There’s a question that is continually raised on the many gaming community forums around the world and that is – What game will replace CS as the top online game of all time? (In before Halo or Call of Duty)
It’s a valid enough question I suppose, what with gaming being dominated in the online leagues and LAN tournaments by the ever loving and always humble CS society *cough*. However, I want to discuss (that’s me throwing my 2 cents at you and then probably not reading the 5000 word replies) the aforementioned question. Counter Strike came at a time that people were just experiencing the true potential for online gaming. Games such as Unreal Tournament were already gaining a strong following and Half Life DM (that’s Deathmatch ;)) was also doing quite well for itself. However, we all know the history (and for all of you that don’t shame on you and Google is your friend) so I’ll leave the flashback at that. Let’s all be honest for a moment here. How many of you genuinly still get the same thrill from playing CS anymore? I’ve got to be honest, I play it every so often and it just acts as a rage release (unless I’m playing against french teams, then I just rage for hours afterwards) most of the time. At first I thought it was just me but then asked a few of my online friends if they still loved it as much as they did before and the best quote I got was “CS has become a mathematical addiction of madness. Every time I play it, I have to make sure all of the rates are ok, the pings are ok and even then if I get killed in a less-than-normal way I lose my mind and start accusing. But I can’t stop playing!”
Out of the countless online leagues that choose CS as their main game – how many would replace it? I mean, you’d have to be on the “I’m going to shave my own long blonde hair and be the center of attention in LA” level of madness (jeez that was a stretch) to replace a game like Counter-Strike for your main game at a LAN event! I really (C)an’t think of a (P)lausable reason to (L)eave out CS as the main game that pulls in the gaming audience. Thank the Lord none of the LAN events we know of have ever done that and paid a hefty price. So what game could “replace” CS? I suppose the answer to that (and by answer I mean opinion) would be, at least for now, none. CS has become it’s own sport in my eyes and for the simple reason that it has been the staple diet for many hungry gamers around the world who have been trying for some 8+ years to prove that they’re the best at Counter-Forces.
This has left a massive pair of boots to be filled for future games and I swear to you (and I’ll write this in a contract in blood) if Halo becomes the replacement for CS or any other game in the future – at least on a serious level because, I mean come on, it’s friggin Halo – then I will get a Bungee chord (see what I did there?) and jump from the eiffel tower hoping to smack my head off one of the beams on the way back up. From there I hope to wake up some years later and find the world playing Peggle on a professional level!
However there are plenty of games out there that could give CS a run for their money, both in online competitive play and community sites. Oh man, try saying that without laughing.
P.S. – Did that writers block last a long time or what?
P.P.S – I probably didn’t fully address the question at hand. Please forgive me, for I have the attention span of a…