[JackMonroe]

Alright, here's my perspective (the perspective of a player that stomps you all at both games)   

it us harder for a player to become pro in source than it is in cod. Jack i'm happy for you that you are a naturally inclined gamer but that has nothing to do with levels of skill.  Saying cod is easy mode is totally false. Its easier to pubstar in but if you were to play scrims against some of the good teams you would get shit on do hard. I encourage you to go challenge area 51 or even iconic (who are a mediocre team)  ... Don't tell them I said that. Also keep in mind that cod is a console game first, PC game second. Most pro teams are on the xbox.    Also tonic, the statement that you can live from greater falls is totally bull.  Its the other way around.  don't even say perks. Because there's no perks in matches.

You didn't read the part where I said I did scrim back in CoD4.  None of the bullshit perks.  Me running around jumping and killing everyone with a deagle.  Spraying a silenced m4 from any distance and killing people.  That to me is easy mode.  All you have to do is point and click.  There is a much less learning curve in CoD.  Compared to other games (quake, cs), CoD is indeed "Easy Mode."  I am just using me as an example.  I don't usually run around and gloat (jokingly on the forums sometimes, but I know that there are tons of people in cs who are infinitely better at the game than I am), but I would say give me a day or two to learn the maps and guns in MW3, and I could hold my own with whoever.
Also, you know that the best players will always be on PC (half sarcasm)  But on that note, I will say that the skill ceiling is higher when using a controller because of the limitations you have to deal with.  Learning to master a tool with such limitations is a larger task than learning one that is inherently precise.