Tracking CS:GO Stats with InfluxDB
By
Chris Churilo /
Product, Use Cases, Developer
Nov 24, 2020
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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) – a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment – is the fourth game in the now-legendary Counter-Strike series. Since its release, CS:GO has drawn in an estimated 11 million players per month, and has gathered an active competitive scene, with many tournaments sponsored by Valve themselves. Here’s a quick overview of CS:GO, and why and how to track your CS:GO stats.
CS:GO gameplay overview
CS:GO was first made available for the Windows, Mac, Xbox and PlayStation 3 platforms in 2012, while the Linux version was released in 2014. The game pits two teams against each other: the Terrorists and the Counter-Terrorists. Each side is tasked with eliminating the other while also completing separate objectives.
Depending on the game mode, The Terrorists must either plant the bomb or defend the hostages while the Counter-Terrorists must either prevent the bomb from being planted, defuse the bomb, or rescue the hostages.
The game also has matchmaking support that allows players to play on dedicated Valve servers, as well as allowing members of the community to host their own servers with custom maps and game modes. In December 2018, Valve transitioned the game to a free-to-play model, focusing on revenue from cosmetic items.
Why it's worth tracking your CS:GO stats
Tracking your CS:GO stats will help you remain competitive in your matches and identify which items to use. It is your best opportunity to get the most out of the game, as it allows you to see which of your current techniques are working and which aren’t and also allows you to continue to enjoy the game’s competitive nature well after you’ve “completed” the primary missions.
To really see how you’re doing as a player, it’s worth tracking game metrics over time, such as last match kills, total MVP, stats by weapon, total kill count, and kill-to-death ratio.
How to track your CS:GO stats
An easy way to monitor your CS:GO stats is through the Counter-Strike Gametracker with InfluxDB, an InfluxDB Template created by Ignacio Van Droogenbroeck, InfluxAce and winner of the Founder’s Choice Award at the 2020 InfluxData Community Awards.
InfluxDB Templates are a set of tools that includes a packager and a set of pre-made monitoring solutions that allow users to share their monitoring expertise with their coworkers and other community members around the world. Ignacio created the Counter-Strike Gametracker with InfluxDB to analyze his performance through time and own that data.
Using the InfluxDB CS:GO Gametracker
The CS:GO Gametracker with InfluxDB enables what other CS:GO gametrackers don’t. Says the template’s creator Ignacio: “This template offers me the possibility to track my performance through time and answer questions like: Am I improving compared to last month? With which gun am I performing better than the last month? This kind of data is not available on the default tracker, where you only see the latest data, and of course, you can’t play with it.”
The desire to be data-driven is what led Ignacio to build this template: “It’s in my nature to be competitive and improve over time. Also, I like data because I consider it critical to take decisions and change when necessary. With this template, I learn that I shoot a lot with PP-Bizon, but I hit less compared with MP7, so I change my choice and start to kill more the same with M4A1 and M4A1-S. I’m more accurate with a silencer than without it.”
Potentially, the template can be adjusted to display game metrics in real time. Says Ignacio: “It can be very interesting for the coaches to understand how your players are performing at the game in a specific moment, with which gun they’re performing better, how much they kill or die and how their economics are performing. The template is not ready to get data in real-time but is easy to adapt.”
In fact, the template can be changed to adapt to any needs: “If you don’t want to know how many windows you broke, see total damage done, or specific data about a gun, you can delete this pane. But the info is there, stored in InfluxDB to be used whenever you need.”
Building InfluxDB Templates
As for the benefit of this template being specifically an InfluxDB template, where game metrics can be stored, Ignacio says: “I find it very easy to build templates for InfluxDB, and also, it’s very easy taking data using Telegraf. The data originally comes in JSON, XML, and VDF and can be stored wherever you want. But to take advantage of this template to understand your game over time, a time series database is recommended.”
InfluxDB Templates let you quickly define your entire monitoring configuration (data sources, dashboards, and alerts) for any technology in one easily-shared, open-source text file that can be imported into InfluxDB with a single command. Sign up for your free InfluxDB Cloud account to install this template.
Interested in submitting your own InfluxDB Template? Learn how to build one.
