I want to preface that the contents of this post is for informational purposes. I do not condone or approve of any harassments or witch-hunting or the attacking of anybody.
 
Richard Lewis recently did a stream talking about the terrible state of CS esports and I thought it was an important stream anyone who cares about the CS community should listen to.
Vod Link here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/830415547
I realize it is 3 hours long so I took it upon myself to create a list of interesting points from the stream so you don't have to listen to the whole thing, although I still encourage you to do so if you can.
I know this post is still long but probably easier to digest, especially in parts.
Here is a link to my raw notes if you for some reason want to read through this which includes some omitted stuff. It's in chronological order of things said in the stream and has some time stamps. https://pastebin.com/6QWTLr8T

Intro

• "The last month has convinced me, that we are going to be heading into a dark place for Counter-Strike esports in 2021."
  • "I think I've seen the scene essentially kill itself."
• "For the past 5 to 6 years, we've basically been in a holding pattern of people coming into our game wanting to run it, wanting to run all of the esports and wanting to profiteer and its been sort of a concerted effort to drive them off and push them away."
  • "We're spread way too thin."
• "If Riot don't get involved and stop the scumbags that have moved over to Valorant from getting their feet under the table, Valorant is going to have real problems."
• RL thinks too much has happened all at once for us to do anything except watch it play out, like:
  • Recent CSPPA strike against BLAST
  • ESIC failures and them not being supported enough
  • Teams cheating i.e. coaches/bugs
  • Widespread match fixing
  • The Pandemic
    • "People who try to hold bubble events are so incompetent and fuck up and people get the 'rona and its their fault."
    • "People who say Flashpoint is a bubble is full of shit and is a lie and people are now suffering for that lie."
      • "To save money they let people go home and break the bubble for a week."
      • "Not just Flashpoint peoples decision, they have a partner that handles the production." (hinting FACEIT)
      • "People are trapped in hotels essentially under house arrest because of COVID restrictions and has fucked peoples lives up."
• "It's all too much, all of this incompetence, all of this greed, maybe we ride it out."
  • RL says he has talked to the Riot devs (the ones working on Valorant) and says, "They are so cognizant of all the fuck ups and all the problems we have in Counter-Strike."
    • He continues to say that this is factored into their business plan and that we never had a competitor, but just so happens to have one coincide, when we are at our worst.

CSPPA - Counter-Strike Professional Players' Association

"Who does this union really fucking serve?"

• RL believes that the CSPPA is a mockery.
  
  • He points out the hypocrisy that they wouldn't strike for the pros who were kicked out of ESL Pro League, or for Jamppi or dream3r.
    • He also says ESL paid CSPPA and are racketeering and many other TOs have to pay them to get their "seal of approval"
      • He says they would strong-arm TOs saying "well if you don't give us the money, these guys are so we'll just have to commit to playing their event."
    • Also points out that they will strike against a competitor they are not in agreement with (Flashpoint)
    • RL: "It's what it says about every other time you haven't done it and it's about every time you don't do it now moving forward." "The issues they've chosen to ignore this year alone are embarrassing."
    • Then he points out that there was no strike for Valve qualifiers even if we have no major but Jamppi and dream3r can't play in them.
      • "and Valve have said 'Oh yeah we know actually their stories are accurate, Jamppi didn't cheat, now in a legally binding document. Yep dream3r did have his account hacked in a LAN café', but they still can't play. Where is the fucking solidarity? Gone. Doesn't exist. It's not important [because] it doesn't affect you." "That's what the union does right now, it looks after all the tier 1 people."
• He says the CSPPA doesn't represent all players all the time and has driven a divide where you have the haves and have-nots
  
  • "We have a tier of players that operate with impunity and do not help their tier 2 or tier 3 players out at all." "If you are not a tier 1 player you do not matter, they don't event ask your opinion."
  • He tells chrisJ to admit and own the fact that the reason he didn't speak up during the ESL Pro League debacle is because it didn't affect him
  • "They are looking after some players at the expense of other players. How the fuck is that a union?"
• He says the BLAST situation is a reasonable dispute and supports the players but is not the right time for a strike and have not even identified the correct enemy
  
  • He thinks players are lashing out now due to previous incidents and are upset that BLAST are working with ESIC
    • He stated that CSPPA shouldn't beefing with ESIC and they should be working in harmony
  • He says what they need to do is talk with the teams/organizations that have sold that right to BLAST
    • RL: "Your employers, the people who pay you that massive exorbitant salaries, when you don't stream and you don't do interviews and you offer no value beyond your ability to click heads and you get 25k dollars a month." "Why don't you talk to them about it? Oh right. You're happy to take away BLAST's paper, but you don't want to risk your own."
  • "I am seeing such unbelievable cowardice from the players here with the battles you choose."
  • "Where was the strike action when in the qualifiers for the world championship, there were teams and players engaged in huge conflicts of interest?" "Where was the strike action when your image rights were taken and sold to every league you've ever been in every union type organization you've ever been associated with like, WESA, to your org every time you sign a contract, to the leagues you play in."
    • "Your image rights are essentially worthless now, there's about 10 fucking separate parties that have them, and how many of them are giving you anything for it? Not much pretty much your org by the way."
    • "That's a big issue. Your image is you, your image is your brand. What are you doing about that? Nothing."
• He is also angry at SirScoots who is "popping off" at people on Twitter who all want the same thing, which is 'A unified Counter-Strike scene for everybody, that works for everybody, that has a sustained ecosystem that nourishes everybody.' "We don't have that now."
  
• He also says their rankings are a joke
  
  • "Just so happened, oh look TACO, that very important prominent member of the board, we pushed his team artificially up when they weren't even in the fucking top 20, not by a long shot."
• He also says the ineptitude of the CSPPA cost Flashpoint a monitor sponsor
  
• "Is it really a player association or is it like a fucking agency at this point"
  

ESIC - Esports Integrity Commission

"They have been put in an impossible position."

