Finding the best CSGO gambling sites in 2019 is not that easy. CSGO gambling has had a chequered past to say the least, with many sites being shut down and penalised because of illegal activity.
There is clearly a demand among some Counter-Strike lovers to bet on their favourite game but for the sector to be sustainable long-term, CSGO gambling sites must comply with the laws - primarily for the safety and security of esports fans but also for the sake of themselves.
In the latest dev stream they had some comments about plans for CA and CTF. We've been loud and clear about CTF, so I figured why not have a poll about how we feel about CA :)
When: 28 Jan 2018, 10:00 CDT MapPool: Blood Covenant, Blood Run, Corrupted Keep, Ruins of Sarnath, Vale of Pnath Mapchoice -
BO3: The first map in the best of 3 series will be pre-determined prior to bracket completion. The player that loses the first or second map will choose next map.
BO1:The map will be pre-determined prior to bracket completion.
You cannot pick the same map during one round. All the maps should be different during the match.
1st map per rounds (WB and LB):
1st round Blood Covenant, 2nd round Blood Run, 3rd round Corrupted Keep, 4th round Ruins of Sarnath, 5th round ValeofPnath, 6th round Blood Covenant etc etc PrizePool: 1st 3000 RUB Rules:Full Double Elimination, Winner Bracket: BO1 till the quarter final (1/4), BO3 WB 1/4, WB semi, WB final and Grandfinal (two BO3 if it will be needed); Low Bracket: BO1 all matches (including LB final).
With the release of CPMA 1.50, I have also been working on a project to preserve the history of Challenge Promode.
I have created a twitch channel that runs user submitted demos throughout the day, ran from a list of demos that can be found at arcticrevr.us. Users can queue up individual demos from a bot in chat, and in the future this channel will also be used to rerun entire events in order.
You can see the code that makes this possible on Github
Edited by ArcticRevrus at 13:45 CST, 24 January 2018 - 6970 Hits
Posted by Thorin @ 15:32 CST, 22 January 2018 - iMsg
In the 129th episode of my "Reflections" series I interviewed Christian "GitzZz" Höck, legendary Unreal Tournament dueller and multiple time champion (WCG 2001, WCG 2002 and ESWC 2003).
GitzZz talks about his world championship campaigns, his rivalries with players like Lauke and Burnie, the 'what if' matches that never happened vs. destrukt and FATAL1TY and even the present of Unreal esports.
Posted by doz3r @ 16:10 CST, 18 January 2018 - iMsg
The 2nd round looks like this:
Monday 22/01/18 14:00 CDT
Div1 KogdaKvad vs Deliberate Murder
Tuesday 23/01/18 14:00 CDT
Div2 Pandæmonium vs Zombei#1reschedule
Div2 pillZ vs Zombei#2
Div2 lemmings vs Platige Team
Div2 Team #263 vs Cyberfight
Div2 Zombei#2 vs Team #263@ 21:00 CET
Wednesday 24/01/18 14:00 CDT
Div1 Rekt vs Oldschool
Div3 MINUS vs 2Catzwildcard by minus
Div3 The Shadow Killers vs Virtual Ownerswildcard by TSK
Div3 Multum Damnum vs yhy
Thursday 25/01/18 14:00 CDT
Div1 KOMANDA BRO vs PP
When: 14 Jan 2018, 10:00 CDT MapPool: Blood Covenant, Blood Run, Corrupted Keep, Ruins of Sarnath, Vale of Pnath Mapchoice -
BO3: The first map in the best of 3 series will be pre-determined prior to bracket completion. The player that loses the first or second map will choose next map.
BO1:The map will be pre-determined prior to bracket completion.
You cannot pick the same map during one round. All the maps should be different during the match.
1st map per rounds (WB and LB):
1st round Blood Covenant, 2nd round Blood Run, 3rd round Corrupted Keep, 4th round Ruins of Sarnath, 5th round ValeofPnath, 6th round Blood Covenant etc etc PrizePool: 1st 3000 RUB Rules:Full Double Elimination, Winner Bracket: BO1 till the quarter final (1/4), BO3 WB 1/4, WB semi, WB final and Grandfinal (two BO3 if it will be needed); Low Bracket: BO1 all matches (including LB final).
