Participants In War Games Take It Out For Make-Believe Real!
by Blur
A group of obsessive Counter-Strike fans recreated one of the game's most
popular maps, de_dust, for real. The site is used by paintballers dressed as
Counter-Strike players who battle it out over 4-5 weekends worth of paint
splattered mayhem.
Manager El Hajaj said that cheating in the paintball games is rife, just as it
is in Counter-Strike. "I gave up running an internet cafe. The cheating was
getting so bad that people were resorting to physical violence to settle disputes.
At least with paintball they're too tired after running around to do any lasting
damage to each other." Asked to elaborate further on the cheating, Mr Hajaj
continued "I've barred paintball players for using Wallhacks, autoshoot,
bunny hopping and spectator cheats. The wallhacks for the most part used
hacksaws but there was one incident involving a chainsaw. Then there was the
clown who managed to convince the opposing team to wear distinctive orange
reflective vests. You pretty much automatically shoot the moment you see orange,
it was totally unfair. The bunny hoppers just looked ridiculous, so I threw them
out before they embarassed themselves further. Most insidious was the use of
cell phones to communicate with spectators armed with binoculars. The opposing
team can't work out why their ambushes all fail."
Real world limitations result in different tactics to online games. Very popular
is the "sit around and wheeze behind a box" evasion technique. Many
players also used the "throw up from being winded" diversion, a tactic
that owner Ier Haxe says makes the paintball site very messy after a day's use.
However cross map headshots ("snipping") are nearly impossible with
paintguns. At long range, the paintball loses velocity and does not break.
In order to make FPS games more enjoyable, many engines have the players run
faster than a world-class sprinter, not to mention putting in jumps and obstacles
that no normal paintball fanatic could hope to overcome. Many levels, if made in
real life, would seem incredibly big, hard to navigate, and slow to get around.
Also, lava pits are very hard to maintain unless you simulate them with pits
filled with paint. This unfortunately contributes to the mess on the paintball
site. You cannot rocket jump with a paintball gun, not that you can rocket jump
in Counter-Strike without h4x. Manager El Hajaj said that there have been people
who tried to jump down ramps and ended up with broken legs.
Strategy and tactics are the tools of people who are competent in the basic
skills of the contest they engage in, not a replacement for them. This is
especially true of paintball which is not very accurate to begin with. On the
other hand, Counter-Strike players are awesome at spamming. The "rushing"
tactic so common in Counter-Strike is suicide in paintball. There is no lag to
save you during the sudden encounters that ensue. Meanwhile, most paintball games
consist of people creeping around taking aimed shots at people - i.e.
"camping." This is actually another tactic that many Counter-Strike
players are awesome at.
Related Stories
Participants In War Games Take It Out.. For Real!
Page 1