Counter-Strike is Good For You

[CSN NewsBot]

This just in: Counter-Strike is good for you! In a very interesting article, the BBC announces that gaming has more to it than just senseless killing. . It seems that a professor in Chicago has blown all of his grant money on a high-speed Alienware computer and thoroughly "researched" the Counter-Strike community. Here's my favorite line:

It was often obvious when teenage boys were playing, he said, because there was much more trashtalk and sexist or homophobic insults flying around.

Now maybe my girlfriend will understand why I always brush her off for a nice big game of Counter-Strike. By the way, I was joking about the Alienware thing, he probably blew the grant on something else and used a computer in the library. So if you spend countless hours playing Counter-Strike, click here to feel vindicated.

[TheLoneDanger]

"The most common emotion when people are playing is laughter,"



Uh what? The most common emotion for me is blinding rage... Of course I'd be having a fun time too if I was getting paid to play CS... maybe.

[narby]

Don't knock it, at least it's not another stabbing in a cafe report.

[UncleFu]

i could've told you CS is good for you.

[CmdrFlesh]

hmmm. it's a little short. but right, it's a positive article, coming from the outside world. at least it seems like that.

[D@ M3110N]

"The most common emotion when people are playing is laughter,"



Uh what? The most common emotion for me is blinding rage... Of course I'd be having a fun time too if I was getting paid to play CS... maybe.

You know how when almost anything in CS happens your screen will be flooded with "hahahah" or "lolololol" or "hehehe" I think thats what they mean by laughter. I think its actually true.

[uber]

An hour on iceworld, just what my doctor prescribed.

[alfuh]

I feel vindicated.

[Gpig]

Edited by [user="17662"] @ [time="1045080336"]

D@ M3110N wrote..

You know how when almost anything in CS happens your screen will be flooded with "hahahah" or "lolololol" or "hehehe" I think thats what they mean by laughter. I think its actually true.

I thought we were all typing, "HAHAHAHA" to let the person know they suck for having that happen to them.

"OMG YOU GOT KNIFED!!! LOL"

"ROFL YOU GOT GLOCKED!!!!"

"HAHAA YOU GOT AWP'D IN THE ARM!!!"



Though when someone craters it's just amusing. I don't know why, it just is.



I'm not going to read the article and instead I shall just comment on it like I already read it for I am a comment whore.



Edit: Ok so I did end up reading it because I'm a nerd. Go me. The first person to quote him comparing counter-strike and say, "Control the center" gets a prize. Dice also gets a prize for not knowing how to play checkers till just recently.

[Frito Bandito]

To outsiders this game talk can be impenetrable and lead people to misinterpret what is going on.

COUGH*leetspeak*COUGH

Players tended to bring their offline culture with them when they play, said Prof Wright.



It was often obvious when teenage boys were playing, he said, because there was much more trashtalk and sexist or homophobic insults flying around.

Well, considering that *most* players of CS are just that, teenage boys, you'd think you'd see stuff like that more often. Something I don't think they realize is the seperate language of CS. "Gay" in CS usually doesn't mean "homosexual", "fag"... ok well, when someone calls you a fag, it usually DOES mean "homosexual"... Anyway, what I'm trying to say is CS has it's OWN CULTURE, it's own language, partly composed of offline cultures, but not completely. Do you know anyone who says "noob, lol, gayed, etc" in their normal life? I sure don't. (well, actually, there was this one time I said lol in a conversation, but that's a diff. story)

"The most common emotion when people are playing is laughter," said Prof Wright.

I don't know about anyone else, but when i say Laugh Out Loud, im usually not actually laughing out loud. I guess they have a point, but this goes back to the CS language here. what's said is not always what is happening in the world of CS. Like if you lose a round badly and say "raped" are you really getting raped? No. Well, I hope that if you were being raped you'd be calling 911, not playing CS.

The only reason that people can get away with insulting friends and foes was because they knew them so well, he said.

I guess that's true. It might also help that you can kill them in the game, and you can't reach their neck to strangle them in real life. Take the LAN shootings, for example. If someone calls you "gay" or whatever and it sets you off at home, all you can do is kill them next round (or admin_vote_kick them, but I'd hope you aren't that sensitive to what others say). When they are sitting right next to you, I think you'd be more likely to hurt them life, as opposed to the game.

Games such as Counter-Strike that rely on trust and co-operation give rise to strong communities and good friendships, said Prof Wright.

Yep. I find it so cool to be able to put a face to an alias. I go to a certain clan's LAN party (its kinda small, about 65 people), I know everyone there. After the LAN when I'm playing CS back at home, i know that Mystic is Jenn, Vyris is Craig, and i know their faces and can imagine them at their computers playing. It gives you a stronger sense of teamwork, and makes it seem more real.

As a result players prefer to game with people they know rather than strangers and they tend to tone down the bad language when those they do not know well are present.

If only it really WAS like that. I hate joining a server where everyone not known by the people on top of the scoreboards are called "noobs" and when they get kills, the person killed is "noobed". I hate how "nub" is such an insult. People don't realize THEY once had to learn to play, and would have constantly been called "noobs," if the community then (then as in beta 7.1 and before) was like the one now.



Ok, I've voiced my opinions, now the rest of you get to voice yours.

[RaptorRage]

Shocking, an article from the media that doesn't blame computer games for real world violence and praises games for their role in positive social interation.



/me checks to see if it's snowing in Hell...

[Frito Bandito]

Do I win the award for longest comment in a post, or are there longer ones?

[Gnu]

No credit for the submission.



Granted, I had to submit it twice since I realised I was a complete drooling idiot and forgot to include the URL the first time. Hey, I only had three hours of sleep last night, give me a break.

[LTNuk3m]

Hell, I could've told them that.

[31Charlie]

Alpha- wrote..

I feel vindicated.

Well at least someone else does.

Gnu wrote..

No credit for the submission.

Sorry man, if I gave credit to all the people who submited that, the news post would have been about another 2 pages.



31C