Also, there were multiple tournament websites out there: ESL and another one I don't remember the name anymore, that hosted tournaments all time.

I remember lan tournaments in Italy with more than 60+ Counter Strike teams like Smau 2002, and you had to bring your own computer nonetheless.

It was really a golden age for gaming I swear.

People that didn't live that think that gaming is better now are severely mistaken.

Playing online videogames today is a solo experience, 20+ years ago it was the very opposite, even if you played alone you met people on the same hosted servers you liked, on forums, on IRC, in lan.

Today it's really sad.