Shadowz

** Im terrible at writing, terrible at expressing my ideas and thought, and most importantly and a huge embarrassment to the english language. Please ignore my many misspellings, run on sentences, and punctuation.**

In the recent months its been heavily discussed about the future and well being of the cs 1.6 future. With a struggling economy amidst a decade old game, it seems as if the ever popular game is struggling to keep its place as one of the juggernaut games played around the world. There is mixed feelings as to why cs 1.6 seems to be dwindling, possibly for its age, its graphics, its community, which is why ive decided to share a few of my thoughts upon a game that struggles.

Believe it or not, the recent shut down of LAN events such as the CPL, and ESWC are minor reasons to the lack of competitiveness in the cs 1.6 community. Yes there is money to be made at these events and these events also bring in sponsorships. But in the current economic decline you would imagine that companies would not have the loose change to sponsor gaming events. Which leaves teams with, for now, online leagues. As the economy stabilizes and re-establishes itself, so will tournaments and sponsorships. It seems that ever since the CGS days of contracts and sponsorships that no one thinks logically anymore. Yes gaming is a job for professionals, unfortunetally they most also remember that most of their money comes from company sponsorships. Its a difficult period that gamers are going to have to wait out.

So with major events shutting down due to money issues, we are left with online leagues. I personally dont think enough thought has gone into anyone league to make online gaming "competitive" any more. Lets take a look at all the leagues offered here in North America ( I may miss a few help me out if i did). You have long standing leagues such as CAL and Cevo, as well as the newly emerging leagues of ESEA and ESL. Also, the XPL is making their way back to the scene. Five leagues that all have good things about them, as well as some really bad things about them. For once I would love to see two leagues combine their money, staff, partners, and sponsorships in an effort to not only save cs 1.6 online gaming, but also as a way of making the whole gaming experience better.

Online gaming is not taken seriously by some of the top organizations. Even our very own coL family and said here on this very site about certain ESEA matches that they were not as concerned for the online league as they were for an upcoming lan event. That they wouldnt reveal strats and certain things. How can fans enjoy watching online events if the organizations playing in them are afraid to reveal strats for a POTENTIAL $10,000 dollars split many different ways. Thats where the leagues merging would help. Bringing not only a better gaming experience for all parties involved, but offering up more potential earnings for these professional organizations. Lets face it, LAN events are struggling right now, online gaming is what needs to be played right now until things get back on track. Larger potential earnings would refocused, re-energize, and hopefully re-dedicate some of these professional teams.

Lets talk about coverage. Because cs 1.6 coverage has not been the same since TSN left back some years ago. I was hoping that one company would step up to the plate and take on cs 1.6 casting and it hasnt happened. You can catch a casting once in a great while, and from the recent ones i've seen, they are either uninformed casters, or have lack of emotion. Anyone see the coL match casted for Kode 5, or the de_dust2 match that was casted for i belive Cevo Main (might be wrong on that), two of the most terrible casting streams i have watched. One had a caster who spoke in a mono tone and couldnt get excited over a 4 kill, the other had 2 casters who never followed the action and were more about telling jokes the casting the match. Match casting enriches the gaming experience for the fans. If you were to watch a sporting event on mute would it have the same effect as watching it with commentary? Sometimes the commentators reaction to a certain play makes the play that much better. Something thats missing in the cs 1.6 scene.

Then their is the same four maps we've been watching since 1.5. Dust2, Train, Nuke, and Inferno. Not that i have anything against these maps, these are great maps that are very balanced but also very outdated. There's only so many stakes, strats, nades, etc that you can design before teams have seen and done it all. Its time to get fresh new maps on the scene. It tough judging the skill os teams when they have played one another on the same 4 maps a few hundred times over the years. News maps would heighten rivalries and competitiveness because teams wouldnt have a backbone to fall upon. Knowing generally what the opposing team likes to do. New maps would almost balance things out and the stronger, smarter team would ultimately be the victor.

What about the community? If people dont think that the community has an effect on the comptitiveness and growth of cs 1.6 your wrong. Outside companies and potential sponsors or partners can be taken back by the immaturity displayed by the community. Sponsors arent willing to invest their dollars into a community filled will immaturity. These potential sponsors are out to make money just as our professional gamers are. They sponsor events, they pay prize money purses, they get exposure, inturn bringing in new customers. Both the company and the players win. The cs 1.6 community, or the whole counter stirke community for that matter (1.6, css, cz) seems to be filled with egotistical individuals for whatever reasons feel the need to flame, bitch, and cry because the hide begind a monitor. Not realizing their distruction of the gaming scene.

And how about getting a reliable news coverage company? Im not going to belittle the companies out their now or point out certan companies but i will ask this question, Who is the leading news coverage provider for esports in NA? How is their community? How reliable are they? Unfortunetally these questions are tough to answer and if you polled people, you would more than likely get a wide variety of different opinions.

For once i would like people to take a step back and realize the things taken place around us. An esports scene declining because of the radical and harsh decisions being made by both individuals and organizations. Everyone seems to be on these trips that they most make "maximum" amount of money now schemes. I understand this is peoples jobs and source of income, but regardless of the organization your in, you will still be effected by the economy, LAN events will still be cancelled, and you will still have to resort to you underlining skill to appeal to sponsors. People breaking friendships (not a stab at EG) and ruining organizations to take a metaphoric step forward only to realize they didnt go forward. Its absolute madness right now. I remeber when there was more loyalty and understandning back in the early days of CAL when teams and organizations played for RESPECT not money. Played for the fans not dillar bills. Its been said that money is the route of all evil. Is that the case for gaming? Is that the road we chose to head down? Or can we turn things back around? Its your choice.