Is it too late to start playing?

Just a real quick question. My cousin, all his friends, and all the Korean girls in the Bay Area play Counter-Strike (religiously). I'm hella good at Socom (ask Johnny HA!) and I'm sure I can just apply most of my knowledge of Socom to the Counter-Strike world. However I know that hella people cheat, and the game has been out for quit some time. So is it too late to start playing? For example when Phantasy Star Online first came out for the Dreamcast it was great for the first four months. But after that everyone and their mag were using some kind of cheats. I was wondering if the same thing was true about Counter-Strike?