Posted by goulox @ 14:59 CST, 11 January 2018 - iMsg
The first rotation of the Reflex Monthly Cups has been completed and showcased some of the best competitive Reflex has to offer. A big thank you to all the RMC staff, casters, and to all the participants who made these tournaments possible.
See you all next time.
Reflex Monthly Cups is looking for more volunteers!
We Need :
- A Twitch VOD uploader/RMC youtube account manager
- Another Public Relations member who can advertise the cups on discord and other sites and platforms
- 2 to 4 additional tournament admins, especially those who can be available at NA cup times
If you are interested in any of these roles, please contact @DazedSpartan on discord. Thanks!
Edited by goulox at 16:04 CST, 12 January 2018 - 9628 Hits
TimConLAN is a community driven Arena FPS LAN party located in Liverpool, England. What started as a small get together between five friends has grown into a four day gaming event attracting players from across the UK and neighbouring European countries.
Here’s a brief taste of TimCon 3, courtesy of Demsix. As well as his day three timelapse.
We have 20 PCs available for rental each day. The cost is £35 PER PC, per day (up to two people can share one PC) making for a total of £122.50 (£17.50 for the half-day) should you attend for the full duration. You cannot bring your own PC. If you’re in the area and want to hang out, entrance to the viewing area is free.
As for payment there is a £20 deposit charge in order to secure your place on the reserve list below. This money will go towards your pc rental, of which you can pay when you arrive in person. IF YOU CANCEL BEFORE 22nd MARCH this deposit charge will be refunded in full. If you cancel AFTER this date your deposit will be added to the prize pool.
Attendees may send their deposit via PayPal to horizonliverpool@gmail.com, please mention timconlan and provide your discord username or in-game username as well as your real name with your payment message. When you send your deposit make sure you choose 'Send money to friends and family' rather than 'Pay for goods or services'.
While you’re welcome to bring peripherals of your own, those too are on offer for no added cost (Logitech G502 mice, G810 keyboards and G640 headsets). Players can also feel free to bring any HUD/config files they may need.
Anyone who would like to donate to TimConLan prize pools can do so by sending donations via PayPal to crazyal90@gmail.com Please specify your name and how you would like us to use your donation. Thank you.
Posted by doz3r @ 00:19 CST, 8 January 2018 - iMsg
The 1st round looks like this:
Monday 15/01/18 14:00 CDT
Div1 Deliberate Murder vs PP
Tuesday 16/01/18 14:00 CDT
Div2 pillZ vs Pandæmonium
Div2 Zombei#1 vs lemmingswildcard by lemmings
Div2 Zombei#2 vs Team #263reschedule
Div2 Platige Team vs Cyberfightwildcard by c58
Wednesday 17/01/18 14:00 CDT
Div3 yhy vs The Shadow Killers
Div3 Virtual Owners vs 2Catz
Thursday 18/01/18 14:00 CDT
Div1 Oldschool vs KogdaKvad
Div1 TEAM TUNGASTE vs KOMANDA BRO@ 19:00 CET
Div3 cccp-gaming vs MINUS
Posted by xero- @ 13:41 CST, 7 January 2018 - iMsg
After a lengthy hiatus in terms of development CPMA and CNQ3 have both received major updates, which are now live. CPMA (the mod) moves up to version 1.50, and CNQ3 (the engine), moves up to version 1.49. These updates have been made with the goal of improving the experience for both veterans and beginners alike without compromising what the core values of the game. With that said, the expectations for these updates were to: fix existing bugs, improve existing features, and introduce new quality-of-life features.
This update also marks a significant shift in the staff as myT takes over the lead programmer role from qrealka / arQon, assisted by Terifire, df providing art, ix on design, and Fjoggs in operations/support. Before we get started, I think it's important to iterate that there are no game play changes.
Even though the team has been thorough in their attempt to identify bugs, we do not expect that this release is bug-free, and as such request players to submit any bugs they encounter via commenting in this thread. Please identify your hardware, and the bug, including how it can be recreated.
