Left 4 Dead is the Anti CounterStrike

I had a chance to read one particular post on the Steam forums today and it would seem that many Left 4 Dead players hold very little regard for those who choose to play the game on a competitive level.

As such, I wanted to note how much of a contrast there is between the Left 4 Dead and CounterStrike communities. In CounterStrike, player skill is everything. You're nowhere if you aren't capable of getting those headshots with the AWP ninety-nine times out of a hundred. You're a nobody, a noob, a person who should just go away and play another game. I don't think I have to spell it out any further: CounterStrike, like Halo, Day of Defeat and countless other competitive shooters is elitist and it makes no apologies for it.

Enter Left 4 Dead, a team-based shooter focusing on a close knit experience with a very small group of players. It's all about the teamwork in this game. It's true that it might not be very tactical or require much skill when it comes down to it. All you have to do is to watch your teammates' backs, cover the flanks, not run off on your own and huddle into closed quarters when you're surrounded by a horde of zombies.

Sure, it sounds easy enough for any player to do, but team work and coordination can be difficult traits to instill. And yet, unlike the CounterStrike community, most players are relaxed, easy-going and the elitist attitude is nothing more than a rare annoyance.

So what's the deal? Well, simply put, Left 4 Dead is a game that requires a lot of teamwork but not a lot of personal skill. You don't need to be a sniping pro to be good at Left 4 Dead. To be certain, such skills would help immensely, especially in Expert mode, but overall teamwork outweighs personal skill by far.

Is it such a bad thing? Absolutely not! The game's ease of play is a good thing, because it makes the game accessible, fun to play and not frustrating at all. To relate, I can be having a really bad day and a game or two of Left 4 Dead would be enough to get me back up on my feet.

Like Tetris, I'd call it a panacea. It might not work for everyone, but it works for me. If I tried playing CounterStrike on a bad day, I'd leave the game feeling even worse. It's probably because I "suck" at the game, but does that really matter?

I hold to the opinion that games should never be an exercise in frustration. Why bother doing something if it's just going to leave you frustrated, right?

In any case, that's not to say that games like CounterStrike are bad, because they're not. They do have their place, and players who enjoy very difficult tests of skill and patience may come to enjoy games like CounterStrike a lot more than they would enjoy a relatively leisurely game like Left 4 Dead. What's pretty clear is that a strong distinction appears to now be forming between the communities of ultra-competitive games and more laid back, team-based games.

Left 4 Dead is easily the first of its kind in the genre, so it's definitely worth watching to see how things turn out.