Recently the CPL switched its game-of-choice for tournaments from the Quake series (which was the soul of the CPL) to Counter-Strike. The shift from a full-fledged, professionally produced FPS to a grassroots Half-Life modification caused serious uproar in the Quake community. In response to these changes, bl4z3r over at 3DAP slapped up his two cents on the issue, providing his thoughts after the recent CPL tournament in Dallas. Here's some sugar from it:
It's a decent read, critiquing Valve's multicast spectator technology, gameplay issues, and the usual "newbie" comments. Unfortunately, I don't see any validity in grouping new CS players into the same category as CPL players. Anyone can deduce that there's obviously going to be some learning curve to a game, regardless of what you play. Anyway, those interested can read the whole write-up.Also, the majority of Quake competitions are the 1 vs. 1 format, which makes your eventual standing and prize-winning dependant on only your own skill, and your skill only. It gives that boxing match person against person feel. In Counter-Strike, the team aspect helps newer players, because there are people to watch their back. But this detracts from the elite professional player's game, as part of their game strategy will be to protect their weakest link.