Mini-ethnography On Gamer Culture Essay -- essays research papers

Man, Fragged by the LPB Sniper again That may sound give care nonmeaningful to the average person but to the seas sensationd Counterstrike veteran it speaks volumes. Today, millions of tribe of all ages are coming together on the Internet to make do against each other(a) in a variety of online plump fors. The most common of which is an online modification of the game Half-life entitled Counterstrike. Counterstrike itself is comprised of goers broken up in to two teams, terrorists and counter terrorists, who then compete against each other to achieve a range of goals in a variety of levels. throng from any rear end in the world can log in to one of the hundreds of Counterstrike servers running on the Internet and team up with and play against anybody anywhere. To play the game players manipulate their characters movements inside the faux scenario they see on their monitor. They do so by using the keyboard and mouse in tandem to move around the level, find opposing players and then frag or efface them with whatever weapon they currently have, there by eliminating them for the remainder of the round. However, in most cases the teams goals are much complex than just eliminating the other team. For instance, in one level one player assumes the role of the V.I.P. and his counter terrorist teammates travail to escort him to a helicopter on the other side of the level. The terrorist teams design is to find and assassinate the V.I.P. before he is able to escape. This and other missions like it create an exciting and adrenaline filled environment that are ingredient of the reason gamers just can not quit.For the most part great deal team up with and compete against slew they havent met and in all likelihood never will meet in a face-to-face manner. This yields few very interesting results. I was able to observe two peers of mine playing Counterstrike online in the same room on their enlighten computers on several occasions for extended periods. Also , I installed Counterstrike on my computer here in my dorm room and played online myself a number of times. The first thing that I noted and the first I am going to talk about is the players business leader to create and maintain their own online identity. Every player in an online game of Counterstrike or any other game for that matter has his or her own handle or call sign. They are nicknames that the players come up with themselves and adopt as names ... ...10 dollars to gain access to an online server that acts as a simulated finite world for each person to place their character in. Players manipulate their character and basically live that persons live in that finite simulated world that contains other players. They profane property, get a job and interact with other players. I was ineffectual to actually observe anyone playing Everquest or play it myself. However it seems to seclude the level of interaction to new levels. For obvious reasons I find that a little unsettling . I think that is safe to say that many people actually prefer their simulated online personas and friends to their real life ones. That may start out new problems in the future. At the pace that technology is currently growth I think that soon the number of people who find more satisfaction and fulfillment in their cyber lives will only grow. Also, to speculate a little I think that in the future it will believably be possible to immerse yourself in a totally simulated environment. Will be people totally isolate themselves and spend geezerhood inside life simulations oblivious to the real world but unchanging perfectly content to live out their days in a Matrix like cyber dreamscape?