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Counter-Strikein esports

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Counter-Strike
Luminosity Gamingcompeting againstNatus Vincereat theMLG Columbus 2016
Highestgoverning bodyValve
First played2000
Characteristics
TypeVideo game,esports
Equipmentcomputer,mouse,keyboard,headphones

ProfessionalCounter-Strikecompetitioninvolvesprofessional gamerscompeting in thefirst-person shootergame seriesCounter-Strike.Theoriginal game,released in 1999, is amoddeveloped byMinh "Gooseman" LeandJess Cliffeof the 1998 video gameHalf-Life,published byValve.Currently, the games that have been played competitively includeCounter-Strike(CS also called CS 1.6),Counter-Strike: Condition Zero(CS:CZ),Counter-Strike: Source(CS:S),Counter-Strike: Global Offensive(CS:GO), andCounter-Strike 2(CS2). Major esports championships began in 2001 with theCyberathlete Professional LeagueWinter Championship, won byNinjas in Pyjamas.[1][2]

History

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TheCounter-Strikeseries has over 20 years of competitive history beginning with the originalCounter-Strike.Tournaments for early versions of the game have been hosted since 2000, but the first prestigious international tournament was hosted inDallas,Texasat the 2001Cyberathlete Professional League(CPL) Winter Championship, won by the Swedish team Ninjas in Pyjamas. The tournament offered a $150,000 prize pool and became known as the first "Major".[1]The final significant update to the originalCounter-Strikegame was version 1.6 in 2003, and so the game became known asCounter-Strike 1.6( "CS 1.6" ).

2001 Winter CPL Counter-Strike tournament

In 2002, theWorld Cyber Gamesbecame the next tournament to host competitiveCounter-Strike,followed by theElectronic Sports World Cupin 2003. These, along with the bi-annual CPL tournaments, were the dominant Majors of CS 1.6 through 2007. CPL ceased operation in 2008, but another league,ESL,then addedCounter-Striketo itsIntel Extreme Masters(IEM) series. These tournaments continued for four years.[1]The years of 2002-07 are consideredCounter-Strike'sfirst Golden Age, as the game's popularity and market-share eclipsed all others in the fledglingesportsindustry.[citation needed]

Valve struggled to iterate and evolve on CS 1.6 because of its high skill ceiling and gameplay. TheCounter-StrikeXboxrelease had limited success as compared to that ofHaloandCall of Duty.The first official sequel wasCounter-Strike: Source(CS:S), released on November 1, 2004. The game was criticized by the competitive community, who believed the game's skill ceiling was significantly lower than that of CS 1.6. This caused a divide in the competitive community as to which game to play competitively.[3]Valve, sponsors, and tournament organizers were advocating for the newer CS:S to be played at tournaments, but the large majority of professional CS players refused to play it due to its perceived shortcomings.[citation needed]Counter-Strikeesports gradually decreased in popularity during the late 2000s and early 2010s. This was in part due to the fractured competitive scene, but also due to the newcomerMOBAgenre overcoming Counter-Strike's previous stranglehold on the team-based esport market.

The release ofCounter-Strike: Global Offensive(CS:GO) in 2012 reunited the competitive community ofCounter-Strike,ushering in a new era of esports relevance for the franchise. Initially, the game was criticized for imbalanced gameplay, poor mechanics and bugs. However, within several months the gameplay improved after updates from Valve. The advent ofvideo game streamingservices such asUStream,Justin.tvandTwitchincreased the popularity of competitiveCounter-Strike.On September 16, 2013, Valve announced a US$250,000 community-funded prize pool for its firstCS:GO Major Championship;the money was funded through the "Arms Deal" update, which created in-game cosmetics that players could purchase. Valve also announced that the first Major would take place in Sweden atDreamHack Winter 2013.[1]The Valve-sponsored Majors would go on to be the most important and prestigious tournaments in theGlobal Offensiveesports scene.

