Day of Defeat: Source has a small community when compared to the Counter-Strike 1.6 or Source scene. It hasn’t quite overtaken its older brother 1.3 version either in terms of total teams nor LAN events. However, since the ‘death’ of the Day of Defeat 1.3 community, there is no longer a shadow that looms over this newer Source community. With the upcoming Texas and Pennsylvania LANs this summer, as well as changes to some of the fundamental aspects of the game (perhaps that are considered flaws) such as the cone of fire, movement speed, and increasingly more effective anti-cheat measures, the DOD:S community looks like it could pull off a great deal of success – especially considering the negative reaction on release and the large amounts of nay-sayers who doubted it.

There are certain things that make a community successful, and there are other things that represent that success that could be considered 'iconic.' Clearly, the size of a community demonstrates first-hand how successful a community is, but this is not the deciding factor alone. Success in leagues such as CAL is a must – having an invite division is one of those icons that show others the amount of competition that a game can put forward. Though some believe that the competition in Source is still weak, it has grown leaps and bounds after its first year (Day of Defeat: Source came out in late September '05), and there is a very clear distinction between the skill levels of invite, main, and open teams.

However, what points the finger towards success on Day of Defeat: Source? There is yet to be a CPL/WSVG event, it is still largely ignored in the bigger picture of sponsored gaming, and there are only two scheduled LAN tournaments so far that are sponsored events with cash/prize turnouts. The fact that there are less than 100 active teams in CAL does not seem to look very impressive either. It would seem that, from an outsider’s point of view, Source is just as 'dead' of a game, or at least stagnant, as 1.3 is now or as games like Unreal Tournament 2k4.

But, there is more than meets the eye to this small community. True, the growth is not very impressive. There are no massive influxes of gamers to Day of Defeat: Source, but it is still growing. Not only that, but within the past 6 months the community has built its own e-Sports website (www.trypants.com), has gained support from other more established websites like EGLN and of course GotFrag?, and has raised the eyes of many team sponsors. The biggest, more nationally recognizable names being Check-Six, Pandemic, and of course compLexity. The sponsors of teams and the support from e-Sport websites in Source are great icons for the confidence that is being placed on the Day of Defeat community.

We as a community need to take advantage of what is being given to us and make an active effort to promote our game and show that this game is a great, fun, competitive game with a future that won’t just die out and be forgotten, only to be uninstalled within a few months to make room for the next big title release. The 1.3 community was able to do this and was rewarded for it. Though 1.3 reached a sad ending, our roots come from the same passion that drove it forward as many of us came from that community. Now it is our time to shine and show that Day of Defeat: Source is one of the premier games to play.