Counter Strike Culture

Berglund Authority Level 3

by Jesse Snyder

INDEX:

.01 1ntr0duxun
.02 Ch34tz0ring
.03 i h8 this
.04 t3h 3nd

.01 1ntr0duxun (return to index)

"LOL OMG N00B" is something you probably wouldn't hear or see if it weren't for video games. Legions of gamers communicate with a lingo that resembles random keyboard mashings from a caffeine-induced fit of rage. You might also these see strange acronyms appear on cell phone messages, emails, or instant message programs. However, outside of the butchering of the English language, there's an entire culture of youth who are a part in something called "Counter Strike Culture."

Counter Strike one of the most popular online video games. At any given point in time, thousands upon thousands of players will be virtually planting bombs, trying to diffuse bombs, and trying to kill each other. The premise of Counter Strike is terrorism and anti-terrorism. Players can chose to be on either the terrorist team, or the anti-terrorist team. The terrorists must plant a bomb; the anti-terrorists must prevent the bomb from being planted, or diffuse it. However, the interaction between players in game like Counter Strike is something now being widely studied.

Counter Strike culture is easily spotted. There's a ton of specialized lingo that goes on in the game. For example, you'll see many variations of the word "newbie," usually composed of letters and numbers. At times, the shortened "noob" might be "n00b," with zeros instead of o's. Sometime you'll get the occasional "newb" or "nub"

If you're a good player, you're considered to be "elite." However, rarely will you see "elite," rather you'll see "1337." The 1 represents and l, the 3's represent e's, and the 7 represents a t. If you were to pronounce this, you'd hear the word as "leet."

This kind of misspelling and new slang is transformed on a daily basis. If you lose, get shot, or if another players simply beats you badly, you just got "owned," or "0wn3d." Players like to exchanges letters with numbers whenever possible. Sometimes, players make up their own suffixes like "- zored," or "-z0r3d." Say your player was just killed from across the level. The player who just owned you might say "0wnz0red n00b!"

This slang, known as "leet speak (1337 5p34k)" is actually pretty easy to get the hang of after a while. "LOL" stands for, "laugh out loud." Saying LOL in-game is a way of letting other players know you find something humorous. "WTF" stands for "what the f***," and is an exclamation of surprise. For the first time player, this language might be confusing, but after deciphering numbers into letters, learning the lingo is easy to do. [1]

.02 Ch34tz0ring (return to index)

Counter Strike, because of its competitive, online nature, is known for hosting many players who find ways to cheat. For example, players can download "aim bots" which are programs that run outside of the game and are able to control where the player shoots. Aim bots are programmed to aim the weapon directly at an opponent's head instantaneously. This makes the game very easy to win for the cheater, since all they must do is click and they've killed their opponent. Another common cheat is a "wall hack," which allows players to see through, and sometimes shoot through walls. This is useful for obvious reasons.

Because of these cheats, players who are "owning" during a match are looked at very suspiciously. When a player makes many kills in a row, its not uncommon to hear cries of "\/\/411h4>< (wallhax; -x replacing the -cks sound)" and "41/\/\807 (aim bot)." Players also use other characters, like slashes, greater thans, less thans, and other punctuation to make their lingo as different as possible. At times, players will joke with one another, shouting "wallhax! :D" simply because a player is good.

Counter Strike isn't the only game where Counter Strike culture persists. Most online games run rampant with Counter Strike culture. However, Counter Strike was one of the first popular online shooter games, and still is. Most, if not all online games are played by a range of ages, but the very young gamers (gamers who probably shouldn't be playing the game anyway) are the people most affected by Counter Strike culture.

.03 i h8 this (return to index)

What I'm starting to see now is the creeping of Counter Strike culture into everyday life for some younger people. They have a difficult time seeing the line between what is acceptable online, and what the social norms are in real life. For example, I've read reports of English teachers having to correct sentences like "i h8 wrk it sux." This translates into more work for English teachers, and students who have a tougher time comprehending longer, more complicated words and sentences. Some lingo changes I'm fine with, such as "I just owned this test!" when a student does well on a test. Slang is expected to change over time.

While the changing of the lingo and mincing of the English language is not a huge concern, another common theme with online gaming is homophobia and sexism. Many gamers are young and immature. They call each other "ghey (gay)," or "gh3y" as a common insult. Many players don't understand that if they were to call someone gay as an insult in real life, many people would find it highly offensive. Calling someone gay is not much different than calling someone the "n" word as an insult. As a schoolteacher, I'm constantly telling my students it's not acceptable to say, "That's so gay," or tell people they're a "homo."

.04 t3h 3nd (return to index)

In any event, my point is not to harp on the negative influences video games have on our youth. In fact, I'm an avid gamer myself, and have been known to own some newbs (and get owned) from time to time. I think video games are a great way to interact with other people and have a good time. I've met some really nice people online though gaming I would not have otherwise. However, every so often, some really immature gamers push the boundaries of socially acceptable behavior. When Counter Strike culture starts interfering with real life activities, problems can arise. Be on the lookout for Counter Strike culture, it won't be going away anytime soon.

[1] If you'd like to try your hand at this seemingly confusing language, check out http://web.pdx.edu/%7epsu24075/leet.html, which is an online "1337 speak" translator.