Dota 2
CS2
We spend our days immersed in Counter-Strike. We watch the rounds unfold, track the stats, and chase the stories. It's easy to forget, in the rush of deadlines and tournament cycles, why we fell in love with the game in the first place.
So we asked ourselves: when was the last time we genuinely said thank you?
Our editors put down the notebooks, stepped away from the spreadsheets, and wrote from somewhere deeper. Somewhere that doesn't fit into a headline.
Dear Counter-Strike,
Before I met you, I was lost. I was a rudderless ship in a sea of dead-end jobs, 9-5s and more pertinently, the all-encompassing ennui that many in esports know all too well.
I had skills, but nowhere to hone them. I had interests, but none that would let me chase them for a career. I had ideas, but no passion. All I had was a circle of friends, a broken heart and the best game of all time: CSGO.
Were it not for you, only the Lord knows where I might have ended up. My father works a job he hates to go home and play games, and perhaps that would have been me; instead, I am working a job in the game I love, to go home and… well, play games.
I have made lifelong friends, formed ill-fated relationships, made memories, and lost countless hours to Counter-Strike, and I wouldn’t change any of it. Well, maybe the relationships. You have given me a job, a purpose, a drive I did not have before. It has allowed me to live a life that was the envy of my friends and family.
Without Counter-Strike, I would not have been able to start a family of my own. Those who do not live in this world think it’s about the virtual world, and escaping the real world; au contraire, CS has given me more in the real world than anything or anyone else. You may not be real, but what you have gifted me most certainly is. I have seen parts of the world I never thought I would to watch people play a game.
Do you ever think about how insane that is?
I have a family, a roof over my head, hot meals and a Steam account full of indie games I’ll play a couple of times and never again. What else could a man want? Thank you, Counter-Strike. 7000 hours well spent.
With love,
Elliott "aizyesque" Griffiths
- Read also: To Dota 2, with love!
Dear Counter-Strike,
I loaded into my first competitive matchmaking game with zero skill and even less ambition. Honestly, I didn’t even find it fun. The only reason I hit ‘download’ was because my friend showed me her skin collection during a school lunch break, and I was eager to impress my thirteen-year-old peers. So I gave it a shot, hopped in a Discord voice call, and stumbled through the trivialities of being a newcomer.
Where am I? How do I buy? What do I buy? This P90 thing seems to work.
My computer was a family computer. More like a glorified toaster; great at overheating, not good at staying above 10 FPS. I remained hard stuck in gold nova for the next few years, studying WarOwl videos instead of revising for my GCSEs. It wasn’t until university that I finally had the money to afford my first real gaming machine, when I started playing in the UK’s national student esports leagues. Then I finally understood.
Competition opened up so many more doors than I ever could have imagined. Some of my closest friends were made by grinding FACEIT matches until the sun rose, during the pandemic. Being part of a community that pushes you to get better every day carried me through the toughest, darkest, and loneliest periods. 8000 hours and 2500 ELO later, I am ever grateful that teenage me latched onto this game.
Before you, I had never left my little fishing village in the South-West of England.
With you, I’ve travelled to three different continents and countless more countries, started working my first ever job, and pulled myself above the poverty line. After you, I… who am I kidding? I’ll still be losing triple overtime games in the retirement home.
Eternally yours,
That one stats guy on X.com,
Sam "LuzRaposa" Carder