Why is CS so Popular?

One thing that cannot be denied is Counter-Strike's popularity. It's amazing that a mod which people have to consciously download and install is more popular than the original game itself. Not only that, but it's probably the most popular online first person shooter, period. There are more people playing Counter-Strike online at any given time than there are playing Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament combined. The last time I checked, I think there were more CS players than Q3, UT, and Tribes combined. How can this be?

That CT got owned

You actually don't have to plant right ON the target

Realism

One possible reason is the realism Counter-Strike brings to the genre. Similar games like Rainbow Six and Rogue Spear are each almost as popular as Quake 3 and UT in terms of online players. Gamers are attracted to these games because they attempt to model real life situations and use real life weapons. Why is that important? Well, for most people it's just easier to relate to and understand real guns than the fanciful weapons you see in games like Q3 and UT. Intuitively it makes sense that a rifle is more powerful than a pistol. But there's no intuitive way to know that a "flak cannon" is better than "the ripper." CS also closely models the pretend battles you had as a kid. Who among us didn't play cops and robbers out in the street with the neighborhood kids? Instead of cap guns and water guns, CS lets you play with "real" weapons.

Pair of terrorist snipers

This CT is getting hit

Accessibility

Another big factor is that games like Counter-Strike are a lot friendlier to new and lesser skilled players than other first person shooters out there. What do we mean by that? Let's examine a couple of other games, like Quake 1 for instance. Quake 1 is notorious for clearly showing and in a lot of cases exacerbating the differences in skill level between players. There are a lot of pretty decent Quake 1 players out there who couldn't even get one frag against a top flight player like Kenn or Thresh. Looking at the score, you'd immediately think that the poor sop never played Quake before, when in reality, he's an ok player. With Quake 1, there is absolutely no luck or chance factored into the equation. It's pure skill. This makes it frustrating and discouraging for new players to get into the game because they get nailed over and over again every time they try to play.

Running up the ramp

Mac 10s are so...ghetto

Hard to dominate

Quake 3 lessened that gap a lot, in part by balancing the weapons a lot better. It's now possible for someone like me to get a 2 or 3 frags on someone like Kenn whereas in Quake 1 I didn't have a chance. Now examine Counter-Strike: not only are there a lot of good weapons, but inaccuracy factors into the equation, making it possible for a lesser skilled player to at least sometimes kill a better player in an even fight if he can get lucky. By giving new players a chance to help their team, it becomes a lot less frustrating for players to get into the game and learn. Conversely it's less common for a player to completely dominate a server, unless his skill level is head and shoulders above all the rest. There have been a number of times that 4 or 5 players from this company have utterly dominated Q3CTF servers despite being outnumbered 2 to 1 or 3 to 1. Something like that probably couldn't happen in Counter-Strike. A team full of average to above average players is usually better in Counter-Strike than a team with a couple of superstars and a lot of chaff.