CG's Ramblings

Date: Somewhere between July to December, 2005
Time: 1.30 AM
Venue: de_dust2 (in CS world)
Hostel A, TIET, Patiala (in the real world)

“Ok, let’s go”. Buy the AKs and the grenades. Guys, on to bomb site B. “Cover me”. Throw the HE into the hallway. “Fire in the hole!”. No one there. On to B. The flashbang. Any CT hiding behind the crates? No. Ok plant the bomb. Ti.. Ti.. Ti.. “The Bomb has been planted”. (Meanwhile, a lone terrorist heading on to A is killed by a counter-terrorist’s M4A.) Get into position. A T behind the bomb. A T behind the crates looking downhill. A sniper with his Magnum aimed down the hallway. A confused T in the middle looking every way. “Enemy spotted.” The T looking down the hill kills a CT. The sniper frags another two in the hallway. The third CT from the hallway takes down the sniper and the confused T. The T behind the crates takes him down. The last CT coming uphill kills the T behind the crates. And the T behind the bomb fills him with shotgun spray head to toe. “Terrorists win”.

Sometime later…

Take them before they reach A. The sniper’s at one end of the long corridor beside A. Two other CTs take positions to defend site A. The last two rush to the hallway near T spawn leading to the A corridor. “Go Go Go”. Two CTs take on three Ts. Unlike Sholay, this time the three overpower the two. But only one T remains. The fool heads towards the corridor and becomes a spectator, thanks to a sniper’s bullet. The other two reach A from the other side. There’s a CT waiting for them. Fall back. “Fire in the hole!”. A flashbang and an HE. A CT is blinded, a T is injured. The Ts take down the blind CT. But they don’t know that two other CTs are waiting for them. One of them falls to a Magnum. The other to a Bullpup. All the Ts are dead. “Counter-terrorists win”.

But of course Counter-Strike is not just about terrorists or counter-terrorists. There’s a lot more that goes on than just “Terrorists win” or “Counter-terrorists win”:

• A T starts abusing a CT. The CT, who eats, sleeps and drinks CS everyday, is so incensed that he leaves the game(and his room) and arrives at the T’s room for a mano-mano. A real world one on one in the corridors of Hostel A. Now the T is out too, an altercation is on, a wrestling match is on the cards. Other Ts and CTs(as well as non-CSers) stop the fight, but the bitterness remains.


• Non-CS-playing time is utilized by discussing about strategies and tactics(which can go on for hours), by taking digs at other players(he’s a faggot, he can only camp and kill, I can beat him any day, any time, any map, any weapon…) or by dreaming about your favorite CS fantasy(up 44-30 over the best sniper in awp_india).


• Money is spent, time is wasted(depends upon your point of view), classes are missed(once even an exam was missed), just to get a shot at winning the local CS competition. Once time and money run out, vows are made to never let it happen again, but vows are made to be broken, aren’t they?

Time: 2.00 AM
The CTs have just finished off all the Ts, but the bomb’s stil there. The two remaining CTs rush to the bomb. None of them has the defusal kit. Time is running out. It was Ti…….. Ti…….. Ti…….. when they reached the bomb site. Now that they have finished off the terrorists, its Ti.. Ti.. Ti.. As he defuses the bomb it becomes TiTiTiTiTiTi…. Will he won’t he? The question’s on everybody’s mind. Its gonna be tight, very tight. The defuser’s sweating - its almost complete - don’t blow. The dead Ts are sweating - its almost over - blow up - don’t let him. Hold your breath, ladies and gentlemen, ‘cause the bomb has…..
“…………….....….s win”

• CS players aren’t the only ones who are affected; ask the poor CS hater who lives right next to me. In the quartet of rooms we live in, he’s the only one without a PC(and the only one who doesn’t play), and boy, does he have trouble sleeping with sounds of gunshots and grenade blasts from three directions converging into his little room…


• Its two at night, in the middle of exams. The Ts have got an unwelcome teammate. The server is a T. “We don’t need you”, he says(or so he claims), “go join the other side”. The CT, who didn’t see the message, remains as T. Kick him out, kick him out, they say. The server kicks him out. Whoa…what was that? The unwelcome joins again as T. Another kick out. Again a T. And another kick out. This time he joins as a CT and says “Fuck you, *********”. Another kick out. This is it. All bets are off. The unwelcome has the hub with him. Off. Game Over. Many guys are disconnected, including the server. What’s happening? Slowly, slowly, the tension builds up. The server and the unwelcome have a confrontation, they nearly come to blows. Soon, other Ts and CTs arrive at the scene. Some side with the server, some with the unwelcome. Those enjoying it the most are the spectators. The unwelcome is in an uncontrollable rage. Angers flare up. Almost the whole block has woken up now. Someone says, “The only difference between this and CS is the absence of a gun”. The hub remains off for the next two days (which was actually good, ‘cause it led to ended one big distraction during exams). But, like before, bitterness remained much longer.

How does CS manage this? How is it that virtual fights lead to real fights? I’ve been playing games since I was maybe five, but never have I seen a game affecting people’s lives like CS does. I am a voracious(but a little bit less now) CS player myself, and I acknowledge its real good. Unlike most games, it actually gets better as you keep on playing it, but really, how come we allow it to get so far? Maybe it’s just that team games build up emotions much faster and stronger than single-player games. Or maybe the realism of CS seeps into our reality. Whatever it is, many of us are falling victims to its addiction. The end-sems are coming near, and of course there’s very little studying in BE, but lets see how many exams CS manages to destroy…

Time: 2.10 AM
The game is over. The score line reads Terrorists 19, Counter-terrorists 13. But you know what? Counter-Strike wins.

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