Acaldama

There is an arena full of people, wild, crazy and shouting. Far across the madding crowd, the stage bathed in white light is the object of rising anticipation. A single chant fills the air like some ancient drumbeat summoning that one figure who is to redeem their lives. You suddenly step into that moonlight and commotion that defines you; you raise your hands in acknowledgement and let your voice rule the silence that follows………and then…..kreeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng……reality dawns……you are back on the bed in your room grimacing at the fact that you have four classes lined up back to back before you can taste relief. I talk here about one of the most clichéd dreams that has formed the opening scene for many a movie……or better a dream that you have dreamt a thousand times over, different situations and different plots, as I have, but all carrying that single important message. We all want to be heroes in some or the other way.

Well a hero doesn’t always signify the masked rider off to save the damsel in distress. It is a symbol of passion, commitment to a goal, leadership, resourcefulness and strategic decisions. A hero who is not a lone figure but one in many, united in spirit with his fellows but just as different from the rest. Well believe it or not such heroes exist, in a world very different from ours but one that coexists with what we call reality. The VIRTUAL is here.

For those still in the dark about the strongest undercurrents that has gripped the nerd and the idler, the bright and the dull, the tall and the short, friends and enemies, and of course boys and girls alike (this article wouldn’t have been possible otherwise) is a sensation called COUNTERSTRIKE!!! Well with the minor exception of those poor girls robbed of precious time with their beloved who feel nothing but ‘frustration’ it is indeed a rage.

So what is Counterstrike or CS as it is called all about? Counterstrike is a tactical first-person shooter video game which originated from a Half Life modification by Minh Gooseman and Cliffe. Players join either the terrorist or counter-terrorist team. Each team attempts to complete their mission objective and/or eliminate the opposing team. Each round starts with the two teams spawning simultaneously, usually at opposite ends of the map from each other. Each player generally starts with $800 (although this amount can be modified), three magazines of ammunition, a knife, and a pistol: a Heckler & Koch Tactical for counter-terrorists, and a Glock 18 for terrorists. Players are generally given a few seconds before the round begins (known as "freeze time") to prepare and buy equipment, during which they cannot attack, be attacked, or walk/move. They can return to the buy area within a set amount of time (90 seconds is the default) to buy more equipment (some neutral "buy zones" can be used by both teams). Once the round has ended, surviving players retain their equipment for use in the next round; players who were killed begin the next round with the basic default starting equipment. Standard monetary bonuses are awarded for winning a round, losing a round, killing an enemy, instructing a hostage to follow, rescuing a hostage or planting the bomb.
The scoreboard displays team scores in addition to statistics for each player: name, kills, deaths, and ping (in milliseconds). The scoreboard also indicates whether a player is dead, carrying the bomb (on bomb maps), or is the VIP (on assassination maps), although information on players on the opposing team is hidden from a player until his/her death, as this information can be important. Killed players become "ghosts" for the duration of the round; they cannot change their names until they spawn (come alive) again, text chat cannot be sent to or received from live players; and voice chat can only be received from live players and not sent to them. Ghosts are generally able to watch the rest of the round from multiple selectable views, although some servers disable some of these views to prevent dead players from relaying information about living players to their teammates through alternative media (most notably voice as can be judged from the decision of the IT lab people to prevent us from playing during daytime not long ago). This technique is known as "ghosting". In here, the bomb maps and the hostage rescue maps are what we signify as strategy maps while the rest is popularly called ‘bhasad’ maps.

The game is played in much the same way everywhere but what makes it more interesting within a particular community as ours is the characters that it gives rise to. The fun you get out of picking on others, not to mention the ease with which one can use invectives (gali) without seriously meaning them (or am I mistaken) is an endearing feature of this game and undoubtedly at par with the CS culture outside these walls. Spilling someone’s blood with a knife is the highest honor for the killer. And his victim is undoubtedly the laughing stock of the group. Of course, there is nothing more foolish than falling from a height and killing yourself! And who would be dumb enough to kill oneself with one’s own bomb? (I will get killed if I spill the beans here) Can’t help mentioning that when I started playing the game people used to jeer at those who got killed by me. Not a nice thought really, being compared to a knife when you are trying to be a hero or heroine (please think in terms of Joan of Arc) for that matter!!! Seriously speaking I have learnt some great galis this past one year that I plan to use (under the breath) on the slow traffic in Kolkata. And I admit without regret that they will stick with me more than the financial ratios. Well I do complain when things get out of hand once in a while but there is a great sense of camaraderie between the players and I am proud to belong to the CS fraternity. ‘Muhahahahaha’ is what is supposed to shame you into revenge when you have failed to accomplish the team mission. It’s all team work or its nothing. Support given to the more experienced players or leaders for that matter is vital for survival against the brutal counter attack. And along the way there is ‘fire in the hole’, ‘cover me’ to inject a fresh dose of vigour and team spirit into you. The craze has doubled over the year with more players joining the game. And not just that, there have been instances when we have played in between classes either on the lappy or when we had slipped out supposedly in search of water! Not really out of our school uniforms are we? Every chance has been utilized to create more passion for the game.

Counterstrike has largely become a medium of expression. And the fact that one gets to create a whole new identity and a name to identify with has more than overlapped with real life. The names are anything ranging from funny to outrageous to downright blasphemous. Players usually play by their trademark names however sometimes as the situation demands whether it’s a bugging subject, a particularly allergic class, a pain-in-the-ass professor or a girl who has thwarted advances and smashed hearts (ouch!) find their way into names and the result is as one can imagine. Guess it cools hearts and takes out all the tension this way. Not that names are larger than the players themselves but even legends require a name.

I say its more than a game, its a religion.