UAE Context

[CSN NewsBot]

If you've been following the news recently, you may have heard about the controversy surrounding a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based company potentially running a handful of U.S. ports. While it's not the place of a Counter-Strike fansite to discuss politics, I thought I'd share an interesting article featured on CS-Nation back in November, 2002 that is just a bit relevant. At the time, guest writer EjeKt wrote a fascinating editorial about Counter-Strike in UAE.

A friend of mine mentioned there was a Starbucks in the mall in Al-Ain. Once I scouted it out, I had it made. I'd head up there after a morning of language training, pull out the books, and get to work.



So after I got over the jet lag, I grabbed a taxi, shot the shit with the Afghani driver in my broken Arabic (Me American ... How are you ... What city you from ... I want to go to center of town ... Thank you), and passed briefly through the 115 degree weather on my way to the cool environs of the Mall. Once inside, I followed the directions a friend had given me, made my way upstairs, sat down in the Starbucks, and I got to work. I was editing a paper I wrote about the Bedouin nomads in Saudi Arabia when something caught my attention. I heard crickets. Yeah, crickets — lots of them. And these were crickets I had heard before. I thought about it for a minute, and then I had it: de_aztec.

Earn some multiculturalism points without having to listen to KEXP.

[Pan the Goat God]

Holy shit I remember reading this back when it first came out, I told my dad about it.



How they liked being terrorists and everything..rich snobs. Wow.

[Diamond Dust]

Interesting article but really I don't see how it "is just a bit relevant", it has nothing to do with a United Arab Emirates based company potentially running a handful of U.S. ports. What are we supposed to comment on the port deal or the article they are two completely differn't things.



Well the port deal is dumb but it really doesn't make our ports any more safer or unsafer, but it does pump money into another country which i don't like to see. As for this article I think that shows the quality of people that live there, as Pan said "rich snobs". I know I will feel a bit better on public servers knowing that i could be playing in that situation.

[rizzuh]

It's "just a bit relevant" in that many of our visitors may not have heard of the UAE before the recent news coverage.

[Foo2rama]

Wow.. I have been playing CS for way to long I remember that post like it was a few months ago.

[K0brakai]

haha same.

[woah]

This is exactly how I would have imagined the general player mentality to be in such an area.

[Deadly Ramon]

Edited by [user="223860"] @ [time="1142046286"]

Rizzuh's revisiting this article is indeed most relevant not because it has anything directly to do with the UAE port deal, but simply because it involves the United Arab Emirates at all. I also thoroughly enjoyed it when it was first published, and it remains my favorite in all the CS Nation archives, as well as the most well written ever hosted here. It was a glimpse into a culture that most of us likely had never heard of, and to see how a Western game had infiltrated this foreign environment and what strategies this country's inhabitants (albeit a small sample) applied to it was most fascinating. It was stereotypical sometimes, but that made it even funnier, and to think of this mob of Mohammedans all, without exception, buying AWPs, desperately vying for a slot on the terrorist side, and sighing with resignation when they had to settle for a counterterrorist spot, was just hilarious. Some of them, noticing the American's heterodox tactics, picked up a few pointers, apparently, so there's hope that this segment of the international CS community no longer neglects some of the other wonderful guns that CS features, although I suspect that a preference for the AK-47 over the M-16 derivative prevails. I hope Ejekt, the author of the article, is faring well in his academic career, and I thank Rizzuh for having anything to do with publishing the article in the first place. If there's ever a niche market book published about players' CS experiences, then not only would I eagerly purchase it, but I would also expect Ejekt's report to be prominently featured therein.

[Tesko.Pk]

I remember reading this when it first came out, good read.

[obsidianelite6]

yep, interesting read.

[Foo2rama]

well, said Ramon. I also remember this for the well written prose, and unique look at a different set of players.

[Deadly Ramon]

The sprawling comments thread linked to the original article's appearance is also quite enthralling reading, too, though despite all the controversial feedback it generated it isn't about to even remotely rival the uncontainable Derek Smart Usenet maelstrom. In any case, I can't wait for Ejekt to enlighten us next on the state of CS lan parties in Somalia. Will the excitement never end?