To play CPMA you will need the mod files and ideally CNQ3. CNQ3 is a free improved executable (engine) for running Quake III Arena on Windows and Linux. It is the official engine for CPMA. It is not necessary, but highly recommended when available for your platform.
add: new SuperHUD element: MultiView. the element is only visible when following a player full-screen with multi-view enabled add: new SuperHUD command: visflags <bitmask>
• 1 - enable when following a player "full-screen"
• 2 - enable in free-float camera view
• 4 - enable in coach view add: forfeit support and persistent scoreboards for duel (1v1 and HM). a duel game is forfeited if a player voluntarily leaves the match early (/team f, /disconnect). add: the scoreboard's spectator list now indicates who is speconly (S) and referee (R) add: new default SuperHUD config and new key textures (thanks df). add: hud_takeScreenshots takes a screenshot for each SuperHUD config at the root of the "hud" directory. screenshots will be .jpg files if cg_useScreenShotJPEG is 1 and .tga otherwise with compatible engines, the console will be hidden automatically. add: cg_drawBrightWeapons <bitmask> (default: 0) for fullbright weapon models:
• 1 - first-person, your own gun.
• 2 - first-person, carried by teammates.
• 4 - first-person, carried by enemies.
• 8 - weapons lying on the map.
• 16 - free-float camera, carried by players.
add: fullbright player models (e.g. "keel/fb" for fullbright keel). add: ui_sensitivity <0.0 to 100.0> (default: 1) is the mouse sensitivity in the UI. add: cg_mvSensitivity <0.0 to 100.0> (default: 1) is the mouse sensitivity in the live multi-view UI. this is only used with engines that don't have the cgame input forwarding extension during demo playback, ui_sensitivity is used instead. add: ch_consoleLines <1 to 64> (default: 3) is the max. line count shown by the 'Console' element add: server_useMapModes <0|1> (default: 1) enables game mode overrides on map loads, cfg-maps/mapmodes.txt is used to populate the "Create Server" UI and select suitable game modes on server map loads. for all the details, see the top of the file itself. add: with compatible engines, drop and disconnect errors will be displayed in the UI. add: notify compatible engines of match starts you've missed (see "/help cl_matchAlerts" in CNQ3). add: with compatible engines, end-game screenshots will hide the console. add: support for the new help and cvar range extensions from compatible engines. add: drawing movement keys for yourself and other players:
• new SuperHUD elements: KeyDown/Up_<key>, where key is one of Back/Forward/Jump/Crouch/Left/Right example: the SuperHUD element KeyDown_Jump is only displayed when the jump key is pressed. add: ch_drawKeys <bitmask> (default: 0) to enable/disable the new KeyDown/Up_<key> SuperHUD elements
• 1 - when you're playing.
• 2 - when you're following another player.
• 4 - during demo playback (won't work with pre-1.50 demos). add: new force colors/model options for team games:
• cg_redTeamColors <CHBLS> (default: "cccab") to specify the color codes of players in the red team.
• cg_blueTeamColors <CHBLS> (default: "mmmpo") to specify the color codes or players in the blue team.
• CHBLS colors: rail Core, Head, Body, Legs, rail Spiral (like cg_enemyColors).
• cg_forceTeamColors <bitmask> (default: 15) to decide when cg_red/blueTeamColors are used:
[list]
• 1 - enable for your own team when in first person.
• 2 - enable for the enemy team when in first person.
• 4 - enable when in free-float camera mode.
• 8 - only enable for game types with flags.
• cg_teamModel <model> (default: "sarge/pm") to specify the model all your teammates should be using.
• cg_forceTeamModel <0|1> (default: 0) to decide if your teammates use the model specified by cg_teamModel. add: specdefer [N] command to move down the spectator queue N levels (default: 1). add: overtime duration callvote in seconds with "od" or "overtimeduration" (min: 30, max: 300). add: cg_autoAction option 128 to record when joining mid-game or during the countdown this requires option 4 to be set as well. add: colored spawn points rendering in CTF and NTF, initial spawns are not animated. add: cg_drawBrightSpawns <0|1> (default: 0) for making the spawn learning process easier. add: cg_zoomAnimationTime <0 to 500> (default: 150) sets the zoom animation duration in milliseconds.
Changes:
chg: DEV gameplay reset to what it was before 1.48. chg: Multi-View tweaks and fixes:
• added auto-completion for /mv (an alias of /viewall).
