***Editors note*** The opinions expressed in this article are solely that of the writer. They do not represent the opinions of GotFrag.com, Major League Gaming, or its substituents.

Yes, it's Source and yes, it's abandoning the traditions of 1.6, but neither of these things is the fault of CGS. After all, most CS fans would still rather see Source succeed than some of the other "competitive" games. There is one self-inflicted problem though and it might as well be the biggest hurdle the league has to face. If FIFA suddenly decided football (soccer) should be played in ten minute quarters and the goal size should be increased, sportswriters would be up in arms, as would the fans and the vast majority of players. If the NFL thought it would be a better idea to make the end zones twice as big and the field half as long, the same people would be covering their front pages with stories like “The Death of Football”.

So when CGS decided to halve the maxrounds, reduce the round time, and give both teams maximum start money, where was the outcry? Perhaps a more appropriate question would be why did they do it and does it work? The answers to the two latter questions are much simpler and more publishable, so I’ll address those. As the CGS website puts it, “This unprecedented match format will introduce a whole new level of gaming intensity and create an unparalleled Counter-Strike spectator experience.” That pretty much sums it up I suppose. These rules are designed for the American television audience, an audience with all the attention span of a Gnat that suffers from ADD.

But before we get into what's wrong with them, let's have a look at what has actually changed. The first change isn't really a big issue. Knocking 25 seconds off the round time makes practically no difference and I can only assume it's done to fit TV scheduling. The switch to nine rounds (from 15), however, is much worse, especially when combined with the $16,000 start money. This completely eliminates the pistol round - a round which separates CS from other team-based games like CoD. It also eliminates eco rounds. Some might see this as a good thing, but part of what makes sport exciting is seeing teams pull a win off against the odds. Colts against AK's every round just isn't the same. Finally, the overtime rules have also been shortened for Television. For anyone who thought CS was random already, how does maxrounds one sound? Every one of these rules screams over-dramatization and pre-scripted excitement.

The trouble is that this is not how sports are made. Did football become the world’s most popular spectator sport by deliberately constructing more “intense” rules? Would more people watch the Olympics if they made the tracks shorter and all the athletes were given steroids? No, because you can’t force sport to be more or less exciting. In fact, when the Football Association considered having penalty shoot-outs instead of draws in league matches it was met with widespread animosity. Sport is exciting because of the drama which creates itself and the stories which unfold. The dramatic finale to a nail-biting Premiership campaign is enthralling because of the fans’ attachment to the players and teams and because the rules, by and large, have been the same for over a hundred years – as have the teams – allowing for consistency.

My favorite sport, Rugby League, is a great example of this. For those of you who don’t know, there are two different variations of Rugby: Union and League. Union has always been a typically upper-class game, based in the south of England, while League was the working-class, North of England alternative. In 1996, the RFL (Rugby Football League) decided that in order to boost attendees and TV audiences they would switch to a summer season, invite new teams, and even change the names of almost every team (sounds familiar, no?). It worked to an extent. Viewing figures have risen year after year, as have attendances. Notably absent from the list of changes are, of course, rule changes. The RFL didn’t shorten the pitch or lessen the number of players on a team, but the popularity of the sport undoubtedly grew.

CGS could and should learn from this. There is no need to fundamentally change an already popular sport in order to boost ratings. CS is already exciting enough to the people who care. They have their favorite players, they have teams they want to win and they don’t need silly rule changes to make it more exciting. Did SK and 3D need $16,000 every round to play-out one of the best games in eSports history? CGS needs to realize that what makes CS so popular in the first place: the characters, the stories, and the rivalries that have developed naturally over the past six or so years. If they truly want to make eSports a sport and not just a money-making sideshow attraction they should bear this in mind.

Then there is the question of does it work. My honest opinion is that in the long term it will not. With rules so blatantly designed for Joe TV Watcher it will be difficult to export to other countries. European sports don’t stop for advertisements after every tackle like American Football, and they play 40 or 45 minutes consecutively; not 15 minutes then a break. This is likely to create even more of a Trans-Atlantic split over the Source/1.6 debate than there already is. More to the point, the shallow, over-fabricated drama that CGS is trying to create is so transparent and short-sighted that it will alienate the real fans who will be left longing for a 15-14 score with a team needing to force overtime with galils and deagles: that’s where real excitement comes from.

Speaking of overtime, after playing out eighteen (yes, only eighteen) grueling rounds to a stalemate, how would you feel losing it, and potentially thousands of dollars, on one round? Sounds exciting and ground-breaking doesn't it? At least, it does until you remember that only one team gets to play CT and one gets to play T. Imagine going into that round as CT on Dust2, knowing you're one round away from losing, all because you got unlucky and had to play the weaker side in the single, solitary overtime round. CGS clearly hasn't thought this through and this world of exciting melodrama and playboy bunnies doesn't seem quite so interesting after all.