Oh right, this closely mirrors the way QuakeWorld slowly faded away. Everyone talked about ways that the engine could be modified to retain and bring back players to the competitive scene. Mods were launched, a veritable litany of versions of QuakeWorld popped up- lots of which had begun to integrate Anti-Cheat systems and made popular (previously hidden) settings easily adjustable for competitive players. The game became temporarily ideal as the dreams of many players were fulfilled by the release of the QuakeWorld sourcecode.

Yet none of those promises of returning players ever came true. No new interest amongst gamers was generated.

We just ended up with a bastard version of a game we had loved, filled with undetectable aimbots and maphacks.

The situation is less dire in CF. We aren't in a technical arms race with cheaters the way QW was. Frankly, I don't think we can engineer our way out of reality. You just plain can't make it 1998 again.