When I feel bad, I remember - old friends in the games, and the games that we used to play. Probably, this can only be explained by the fact that I have always loved games more than anything else. They have always been a part of me and my life.

Today I was remembering the days when Team Fortress 2 came out - I don't know why, but I spent thousands of hours on its launch. It was good.

We spent hundreds of hours on the same server 2fort and goldrush, created some kind of clan - just because it was fun. It had its own atmosphere, everyone knew each other within each server - it was like a micro-community, an echo of the forum culture of that time. Not a small role in all this was played by the fact that it was at this moment that unlimited time Internet began to actively appear in our country, which made network games accessible, and Team Fortress 2 fit perfectly as the first game for a novice online player.

Unfortunately for us, its pioneers, this game began to die after the addition of "hats" - it's hard to explain, but the audience that was looking for competition in the game was faced with a HUGE influx of players who were chasing "chests" and cosmetic items. There were simply too many of them - there were too many players on the servers who played poorly, but showed how cool they were with their appearance. The level of competition in the public dropped to zero, there were no more strategies, new items additionally destroyed the esports component - this became NOT interesting.

Awesome way to kill the game. Just add commerce. Bastards.

I know that Orange Box for PS3 was published by EA and they did not release updates with cosmetic things, and the servers are still alive - I'm very happy for those people who probably play the same Team Fortress 2 there - esports, complex and team.

I would love to play with them in my dreams.