Operation Counter-Strike

  Illustration by ZACH LOPEZ/Daily Bruin

By Lisa Klassen
Daily Bruin Contributor

The sounds of gunfire, shouting, and running resound through
resident halls any given night, signaling not a terrorist attack
but another round of the popular computer game Counter-Strike.

Following a national college trend, many students play the game
online.

In fact, Counter-Strike is so popular that the entire south wing
of the sixth floor of Hedrick Hall is rumored to play the game
around the clock, said Jae Ko, a first-year undeclared student.

Ko has played for the last five months with high school friends,
fellow college students, and other individuals around the world
interested in playing the game.

“There are a lot of people out there who have clans
““ teams of really good players,” Ko said. “These
teams play for prizes such as membership to PC clubs, and other
things like bragging rights and pride.”

These clans are often composed of friends and others with common
interests. While UCLA currently does not have its own clan,
students who play are known to add UCLA to their names as a way of
identifying themselves and creating a casual team or rivalry.

Played over the Internet, Counter-Strike allows up to 20 people,
on one team to participate in a large number of combat and covert
operation simulations. After joining a team, players select a
certain mission, the term applied to the detailed objectives and
procedures for playing.

For some players, Counter-Strike’s realistic and graphic
elements draw them to the game.

“There is no other game like it,” said James Kim, a
first-year business and economics student.

“It’s so real, and not at all like the other games
out there, the fantasy games,” he continued.
“Counter-Strike is how it is in real life.”

Garrett Zuleger, a first-year chemical engineering student,
explained the objectives of the game, which among other things,
include planting bombs and rescuing hostages.”

“Basically, the idea is that there are terrorists and
counter-terrorists and all players join either one of the two
teams, who then begin to fight each other,” he said.
“The way to win is by killing the other team.”

Before joining a game, players need weapons, purchased from a
list with a pre-determined amount of money. These weapons include
rifles, handguns, knives and grenades. Each team, however, has
access only to specific weapons and certain skills.

Next, team members have a limited amount of time to accomplish
their mission, which takes place in various locations ranging from
Las Vegas to the Arctic wilderness.

In the Dust Mission, for example, terrorists attempt to plant a
bomb in a government building. The counter-terrorists must prevent
the terrorists from planting the bomb, or defuse it if they fail to
stop the terrorists from planting it.

Developed by a creator known only as “Gooseman,”
Counter-Strike originated from another combat simulation game known
as Half-Life, which was released in 1998 by Sierra Studios. After
the development stage, Counter-Strike was released in March of 1999
with a new version of Half-Life.

The game is designed so that team members can communicate with
other players through a dialogue box similar to a chat room.

This level of interaction is one of Counter-Strike’s most
popular aspects, according to those who play it.

“It modifies the multi-player aspects of Half-Life to
bring to it a more team-oriented game,” wrote the organizers
of the official Counter-Strike Web site. “Counter-Strike
provides the player with an experience that a trained
counter-terrorist or terrorist unit experiences.”

Gooseman and other members of the Counter-Strike team also
encourage players to submit their own original mission maps. Map
submissions are reviewed by staff members. If approved, the new
missions are added to the existing list from which participants
choose missions to play.

Originally offered as a testing model on the Internet,
Counter-Strike is now a fully operational combat game. It is not
currently sold individually, but is instead included with the
purchase of Half-Life.

From their experience playing the game, Ko and Kim said mostly
men play the game. On the other hand, women may be participating in
Counter-Strike without revealing their gender.

Although the game came out last year, players say it took time
to become popular. Word of mouth from participants, however,
brought many new Counter-Strike fans into the realm of virtual
reality combat.

“Where I used to live, there was this place called PC
Club,” Ko recalled “Everyone there was talking about
Counter-Strike, and that made me want to start to play.”

Other students, like Kim, discovered the game when they moved to
the residence halls.

“I first played Counter-Strike in the UCLA arcade, Play
FX,” Kim said. “I tried it for half an hour and then
went and downloaded it onto my computer.”

Counter-Strike is available for play around the clock, which,
Zuleger said, is an advantage for students who attend classes
during the day and stay up late into the night.

Most of the time, high speed Ethernet connections allow for
delay-free play. Some residents, like Zuleger’s neighbor, can
host a server, which is the main computer that runs the games, as
well as a regular computer through their dormitory Internet
connections.

Despite the enjoyment this simulation may provide,
Counter-Strike is not always fun and games.

Slow Internet connections and troubled servers, can fray the
nerves of fans who need fast connections to fully enjoy the game,
Zuleger said.

In addition, playing Counter-Strike, or any other computer games
for long periods of time can be detrimental to students’
study habits.

“It’s very, very addicting,” said Kim.
“You never get bored. There’s multiple levels,
scenarios, and different people all the time, so it’s never
the same game twice.”

For many, Counter-Strike offers an escape from the stress of
college life. But playing on the computer doesn’t mean social
isolation.

“It’s not like I sit around and play computer games
all day,” Zuleger said. “I’ve actually met new
people on my floor who also play Counter-Strike. We’ve had
dinner together and we even hang out. I’ve made friends
through this game.”