• RL says that Ian Smith, the founder of ESIC and who was done work in mainstream sports, is a good and honorable man who has dedicated his life to integrity and sports. He takes on both sides, ensuring match fixers are punished, but also doing appeals and ensuring those punishments were fair.
• "ESIC is a tiny organization" and are in need of money, "They didn't run a grift like the CSPPA did."
  • "Saying 'you want our support and you want the players to turn up you better pay us.' They don't do that."
  • "Had startup seed money from MTG and since then they've been pecking shit with the hens."
    • Ian Smith made sure that the money given by MTG (Modern Times Group, parent company of ESL, ESEA, DreamHack) was nothing more than startup money and wouldn't be in debt to them
      • Ian Smith sat down with other TO's not part of MTG and wanted to partner with them. They declined and called ESIC "ESL spies and we will never align ourselves with you"
  • "They only were just able to afford, hiring a PR guy on a full time salary to deal with the press and send out those releases you've seen, this year."
    • "They have a tiny group of staff investigating these things and they have taken on the biggest problems in our scene: the cheating, the match fixing."
• ESIC have had "unprecedented levels of cheating to deal with, because there's something wrong with our scene ever since we went online. There's something wrong with it, everyone's lost their fucking pride and self-respect and they got no passion for it anymore, so they think fuck it, what's in it for me?"
  • He calls out coaches who are talking about players rights when they would rob and steal from them.
    • Also says more coaches being banned are coming
    • He also points out flaws in community's reaction to the punishments to coaches bans: "Half of the cunts still have jobs and some of the cunts got new jobs. We didn't even shun the cheating coaches."
• ESIC have "found I think another 2 or 3 exploits like that one and they are investigating them all right now, it's going on right now."
  
  • "I know that there are going to be more names getting banned, again."
  • "So they're doing that on a skeleton crew while, investigating 3 continents worth of match fixing in MDL and semi-pro level CS." "They're doing this with half a dozen people." "They don't have any money or any help. People barely even fucking cooperate with them, they are treated like pariahs. It's ridiculous."
    • "Why are the CSPPA popping off at ESIC on my Twitter timeline, when you should be working together." "because its all about what's in it in for me." "2020, the online era of CS: 'What is in it for me?' How can I cheat, how can I get my paper, how can I bleed this scene one last time before I fuck off and play shooty shooty bang bang Riot Games babys first fps."
• RL says that in the CIS region, teams have gone to tournaments and have been eliminated multiple times by the same team. We found out they were cheating and those players who lost, have been cut from their roster, careers ended because of cheaters.
  

Stream Sniping

"They're all at it in the online era, they're all at it, they're all cheating, they're all using exploits, probably that see through smoke bug got used a bunch of times"

• RL talks about how there is no integrity from dead (the player), always denying when caught doing something
  • On the topic of 'BLAST never said we couldn't stream snipe': "Lies, BLAST never said you could do that, they had to sort of retcon it." "because what happened after that they fucking started snitching and squealing"
    • "Suddenly you had like, 10 of the top 15 teams in the world, staring into the abyss of being banned for 6-12 months in line with ESIC recommendations."
      • He says that ESIC was put in a tough situation and couldn't enforce the bans because it would have resulted in killing CS. What resulted was, BLAST, ESIC, and teams came together and gave them a warning and told them, in RL's words "don't do this again or you're gonna get got."
        • He then says the top teams brushed this off and didn't give a fuck
        • The new MiBR team playing Flashpoint, that wasn't involved in the previous incidents are doing it again (stream sniping). He gave credit to Flashpoint for the quick resolution and punishment and respect for cogu's response to the situation.
        • "ESIC came out and said, once more, 'Guys, zero tolerance from now on.'" RL then got upset at community's reaction calling ESIC "pussies" for their non enforcement and said if we want competitive CS we cant ban the top 10 teams.
• He points out how players have no integrity and will do anything for an edge as long as they won't get detected or banned or it's within a grey area.
• "All of this shit was mad avoidable, even in the pandemic era."
  • He talks about why aren't we filming them. Why aren't there representatives for leagues and tournaments making sure players aren't cheating?

Match Fixing

"How many years have we let our scene be fucking pillaged by these greedy cunts?" "We just let it happen."

• RL says that gambling and skins betting which existed in moderation was "accelerated and blown up by the Call of Duty greedy fucks."
  • "Never forget TmarTn was on the board of EnVyUs." "His website, CSGOLotto, they had a bunch of off-the-books sponsorships." "NBK promoted them. People forget."
• "Those people who had access to the skins, go to the players" "Even people like s1mple, best player in the world, even he scammed knives and skins off fucking fans."
• Owners of skin casino sites would approach pros and lend them skins to use in tournaments and possibly keep them after reaching a deal
  • Players would tip off inside info about matches and teams in exchange for skins. Info such as: roster changes, how they played in scrims
    • They would use this info to bet and subvert the odds on their sites. "That happened religiously, I can't even tell you how many times it happened."
      • "I had access to the biggest database of information, from an inside betting circle in NA, and it would take information and screenshots from other pro players, who were feeding them info in exchange for money or skins."
        • "Some of these players are still playing." "Incredibly, there are players still in the CSPPA today, complaining about the BLAST recordings, that were embroiled in this murky shit back then."
• RL also says that there were tournaments where teams contrived with each other, who should throw, who should win.
• "There's a handful of people that are trying to fucking clean it up, and you think you get something over the line and you see something like the CSPPA and it's run by corrupt fucking chuckle heads, and now you've got another corrupt body you have to fight on a fucking daily basis, it's demoralizing."
  • "It's too far gone. Our entire semi-professional scene is compromised."
• "It's rife guys, I'm not going to lie any more. It's not just China, it's not just Russia, it's here, it's NA, it's Europe, it's Australia, so much more than you think, so much more than we can prove."
  • "I get sent chat logs all the time […] and they're morons, these players, short-sighted, amateur, morons and they're doing it on WhatsApp." People would get cut from the bets because they want to make more money, then they leak the logs. He says, from the chat logs, they spread "little" bets across every site they can (400 to 1k dollars) to prevent shifting odds
• He says the scumbags who've fucked off to Valorant will do the same there if Riot doesn't do something and says Valorant "is an esports scene heading for a very early fall based on the sheer volume of scumbags that are already there."
• "That's tier 2 CS in a nutshell these days. They know they're never going to play in a major, so what's the punishment?"
  • "All of these tier 2 fucks that are fixing games now they are like the fucking mafia compared to iBuyPower" "These guys are working with organized criminals to fix entire seasons worth of games. That's what's going on in your tier 2 CS."
• "I'm literally being told that there are players fixing games at all levels of Chinese esports and motherfuckers with guns are turning up to team houses and stuff."