• fixed the PiP images not stretching up to the rectangle's edges.
• enabled MV for DA and disabled MV for FFA.
• disabled the MV cursor in non team modes.
• fixed all SuperHUD elements being drawn in coach view.
• coach view now respects ch_gauntlet. chg: renamed OSP's /help to /osphelp. chg: improved the map download UI and fixed the incorrect progress percentages. chg: improved the SuperHUD warning messages. chg: raised the com_maxfps cap to 250. chg: "Add Bots" and "Remove Bots" menu tweaks:
• fixed "Skill" and "Team" not displaying the current value.
• added selected bot highlighting and mouse wheel support. chg: "Game Settings" menu tweaks:
• fixed the "Game Mode" displayed being wrong for some modes.
• added display of the current "Overtime Mode" and a new entry for "Overtime Duration".
• fixed the display of "Game Mode", "Gameplay", "InstaGib", "thrufloors" and "Overtime Mode" in their submenus. chg: removed the "Team Orders" menu. chg: cg_autoAction screenshots and stats files now use the same file name as the demo. chg: votes can neither be called nor pass during intermission. chg: follow, follownext and followprev will no longer move you to the spectator team when you're not. chg: cg_deferPlayers 1 only applies during matches and pre-match countdowns. chg: invalid characters in cg_altLightning don't disable the LG beam anymore. chg: invalid s_announcer values will mute it instead of playing placeholder sounds with some engines. chg: cg_simpleItems <0|1> (default: 0) is a 0/1 cvar again (i.e. item scaling is now disabled).
Fixes: fix: the "Chat1-8" SuperHUD elements now behave the same as "Console" wrt con_notifytime and cl_noprint. fix: the map selection UI would show maps from .arena files even though the .bsp files were missing. fix: scores and names can no longer overlap in the 1v1 scoreboard. fix: FFA and DA matches would start while the 2nd player was still connecting. fix: the 'Console' SuperHUD element would not always draw all the lines in its rectangle. fix: cv'ing a map script when the required .bsp is missing will no longer make the next map load use it example: when hub3aeroq3a.bsp was missing, "cv map !cpm22a" followed by "cv map anymap" would mean "anymap" was getting loaded with the cpm22a.map item layout. fix: clearing the ready status of all players when a match begins in a round-based game mode. fix: cgame wasn't unregistering commands during shutdown. fix: squashed the "specbugs" that were introduced thanks to ioq3 servers:
• 1. Spec queue bug: a player going spec after you gets to play before you.
• 2. Spec follow bug: toggling follow/free-float mode with +attack doesn't work. fix: choppy animations when the server time is a large value:
• underwater FOV, 3D elements in the HUD and scoreboards, weapon drift, sine trajectories. fix: the game mode under the level shot in the "game server" menu wasn't shown for HM and NTF. fix: the credits now respect s_musicVolume. fix: the team overlay was sometimes visible for spectators. fix: multi-view mouse input sensitivity is now the same as in the UI with compatible engines. fix: the player name look-up behavior of follow, cstats, cv remove/kick/referee/unreferee, ... if 2 players had the same name, it would just pick the first one (lowest client number). fix: the CTFS match durations in the XML stats files were incorrect. fix: sometimes, stats and screenshots were not saved during the intermission. fix: /team free/red/blue would make you go spec in non-team modes. fix: the server would sometimes not send global events (flag taken/returned/captured, obituaries, etc). fix: the UI wasn't centered properly with display aspect ratios less than 4:3. fix: demo recording start/stop bugs:
• demo recording not starting in FFA.
• demo recording not starting in team games with bots.
• demo recording not stopping when going back to warm-up.
• demo recording not stopping when map/restart/mode/gameplay/match votes pass.
• demo recording and announcer not stopping when a countdown was interrupted (e.g., a duel player got kicked). fix: no longer need to use +scores to get the scoreboard data when connecting during an intermission. fix: slow-sinking/raising free-floating spectator camera movement. fix: the zoom-out animation's start would abruptly change the fov. fix: always load the map config after a game type vote passes example: cv map cpm24 followed by cv mode 1v1 was resetting the weapon respawn to 15s. fix: voting maps whose names start with a digit is working now example: cv map 13void. fix: when a map is callvoted, its name is fixed to use the case of the actual file name Linux servers can then load the map script (case sensitive file systems) and demo files have proper names example: cv map CPM24 will not get incorrectly stuck on weapon respawn 15 on Linux servers anymore.
