The argument between people who play source and those who still play 1.6 is as old as source itself, and is founded around technical specifications of the two games - but does it go far deeper than that?

Wherever this discussion is brought up, you will find that 1.6 players argue that source game-play is far worse than in 1.6, hit reg is poor, and it generally takes far less skill.

From the other side, source players say that 1.6 is just for people with bad PCs, that 1.6 players couldnt do well on source so they stick to 1.6, and so on.

In my time working with various organisations, I have found there is really quite a big difference between the two communities, which goes far deeper than the game they play. While I don't know if this currently is one of the reasons 1.6ers dont move to source, I am sure it will be a reason they are less likely to like it as/if/when they do move.

The simple difference between the two groups is their maturity levels. Please don't take this as an insult, or just another poor 1.6 argument - I am a source player, have been since source came out, and really hope that 1.6 players all move to source as soon as possible.

I am going to illustrate this by a few examples from what I do at theSGL. While I am predominantly a senior source admin, I do admin 1.6 games now and then. A typical 1.6 game will see both teams greeting me, generally being prompt, and the match running as planned, nice and smooth. Source players, on the other hand, are a lot less courteous. Its rare for a source game to start on time (not just in theSGL, in most places, particularly in the UK), and I see a far larger proportion of source players acting poorly than 1.6 players (that is not to say there are no source players/teams who arent great, and that all 1.6 teams are amazing - obviously I am looking at the bigger picture).

Just the other day I saw two such examples from source teams. One well known team was chatting to me about their match during the day, and then, less than an hour before it was due to start, contacted us asking to reschedule, as they had a game in another competition at that time (and not some IRC cup or anything, a comp. they would have known about fixtures for a while).

Another team joined server, late, asked to wait, then, after a lengthy wait, insisted on pausing several times at start of match - not only this, but they spent quite some time insulting one of my admins, for no reason short of him asking them to be ready as soon as possible - is that really acceptable behaviour, for someone who spends a lot of his time giving back to the community?

Another example is that of Enemy Down. There are a lot of people who talk of ED as something of a joke – threads on cadred that are just flame wars people say “I thought this was cadred, not ED!”, and similar. Now, say what you want about the way ED admins run their leagues/ladders/etc, but you can’t blame them for the behaviour of the people who play in ED, can you? So, in one example, you have all the people who are so immature they give ED a bad name, and all the people who are so immature that they then whine about ED because of this.

Perhaps we just need what made it happen for the American scene – some nice prize money for CSS – that is basicly how they made the switch from 1.6 to css. But then again, maybe that will not be enough here.

And while on the subject of ED, flame less please? As said above, you can't blame them for their player's behaviour, and if you have a problem with the ED admins themselves.. well, they're putting their free time to help you, so save whining to private chat with your friends, and pretend to be a bit more mature?

While there is, of course, the argument that, because of the age of the two games, on average 1.6 players are older than source players, which I think is the case on average, that may explain why 1.6 players are on average more mature, but it does not excuse it.

Before 1.6 players can feel happy with the source community as a whole, yet alone the game itself, we all need to improve our manners, punctuality, and general sportsmanship, and stop acting like teenagers - me included. And to try and set a good example, I’m going to try and up my behaviour too, so hopefully you will notice a lot less general bitchy-ness from me :)

p.s. While a lot of this is based around the UK scene, I think most of it is also relevant to the EU scene.

Final Note: Re: some comments (and I daresay more will come), even if you think 1.6 is worse than source, I think you will still agree that the source community needs to improve anyway

EVEN MORE FINAL NOTE: As soon by a lot of comments below, alot of people arent going to stop being idiots, its a pity that a sensible thread has to be turned into immature whining by a few people, hopefully a few people will actually read this and care about the points Im trying to make. Hence, LOCKED.