North America

"Everyone in NA has left we've lost a continents worth of support during this pandemic and Valve haven't said a fucking word."

• RL says the Call of Duty "goblins" that destroyed CS for years are the same people who are now trying to leave CS. "The nerve to treat a game where the fans, and the community, and the TO's were nothing but good to you." "To just kick the players out now and go and leave and say 'It just doesn't make financial sense.' Oh you'll slither back when we have a major though for them stickers won't you."
• There's a cascading effect in NA where people don't bother with CS anymore and people like Chaos suffer.
• He says NA team owners are incompetent for always wanting it easy and always wanting a guarantee on their investment without skill or nuance.
  • RL says he would be able to market a team correctly and would have a good ROI and also points out how TSM wouldn't even be bothered to tweet that their team, which was one of the best in the world, was playing at the Major.
  • He also says not all NA owners are like that, compliments and respects Jason Lake who nearly lost everything to keep Complexity going.
• He then calls out the incompetence in Infinite Esports when they acquired OpTic Gaming and bought an Indian CS team.
  • He says HECZ is not to blame here and that they couldn't tell forsaken was cheating when it was so obvious.
    • They measured his reaction time to the likes of dev1ce and s1mple
    • When an enemy showed up on his screen he won that duel something like 44% of the time
    • "was like the number 1 player in the world statistically"
    • He brought a laptop to their bootcamp and refused to use the high end PCs that hey provided
• He respects Andy Miller (NRG CEO) and HECZ but says that the attitude of not being able to easily monetize their teams is "piss weak" and there needs to be a risk.
  • He says Chaos EC shouldn't be cutting their roster and should be competent enough to be able to figure out how to make money off their team.
• He says there are still opportunities in NA and people are panicking and pulling out, and says Valorant will be the same if not worse.
  • He also says "bums" who couldn't even get out of groups in NA competitions, are making crazy money in Valorant and says it will continue to inflate.
• He also said that he heard rumors that EG (Evil Geniuses) are done.
• He also thinks that the rumors of a Valve franchised league from before was sparked up from "these lazy fabled weak NA fucking team owners basically trying to see if Valve would bite at the hook if it was dangled and they didn't"
  • Slasher says NA team owners are really in favor of franchised leagues because they want to make more money. "Most of the powerful team owners right now are on board with ditching this third party organization structure, or they are trying to play this power politics with all the TOs, and that is contributing to a lot of the problems there"
• RL says that Riot has proved they can run a franchised league (LCS) and will be profitable in 2021 which is what a lot of team owners care about and says the competition will only serve to snatch people away from CS.
• RL continues to say, "I am so sick and tired of what we have done to this scene, I am just exhausted with it." "I think we have legitimately fucked it, I really think we have. I think we're staring into almost like a CGS (Championship Gaming Series) wasteland in NA." "Counter-Strike esports is a fucking joke."

Talent

"TO's have treated CS talent like absolute human garbage for years now."

• RL says that people like Sean Gares and ddk switching over to Valorant isn't for financial reasons because they are making less over there.
• He points out that TO's can't even give talent a 3 month in advance calendar.
• Because of the pandemic TO's won't hire certain people and some people are working more hours for the same money.
• He says we as a community don't respect journalists enough which is why we don't have good journalists.
  • He also says DeKay is leaving the scene soon and that Thorin is close to leaving also
• He says he had to talk a caster down from quitting and was struggling to find reasons.
• He says that DreamHack told Vince they would hire him but not if he wants to stick with dusT and says that this is the norm in esports. "Constant leveraging of people against each other." and says this is why we don't have a talent union.
• New gen casters are getting put into shit situations and the community's reaction to them is adding fuel to the fire
• He says the reason Moses left was because of the terrible conditions
• He says that Anders had to constantly leave his family and kid because someone fucked up or broke promises and had to constantly tell his kid to their face that "daddy can't be home this weekend."
• He says that esports has always been a lie to sell you this dream, "Meanwhile there's about 2% of the cunts getting all the checks."

Valve

"Anything that Riot does, is better than Valve's inaction"

• Slasher says that the larger aspect of esports as a whole compared to other entertainment mediums and Valve's lack of inattention are the bigger problems. He continues saying that the fact that Valve let their game be ran as an esport, they need to take on the responsibilities of it.
  • Both Slasher and RL wants Valve to take control but not on the level of Riot Games, there needs to be a balance.
• In case it was ever a question: Gabe Newell has been to 0 CSGO Majors.
• RL calls Valve out saying they could have done something during the gambling era.
• He says Valve used to come to the majors, but doesn't think they do anymore.
• RL had met with Valve at the Cluj-Napoca Major and had tried to appeal iBP's indefinite punishment and had also gave Brax's life story:
  • A recent family member passed away, they had lost a lot of income, they had to live in trailer, iBuyPower did not pay any salaries, and was pressured by family to make money who didn't support his career.
  • RL said that Valve told him, "How dare you try and make us feel guilty." "We shouldn't feel bad about enforcing the only thing that matters that we need to make players afraid of: cheating and match fixing"
  • RL also tried to share other info about match fixing and nothing came of it
• RL points out that Source 2 or a new engine is not something you will want based on the experience of transitioning from CS 1.6 to CS:S. "Valve's track record with brand new engines being launched, not fucking great from what I remember."
• Slasher says "If there is anything the community should do, is pressure Valve to hire a community manager."
  • They say that we need a commissioner, a community manager (not the person who runs the Twitter who posts memes all day), then we need to have a circuit
• RL reiterates that Valve doesn't care about CS esports and says they need to change the culture at Valve to make them care about CS esports
  • Slasher says a systemic problem is making it so working on CSGO would be a bad decision for you as an employee for Valve
• He also hasn't talked to Valve in ages and have sent over bugs and cheats and doesn't get emails back anymore
• Slasher says we should be directing attention at the developer leads, pointing out Ido Magal, if he even is still the project lead
  • RL thinks that Ido and Brian are the only people that "vaguely even give a fuck about CS" and were the only people that RL recalled that actually read Reddit and paid attention from time to time
• "It is really fucking precarious. Somebody has got to step the fuck up and start giving a shit"
  • Slasher suggests org owners, with CSPPA, with ESIC, with TOs have a concerted effort against Valve
• "Riot Games are doing better things than Valve in the esports space" which is something RL didn't think he'd say.
• "People who used to be talent, working with unions, arguing with other talent, when the unions fucked them over, can't understand their perspective, TOs fucking over broadcast talent, broadcast talent wanting to leave and go and work for orgs, orgs having no money, Valve might take coaches away because all the coaches are cheating, ESIC has about 4 people in a fucking call doing the investigations, everyone thinks they're spies for ESL, ESL are just the evil fucking overlords wanting to rule the scene and will just somehow, like cockroaches outliving a nuclear bomb, and Valve are in a fucking holiday in Hawaii thinking about the next Dota character because they don't give a fuck about us."