Little (but important) changes...
There are a couple of smaller changes which should be noted off the bat as slightly alter some older conventions. These are all fairly innocuous changes in both the engine and the mod but it is important to highlight them as they are potentially impactful shifts. Please note that I have arranged them below for both engine and mod:
• CNQ3 does not write to q3config.cfg on exit. Use /writeconfig manually to save to a file.
• /sensitivity is gone and is now replaced by m_speed.
• r_mode works differently.
• r_width replaces r_customwidth and r_height replaces r_customheight.
• r_brightness replaces r_overBrightBits.
• r_mapBrightness replaces r_mapOverBrightBits.
• cl_allowDownload 1 doesn't use the original (super slow) download system.
• Lower latency input.
• com_maxfps has been increased to 250.
• Fullbright models are enabled using cg_enemymodel model/fb.
• Fullbright weapons are manipulated using cg_drawBrightWeapons.
• Persistent team colors are manipulated using cg_forceTeamColors.
Bigger (significant) changes
Below are some of the bigger additions and updates in the current patch. These updates -- which sadly do not include loot boxes, cosmetics or pay-to-win features, constitute one of the heftier updates in Promode history in terms of features and fixes. These updates will significantly improve the experience of getting into the game and provide a veterans with a slew of quality-of-life improvements. As always, all of these settings can be turned-off if players do not wish to use them.
One on the major issues with playing Quake 3 in 2017 is the constant fiddling with configs, settings and stuff... There isn't something groundbreaking in this update that will change that however there are some common sense updates which have been introduced. This update comes with a sensible default config and a decent HUD which look good and are functional. Players who haven't played in a long time, or ever, can now get into the game quicker than before and only have to worry about the more typical issues such as movement and weapon binds.
Quake players spend a lot of time in the console and the vanilla Quake 3 console is barren and hostile, not giving players much help. As a result one of the major areas of improvement is an updated console which now comes with will full color customizability, tab completion, variable information text, as well as a new /help <cvar> functionality, and variable help panel. This makes navigating through the various variables a much smoother and simpler experience.
Another issue which continues to be a challenge for Quake 3 (and all Quakes to be honest) is the continued color mess. With the current settings it doesn't matter if you're on the red team or the blue team, the enemy will always appear "green" and friendly units to whatever you've set it to. This can make following games for example difficult as it's not always clear which team you're following. This update will introduce persistent team colors via the cg_forceTeamColors cvar and this will allow players to permanently set the colors of players on the blue team and the red team to whatever they choose. This will provide better consistency in terms of following the game as well as playing for some. We have of course included some sensible defaults but players can play with the settings with the below bitmasks.
cg_forceTeamColors <bitmask> (default: 15) to decide when cg_red/blueTeamColors are used:
1 - enable for your own team when in first person.
2 - enable for the enemy team when in first person.
4 - enable when in free-float camera mode.
8 - only enable for game types with flags.
In the image below Sarge will appear blue to itself, from Keel's perspective, and from the spectator's perspective.
As a niche community we sometimes have very niche demands. One of those was fullbrights. Fullbrights are in. Fullbright weapons. Fullbright player models. This update now introduces fullbright everything. This should help with visibility for the people who are almost blind.
Speaking of visibility and brightness, this update also includes a neat feature called brightspawns which better highlights the spawn placements of maps, and adds the appropriate team coloring to spawns in team modes with team specific spawns (CTF, NTF).
Bugs & Fixes
As mentioned in the introduction, the aim of this update has been to improve the playing experience for veterans and beginners alike. A large portion of this means discovering, reproducing, and finally fixing bugs, or taking existing processes and improving them. Thanks myT, Terifire and the various testers, lots of bugs have been finally removed from the game including the infamous spec bug, global events missing (e.g. flag pick-ups and frag messages being missed) bug, etc... From the length of the change log I think it's clear a lot of small to large sized bugs have squashed and this means a better player experience.
Bug Reports: Please report any bugs you find in CPMA 1.50 in the comments section of this post.
