I got the inspiration for this article while playing Call of Duty: World at War earlier. This was on some multiplayer. I've always liked FPSes (contrary to my opinion that video games are too violent) and it's at least a fun way to overtake rivals and have a little fun. WARNING: This is a very long article. A lot of these stories were recounted from memory, but they are not embellished in any way. You just have to take my word for it.
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Well today, I'm playing CoD:WaW regular old Team Deathmatch and there's this group of five people who are apparently in the same party since they're always on the same team. One guy who sounds like a 300-lb redneck (well I am from the South) is talking trash. Okay fine, not like the first time I've heard this. But then he starts acting very unprofessional like "I nailed your mom," "you get it in the mouth every night," and "go jump off a bridge, Jeffrey Dahmer in the making," or some crap like that.
It's one thing to be cocky, but it's another to be a poor human being in general. I didn't have my mike on (even if I did have one, I wouldn't say anything, let them troll), but having a few noobs in the room add fuel to the fire doesn't help. If one's trying to gain the psychological edge by talking trash, then I guess that is "reasonable," but trust me. I wouldn't want to run my mouth and then proceed to lose horribly. Eating crow is about one of the worst things a human being can has to go through.
But it doesn't help that his team is playing good. Dogs up the ass cause you have these noobs who soft-serve the other team free killstreaks. It was the worst I've done in a long time with my .50 KDR. Before I realized that the Gewehr 43 ain't cutting it, so I bust out the FG42 (no I will not use the MP40, just don't really care). This is when things get better.
I hunt down this redneck guy and I swear, I'm doing everything I can to make this guy miserable. It seems when I'm not busy getting shot in the ass, if this guy pops up in front of me, he's going down. I have a few good games in terms of killing him (although my team lost every time) and then I bust out with this one game on Airfield and get a positive KDR by a large margin. Just a big STFU to him and he and his crew leaves. I mean, I don't claim to be "better," I just wanted to get a few potshots in, which I did.
Afterwards, I ended up getting thrown into this one game with five other people in a clan who were actually rather polite...see, it's nice to play with HAPPY people, isn't it?
This isn't the first time I had to deal with internet losers. If they're good, then justice is rarely served. It's like those baby turtles on the beach who are horribly maimed and killed by seagulls, crabs, and other evildoers before they reach the ocean. It's depressing to think about. Get off my games. Oh, and I hope that no one who plays Sega racers acts this way since hold ourselves to a HIGHER STANDARD.
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Of course, behavior doesn't change the fact that you have to go out and win. Yes, there's always that Sirlin site which I'm pretty sure competitive die-hards read like the Bible, but this is how I see it:
Ok, now that's "laughable" but do this. It doesn't matter if you're playing your best friends, some random 20-year-olds off the internet, a five-year-old down the street, or an MLG clan, you go out to win. Cause that's all you can do. And whether or the game is laggy, you're tired, you're upset, etc., you do what you can. And if you make mistakes, you better damn well learn from them and never make them again.
Of course, I wouldn't be playing games like Counter-Strike, Perfect Dark, or Call of Duty if it wasn't "fun." Sometimes I play to feel "good," but not to have "fun." It's really strange why people torture themselves like this. But yes, I do have fun playing these games, especially if you win since you put your "emotional chips" on the line and you get paid back in return.
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Anyway, let me talk about Counter-Strike 1.6. I don't give a damn if people say it's old or that no one plays it anymore. I love the game, although it's a very hard game to stomach. My "career" in CS didn't start out easy. It was back in the 9th-10th grade when I played some guys from school. Sadly, the other guys were Cal-M (which is like the top 1-2% of all CS players who play competitively) while I was just starting out. And it didn't help that we were on opposite teams.
I really didn't do good against these people at all and the pain was escalated even worse by the fact that when you die, you have to wait until the next round before you can try again. I did "stun" one of my friends since every time I ran into him, I dealt 90 damage to him while he did 100 (killing me) so at least I did something okay, but it's better to follow through. At least we were still good friends so no bad language was exchanged.
Later about two or three years ago, I would play with him in some cooperative scrimmages (5 vs 5) and I would do OK. He lost a bit of his luster from not playing so much so I guess we gained some mutual respect for each other. Plus I had fun so that's good!
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And then there's one more thing to talk about. And this is about pure Free-for-All Deathmatch. This is different from Counter-Strike. In CS, you spawn and the Terrorists have to plant and detonate the bomb; the CT's have to defuse it. It's more tactical in nature since if you die, you're out for the round. However, in FFA, you die, you respawn. Every time you kill someone, you get a point. Reach the point/time limit and achieve victory. Doesn't really get any more simpler than that
I used to play a Counter-Strike Deathmatch mod and you had at least six people running around a level, everyone blowing each other away. It was very frantic--just go for kills, hustle, use your instincts. Keep your back to the walls to prevent ambushes, always have cover, aim for the chest/head region. Practice, practice, practice.
And this is true and I swear, but when I play games like this, my mind would just phase out and I would go into "Matrix time." Like I would become a totally different person. I would stay fixated at that screen as stuff flies by me as I flick that damn cursor around and totally lose control of myself. At this point, I don't know if I was having fun or whatever, all I know was one thing--don't screw up and WIN THE GAME. I guess having the "out-of-body" experience meant that when the game was over and I returned to my normal self, I often exploded with emotions like a man free-falling into an ice-cold pool, only to become completely shocked with the result, whether good or bad.
I've had many close games where it was 50 kills to win and I won and someone else got 49. Like I would tell myself, "I've been in a situation like this before, I can stomach the pressure, I know I can do it." Barring anyone with supreme skills or a complete breakdown of emotions, I could at least do alright. Often, I question why I put myself through such emotions. I don't know, sometimes it just feels GOOD to win.
Another thing, I never once mentioned VIOLENCE in this whole article thus far...you see, I don't play game to spill the other guy's guts all over the floor. It's just a means to win, like getting the tennis ball past the guy or putting the basketball in the net.
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This article's so long I'm going to split it up. The next one deals with Perfect Dark for Xbox Live. Click here to read Part 2. You won't wanna miss it (assuming you've made it this far into the article).
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