Look, here's the thing, Vivi: I care about you. I know you like to put on this whole persona where you uncaringly dismiss people's opinions as if they're objectively wrong, but the truth is, it doesn't need to be like that. I don't want to hurt your feelings or cause disagreement or discord. I want EoFF to be a gaming utopia. But the other day, when I was wondering why I died, I saw one of my teammates circle-strafe around a dude and unload an entire clip on fully automatic to take a guy out.

I don't know what game this is, but it certainly isn't Counter-Strike.

Call of Duty. That's the buzzword going around and the inevitable comparison, but is this game really like Call of Duty? Not really. But there are major compromises that need to be addressed. Like why so many of the playlists deviate from what CS actually is. Or why you don't have to buy Kevlar and a helmet in most of them. Or why, to my knowledge, the MP5, arguably the most used weapon in competitive play, is absent from the game. But the most baffling, offensive middle-finger to the fans is the fact that the Terrorists are wearing skinny jeans on the Office map. Is there a single person out there who can rationalize to me why the Terrorists are wearing skinny jeans on the Office map? I'd really like to know if there is. Because I would be absolutely stunned if anyone can explain to me why the Terrorists are wearing skinny jeans on the Office map.

But what I really want to know is if Valve or the team I am unfamiliar with who updated the game have offered any explanation for why the graphics are so horrible. If you're a member of the "graphics don't matter" brigade, I want you to take a deep breath and walk away from the computer, because, trust me, you have nothing constructive to say. Yes, CS is about the classic competitive gameplay and the graphics are the first cow to be sacrificed in order to preserve that. But if you're not giving an eight of a damn about what makes Counter-Strike Counter-Strike, why would you insist on such atrocious graphics? I've heard people say that certain objects actually look worse in CS:S and I'm inclined to believe them. You know what, I might as well say it, Call of Duty can run at above 60 fps on most PCs that are used for gaming nowadays (not even necessarily "gaming PCs") yet it looks like Crysis, ultra realism mod compared to this game.

Abomination. Yes! I call this game an abomination. I just can't get into it and it's a very horrible feeling to have if you loved the community and times we've had that were created by the original Counter-Strike. I really hope that tomorrow, when I download the real game, and I boot it up, and I join a server, I'm not confronted with the unjustifiable lag, the confusingly unfamiliar gameplay, or Terrorists with skinny jeans.

I swear there is no Weapon in the Arctic powerful enough to save Valve if there are Terrorists wearing skinny jeans in my CS_Office.