer hardware. Unfortunately, they are also the most immature. Only when maturity will be enforced in both league play and online forums and chats will most big corporations turn their heads.

Online leagues are currently a joke. The Cyberathlete Amateur (and Professional) League creates its own rules, bends its own rules, and ignores its own rules. There is a need for a unified council elected by the gamers to represent the gamers. Sounds like democracy? If it works for the free world, why not for gamers? This would also make the community seem more structured. Every new league rule must be approved by the council, and anyone from the community can give their input, not only Griffin Benger.

Another improvement to these leagues would be including coaching. Every single other sport has coaches, so why shouldn't CS? The coach would call the strategies and would watch how his or her team plays. This would enable the players to have a much better performance, and would bring a whole new level to competitive play. This would slightly resemble football in the way it would be carried out.

Online leagues also need referees - all other sports have referees, so why not e-sports? A referee should always be connected to the server when two teams are having a match. He or she would be in charge of figuring out whether teams cheat, use mm1, or violate any flash bugs, etc. If teams want to dispute with the CAL-AC Team, the ref must give their approval. This would reduce disputes by 95%. Also, cheating would only be handled when it occurs in matches. I’m sure we’ve all cheated at cards before; does that mean we would cheat in a casino? If people want to cheat in a public server or scrim, fine - with the league at least, maybe not with VAC - as long as they don’t take it into a match. Along with this, the repercussions for cheating in matches would have to increase to further discourage the practice. Signing up with CAL should be considered a legal contract, and if cheating occurs the cheater would be fined and barred from the league. This is how professional sports do it, and would help to attract corporations and sponsorships. If anyone under 18 wants to sign up, they would need their parents permission.

There are many more points I would have liked to bring up, but it looks as if my article is getting a bit lengthy so I think I will finalize it. Thank you for reading, and I appreciate any sort of feedback I get. Sorry if some of you were offended by my previous article, hopefully this one was a bit better. If I get the same type of positive feedback, I might write another one. You can find me in #davvv or #TeamSTUDs on GameSurge.

I insisted on doing a history lecture before the main points of my article to let gamers understand where we are. We are not pioneers; we are merely on the shoulders of giants that brought us here. My advice is: let’s not fall off.