In October 2015, a number of professionalesportsorganizations withCounter-Striketeams announced the formation of atrade unionthat set several demands for future tournament attendance. The announcement was a publicly posted email written by Alexander Kokhanovsky, CEO of Natus Vincere, that was sent to organizers of major esports events. Teams that were part of the union includedNatus Vincere,Team Liquid,Counter Logic Gaming,Cloud9,Virtus.pro,Team SoloMid,Fnatic,Ninjas in Pyjamas,TitanandTeam EnVyUs.Teams in this union would not attendCounter-Strike: Global Offensivetournaments with prize pools of less than $75,000.[4]In 2016, theWorld eSports Association(WESA) was founded byESLwith many esports teams, including Fnatic, Natus Vincere, Team EnVyUs andFaZe Clan,[5]though FaZe Clan left soon after the league's formation.[6]In its announcement, WESA said it would "further professionalize eSports by introducing elements of player representation, standardized regulations, and revenue sharing for teams". They also planned to help fans and organizers by "seeking to create predictable schedules."[5]

Valve's decisions have a strong influence on the competitivemetagame.Decisions such as the removal of old maps and additions of new maps are often met with criticism, as well as changes made to certain weapons' performance characteristics. In 2016, Valve was "heavily criticized" for the removal of the mapInfernoand its replacement,Nuke,in the competitive map pool.[7][8]The release of CS 1.6 in 2003 saw a contentiousnerfof the iconicAWPsniper rifle by increasing its draw time. This significantly reduced the ability of a player armed with an AWP to simultaneously engage multiple targets. The AWP was again the subject of a controversial nerf in 2015 when players' movement speed and acceleration was decreased while the weapon was equipped. Valve has also implemented new coaching rules restricting the ability of communication between coaches and players during a match, and altered a 15-year precedent by increasing the duration of each round and bomb timer in 2015.[9]

By 2014, 25 million copies of theCounter-Strikeseries were sold. The game's fan base remains strong, having reached a new record of 1.4 million concurrent players in March 2023, surpassing the game's previous record of 1.3 million concurrent players in 2020 during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[10][2][11]

Tournament system

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Counter-Striketournaments can be hosted by any entity, and do not have a single official event organizer (likeFIFAinfootball association,for example). The Major Championships, sponsored byValveand held by different organizers twice a year, are the most prestigious tournaments, although they may not necessarily have the highest prizes. Most of the big teams compete, most of the time, in world tournaments that bring together teams from all corners of the world.[12][13]Some of the most notable major tournaments are organized by ESL, such as the Intel Extreme Masters andESL Pro League,and by BLAST, such as theBLAST Premierseries. Tournaments that do not have a worldwide character are usually organized for teams of lower level, serving as qualifiers for the main tournaments.[14][12]

Teams rankings are published byHLTVand ESL, who use various criteria to determine the best ranked teams from the most recent tournaments. These rankings are then used by some tournament organizers to directly invite teams, depending on their rank. In 2023, Valve announced that starting in 2025, only the official Valve ranking system could be used to generate invitations, and all other "large-scale" events need to use open qualifiers.

Media coverage

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As the game and the scene grew in popularity, companies, includingWME/IMGandTurner Broadcasting,began to televiseGlobal Offensiveprofessional games, with the first beingELEAGUE Major 2017,held at theFox Theatreand broadcast onUS cable televisionnetworkTBSin 2016.[15]On August 22, 2018, Turner announced its further programming ofGlobal OffensivewithELEAGUE’s Esports 101: CSGOandELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018'sdocuserieson TBS.[16]In 2019 Danish television station TV 2 secured exclusive TV rights to broadcast ESL Pro League and Dreamhack's ESL Pro Tour in Danish.[17]In 2023 TV 2 announced it would no longer broadcast Counter Strike from 2024 onwards citing a lack of commercial sustainability given free alternatives, such as Twitch, and the downturn in results from the Danish superteamAstralisleading to a decline in popularity within Denmark.[18]

Controversies

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Cheating

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Cheating, particularly through the use ofsoftware hackson online servers, has been a problem throughout the history ofCounter-Strikeand generally results in a game ban if discovered. AValve Anti-Cheat(VAC) ban is the most common way in which players are banned. VAC is a system designed by Valve to detect cheats on computers. Any time a player connects to a VAC-secured server and a cheat is detected, the user is kicked from the server, given a permanent lifetime ban and barred from playing on any VAC-secured servers.[19]Professional players play online on independent platform servers hosted by leagues such asESEAorFaceit,which have proprietary anti-cheat programs.[20]

Linus "b0bbzki" Lundqvist was the first known professional player to be banned inGlobal Offensive.Hovik "KQLY" Tovmassian was one of the highest-profile players to be issued a VAC ban. KQLY was banned, along with several other professional players, such as Gordon "Sf" Giry, while KQLY was playing for France's best team,Titan.[21]Vinicius “v$m” Moreira from Brazil was VAC-banned while he was playing for Detona Gaming.[22]