Closing Statements

"We've peaked. If we want to sustain and exist, now is the time to figure it out. No esports lasts as long as this, we've already done 8 years. We've already broke the records. We have got to figure out a way to coexist and drive the negative forces out and we need to do it as a collective and we're not doing that."

• RL compared the Counter-Strike scene to the people on the Titanic who ran around with guns robbing people while the boat was sinking.
• "We have given up on being a respectable esports scene." "We are now a conduit to make money for those who want to just milk it, just have one last ride, one last roll of the dice. It's done." "What a fucking mess. What have we done to our fucking scene?"
• "There's just too much self-interest driving all of this." "I don't see a way we stop the dominoes." "When it's that bad, when there's that many dishonest people that ESIC have to come out and say that if we punish them all there's no one left. What does that tell you?"
• "How many opportunities have we had to clean house? How many times have we said, 'this must never happen again', and another scandal." "The entire skins betting operations was the biggest criminal conspiracy in esports ever executed and no one has been punished for it." "The people who could be driving that don't want to."
• "Right now people are fans of those organizations because the scene has value. It is worth being a fan of Astralis because they are excellent at Counter-Strike. It is worth being a fan of s1mple because he is the best player in Counter-Strike, maybe the exception of ZywOo. If the scene is devalued, if the scene loses its meaning, those things lose its meaning too, and people will leave, people will stop tuning into the games. I have seen it happen in multiple esports, this is not my first time at the rodeo. I am getting big Brood War vibes right now and I don't like it."
• "The role you play in all of this as fans, as viewers, as listeners, as consumers of esports content, it's absolutely imperative that you know who the good guys are. It's absolutely imperative that you use your voice. It's absolutely imperative that when things are bad, you know who, at least, is trying to make them good, and you have to apply your criticism to the right targets."
  • He continues saying it's no good in continuing to attack ESIC and saying how they are bad, ESIC have it hard
• He says CSPPA are on the right side of the argument on BLAST but have been on the wrong side of many arguments many times.
  • "If you are not willing to stand along side the weakest member of the union, with the least amount of influence, and the least amount of power, then it is not a union at all and you shouldn't pose as one." "You wanna serve a bunch of special interest do it, everyone else in esports fucking does, but do not pose as something you are not." "We love the players. I've been fighting for players rights for as long as I've been able to, but the CSPPA is not what we needed."
    • "They are not applying the pressure to the right people, they are not fighting the right battles, they are not helping their weaker members."
• He says what orgs have done by keeping or hiring coaches is bad. "When you give up on holding an appreciable standard, you've lost the scene" "Competition matters, rules matter, punishments matter, achievements matter, excellence matters" "If you start stripping that away, you have nothing" "You guys need to take that knowledge and apply it sensibly."
• "Valve has sold you all down the river, they sold everyone in the esports scene down the river, tournament organizers are selling their talent down the river. Don't hate on them for sounding tired after a 16 hour day. Don't hate on them because the hype for a matchup they've seen for the 20th time in the past 3 months, they can't be as excited or it sounds contrived. Support your guys, they're there for you, these are your people."
• "This community has got to start acting like one for the first fucking time. Just put the petty shit away, let's try and fix this fucking scene while we still have one to save."
• "You can't rely on Valve, you can't rely on ESL, you can't rely on the CSPPA, you can't rely on anyone." "Once again, it's gonna be the likes of us, the amateurs, the people who give a fuck, rolling up our sleeves and grafting." "I'm old and tired and I don't want to have to do it again. People need to pick up the torch and do it."
  • "Like Michal did, like Dudenhoeffer did. You see something wrong, fix it. You see somebody doing something wrong, call it out. If you think something could be better, let people know."
• "Vote with your wallets if you're not happy with the direction Valve goes in. If when we do get to the Major, they serve up another subpar, same old bullshit stickers and signatures package again, do not buy it."
  • "You're a powerful block and if you use it correctly we can fucking avert this disaster."
• "I'm not doing another year in this broken, bust-up fucking scene, where everyone is miserable, everyone is broke, everyone is tired, and everyone is trying to fucking rob everyone else, blind, while the fucking people who are meant to be protecting you, are just fucking enhancing it and lining their own pockets."
  • "I'm not doing it anymore and you shouldn't want to do it either."
• "I stand by every fucking thing I said. I mean it, because this game fucking matters to me, this scene fucking matters to me. I put my life into this, my adult life, and to see it in this state is fucking sad."