Website & Guides for guides (for guides)
A major part of this CPMA update has also been to update the existing CPMA homepage and accompanying documentation. For a long time, finding solutions to simple problems went wading through various, poorly formatted, and out of date, .txt files. Now, you can head over to www.playmorepromode.com and have immediate access to current documentation for pretty much every variable, sorted in orderly fashion. We have big(ger) things planned for the website set in 2018 but for now this should serve as a good knowledge base.
These days, lots of new things are popping up from their niche status and into the mainstream. The best example of that in 2017 is Bitcoin. Up until this past year, Bitcoin was nothing more than “magic internet money”, as even some of its own community called it, but during 2017 it had soared in popularity almost as fast as its value did.
But that’s money, and money does make the world go ‘round. Let’s talk sports, or “sports” - depends on where you stand.
Another field that was testing the niche-mainstream border in 2017 was esports - or Esports, or eSports, or e-sports… the list goes on and on. We’ll use “esports”, and capitalize the E when needed, following Paul “Redeye” Chaloner’s rule of the word, as he explained during this live broadcast (he’s very passionate, so the clip does contain some inappropriate words - you have been warned): (embeds don't work here)
If we take a look at the Wikipedia page for esports, it is defined as “a form of competition using video games.” Just like sports, esports is organized into different types of games. Instead of soccer, hockey, and basketball, however, they are mainly First-Person Shooters (FPS), Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs), and Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games. FPS games include Quake and Counter-Strike, MOBAs include League of Legends and DotA 2, and RTS games include StarCraft II. Just like in traditional sports, players are not referenced by their first name. Unlike traditional sports, however, players are named using their chosen nickname in the game and not their last name - with me being Yotam “Tech” Cohen, for example.
In this piece, the FPS field will be overviewed, with Quake as a case study.
I ask you to come into this with an open mind, especially if you’re a traditional sports fanatic, as this is not an easy topic for some (“Video games are not a sport” people, keep that down please).
Ready? Onto our subject.
Let’s Talk Business - Quick Maths
If you played video games growing up, you know the fun and thrill that comes with it. The reflexes, the challenge, the talk with your friends about it... Little did you know that in the future, people were going to play video games for lots of real prize money.
To put esports’ size in perspective, the biggest prize pool to date - at the time of writing - was the DotA 2 International 2017, where the general pool exceeded $25 million and the winners, Team Liquid, took home a very fair share - $10.6 million. But here’s the real kicker: that money isn’t even 4% of the total revenue of the esports industry in the past year (again, at the time of writing).
In 2017, according to statistics website Statista, esports had generated about $696 million in revenue, with the audience size being around 385 million people around the world. In just two years, esports has more than doubled its revenue - and it’s expected to grow to over $1.4 billion in 2020 - again doubling its value in about 3 years.
Quake: The One that Started it All
If you owned a computer as a kid during the late 1990s, there’s a pretty fair chance you’ve heard about Quake. Quake is a fast-paced, brutal shooting game that puts your reaction time, coordination, quick thinking and decision-making skills to the ultimate test by pitting you against other players in a big, tall arena (hence it’s more specific genre name: Arena Shooter).
Due to its simple but fast, competitive nature, Quake shaped esports as it is today by being one of the first, with tournaments still ongoing. Its biggest event each year is QuakeCon, which is organized by Bethesda, the company developing the game. Quake as an esport isn’t huge, with the biggest player in the field currently being Counter-Strike, but it is one of the longest-running ones, running all the way back to 1996.
General Rules of a Quake Tournament
Quake’s biggest tournament is “Duel” - one versus one, time-limited combat. When a timer of 10 minutes runs out, the player who killed his opponent more times wins. Each player starts (or “spawns”) with only a machine gun and 100 points of health (HP). Items, such as the Mega Health (“Mega” for short) and the Red Armor, can refill and/or overfill your health or armor points over 100, and more powerful weapons and ammo are scattered around each arena. Armor takes two-thirds of incoming damage and is a must-have item in order to stay alive. When your HP reaches 0, you die. Items can greatly increase your chances of staying alive and killing your opponent - so make sure you know where they are located in each arena and take notes on their timing - especially the two key items mentioned earlier.
