Counter Strike - Online Gaming

Counter Strike

Counter Strike and Counter Strike: Source is a team based tactical first person shooter game.  Counter strike is the most played online first person shooter game in the world and has seen two expansions since the original Counter Strike.  Counter Strike: Source and Counter Strike: Condition Zero which was released in 2004.

As counter strike is a team based, first person shooter game, there are two teams that players can join.  These are either the terrorist or counter-terrorist team.  Players have to fight their opposing team whilst performing certain objectives that have been set to them.  To start with each player is usually given, $800, two magazines of ammunition, a knife and a Heckler & Koch USP pistol .45 for counter-terrorists and a Glock 18c for terrorists.  Before each round begins, there is a freeze time where players have the chance to purchase extra equipment.  This freeze time means that no player is allowed move in any direction therefore giving no player an advantage.  Each round is set at a 90 second default and depending on their map there may be extra buy zones whereby players can purchase additional equipment for their teams. 

At the end of each round, surviving players are allowed to keep their existing equipment to use in the next round.  For players that died in the round, they have to begin their next round using the basic default equipment again.  When players win a round they are entitled to monetary bonuses and this is usually set at $3,250.00 which is payable at the start of the next round.  When enemy are killed, players are instantly rewarded with $300.00 and to rescue a hostage will result in a $1,000.00 instant payout.

During play, the scoreboard will show details of the round in play and team scores.  There will be data for each player including their name, score and deaths.  When a player is killed they become a ghost and the ghosts are usually able to watch the rest of the round but cannot change their names. 

There are four official map types to play with in Counter Strike, these being Hostage Rescue, Bomb Defuse, Assassination and Escape.  Hostage Rescue is the original map type which is based on the hostage rescue situation.  There are four computer controlled hostages and these hostages must be lead to a rescue zone by the counter-terrorists within a certain time limit in order for them to win the round.  Bomb Defuse maps are the most common map type and are based on a bomb planting and bomb defusing idea.  One terrorist will start the round with a C4 bomb that can only be planted at 2 bomb sites depicted by an A and B on the map.  The counter-terrorists must defuse the planted bomb within at least 45 seconds.  Assassination maps are based on the assassination theory, one counter-terrorist will start as a VIP but they can’t buy equipment so they start out with a pistol and armour.  The VIP must get to a rescue point in order for the counter-terrorist to win.  Escape maps have since been removed from Counter-strike as when they were played they seemed to favour the counter-terrorist team.

Counter Strike is a much more realistic first person shooter game than its rivals and has a faster action quality to it.  The game has several different game types and these game types depict the teams’ objectives and rules which will decide which team wins.

As the popularity for the counter strike game has increased it has achieved a certain amount of cult status.  As such, players have come to compete against each other in serious tournaments.  There are professional gaming leagues that allow players to compete against each other to win monetary prizes.