"What I Miss About Counterstrike" - Blog authored by CSS legend JonMumm • Hacker News Board

Re: "What I Miss About Counterstrike" - Blog authored by CSS legend JonMumm

#11

Post by rkon » Tue, Nov 29, 2011, 11:57 PM UTC

Cliff notes: being great at something requires spending a lot of time on it.

Not exactly groundbreaking insight, and I disagree entirely with the assertion that such dedication makes one "weird". Any sane person would be jealous of someone who's so passionate about their career that they gladly dedicate signifant effort to mastering it. The fact that he chose to spend 10,000+ hours mastering Counter Strike is the "weird" part, although I'd personally love to see gaming become more accepted here as a professional sport.

Re: "What I Miss About Counterstrike" - Blog authored by CSS legend JonMumm

#12

Post by potatolicious » Wed, Nov 30, 2011, 12:00 AM UTC

cdk wrote: post #5

Thanks for the great article. Counter Strike was the game that really got me interested in programming. I got introduced to it in early 2000 and was blown away that this game was made by hobbyists who created a mod (expansion package) for Half Life which in itself was revolutionary at the time. Eventually Valve acquired Counter Strike and the rest is history. I still think fondly of the many hours spent on de_dust an…

Counter-Strike had a similar effect on me. I'd be coding since long before CS, but most were small, simple hacks.

Seeing the success of Counter-Strike, and the mod-mania of that era, got me interested in modding, where I was first exposed to the complexities (and math!) that "real" software entailed.

From there I went on to write some standalone, small games, then went deeper down the C++ rabbit hole which helped me get my first software internship. The rest is, as they say, history.

Re: "What I Miss About Counterstrike" - Blog authored by CSS legend JonMumm

#13

Post by cliftonk » Wed, Nov 30, 2011, 12:08 AM UTC

whunut wrote: post #2

Interesting. I thought this would be a critique of modern day first person shooters.

Modern day first person shooters provide an immersive, story-driven single player experience, but have gameplay that cannot make for a decent competitive platform.

Re: "What I Miss About Counterstrike" - Blog authored by CSS legend JonMumm

#14

Post by muffs » Wed, Nov 30, 2011, 12:10 AM UTC

Wow.

It's a great feeling, being the 'best' or better than the majority. I've also experienced the void created after deciding to move on. I still feel as though I'm on an endless search to find something that I can be as passionate about.

Thanks for the great read!

Re: "What I Miss About Counterstrike" - Blog authored by CSS legend JonMumm

#15

Post by trafficlight » Wed, Nov 30, 2011, 12:16 AM UTC

potatolicious wrote: post #12

cdk wrote: post #5

Thanks for the great article. Counter Strike was the game that really got me interested in programming. I got introduced to it in early 2000 and was blown away that this game was made by hobbyists who created a mod (expansion package) for Half Life which in itself was revolutionary at the time. Eventually Valve acquired Counter Strike and the rest is history. I still think fondly of the many hours spent on de_dust an…

Counter-Strike had a similar effect on me. I'd be coding since long before CS, but most were small, simple hacks. Seeing the success of Counter-Strike, and the mod-mania of that era, got me interested in modding, where I was first exposed to the complexities (and math!) that "real" software entailed. From there I went on to write some standalone, small games, then went deeper down the C++ rabbit hole which helped me…

I remember trying out tons of mods for Half Life and Quake around '99-2000. That's all but disappeared now.

Are there still active modscenes for newer games? Minecraft is the only one that really comes to mind.

Re: "What I Miss About Counterstrike" - Blog authored by CSS legend JonMumm

#16

Post by sray » Wed, Nov 30, 2011, 12:17 AM UTC

rkon wrote: post #11

Cliff notes: being great at something requires spending a lot of time on it. Not exactly groundbreaking insight, and I disagree entirely with the assertion that such dedication makes one "weird". Any sane person would be jealous of someone who's so passionate about their career that they gladly dedicate signifant effort to mastering it. The fact that he chose to spend 10,000+ hours mastering Counter Strike is the "we…

I think you're missing the point. It's not about becoming great at something. It's about being exceptional at one thing. It's about spending every moment of your life either practicing or thinking about that thing, to the detriment of everything and everyone else. It's about being possessed with the desire to be the best. And that is weird, by definition - only a small fraction of people have such dedication to one pursuit. It's not just passion - it's obsession.

