Context

Counter-Strike Global Offensive is a game released in 2012, as a sequel to Counter-Strike Source (released in 2004), which is itself a sequel to the original Counter-Strike (released in 2000). The game's longevity is primarily caused by its competitive approach and vibrant professional scene. This longevity has shown in numbers recently, as CS:GO reached in March its all-time high concurrent players (1.1M players), making it the most played game on Steam, 7 years after it was launched. So, I thought it would be interesting to celebrate this milestone by grouping relevant data about the game and seeing what insights people can get from it!

Content

The data is split into 4 tables that store data related to: - Results.csv: map scores and team rankings - Picks.csv: order of map picks and vetoes in the map selection process. - Economy.csv: round start equipment value for all rounds played - Players.csv: individual performances of players on each map.

Values stored in 'event_id' and 'match_id' columns are unique for each match and event and shared between tables, so these columns can be used as keys to merge data between tables.

It is necessary to note that the rows in the 'results' and 'economy' tables store data for each map played in a match, while the rows in 'picks' and 'players' table store data for the entire match.

The dates of the matches range from 11/2015 to 03/2020. If you think the data is useful, I might update the dataset with data from 2014 and 2015.

Acknowledgements

This data was scraped off https://www.hltv.org/

The Game

Counter-strike is a FPS (First-Person Shooter) game in which two teams of 5 players face each other in a matchup. The game retains the same gameplay concepts since its first version, which include a Terrorist side (T) that is tasked to plant a bomb and have it detonate, and a Counter-Terrorist side (CT) that is tasked to defuse the bomb or prevent it from being planted. Both teams can also win a round by eliminating all players on the opposing team before the bomb is planted.

A standard game of Counter-Strike is a best of 30 rounds, the winning team being the first to win 16 rounds. The 30 rounds are played in two halves of 15 on each side of the map, with a round time limit of 1 minute 55 seconds, plus 40 seconds after the bomb is planted.

In case both teams draw at the 30th round on 15x15, 6 more rounds are added-on, which constitutes overtime. The overtime ends if a team wins 4 out of 6 rounds. If both teams win 3 rounds in overtime, another overtime of 6 rounds is played, and the process might repeat indefinitely until one team wins it.

There are 7 maps in the map pool that are available to be played competitively at any given time. Maps are removed and added frequently for updates and revamps, as to not make the game stale. Matches are normally played as a 'bo3' (Best of 3) maps, with less important matches played in a 'bo1' fashion and finals often played as 'bo5's.

Counter-strike has an economic system that governs the acquisitions of armor, weapons and grenades by the players. Winning a round award the players with $3250 while losing a round after a winning streak gives them $1400. Losing many times in a short period increases the losing bonus by $500 for every additional loss, as to not penalize the losing team too much. Players can also win money by getting kills and planting or defusing the bomb.

The match in the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkJu4laFGTs elucidates all of these concepts. It is also one of my all-time favorite matches (even though I was not rooting for any of the teams), so I decided to include it here.

Inspiration

What insights can you create from this data? Can you predict map picks? Map winners? Combine those predictions and predict match winners? Give it a try!