Mini-Ethnography on Gamer Culture Essay - 1999 Words

Man, Fragged by the LPB Sniper again!!! That may sound like nonsense to the average person but to the seasoned Counterstrike veteran it speaks volumes. Today, millions of people of all ages are coming together on the Internet to compete against each other in a variety of online games. The most popular of which is an online modification of the game Half-life entitled Counterstrike. br brCounterstrike itself is comprised of players 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. People from anyplace 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†¦show more content†¦Players also organize with each other into teams known as clans. Clans are people who all are dedicated to a particular game and choose to compete as team. Clans will then practice and compete together against other clans in online leagues and tournaments. The clan is where the social aspect of online gaming blossoms. From my observations I noted the serious way in which clan members treat their official matches and relationships with other clan members. I had expected to find a lot of childish disrespect and bickering. The reason I thought that was because I assumed that because they dont have face to fa ce contact with any other gamers and there are no real life consequences to insulting another gamer they wouldnt be worried about saving face or hurting others feelings. The contrary turned out to be true, especially in the communication between serious gamers. They treat each other with a great deal of respect and follow what appear to be a quiet a few unwritten rules of conduct in and out of the game server. A great example of this comes up in the actual gameplay, serious players will avoid spamming or continuously firing an automatic fire weapon in the game in hopes of fragging someone out of what they consider luck. They know that the technique works and will help them win but they dont do it because it is considered offensive. br brDespite the other rules of conduct there is however a good deal of trash talk during games. Players have