And, in the end, it's the feeling you get when you've attained that level of mastery, and the hollowness you feel when you give it up to focus on a more balanced life.

Many people would be jealous of someone with such skill, but few would envy the work and the exclusionary lifestyle required to get there.

Re: "What I Miss About Counterstrike" - Blog authored by CSS legend JonMumm

#17

Post by potatolicious » Wed, Nov 30, 2011, 12:20 AM UTC

trafficlight wrote: post #15

potatolicious wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counter-Strike had a similar effect on me. I'd be coding since long before CS, but most were small, simple hacks. Seeing the success of Counter-Strike, and the mod-mania of that era, got me interested in modding, where I was first exposed to the complexities (and math!) that "real" software entailed. From there I went on to write some standalone, small games, then went deeper down the C++ rabbit hole which helped me…

I remember trying out tons of mods for Half Life and Quake around '99-2000. That's all but disappeared now. Are there still active modscenes for newer games? Minecraft is the only one that really comes to mind.

Nothing has been as easily moddable as Half-Life, with the same install-base.

I suspect there's another problem with mods today: asset production. In Half-Life's day even I could hack out a semi-passable player model in a day or two. Nowadays, producing assets for games has been made dramatically more complex. In short, you really can't find a lot of people willing to produce that quality and complexity of art for free. The size of teams required to put anything together, as a result of this, has also put a lot of things beyond a mod team's modest reaches.

I think that's why a lot of the indie excitement is around casual and "low-fi" games like Minecraft. Assets have always been a major blocker, and when you embrace the fact that you're not AAA, you have a better experience with it.

Re: "What I Miss About Counterstrike" - Blog authored by CSS legend JonMumm

#18

Post by estel » Wed, Nov 30, 2011, 12:26 AM UTC

trafficlight wrote: post #15

potatolicious wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counter-Strike had a similar effect on me. I'd be coding since long before CS, but most were small, simple hacks. Seeing the success of Counter-Strike, and the mod-mania of that era, got me interested in modding, where I was first exposed to the complexities (and math!) that "real" software entailed. From there I went on to write some standalone, small games, then went deeper down the C++ rabbit hole which helped me…

I remember trying out tons of mods for Half Life and Quake around '99-2000. That's all but disappeared now. Are there still active modscenes for newer games? Minecraft is the only one that really comes to mind.

Some games, yes. Epic foster an incredible community with their incredibly generous terms for licensing the UDK out to all. Skyrim will no doubt see a profusion of mods; the Total War games all have a healthy modding community; all Valve games are as moddable as HL2 was, given they... uhh... are still on the same engine.

Re: "What I Miss About Counterstrike" - Blog authored by CSS legend JonMumm

#19

Post by patricklynch » Wed, Nov 30, 2011, 12:30 AM UTC

trafficlight wrote: post #15

potatolicious wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counter-Strike had a similar effect on me. I'd be coding since long before CS, but most were small, simple hacks. Seeing the success of Counter-Strike, and the mod-mania of that era, got me interested in modding, where I was first exposed to the complexities (and math!) that "real" software entailed. From there I went on to write some standalone, small games, then went deeper down the C++ rabbit hole which helped me…

I remember trying out tons of mods for Half Life and Quake around '99-2000. That's all but disappeared now. Are there still active modscenes for newer games? Minecraft is the only one that really comes to mind.

There seem to be a lot of new Skyrim mods coming out every other day. Mostly cosmetic stuff, but I wouldn't be surprised to see more 'total conversion' style work soon.

I haven't really checked moddb.com since Unreal Tournament 2004 was the big online game, but it seems to be going strong.

Re: "What I Miss About Counterstrike" - Blog authored by CSS legend JonMumm

#20

Post by baby » Wed, Nov 30, 2011, 12:33 AM UTC

I think I'm also very close to those 10.000 hours in cs 1.6. I can really relate to this guy story. I don't think many people will ever experience that adrenaline you get when you're in high level competition. That is sport or esport. It's like a first girl friend, I will never experience that feeling again and that kind of makes me sad.

I know I've wasted a big part of my life playing this game, but I don't regret because of that competition feeling, that stress, that happiness when you win a tournament, that solidarity between players of the same team, the nights spend training and practicing...