Thank you for recommending this.

The bad graphics and unrealistic sounds aren’t what make the game pure, it’s the other way around. Because the gameplay is pure, people CAN play it with graphics turned all the way down, and with the constant clunkclunkclunk, and it’s still one of the best FPS games out there. As I said, many people who play it competitively do exactly that, because it strips out anything that would take away from the experience, like realistic graphics that lower framerate, or color schemes chosen by art direction that look nice for awhile but only end up camouflaging their opponents.

The best games for competition aren’t always the latest and greatest. Quake 3 is the FPS king, just like Street Fighter 2 Turbo is still the king in fighting competitions, just like Starcraft is the king in RTS competitions. All examples of gameplay standing the test of time.