Counter Strike’s Declining Popularity

Fame does not last forever. As they say; one day you are in and the next you are out. So is it really true that the popularity of the world’s best first person shooter video game is going down and is it in the brink of being thrown into the deepest pits of your closet? Well, read on to find out.
For a very long time since its release, Counter Strike has been hailed as the king of FPS games. It has been the talk of the town and has taken the world by storm in just a matter of months after its release. Professionals and game critics play it and the gaming community simply loved it. Teenagers often talk about the Counter Strike weapons they use or which weapon to use on certain situations. Counter Strike ruled over the gaming world and no other video game can surpass it. But, where is it now?
Counter Strike is still very much alive and popular but its fame has wind down enormously. Today, it is just another game that players play and no longer “the game” to play if you want to be in with your friends. It has been surpassed by games like World of Warcraft, Red Alert, and even games like CityVille and Tetris Battle.
Counter Strike is a first-person tactical shooter video game modification of Half Life developed by Valve Corporation. The popularity of the game skyrocketed in the early 2000s when widespread use of PC and Internet use started. In fact, in 2001, Counter Strike was not only the world’s most popular FPS game but it was also the game with the biggest prizes. By 2002, new players were still joining the Counter Strike party. There were many attempts to create a game similar to Counter Strike and countless Half Life modifications were introduced but all of them have failed to dislodge this super-contender. Counter Strike remained on top even in the midst of many competitors and the fierce competition for the top spot. However, the number of players grew so steadily and the need to create a new, more updated version of the game became stronger. This resulted to the introduction of Source.
Source was supposed to be the baby of Valve Corporation. The plan to make it was pretty simple and straightforward: design a new engine for the old game and add more spice to it. However, the response of CS players was very alarming. Many players stayed on CS 1.6 and only few moved on to Source. The improvement of the game brought on many changes and it even affected maps like de_dust2. The small changes in the map like the improvement of graphics had huge effects to the game. It has changed the timing and the whole balance of the game, irritating many CS players. The challenge for Valve now is to correct these errors and persuade the remaining CS players staying in 1.6 to move on to Source.

One more thing that has greatly injured the game is the widespread game cheating. Many players create cheats like aimbots, wallhacks, and speedhacks to gain advantage in the game. Cheats in Counter Strike are helpful for those who use it since they can easily win the competition. Cheating in the game is not new and is old rice already. What really affected the game was the widespread use of the cheats. While cheats might be good in small amounts, too many cheats would just destroy the value of the game and the fun that it brings. With cheats, players could easily win a round. But is their win really satisfying? No. Winning by cheating is no fun and it just brings distrust. The CS online community steadily grew wary and started to distrust game servers. The usually friendly online community grew quite hostile because of this. Servers were infected with cheaters and accusers making the Counter Strike a nasty game. Soon, players fled and looked for a game with less or no cheats at all like World of Warcraft.
In retrospect, Counter Strike is still the most popular game today when it comes to professional gaming and competitions. This is because primary sponsors pick games that do not require heavy or the latest hardware for budget purposes. But when it comes to the gaming community, Counter Strike is lying low and is slowly fading away to the background.
Without the cheats and with the latest reiterations of the game, Counter Strike proves to be a very fun and engaging game that would survive the test of time.

Posted in: MICS