CSGO fans debate Terrorist and Counter-Terrorist name changes

While long-time Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans don’t bat an eye at the game’s use of “terrorists” and “counter-terrorists,” these can be polarzing words to people outside of the CSGO community. 

Once again, the CSGO community is questioning if the names should be changed. This time, ESL’s vice president of pro gaming suggested using the terms “offensive” and “defensive” instead. A poll on Twitter currently has over 26,000 votes, and the majority are saying to stick with terrorist and counter-terrorist team names.

Counter-Strike has been around since 1999, giving the series more than 20 years of history to date. This has created a lot of nostalgia for Counter-Strike fans who don’t want to see such a prominent aspect of the game changed. 

Still, the suggestion sparked a debate among players and fans, both in CSGO and elsewhere in esports.

Call of Duty player Alex “LeX” Deily proposed the terms “attack” and “defend” instead, which are used in his game of choice. 

“Sanitized, but more importantly, understandable,” LeX said. 

CSGO players were a bit more conflicted, although they also saw some positives to potentially changing the terms. CSGO personality Anomaly noted that changing the terms would be helpful for YouTubers and streamers. 

“It would help with sponsors I’m sure, and videos wouldn’t be demonetized for having ‘terrorist’ in the title,” Anamoly tweeted.

He did add, however, that long-time fans and players wouldn’t be happy with the terms being changed. 

Still, Vitality pro Alex “Alex” McMeekin agreed with Anamoly, claiming that companies in France have had a difficult time sponsoring CSGO teams because of the words associated with the game. This of course brought up the fact that the game also used words like “bomb” and “hostages,” which led to more debate on if the game should even bother appeasing to people outside the CSGO community. 

For now, it’s more than likely that CSGO will stick with its 20-year relationship with “terrorist” and “counter-terrorist.” It’s a game that often seems to side with its hardcore and long-term fan base over trying to appeal to even greater masses. But with all the controversy surrounding video games in America and beyond, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a change in the future.