History

To discover the origin of the famously competitive First Person Shooter, Counter-Strike, we have to look all the way back to 1999 when Minh “Gooseman” Le and Jess “Cliffe” Cliffe developed the modification for the game Half Life that they named Counter-Strike. Due to the success of the Half Life mod, Valve Corporation hired both Le and Cliffe to help develop a more refined version of the mod that released in 2000. Though many Counter-Strike games were released between 2000 and the year of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s release, the most popular is known as Counter-Strike 1.6, referring to the final software update of the original Counter-Strike.

Due to the highly competitive nature of the game, Counter-Strike spawned a rather large following for the time. In just 2003, the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) held an event in Dallas, Texas with a prize pool of $200,000. Due to frequent tournaments with relatively large prize pools, many legendary teams and players were made during this time in Counter-Strike history. Teams like SK Gaming, Fnatic, and Mousesports were largely revered as the best teams at the time. Many players that played during Counter-Strike 1.6 are still around today, 15 years after the original Counter-Strike release. Players like Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg, Filip “neo” Kubski, Christopher “GeT_RiGht” Alesund are largely considered some of the best to ever compete in the history of Counter-Strike. All three of which are still competing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive today. GeT_RiGhT and f0rest compete for the Swedish team Ninjas in Pyjamas while neo competes for the Polish team Virtus.Pro.

In 2004, the next installment of the Counter-Strike series was released. This game, named Counter-Strike: Source, was a remake of the original Counter-Strike that utilized the Source game engine. Although the game received good reviews from critics, the competitive players decided to stick with Counter-Strike 1.6 because they felt that the skill ceiling was lowered in Source.

The next major release in the Counter-Strike franchise, and most recent, was Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, released on August 21st, 2012. Much like Source, the competitive scene did not like the game at first, many even said it was simply “Counter-Strike: Source with better visuals.” Though after more than 60 updates, changing nearly every aspect of the game from weapon balance, to movement, to player hitboxes, the release version of the game and the game we have today are almost like two completely different games. Due to the massive improvements valve has implemented over the years, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is home to one of the most flourishing competitive scenes in all of eSports. In 2015, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive reached a massive milestone when Valve reported that over 1 million concurrent viewers watched as Fnatic beat the Ninjas in Pyjamas in the finals of ESL One Katowice 2015. This comes only 1 year after just 250,000 people tuned in to watch Virtus.Pro beat the Ninjas in Pyjamas at ESL One Katowice 2014.

A picture of the arena during the finals of EMS One Katowice 2014 in Katowice, Poland.

The competitive scene has reached such popularity for a variety of reasons. For one, there is almost never a dull moment during a game of professional Counter-Strike. This will be described more clearly below when I discuss gameplay, but the rounds are only 1 minute and 45 seconds long. This makes the game extremely viewer friendly. Although success in Counter-Strike is heavily reliant on teamwork, an individual player can often make a huge play that can win his team a round. Below I have included a video that compiles many of these exciting moments from the year 2014.

Gameplay

Although competitive Counter-Strike has two separate game modes, Bomb Scenario and Hostage Scenario, Bomb Scenario is the most widely played of the two. This game mode is exclusively played at the professional level.

In Bomb Scenario there are two teams comprised of 5 players respectively. There are the Terrorists (offense) and the Counter-Terrorists (defense). As a Terrorist, you can win a round in two different ways. The first way to win a round is to simply eliminate all 5 Counter-Terrorists. Alternatively, you can take the bomb to one of the two bomb sites on the map, plant the bomb, and defend it until it explodes. This takes bomb takes 35 seconds to explode at the professional level, but when playing on Valves official competitive servers the bomb timer is set to 45 seconds. As a Counter-Terrorist, you can also win in two different ways. You can win by either eliminating all 5 Terrorists or by defusing a planted bomb. A maximum of 30 rounds are played, the first team to win 16 rounds wins the game. In the case of a 15-15 tie at the professional level, an overtime is played either consisting of 6 rounds or 10 rounds depending on the tournament ruleset.