A match of Quake is played on a “map” - the setting. Each map has its different structure, item locations, and features, such as teleporters - instantaneous travel to another part of the map - and jump pads, which are like powerful trampolines.
Since a game can be as short as 10 minutes, competitive tournament rulesets extend that using a best-of-X format (or BOX). A professional match and the Grand Final of a tournament are usually a BO3 and a BO5, respectively. To decide the maps of each game in a series, players are given a standard list of maps. Each player then bans a map from the match, and then each picks a map. This repeats until the map slots for the game are filled, with the last map usually being a decider remaining after all other maps have been picked or banned.
As you can see, esports isn’t mindless entertainment. It’s a cutthroat, tough competition with lots of mental note-taking, quick reactions, coordination between eyes and each hand and educated inferences on your opponent’s state. Some people don’t include esports as a sport just because it doesn’t involve intense physical activity, but that definition can cripple some popular sports in existence today. For example, archery is an Olympic sport - and the most physical activity done is pulling a string and walking to get arrows back. In fact, archery has more in common with esports than it seems: they both rely on subtle motor skills of the hands and arms, and both require lots of quick thinking - as explained by Assistant Professor of Physical Education Seth Jenny in the following video, posted by ELEAGUE on twitter:
Other sports that break the definition include poker, which is broadcasted on ESPN, golf and shooting - also Olympic sports.
A Professional Example
Now that you’ve learned most of Quake’s - and esports’ - basics, let’s watch an example. This particular one is the Grand Final of the QuakeCon 2016 Duel Championship, where the American Shane “rapha” Hendrixson played against the Russian Sergey “evil” Orekhov in one of the most intense matches ever played live, and - coincidentally - also the last Duel match of the main QuakeCon championships being played on Quake Live, with Quake Champions’ early version replacing it in 2017’s tournament. The game is casted in part by Daniel “ddk” Kapadia, one of the most famous esports casters to date. If you have an hour to spare, I cannot recommend this match enough. It is chock-full of impressive moments of precise aim, tactical thinking, and quick decisions. The winner - I won’t spoil this greatness for you - takes $12,000 home.
If you’d like to try Quake yourself, Quake Live is currently at a price of $10, but Quake Champions will be free to play when it comes out. You can also buy the full version of Champions, which also gives immediate early access to the game. At the time of writing, Bethesda has yet to provide a release date for the first full version of Quake Champions.
A Conclusion - and Personal Thanks
Congratulations, you are now educated on the basics of Quake and, consequently, esports as a whole. If you thought Quake was big - it’s only a small fish in a bigger pond than it started in. Games like Counter-Strike and League of Legends attract millions of viewers every event, with organized teams, companies, and investors all creating a new genre of what we call “sports”. In the future - and even today - moms might want to reconsider telling their children to stop playing video games.
In general FPS esports news, a huge Counter-Strike event is coming up soon - a Major one, some might say (the event is classified as a Major by the developing company, Valve). I might write a piece about an overview of Counter-Strike before the tournament starts, if you, the reader, and others want it.
Thank you for reading my very first piece! I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to try my hand at esports journalism, and this website gave me a good starting point. If you’d like to see more of this content and/or have suggestions, you can leave a comment or email me at "thetechnixian (at) gmail (dot) com".
125 FPS, 
zLive, 
Christian "GitzZz" Höck, legendary Unreal Tournament dueller and multiple time champion (WCG 2001, WCG 2002 and ESWC 2003).
Lauke and 
destrukt and 
Thooorin
Pandæmonium vs 
pillZ vs 
Platige Team
Virtual Owners wildcard by TSK
Multum Damnum vs 
KOMANDA BRO vs 
102 
HoQLeagues 
HouseofQuake
bogOtac, in Quake Live duel, tdm and FFA from 2016/2017.
Horizon E-Sports Club
myT takes over the lead programmer role from 
df providing art, 
Fjoggs in operations/support. Before we get started, I think it's important to iterate that there are no game play changes.
![shaftwhores only by [EXE]dann](/files/avatars/2007/51852-shaftwhore.gif "shaftwhores only by [EXE]dann"){kind=small}
Kyto, edited by 
Vigur
rauvz - paid
mar- - £44
