Over the past years it has mushroomed into a club with over 1,000 members and players worldwide are able to log on to public servers at any time of the day or night and challenge their opponents to a deadly battle.
The large majority are men whose ages range between 12 and 50. Most of the players are 16- to 20-year-olds, nearly all of whom attend sixth form or university and therefore have more time on their hands. Once they start working and settle down, they will have less time on their hands so they gradually lose touch. However, there are many who remain addicted to these games for the rest of their lives. Only a handful of women log on to these games, and they are quite young, usually between 13 and 16 years of age.
Many people have a stereotyped image of Internet players. Basically that the large majority are shy, spotty teenage boys who have hardly any social skills and rarely leave their rooms. They do exist but they certainly are in the minority. For these few, the games are the only place where they can shine and be the virtual person they wish they were. The bizarre nicknames they use are intended to create mystique and protect them from the outside world.
The players come from all walks of life – business men, married men, confident outgoing men with busy social lives. Many have girlfriends and are completely different to the agoraphobic geeks portrayed in the media. Serious gamers may spend up to eight hours a day minimum playing and usually the younger a player is, the more skilled he/she is compared to the older players.
There are two types of games played: war strategy and first-person shooter. War strategy games like Warcraft involve strategical and tactical thinking. Armies and empires are created from scratch and fight their opponents. First-person shooter games like Unreal Tournament and Castle Wolfenstein are team-based games involving quick thinking, strong teamwork and military tactic skills.
Despite the usual objections from the public at the senseless violence of such games, one has to appreciate the thought and skill that goes into the creation of these games and the expertise required to play them successfully. Most games have an age rating and abroad it is illegal to sell them over the counter to players below the age-limit. Nowadays this problem is bypassed as most games are downloaded from the Internet. One must also keep in mind that although most of the games involve violence, the graphics are rarely gory.
Some of the players are hard-core gamers who spend hundreds, if not thousands, of liri on their computers. Powerful computers are needed to play certain games, as well as advanced graphic cards and sound systems. Some encase their towers in perspex and border it with neonlights. Huge flat screen monitors, and expensive mouse-mats called ice-mats made out of glass to increase precision, further enhance the games’ special effects.
Players meet and connect their computers to form a Local Area Network (LAN) in order to do battle with each other. Otherwise they can connect to a public server on the Internet and challenge whoever is logged on to the server. Every so often, major events are organised called LAN-fests where hundreds of computers are connected and play is constant for three or four days. Traditionally, on the first day of the LAN-fest, the players exchange and download games, software programs, films and MP3s.
Players join to form clans and spend about two to three hours a week practising together in clan training to improve their tactics and coordination. Clan members can be recruited anywhere: at LAN-fests, or while playing on a public server as skilled players are an important asset to the team. International tournaments are held between clans and these usually meet on the website Clan Base. Clans which are registered on the website challenge each other. Wins and losses are logged on the website through a point system, and the higher a clan is on the ladder, the better it is.
About a month ago, a Eurocup tournament of “Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory” was held. Different clans made up of of six members each waged war against each other in an elimination tournament. The final two victorious clans battled it out and the winning team was declared the victor. Since the different matches could not be viewed by the public, there were reporters fluent in two languages who watching the games who updated the website as the games progressed. The games were recorded and could be downloaded the next day. A chatbot channel was created in IRC to display the messages sent during the game in real time.
A major LAN-fest called “Genesis” will be held between 30 July and 1 August at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. Over 150 people will be participating. For those who are interested in taking part, the participation fee is Lm6. For more information log on to: www.lanforge.net.