mailbag: august 22nd, 2006
author: Zips posted: august 22nd, 2006 print - comment (18)

from: Hutz
I think it's a great thing to be able to continue to evolve a game even when it's as old as CS. Quite frankly, it's naive to believe that a game has ever reached perfection - nothing is ever perfect, even games which have strong competitive appeal. The competitive appeal, however, introduces a problem...

When a competitive gamer learns all the ins and outs of a good game, they'll enjoy the meta-game (that is, set of dominant strategies) that exists. A good meta-game is what makes a competitive game timeless.

So a competitive player wants to know as much as they can about the meta-game in order to become as good a player as they can be. But if little changes start being made, changes to the meta-game are inevitable. The balance has been disrupted - what previously worked may not be viable anymore. Conversely, what didn't work before may become a new dominant strategy.

What the competitive player dislikes is the fact that they essentially wasted their time perfecting certain strategies (like quickscoping), and now they must search for new strategies and figure out what doesn't work anymore. Competitive players would much rather spend time improving rather than figuring out what the game has changed into. In essence, they are overly-obsessive with becoming good at the game (just like WoW addicts are overly-obsessive with their characters).

If the game was perfect to begin with, people would have every right to complain about every change that's made to it - after all, a change to something perfect, by simple logic, implies that the change made it worse. But the simple fact is that even though a varied and balanced meta-game exists, it does not mean that the game cannot be improved.

There are two conclusions here. First, it's that the truly good competitive players will have fun figuring out new strategies that come about with the changes that are made, while the simple wannabes will whine about the changes disrupting their game. Do not pay attention to the latter, since they are already lost causes who don't actually enjoy the game - they only enjoy winning. Second, it's that Valve needs to be careful with what they change - if they disrupt the meta-game too badly, CS may become a poor competitive game.

Okay, now my opinion on the radar change. Quite frankly, it's what CS has needed since day one. A good player can deliver incredibly valuable information to their teammates by simply being sneaky. This leaves the voice channel (in-game, Vent, what have you) open for other things, which is always good.

from: Supersonic
They ruined the gameplay when they made source. They make more and more changes and it's just not the same anymore. I can see the radar change being helpful but a bit stupid really. The key to the game is communication, not just looking at enemies and everyone else being able to then know EXACTLY where they are. They don't realise what they're doing to the game.

from: mr spoon
I think CS:Source should differentitate itself from 1.6, so therefore have some features that may appeal and draw people to it. Just having graphical superiority has not proven to be enough to win over the players, so pushing it closer to a CS 2 may well pay off. I'd certainly be more interested in playing it occasionally unlike now (last played over a year ago).

from: A Blue Duck
Those who worked hard to become experts at a specific moment(or version) are those with the most to lose because it's impossible for everything to ever be exactly the same again. However those who are always working hard to learn how to preform their best, reardless of the circumstances, are the ones our kids will be idolizing on prime time TV, owning nubs of the future.

from: [mia]buttman
The roots that started counter strike are just that, roots. Things grow from it.
There is no problem with stopping the AWP quick scope, it made some people too powerful.

And the radar changes don't even seem that big. The number of people who will take advantage of it are minute. Averting your eyes to your radar to find someone who is an enemy won't really change game play.
In competitive game play the communicate already where an enemy is.
In public play, people are usually so oblivious of their radar it won't matter.
So no, these changes don't even matter. No one should hate them or really love them as they more than likely won't notice.

from: WooFerPPK
I hope valve will begin to add more game play modes instead of the bomb the point or rescue a hostage. Maybe bring back the VIP Rescue :)

from: Sintra
Now, source... I for one am not impartial. I dislike source and can rant about what I dislike, but that's another story.
This radar change doesn't at first thought seem that much. But, while chatting with a friend about this subject, he was quick to point out that the cs radar sucks, and radar system such as the one present in ns (natural selection) is much more advanced and extremely useful. That hit me: how much of us actually spend a lot of time looking at the radar? In ns games can be decided by what's going on on the radar. It forces and facilitates communication between teammates on an average player level!
I think this radar change is a pretty good idea.

I also like the fact that source is changing. It would be best to hear out what the pros have to say. Little things such as the player movement not being as responsive as in 1.6 make a big deal of a difference.

Source is the future, whether we like it or not. And as our 1.6 has changed over time, source will too. As a csplayer, I've learnt to adapt to changes, but one thing is for sure, as long as 1.6 is around and source isn't changing as much as it should, I'm sticking to 1.6.

from: Rawwrrrrr Garaaarrrrr
me think radar good...
but radar not good until model all out!
no all model - game not good
me think game be good when bugs be all go bye bye

Rawrrrrrr

from: Mad Dog McKill
Maybe before they add new stuff, they should finish adding all the models.. until that happens CSS is still a beta...

There is no Counter-Strike Source.. there is only Counter-Strike Source: Beta

Its a beta. Period.