Hi all. I've been driving a little over 1 week. I thought I'd share some of my information and thoughts about how it has gone so far. Feel free to offer suggestions, ask questions, etc. Thanks for reading!
​

• Quick info:
  • 186 Trips
  • 4.96 (5* -111, 4* - 2, 2* 1)
  • Earnings- right around $2k. Haven't totally dedicated myself to it yet, but I'm feeling relatively OK so far.
  • Generally driving 4am-10am, and 2pm-6pm, though it varies by day, mood, etc.
• Signup
  • The app signup process was super easy.
  • My car was too old, despite only having 80k miles and a nice leather interior. Oh well, whatever. Time to rent...
  • Not sure I'm going to do it long term, so used the Hertz rental option. It was at a parking lot in the middle of nowhere and the customers were 95% immigrants/ESL. The cost is $1000+ a month! Uber does give you $222 a week for hitting 110 rides which helps defer costs a bit. The whole rental thing feels very scammish and I feel bad for people with bad/no credit, poor education, etc who are forced into it. If I continue to drive, I'll look into the Fair App or even a standard lease.
• Driving - First few rides.
  • It's kinda scary turning the app on for the first time. I watched the BS marketing videos they provide to get you ready, but I definitely felt under trained. Luckily, the app was fairly intuitive. Navigation is occasionally a problem, even if you use Google Maps within the app.
  • My 2* rating was probably my 2nd trip ever where the app got me lost. Unfortunately, I was taking a kid and his family to a children's hospital for an appointment, so I felt worse about making them late than I did about the stupid low rating.
  • Going to the airport SUCKS while you're waiting for Uber to process the paperwork that allows you to pick up riders at the airport (not sure if this is required in every city). 90% of the time I drive to the airport, I end up driving 30 mins back to a decent area without a ride.
• Driving - After a week.
  • Wow, most people don't tip. Probably related to point #2:
  • Wow, way more people take Uber to work than I would have imagined. Even people who it likely doesn't make financial sense for. But, hey, you do you. I'll take your $.
  • I still haven't figured out if it's better to find a parking spot and hang out, or better to drive around the neighborhood "sharking" for pax. Anyone have hard evidence one way or the other?
  • Without the ride preview ability (I guess you get it with more experience in the app), hitting that accept button is really a crap shoot. And inevitably, whatever kind of ride you want, the next ride will be the opposite. I tried driving on a Friday night thinking I'd get a bunch of short rides around town to the bars. Nope. 1st ride took me 45 mins out into the boonies so these guys could go to a casino. Sigh.
  • POOLS. I kinda hate them. Do they suck? It feels like they suck, but maybe I'm missing something.
  • Early morning pools definitely suck! You get the pax who's paying less and gambling that no one else is up so that they get the UberX experience at a discount. And then, of course, they get pissed if someone else actually gets in the pool. Dude, you want to ride by yourself? Don't pick "pool."
  • Finding bathrooms is tough. Sometimes I feel obligated to buy like a drink at McDonalds or something. I guess that's on me, though. Gotta get better at just using 'em and going.

​
I think that's about it. Anything obvious I'm missing. Would love to hear peoples' tips and tricks. Good luck, all. This is much harder shit than the average person gives you credit for!

I am not sure whether I am violating any of the subs rules posting something this long winded and opinionated. So if I am show no mercy.
After of spending a few months on this sub and reading through some of the top threads and new threads that don't make it very far. A recurring theme, especially around major tournaments and the like, is that companies like ESEA, Valve, DreamHack, PGL, ESL, etc. shouldn't be associated with gambling sites and betting sites. As well as the issues of gambling problems, underage gambling, match-fixing, etc. Points which directly lead into the reason why I feel a discussion is necessary.
First I would like to preface this entire discussion with the fact that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a M-rated game. Which is not to say that users <17+ do not exist because just like Alcohol and Tobacco, where there is a will there is a way. I would also like to clarify that I do not support the amount of gambling and betting that has spawned from the expansion of CS, but I understand why it exists. In the same way I understand why betting on Horse Racing, or boxing, or Baseball, or football or American Football exits. More on this later though.
Gambling and Betting sites Sponsoring CSGO Events
The first elephant in the room should be the entire sponsorship debate. My take on this entire situation is that although gambling and betting websites may have wormed their way into monetarily “supporting” the professional scene, Valve technically was really the first offender. First off let's not try and act like CS wasn't on the decline before the introduction of skins. Just by looking at the statistics that are publicly available, it is clear that skins brought new life to the franchise and is a major contributor to why CS is growing at such a staggering rate. This is not to say that skins are the only reason, but a compelling argument could be made that without skins CS wouldn't be in the same place it is today. This however is not the point I am after. The point I am trying to make it that, you would have to be naive to not see that the fiscal model supporting CS:GO itself is very similar to that of a Casino. The one stipulation being that the returns Valve gives out are literally valueless on a balance sheet. Cases, keys and items are virtual, they cost Valve nothing to generate, there are no material costs and no development cost (if the skin is community generated). A point which directly leads into the idea that opening cases is no different than going to a casino and using a slot machine. Opening cases is gambling. CS:GO is directly funded by gambling. So how can someone vehemently oppose the support of gambling websites to fund CS events, when the sport/game itself is supported by gambling? While I do not support gambling sites sponsoring these events I understand that a double standard has been set.
Self-Control and Regulation
Next comes the gambling problem users may fall victim to. To me this is simply a problem with self control and regulation. Not a problem with the fact that betting exists, because as I said, betting is a part of everything competitive regardless of what the subject matter may be. From the limited amount of websites I have had the privilege to view, it is clear that the current state of gambling and betting is akin to that of the wild west. Any Joe Schmoe with an understanding of HTML and Steam's Web API can make a site and act as if they are reputable service where you can bet or gamble your money away. Which is a far cry from the state of other sports or online gambling in general. As the amount of regulations on the latter are quite restricted in the US (I've no knowledge on the global policies on online gambling mind you, only the policies in US). With only a few states allowing any online gambling at all. Which brings me to my actual point. In order for any headway to be made to crack down on gambling in general we first must try and regulate it. At this point there is no one saying what you can and cannot do and no one holding anyone accountable. Which of course goes hand in hand with users acquiring gambling problems. How is the current landscape any different from going to your favorite bookie -insert gambling website here- and throwing down a bet on Sports team-insert CS team here- and losing it all? Its the scale, not the act itself. As the act itself is only controllable by the consumer, which goes all the way back to self control. Because of the staggering lack of self-control no one thinks to question CSGOFastBetMoneyShuffleLounge.com. So no, I don't think that there is a fundamental problem with betting, but i do think there is a fundamental problem with the consumers who choose to feed said system. (A problem not so easily fixed) To my own previous point. Regulation can only stifle the problem not remove it. There is no way to avoid gambling and sport, as they have and always will move hand in hand. But by stifling it we may impede the spread and reach it may have.
Underage Gambling
My final statement is in regards to the underage gambling portion. A problem again with regulation. They are clearly not enough regulation on these websites to deter underage patrons from using their services. Which is again something that is hard to do in an environment as such, when anyone can make a website and create a TOS that says "I certify that I am above the age of 18 blah blah blah." Without any real confirmation. Someone may correct me if I am mistaken, but I am certain real gambling, online casino type websites, require some sort of documentation or a SSN to ascertain how old you really are. A step that I would guess, stops many underage users at the door. Something that, if it is to exist alongside CS:GO needs to be taken in order to legitimize the industry, as well as create a barrier to stop those who may not have gambled if it wasn't so very easy. Now I would like to recall my previous statement about the ESRB rating of the game and a pretty simple solution to underage gambling. If the minimum age to gamble is 18 and the minimum age to purchase the game is 17+ then I would wager that if you can own the game then you are old enough to gamble. Again let's not be naive, of course people under 17 play CS and of course they are drawn to betting and the like. My point is this. Some may not like it, others will disagree, but it is clear that this is a parenting issue. Not to say that the parents are solely to blame, as I am sure many do not even know CS exists, let alone the fact that skin gambling is even a thing. But it’s clear as day that the underage individuals who are betting regularly and clinically clearly have insufficient supervision and guidance. If it's possible for an adult to fall prey to a gambling addiction the probability increases 10 fold when you aren't old enough to understand the true value of a dollar. Parents need to get involved, look at what your children are doing and address it accordingly. (To those who say I am very mature for a 12,13,14,15,16,17 even 18 year old. I assure you, you are not. Unless of course you work enough to support yourself financially and physically. ie a job, a house, an apartment, food, clothes, etc)
So my point on the whole is that, as a community, if gambling is to exist, then we must take steps to regulate it. We NEED to condense it, so that its reach not poison the entire community and dictate the direction in which our future as a sport and our youth takes. At this point we are at a crossroads, and it is our responsibility to decide whether CS is known as the a bastion of the e-sports community or a sport corrupted by uncontrolled, unregulated gambling.
I open it to you know. I truly want to know how people really feel about this issue and whether or not I am alone in my thinking.
Tl;dr If you are not going to read and understand my ideas fully then I don’t want to discuss them with you.