Cheating has also occurred at LAN tournaments, and players who cheat at organized tournaments may receive permanent bans or may be dismissed from their team. In 2018, at the eXTREMESLAND ZOWIE Asia CS:GO, Nikhil "forsaken" Kumawat of OpTic India was caught cheating mid-match using aimbot during a tournament game against Revolution, a VietnameseCounter-Strike: Global Offensiveteam.[23]The tournament had a $100,000 prize pool.[24]OpTic India was disqualified and Kumawat was dismissed from the team.[25]

In 2020, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) banned over 37 coaches[26]due to abuse of aspectator mode bug.Valve also has punished these coaches from a number of CS:GO Majors with the severity dependant on the number of times the bug was abused.[27]

On 15 April 2021, Valve updated event guidelines to allow players with VAC banned accounts to compete again in Valve sponsored events.[28]The updated rules state: A VAC ban will only disqualify a player from an event if it was either received fewer than 5 years prior, or if it was received at any time after their first participation in a Valve-sponsored event.

Match fi xing

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Players have also been banned formatch fi xing.In August 2014, twoCS:GOteams, iBUYPOWER and NetcodeGuides, were involved in amatch-fi xing scandalthat has been cited as "the first large match fi xing scandal" in theCS:GOcommunity.[29]iBUYPOWER, who was heavily favored to win, lost in a resounding 16-to-4 defeat to NetcodeGuides. It was later discovered in a tip toDot Esportsthat the match was fixed.[30]

On 20 Jan 2021, ESIC issues sanctions against 35 players[31]for betting related offences primarily in the Australian CS:GO scene.

On the 31st of March 2021 the Commissioner of the ESIC, Ian Smith, has revealed that theFederal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) is now involved in the ongoing investigation into match-fi xing in North AmericanCounter-Strike,which has been underway since September 2020.[32]ESIC is collaborating with federal law enforcement as part of a larger investigation into players bribed to fix matches by outside "betting syndicates".

Gambling

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Main article:Skin gambling

Following the introduction ofweapon skinsintoGlobal Offensivewith theArms Dealupdate in August 2013, a virtual economy formed around the skins based on rarity and desirability. Because of this, a number of skin-trading and gambling sites using theSteamworksAPIwere created. Initially, these sites focused on wagering skins on the outcomes of professional and semi-professional CS:GO matches, in the vein ofsports betting.However, some of these sites began to offer casino gambling functionality in 2015, allowing users to gamble their skins on the outcome of roulette spins, coin flips, dice rolls, and other games of chance.[33][34]According to research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, players and esports fans wagered $2.3 billion in 2015,[35]and $5 billion in 2016[36]onCS:GOskins. In June and July of that year, two lawsuits were filed against specific gambling sites and Valve, arguing that Valve allowed their skins to be used for illegal underage gambling.[37][38]Valve began to take steps to prevent these sites from using Steamworks for gambling purposes, and several of the sites ceased operating as a result.[39]In July 2018, Valve disabled the opening of containers in Belgium and the Netherlands after the in-gameloot boxesappeared to violate Dutch and Belgium gambling laws.[40]However, some parties have tried to contest Valve's gambling rules.[41]

See also

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References

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  2. ^abLlewellyn, Thomas (2018-09-17)."An eSports phenomenon: Counter-Strike".National Science and Media Museum.Retrieved27 December2019.
  3. ^Michael Kane (19 June 2008).Game Boys: Triumph, Heartbreak, and the Quest for Cash in the Battleground of Competitive Videogaming.Penguin Publishing Group.ISBN978-1-4406-3188-7.
  4. ^Rosen, Daniel (October 4, 2015)."Report: eSports team union forms, outlines requirements for CS:GO, Dota 2 tournaments".The Score Esports.Archived fromthe originalon June 22, 2017.RetrievedNovember 17,2015.
  5. ^abCampbell, Colin (May 13, 2016)."The who, what and why of the World Esports Association".Polygon.Vox Media.Archivedfrom the original on June 22, 2017.RetrievedJune 22,2017.
  6. ^Walker, Alex (May 19, 2016)."Surprise, The World Esports Association Is Already In Trouble".Kotaku.Gawker Media.Archivedfrom the original on June 22, 2017.RetrievedJune 22,2017.
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  9. ^wallabeebeatle (2017-02-08)."The Valve Meta: An Alternative History of Competitive CS:GO".Dot Esports.Retrieved27 December2019.
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