At the beginning of a public competitive match that you or I would play in, each team is assigned to the Terrorists or Counter-Terrorists randomly. At the professional level, however, the two teams have various ways of deciding who gets which side first. After the first 15 rounds of the game, the two teams switch sides. So if you began on the Counter-Terrorists, you would switch to the Terrorists side after the first 15 rounds. And if you began on the Terrorists you would switch to the Counter-Terrorists side.

These rules are not hard to grasp if you have ever played a game like Call of Duty. Counter-Strike has a few fundamental differences, however. The biggest difference that is the most difficult for new players to comprehend is the Economy system. Each of the 10 players have their own money in the game. At the beginning of each round, each player must buy their choice of weapons, grenades, and body armor. You get a set amount of money each time you win a round, lose a round, get a kill, or plant a bomb. In general, $4,000-$5,000 on each player is enough for them to fully buyout for one round. This number can vary however, mostly based on what weapon they want to buy. For example, the AWP, a one shot kill sniper rifle, costs $4,750, full body and head armor costs $1,000, and a full loadout of grenades costs around $1,000. This means that if a player wishes to buyout fully with an AWP, they will need a total of about $7,000 at the beginning of a round. It should also be noted that, if you survive a round, all of the gear that you are carrying (gun, grenades, armor, etc.) is brought into the next round. This is important because it means that if a team happens to win multiple rounds in a row, they will often not have to invest large amounts of money on each round. This is when teams can build a strong economy, by having an excess amount of money “in the bank”, allowing them to sustain more losses without too much economic damage.

At the beginning of each half each player is given $800, which is enough to buy body armor ($650) or a pistol ($300-$700), but not both. In general, most players simply buy body armor and then use the pistol that is automatically given to you at the beginning of each round. Because of this, this round is known as a “Pistol Round”. If a team wins the pistol round, they will often begin the game 3 rounds to 0 because the opposing team won’t have enough money to buy fully until the fourth round.

If a team feels that they cannot buy enough equipment to win a round, they might perform what is called a “save round” or an “eco round”. This usually occurs when each of the five players on the team have $3,000 dollars or less. This is usually the case when a team loses a round after expending a majority of their money on said round. It is called a save round because no one buys anything substantial in order to “save” their money until next round, when they will have enough to buy fully. Although these rounds are often lost, sometimes a team can miraculously win a save round which swings the momentum and often puts the opposing team on a save round of their own. Alternatively, some teams choose to perform what is called a “force-buy”. This is when they are lacking the funds to fully buy equipment, but decide to buy whatever they can; usually just a pistol or SMG, body armor, and a few grenades.

This Economy system is unique to Counter-Strike when it comes to competitive First Person Shooters. Often the team that wins the match is the team that manages their economy the most effectively.

Counter-Strike is often considered one of the most difficult competitive games with the highest possible skill ceiling. This is due to multiple factors, but at the most fundamental level it is due to the difficulty in mastering your aim. Unlike games like Call of Duty, you are only fully accurate in Counter-Strike if you are standing still. With all rifles, your bullets will fly off randomly if you decide to run and shoot at the same time. The same rule applies to jumping and shooting. The only guns in the game that you have any accuracy with while moving are the pistols and the Sub-Machine guns. This is balanced, however, by the large damage penalty against armored opponents. The importance of aim is further emphasized when you consider the large damage multiplier applied when you land a headshot. Guns like the AK-47 and the Desert Eagle are one-shot headshots whether the opponent has head armor or not, at any range.

On top of this, you must learn to manage the recoil of your gun. Counter-Strike is unique in that the crosshair in the center of your screen only indicates where your first shot will land, assuming you are standing still. After that, if you hold down the trigger, you will have to compensate by pulling your reticle downwards as your bullets stray upwards. The recoil is not exclusively vertical either. Your bullets will also stray left and right. If there is one redeeming factor, it is that the “spray pattern” is the same every time you hold down the trigger. So if you learn the spray pattern and learn how to negate it using your mouse movement, you will be able to control your spray. Yet another skill that professional players have been mastering for years.