Hi, So I started a review on Steam and kinda hit the character boundary so I figured I'd just post the full thing here and link it on steam later. Anyway, my bro recently bought black ops 3 so I thought i'd give my two cents on and.. well, it's a lot more than 2 cents, just take a look :)
I don't really condone jumping on the hate train and sh*tting on Cod like everyone else, I've always been quite optimistic about games, adopting a "figure out whether you like it yourself" approach.
However, this steaming pile of crap changed my mind and I can't help but join in.
I read a review that said something like "This game inspired me to play other games". F*cking spot on, couldn't have said it better myself. That's the TL:DR version of this review right there. So if you don't read any further than this, do your wallet a favour and DON'T BUY THE GAME
Buy Mankind Divided instead, kappa
For the longer version where I deservingly get to crap on the game a lot more for paying full price and because I don't feel the sentence above alone does us justice to this sht show for yet again another sht PC port, the most dire multiplayer in the entire series and the zombie mode that everyone bought the game for which ended up being either totally underwhelming or just plain dreadful depending on perspective.
So, grab a drink and some popcorn, then strap yourselves in for the most hate-fuelled, yet informative review you're likely to ever read.
Zombies
Before Black Ops 3, The Zombie mode was treyarch's most popular feature (closely rivalled by MP in BO2) in each of their games. After the events of Moon in Black Ops 1 I feel that the story doesn't live up to my personal expectations as well as many other people's because let's be fair - it took a turn for the worse. But, the maps and gameplay were still as fun in Black Ops 2 as they were in previous titles - especially the Origins Map. The gameplay would consist of original and simplistic objectives, yet mingled with challenging and unrelenting themes. Buy Doors. Buy Guns. Turn on Power. Buy Perks. PaP. and if your team wanted a greater challenge, Begin one of the Easter eggs.
Post Black Ops 1 I've only completed 3/4 Easter eggs in BO2 and 0 for BO3. In BO1, beating the Easter eggs required teamwork, skill, a small bit of luck and perseverance. The objectives really weren't that difficult to complete with an experienced team of players and with a good leader co-ordinating the team, you'd have a whale of a time. Black Ops 2 built on the success of Black Ops 1's Easter egg feature by thoroughly increasing the difficulty of Easter eggs. This was done by making them longer and more convoluted, drastically decreasing the chances of completion at higher rounds for the more difficult eggs - especially if started late, leading to the players forming plans of attack to complete the Easter eggs. Playing zombies became less about enjoying the gamemode and more about completing the eggs, more task-focused. But for Veteran players like my team, it provided a relishing challenge and we had many close calls trying to complete them, but they were still enjoyable and as I stated above - I still haven't done them all because the first two Easter eggs (Tranzit and Die Rise) were VERY formidable but I managed to complete Die Rise after much trial and error. New Players must have had great difficulty with these, but I digress.
Enter Black Ops 3, the Pay-to-win Bastard Child of activision with Call of Duty World at War's shadow to overcome and a lot to prove. I had hope for Zombies after watching the trailers, the Devs stated that they'd "Take it in another direction" (i'm paraphrasing here.) Which I could agree with many that it was what Zombies needed in terms of story. I'd rather they do a "Cod multiplayer" and keep the gameplay as original (I'm stressing original and not bland) as possible throughout the series in order to further the story, than them implementing some annoyingly complicated new game mechanics with a pay-to-win liquid divinium system in order to unlock "Gobblegums". The game was far too prominent in emphasising the use of gobblegums to the point of great irritation. I've tried using some divinium to get the better gums but many of the best gobblegums are simply nigh on impossible to get without buying divinium with real money. Divinium and "Cod Points" are simply a middleman between your money and the gums. It's a better looking way of pricing the gobblegums rather than pricing them individually which would mean a more openly shown pay-to-win feature. Which would mean, for Activision the public outroar would be far greater.
Let's sink our teeth into the maps of our latest abomination before I strangle something thinking about P2W.
Shadows of Evil.
The name in itself is kind of foreboding - the map being a shadow of what it could have been due to just plain bad ideas and far too complex concepts. Also, bad mapping. The map starts out easy enough, but immediately I notice this feature that you can turn into a strange monster, reminiscent of afterlife from Mob of the Dead. You go around the map and open up areas/move collectables for other players to pick up, and you can turn on perk machines. The final point about perk machines is probably the most prominent, as you can only turn into the monster once per round in co-op or twice per round solo. This is no minor annoyance because if you want to open up the map early, you're quite limited in what you can actually do during your time as the monster. Time, being a great factor in this map specifically because in order to get to pack-a-punch - a very necessary milestone to surpass the round 20 barrier you actually have to do [u]Half of the entire Easter egg[/u] which is by no means a small feat as this Easter egg is the most difficult so far (excluding DLC). I've only got to pack once or twice due to the mere complexity of the map design, let alone the 4 rituals that need performing. It's a really sht idea by someone who was quite obviously trying to revolutionise the way zombies maps are mapped. They failed really fcking miserably as the map was a total flop IMO, shared by a great deal of the community. that's not even to mention the design. Apart from a total of maybe 2 areas that you can train in (1 large area and one smaller area requiring great skill from one person) the map practically always keeps you moving, which is not feasible if you want to progress in the map with more than 2 people - wasting further time and resources, greatly lessening your chances of opening pack. That being said, this map is very difficult with only 2 people and the training areas are horrible to work in as it is. The map gives off a very amateurish vibe, as if many ideas and concepts were only half thought through, leaving the areas in the map in an unacceptable standard for players to actually survive in at high rounds. As a very experienced zombies player at this point, I have no earthly clue how a newbie would survive past round 10 on this map. It is overbearingly tough without relent because on top of all that, there's no place you can camp the rounds out. God Awful.
