you're right as far as competitive, trackable gameplay goes. i don't disagree one bit. i think it just takes a different kind of skill, and more of it for DM. it's arguable and i'm sure we could go on for days about the flipside of every situation. but i think if you had 3 guys that spawn randomly who were playing together, and you grouped up and played vs. everyone you could reach intensity you just can't do in a CTF scenario.
i guess i'm going to deliberate away from going back and forth anymore.. i just think it's kinda gay to dismiss a completely different type of game and say it takes less skill/teamwork than something else, when they're 2 completely separate entities. to me it's like saying basketballs aren't as round as golfballs.
i'm not defending hl2dm in particular, i hardly play it. the only FPS i play a lot of lately is DoD. i used to play the shit out of all sorts of DM games and CTF games...q3 ctf is and most likely always will be my most favorite fps game ever. i dug the previous quakes but didn't play them nearly as much or hard as i did q3...previous ones arguably better than q3 etc etc..bhopping in q1 is unrivaled.. but still.