XCSL Interview
Okay, let's start with a little introduction from the three of you. Who are you and what are your roles/responsibilities for this upcoming Xtreme Counter-Strike League?
XCSL|Coz -I'm gonna answer this on behalf of us all. I'm Coz (aka. Slag), and with me I have Nick and Aaron. We're all long term Counter-Strike players and are the Head Admins of XCSL. Both Nick and Aaron are responsible for adminstering the main site, with Nick also looking after the forums. They're also the ones who will be running the league on a day to day basis and will place clans into their respective divisions. I'm basically the leagues "ideas man" and public relations chap.
Considering Counter-Strike is still popular as ever and that leagues are already plentiful within the community, what motivated you to start this new league?
XCSL|Aaron - As stated in the first answer, we have all been playing Counter-Strike for a long time and have seen the community grow. The developments from the first ever release of Counter-Strike to Source have brought about new leagues and communities. We noticed that every league starting up of late has been following the usual rules and gameplay, which means there's a distinct lack of originality within the community. We all put our heads together and decided that a new league with a unique approach, catchy name and old rules would bring something different to the eSports community. We also noticed how a lot of new leagues failed in their first seasons. Our goal is to establish a long term league, that players/clans will be able to rely upon. Rather than one they'll join initially, only to find it'll dissapear in a few weeks.
With the first season of the XCSL starting shortly, what's going to seperate this league from the others out there and why should the community decide to give it a shot?
XCSL|Coz - XCSL will be quite different. We'll be the only UK league using CO rules as opposed to MR rules. Also, with the scoring system being different, we're hoping for closer divisions, where a team that has done badly in one match can make up a deficit by playing well in another match. Besides this main tournament, we'll be running a mini tournament called "Frags Galore" throughout the day, so players will be able to compete in the day-time if they wish, rather than just during the evening for an hour.
We're also hoping that by offering an older rule set, which alot of teams/players haven't played before, will result in a lot of teams/players being intrigued and wanting to try something new. Counter-Strike has been in its current format for quite a long time now and by bringing back CO rules, teams will have something different to your typical Counter-Strike experience.
We also have an idea to improve mercing, which is by introducing a "Bot Merc" where players that aren`t in competing clans can sign up and offer themselves as "official mercs".
Why have you decided to use CO rules? What's the appeal and advantage over the standard MR rules?
XCSL|Nick - We've elected to use CO over the more typical MR purely because everyone else is using the MR system. We didn`t want to just be another clone of every other league out there. We have nothing against MR or any other leagues, but we just wanted to be different and offer a choice of game types to the community.
As for the advantages. Counter-Strike has slowed down a lot lately, forcing many leagues/ladders to adopt shorter round times. CO rules should allow for faster gameplay and make it a lot more interesting for HLTV. No one wants to see people camping for half of each round. By re-introducing CO, we're hoping both the clans participating and the viewers watching will enjoy the overall experience as a change from watching/playing a typical mr12 game.
Would you care to elaborate more on the 'Merc bot'? What is it and how's it going to work exactly?
XCSL|Aaron - The main idea of the Merc Bot system is, as stated earlier, to allow members of the site to participate as 'official mercs' in our games. This ensures that all matches will have a full roster of five players per team. The system is designed to choose a random player who has added themselves to the merc bot on #xcsleague. This will prevent a team from choosing a higher skilled player or a player they know extremely well.
Overall this means it's always a gamble if the team turns up without a full roster and should therefore cause teams to place more effort into getting their full squad to show up. But if the situation is still to occur and teams members do not show, then the merc bot will provide a means for the team to play. Who knows, you could end up with a pro Counter-Strike player or a really awful one? The player could end up being a future team member if you like them enough.
The system will obviously give un-clanned players a chance to participate in the league. It'll also give them a chance to compete in a team environment that they'd not ordinarily have and will allow them to meet new people. From an HLTV perpective, it could potentially add a nice twist to a match and make it more entertaining for those viewing.
What about the "Frags Galore" competition you mentioned? Would you explain that in a little more detail?
XCSL|Coz - Frags Galore will be a fun little tournie that we'll be running throughout the day to appeal to players vanity. The basic idea is that players will play standard Counter-Strike maps and try to attain the most kills in one 25 minute period. The top 5 scores will be posted to our site and we'll be providing a forum entitled Bragging Rights for players to boast about their Counter-Strike prowess. It's just a bit of fun really, but will give players something to do while they're waiting for the league to start or league matches to begin.
What are the time frames for this first season? When do the sign-ups start and how long are they open for? Also, when will the first matches commence?
XCSL|Nick - The site and league applications will go live on Tuesday 27th (today). The ability to submit league applications will end by Tuesday 2nd of August, but you can still sign up to be a member of the site indefinitely after this date. On Wednesday August 3rd, the league admins will be announced and the league matches will begin on the 8th of August.
Assuming the first season is going to be a success, do you have any plans or ideas for future seasons of the XCSL?
XCSL|Nick - Well we will obviously want to keep this going for as many seasons as possible, but each season we will be striving to 'add' new exciting features for our members. For season two we will be introducing a tournament called "Iron Clan". Full details of this will be posted to the XCSL site in the coming weeks. We will also be running cups throughout our league seasons, which will include a variety of different rule-sets: rush cups, MR cups and CO rules cups. We will also be looking to expand into further game and ladder types, as well as expansion into other countries.
In case i've missed anything, do you guys have any final words or anything else you feel needs mentioning to the readers out there?
XCSL|Coz - I think you've just about covered everything. We would like to say a big thank you to our sponsors Reload Networks who can be found in #Reload-Network on Quakenet IRC. If it wasn't for them beleiving in us and our dream, we'd not be able to do what we are today. We'd also like to welcome everyone to come and have a look round our site, which can be found at www.XCSLeague.com or to come have a chat with us in #XCSLeague again on Quakenet IRC. We hope you, the Counter-Srike community, will take an interest and help make XCSLeague something for everyone to be proud of. We wish all clans that do apply the best of luck.
Well, I think that about wraps it up. Thanks for your time guys and I wish you the best of luck with the XCSL.
XCSL|Coz - Cheers, thanks for all you've done, we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to fit us in.
On a final note. We're currently on the look out for match admins for league matches and support staff to help with the smooth running of XCSLeague. If this sounds like you and you'd be interested in helping out, please contact us for further information.
Comments
Boys From The Dwarf
21:58 27/7/2005
23:15 27/7/2005
22:19 28/7/2005
11:02 18/8/2005
Team-kill
11:49 19/8/2005
22:48 22/8/2005
"we got a s*** merc, giving us the loss" Then again turn up with 5! nice gl :D [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
12:19 3/1/2006
XCSL sounds fresh, something the UK CS scene needs by the looks of it.
I for one welcome our new CO overlords ;> [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]