The Giant. Haven't played it but many say it's bo3's only good map. Which isn't strictly speaking true because it's a remake of a cod 5 map so technically i wouldn't say it belongs to black ops 3. It's just a bit of cushioning for the devs in case Shadows of Evil was a F*ck up... which it was... I've played Der Riese and it's a fantastic map with plenty of balance and open areas to work in and there's also the well known camping spot above quick revive. But, this isn't a cod 5 review...
Der Eisendrache, Zetsubou No Shima, Gorod Krovi, Revolutions. I didn't waste £40 on the Season pass this year thankfully, so I haven't played these maps. I have, however, seen gameplay footage of them and the Easter eggs so i'll just be speculating on what i've seen. Each map seems interesting to the eye but I can't see anything more interesting past aesthetics. Gorod Krovi Re-introduced the PPSH-41 which was a good move but i couldn't help and see it as pandering to us players to try and make up for some of the previous maps' pitfalls. I honestly didn't see anything worth buying in the vids so I haven't bothered, and likely won't unless the price vastly reduces which is unlikely.
I think that covers zombies pretty well so let's move onto MP
Multiplayer
Christ, Where to start on this one? Do I start with the Crappy Specialists? The Duplicated MP experience since Cod 4? the deplorable jetpack, sliding and wallrunning features? Pay to Win? the awful maps?
Pay to win definitely takes the cake. Before P2W was even implemented, you'd earn a certain number of "Cryptokeys" after playing matches which could be used to unlock skins for guns and stuff for your specialists. No weapons or melee weapons were even in the packs at first so they were pretty harmless. Then came the MX Garand and HG-40 Updates which meant you could unlock these guns if you opened a case with them. The chances of doing this were incredibly low. Like take the chances of winning the UK lottery and halve your odds, seriously. The only way you had a hope in hell was to buy cryptokeys with "Cod Points". Not to be confused with Black Ops 1's cod points system used to buy guns, with no P2W schemes what-so-ever. No, these Cod points are only, ONLY used to buy Keys and Vials in the game to unlock in-game items. As mentioned before, a middleman between your cash and the ingame stuff. Think of it like CSGO. You buy a Key to a case with real money and then you get a chance of winning a rare item, except with CS, Valve are Upfront with costs. Activision took a different approach to make it look more 'kid friendly'. Instead of asking mummy and daddy for money to buy case keys in a gamble for a weapon, they ask for money to buy 'cod points' which sounds far less likely to draw attention from many parents. These cod points only have one purpose - to be spent on in-game items thus increasing the chance of unlocking the "Epic" items. Another Reviewer stated that most weapon skins and equipment items are actually quite ugly and I agree with that. The better looking stuff is much rarer, and you're far more likely to be stuck with a horrid looking skin or a dupe of said skin. It may not be advertised like or even appear as mainstream gambling but don't be fooled. They're only after your money and like in the casinos - the house ALWAYS wins. Especially here because it's a false economy. They lose no money by giving you the epic weapons but they have extorted you out of a fair pile of cash before you get them. Ludicrous. If you try earning enough keys through gameplay to unlock said cases, you'll be playing for a long, long time to earn them because they take an absolute age to unlock. I think it's 3-5 matches for one of the higher tier cases, depending also on the XP earned per game. It was much easier to unlock cases before the P2W update but it's in their interest to make it tougher to unlock them as to encourage people to buy the cases. It's a good strategy for the waves of new and younger players that don't know any better but it's careless and to a degree - unethical to exploit gamers like that. The Weapons themselves are far, far better than the Vanilla guns. I can't count the number of times I got my arse handed to me by someone using the MX garand or the Famas. Even when I picked one up, it was like taking blinders off.. Extremely unbalanced and overpowered, as are the Melee weapons. Again, in their interest for it to be that way.
Let's move onto the Weapons and Specialists. The vanilla weapons follow the trend of SMG dominance that almost every other cod post MW2 MP does, With weapons such as the VMP or Vesper being the most used weapons in the lobbies, followed by 1-hit kill melee weapons obtained in cases, followed by P2W guns, finally, followed by Skill weapons ie. Snipers. Each weapon is customizable very similarly to BO2 as treyarch kept the same system. Except this time, They've added "Black Market Variants" for almost everything, further emphasising that P2W presence. It's so pointless and leaves me feeling almost like the weapon's incomplete if you don't have the variants. Picture buying a new bicycle after being told it comes with all the appropriate parts in great condition, then learning that the brakes don't work, the paintjob sucks and the tires are worn. You'd be mad, rightly so. Then you'd ask for a replacement right? a replacement you didn't even know you needed because you were blatantly lied to about the bike's condition. Then being told you gotta pay more for it. That's how I see the weapons variants, they shouldn't be charged for - unlocked at high weapon levels seems fairer. It's insult to injury that every single attachment on every single weapon has a black market variant. so picture the bike, but imagine everyone else has one and each one different from the last but in the same position as you in terms of being lied to. Activision are scum. If that's not enough, some weapon skins