Counter-Strike fans are a bit upset at the new CSPPA player rankings, although the players themselves seem pretty happy about it.

Player health has become a central focus in professional Counter-Strike in recent months. High-profile departures such as gla1ve, Xyp9x, and olofmeister due to burnout has made the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA) take a good, hard look at just what is causing players to drop like flies from CS:GO esports.

Last week, we found out that the CSPPA decided to partner with two leading universities to study the issue of player mental health. Now, the CSPPA has announced changes to its player ranking system that should help professional players maintain a healthier work/life balance.

The new CSPPA World Rankings was created with input from 30 player representatives and CS:GO stakeholders, including teams and tournament organizers. At issue with the old system was how it incentivized players to play as many matches and tournaments as possible. Since player rank was based on the most current tournament results and player play is often directly connected to their ranking, this meant that players were running themselves ragged in order to maintain their position in the standings.

To solve this issue, the CSPPA has instituted a new “protected ranking” system. This system doesn’t penalize players for being unable to attend a match due to mental health, injuries, or personal issues by extending the ranking period over 9 months. A single missed game won’t cause a player’s rank to decrease, and instead, it takes into account a player’s performance for all played games over the 9-month period.

There’s also greater transparency in the CSPPA World Rankings thanks to a publicly available rulebook that also makes impending changes viewable by the public. Pro CS:GO stakeholders can also make suggestions for changes by sending an email to ranking@cspppa.gg.

While the players seem to largely be applauding the new system, fans are less enthused. Some fans are criticizing perceived flaws, while others are just outraged over players being ranked higher or lower than expected.

Still, player health is a largely ignored issue in professional esports, and any changes to take that into consideration are good ones for the overall health of the game.

Source: CSPPA, Twitter