I’ve been playing CS:GO for a fair bit of time now. I enjoy warming up to either deathmatch mode with the M4A1-S or the AK-47. After a warmup, I step up into competitive matchmaking when I feel well enough to play. The high energy moments of Silver/Gold fixtures is exciting and almost always unique experiences. For the most part, I feel like I’ve learned something out of each failure and missed opportunity… until recently.

After the ranking system demoted me thanks to dropping several games on Rush, my luck seemed to have taken a turn for the worst. My performance was near the bottom of the scoreboard. Unfortunately, no one else I would end up with was taking charge or making calls. I would end up making decision that the rest of the team would follow that would result in losses game after game.

Yesterday, CS:GO demoted me again for a reason that I can’t explain.

I was positive that before I launched into a certain match on Inferno that I was a Gold Nova II ranked player. The little blue strip in my player card would show two golden stars with small golden brackets on either side.

I launch into the game to check the scoreboard to watch people connect. Still two stars listed beside my name. Someone on my team mentions they’re Gold Nova I. Another calls out Silver Master Elite. For a moment, I consider that I could be the highest ranked player on our team.

The game begins. Before I could go to the buy menu for the opening round I hear the narrator announce: “Counter-Terrorists win.” The five players on the opposite team had executed a ‘kill’ command before the round started.

This continued without answers until halftime.

A troll offers a “good half” to us. I ask him if they’re looking to de-rank their accounts. He confirms.

Seconds later, the sixteenth round ends just like the others and we’re given a victory. The rank notification at the bottom of the scoreboard shows the bad news. One gold star.

I’m not sure what reason the system came up with to demote me. I finally realized what I should have realized from the start: specific ranks aren’t important.

There’s a reason that the Global Elite category is a level all its own. Players who smurf into lower-ranked games that claim their “main account is a Global” play the game on another level.

It makes me wonder if they have super god-like machines that allow them to play better than anyone else. Of course, of that’s the case, I could never compete on the higher levels of matchmaking with my laptop. As capable as the i7 MacBook Air has been, it can’t compete against a system packed with over three grand’s wroth of components.

And I don’t care about that anymore. Even though I’ve reached Gold Nova II again, I just want to have fun with a semi-serious game like CS:GO.