Thursday, January 14, 2016

Counter-Strike, League, and the State of "Casual-Competitive" Gaming



One of the things that always keeps me coming back to games, and what makes them addicting for me, is the element of competition. I will admit that I often have to force myself through single-player games (unless the story is especially engaging) because one of the things I've always loved about gaming is the sheer ability to fuck up someone else's day. Conversely, the ability to have my day ruined by another human somewhere in the world (or next to me on the couch) is equally beautiful.

This is probably why I have been playing League of Legends consistently since just a little after its release, or around five years now. The game has its flaws for sure, and in fact, is nowhere even close to perfect given its popularity. But mostly anyone who has played the game can attest to its addictiveness. As of this post there are 128 champions in the game, all with unique abilities and playstyles that give the game one of the highest replay values I've ever seen in a game. The game has a massive competitive scene, rivaled mainly by Dota 2 and...

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.



CS: GO, one of League's major colleagues in the world of esports, may have a similar level of competitiveness, but is a vastly different game in just oh so many ways. While League is fairly new, the Counter-Strike franchise has very deep roots in the early days of online gaming, which makes CS:GO an artifact of sorts, even if it is a newer game itself. GO does not adhere to the same "2010's and on" online etiquette rules that League or even Brawlhalla (another newer competitive game) adhere to. And I'm not talking about professional or even necessarily high levels of play, but I mean an area that I've decided to call "Casual-Competitive", which I feel is fairly self explanatory. (Okay it's just when you play a game for the competitive element or are competitively skilled as far as a normal player goes but don't play professionally or at the highest level of play)

I guess I can put it like this. When you play League, you have to opt out of the chat filter which will otherwise make all swear words show up as "****". You are more than able, and in fact are encouraged, to report players who use profanity or engage in trash talk. There is no in-game voice function, since it is speculated that it would cause unsportsmanlike conduct. People are banned for being "toxic", and Riot (studio behind League) make great strides to perpetuate League as some sort of safe-space where anyone can feel comfortable and unthreatened. Noble in a sense, sure, but totally dissimilar to what most people associate with fierce competition.

On the absolute opposite end of the spectrum, we have Counter-Strike, a relic of a forgotten, less sensitive past. I played CS:GO for the first time today in probably over a year, and was blown away by how different the atmosphere was. After being so enamored with League even despite the bullshit I listed up above, it was a breath of fresh air, in a sense. Although this air wasn't fresh. It was a fucking gaseous cancer filled with satan's farts. I went from League, a game with no voice chat and default chat filtering to a game where several 12-year-olds at once were calling me a "niggerfaggot" and blasting Kendrick Lamar through the voice comm. People talked (or yelled) about dicks, assholes, other people's moms, their own moms, just absolute ear cancer that lasted through the course of every single game. And you know what? I sort of loved it. When I play videogames with friends in real life (I know, people still do that?) I love trash talk. I believe it's what gives competition life, and keeps things interesting. It may suck if you're losing, which I certainly do plenty of, but that's what makes victory so much sweeter.

I'm going to continue playing League of Legends for sure, as I always do, but I will never stop resenting the fact that it coddles its playerbase like a doting overprotective mother. I would take the chainsmoking, physically abusive, aloof father that is Counter-Strike any day.

-SK



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