Below is an example of a spray pattern for the go-to Terrorist side rifle, the AK-47. On the left you will see the pattern of the bullets as you pull the trigger without any mouse movement. On the right you will see the required movement of your mouse to counter the spray pattern, therefore making your bullets land in relatively the same spot.

Due to the difficulty in mastering your aim, you will often find that most of the professional players today have been playing Counter-Strike, honing their skills, for more than 10 years. One pro player specifically, often known as “The Headshot Machine” is the Belgian player Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom who currently plays for Team Titan. ScreaM has a miraculous 70.9% headshot percentage in official matches, meaning that 70.9% of all the kills ScreaM lands are due to a headshot. Most professional players average anywhere from 45-50% and most amateur, non-professional players average 30-35%. Below is a 1o minute video showcasing ScreaM’s incredible aiming ability.

At the highest level, each of the 5 players in a professional team has a designated “role” during the game. Below I will list the 5 roles that is included in most professional teams.

In-game leader: This player is the strategic mastermind in each team. He coordinates his players throughout the round and formulates strategies against certain teams based on what he sees from watching replays. At the beginning of each Terrorist side round, the in-game leader will call a strategy to execute, much like a “play-call” in basketball or football. This person is also responsible for deciding whether their team should execute a save round or force buy.

Designated AWPer: As I mentioned before, the AWP is a one shot kill sniper rifle that is very effective at defending or aggressively peeking angles. The designated AWPer is extremely skilled at using this weapon and utilizes long range firefights to eliminate enemies quickly.

Entry-Fragger: The entry-fragger is exactly what it sounds like. A frag in Counter-Strike is simply scoring a kill on an enemy player. So on the Terrorist side, the entry-fragger enters a bomb site and tries to split open the defense by getting at least one kill on a defending Counter-Terrorist. Great timing, reaction time, and aim is required to be effective in this role.

Lurker: The lurker is a Terrorist side role where a player is often split up from the rest of his team trying to catch the enemy team off guard. For example, if a team is planning on taking over the B bomb site, the lurker will often hide near the A bomb site to score a kill or two while the Counter-Terrorists are rotating to the B bomb site.

Support: The support player simply supports the other players. You will often see the support player throw smoke grenades to block the view of Counter-Terrorists or throw flashbangs in order to aid the Entry-Fragger in getting the initial kill.

Below I’ve included a video of players on Cloud9, a professional North American Counter-Strike team, discussing their in game roles. The whole video is in a documentary format and I encourage you to watch the entire thing, but I have begun the video at the time stamp relative to this aspect of Counter-Strike.

Depending on how well a team works together and how well they are able to execute strategies will largely decide how well they do. Professional players often talk about how team cohesion is more important than individual skill. More than once in the history of professional play has a player been kicked from a team for lacking teamwork abilities. Even if a player has exceptional technical ability, most would prefer a teammate that is more compatible with the other 4 players of the team.

Why You Should Play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

If you’re competitive, if you like a challenge, and if you enjoy the gratification of improving at something difficult, Counter-Strike is the perfect game for you. The biggest turn off that I’ve found new players have when playing Counter-Strike for the first time is the steep learning curve. There is undoubtedly a lot to learn and everyone is very bad at the game when they first play it, but I have been playing for 2 years and I have improved dramatically since the first time that I played the game. All it takes is a few hours of aim training every week and you’ll be competitive in no time. The other skills, like game sense, strategy, and teamwork will all come by simply playing competitively.

Counter-Strike is the most gratifying, fun, aggravating, and satisfying game that I have ever played all at the same time. There is a reason that this game is quickly becoming the most popular competitive shooter of all time. If you find this game interesting and want to try it out, it is only $15 dollars on Steam and it is often on sale for 50% off. If you want to compete at a high level, buy the game today. You won’t regret it.

Lastly, I have included a fascinating documentary that follows the ups and downs of the Swedish team Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) as they fight their way through a massive $250,000 tournament in Cologne, Germany during late 2014. This video gives a great insight into what it takes to compete at the highest level of Counter-Strike.

Thank you for reading!