are now blatantly ripping off csgo - an ESL skin has 4 stickers in the EXACT same positions as they would be on souvenir weapons in CSGO. I wonder if the business team decided that they'd just stop pretending not to copy other games and just flat out do it (don't even get me started on the copying of "Augs" from Human revolution's success). Many of the specialists are underpowered. Spectre is rendered totally useless by the heavy implementation of one hit kill melee weapons and they all take an age to charge up. It's like having a really sht 4th perk that you can change, but it's like changing one shade of sht for another as many specialists can be easily countered or manoeuvred around ie. Firebreak's Flamethrower. When you activate the specialist and get killed maybe 5 seconds into it, which is likely considering how fast paced the games are, you have to re-build up the "power" or whatever to reactivate the specialist from scratch. You can unlock Different skin patterns for your specialist in a far more simplified fashion than that of Halo : Reach, if you include clothing patterns and colours. Again, the best looking ones are the rarest and can only be collected from cases, showing more P2W dominance.
Every single vanilla map sucks. I really don't think i need to build on that because it's pretty obvious if you've played the game or even seen gameplay.
So, we've come to Jetpacks, Sliding and Wallrunning. 3 totally pointless features this game could have done without, as they are an absolute pain for many players. Borrowed directly from Advanced Warfare, the watered-down jetpack has been mastered by some players to the extent of being extremely difficult to hit. It's depressing to empty an entire clip of the VMP at a guy and not even hit him once because he decided to fly 10m above you the second he saw you. Or walk into a teammate whilst wallrunning and fall to your death whilst on a killstreak. Or slide away from the frying pan and into the fire. What was wrong with black ops 1's Dolphin Dive?
Apart from all that, you've basically got the exact same cod MP as black ops 2, albeit a few reskins and different scorestreaks. Same Awful Engine, Same Exploitable tactics, Same Terrible connection and latency issues of which it escapes me how 3 or 4 fairly competent developers haven't been able to fix for almost a decade since mw2's release. Same Stupid "accolades" and "Callsigns" and weapon skin unlocks... and the perks get worse every year since WAW. It's really not original at all anymore and it seems like the devs are trying in all the wrong places to fix problems that don't exist in order to ignore the preexisting ones with the engine(s).
Campaign
Another Year, another generic Cod Campaign. Named Black Ops 3 with a story that has absolutely no ties to the original two games whatsoever, even though it's set in the same universe. So we get no continuation on David Mason or any of that legacy which kept me going through Black ops 2. With Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer trying to get another successful campaign story out there to kick start their next Call of duty series, this was a little unwarranted as black ops 2 didn't exactly close the book. As with every other cod since BO2, the story goes no-where - Hence the phrase : "Nobody buys cod for the story", which I've heard so many times. Even with the Re-integration of campaign co-op, it couldn't save the story damned from the beginning. Campaign Co-op is a shadow of it's former self - no competitive scoring or anything of substance really. It seems unfinished, with the lack of features shown. Dead Ops makes a return as Dead Ops 2, which is arguably the most original part of the game. accessible as a secret and not through the zombies menu for some reason, even after initial unlocking, it's the game's ONLY hidden gem. For those of you that enjoyed the first game, it's a lot more challenging but a good play nonetheless, with the implementation of new powerups and enemies - the game keeps you engrossed. 18 Rounds longer than the original, it's questionable whether anyone's actually completed it yet as the cod wiki's description for the last arena lies empty. A challenge, waiting to be completed.
The Campaign mode boasts some new features - 3 different cybercores, each with different upgrades such as domination to control turrets, etc., one tailored to fighting robots and another tailored to fighting humans. the weapons customisation is more like Black Ops 2 MP with a greater customisability. It's nothing special, just includes more options for play. There's not much of a challenge in the SP area due to the placement of Ammo Crates nearly everywhere. Brutal difficulty, where one shot kills you is unfairly difficult and again, borders on Lazy for the developers just like every other thing that's been copied and pasted so far.
Finally, UI
I'll keep this short as there's not much to say anyway. I could have perhaps forgiven some of the campaign and zombies' faults if not for the unreasonable demand for a constant internet connection. likely to do with zombies and the campaign now having an EXP system for ranking... which is another unwarranted addition to the game that only causes more problems. If you play offline then no progress is saved for zombies and there's an entirely different campaign slot for offline, so if you played online until the last level and lost connection, you'd have to either restart the entire story in a different save slot or wait until your connection's back. Really f*cking awful, I absolutely hate it. The Game is poorly optimised for PC as even with a high end graphics card (GTX 970) I still experience some FPS drops and lag even at the main menu. Another example of a shitty port. And Preloading. I've been stuck at the menu for upto 5 minutes before because the game is "Checking". No other cod does this and I can't work out or understand the need for it to check my PC every time I launch. Why is this in the game?
Overall, this cod was the kiss of death for me. I didn't like ghosts, didn't buy advanced warfare and only bought this one because treyarch developed it. Not buying Infinite warfare (even though cod 4 remastered looks good but they should've sold separately. Bad business move there.) or any cod after this unless they hit the "under £5" mark which is unlikely to ever happen, but IMO it's all they're worth.
This is the end of the review thankfully, If you read this far you're a trooper! Replies are welcome, let me know what you thought.