‘Counterstrike’: as addictive as illegal drugs

* This column is written in COM 114 outline format to get a cheap laugh out of you, the reader.

Attention "Getter" (to identify and engage the audience)

If you are a student with above average hand-eye coordination, a powerful computer and a propensity for procrastination of your post-class projects, you could be in mortal danger of a cataclysmic catastrophe of confounding consequences!

Introduction (to explain what you’ll talk about)

I’m talking about computer games, specifically network computer games. Games such as "Starcraft," "Everquest" and the mother of all network games "Counterstrike," that promise fun and guiltless pleasure but could lead to devastating results.

Unbeknownst to many of the "users" of network games, the games mirror illegal drug use in many ways. They are addictive; they give artificial "highs;" they give depressive lows between game "fixes" and they can ruin your future with side effects such as sleepless nights, lowered GPA’s, lethargy, disinterest in studies, deterioration of physical well-being and degeneration of social skills.

However, steps can be taken to ensure that you can maintain a healthy lifestyle and enjoy the games at the same time if moderation or self-discipline is executed.

Main point one (the "drug")

I will use the game "Counterstrike" as my example for this column because it is the only game with which I have any experience.

"Counterstrike" is a game where you play either a Terrorist or a Counter-Terrorist armed with rifles and machine guns, and compete as teams against each other. The victor is the team that either kills or "frags" all the members of the opposing team, or completes the goal for each playing field.

These games are very enticing to an impressionable mind and satisfy many basal human needs.

Gamers unsatisfied with their current status in life can don "aliases" or "screen names" to take on new personas for a short while. For example, names such as "Preacher Tom," "Swimpunk," "Flamingo," "Suicidal Cat," "Marshall Banana" and my own name "Texas Nutz," (there is no sexual connotation, I promise) allow students to become the elite special forces team members and let people escape the unsatisfying conditions of their lives.

When you succeed in "fragging" an opponent, you feel the adrenaline rush or "high" of succeeding in competition.

Shortly after you finish playing, you feel the eventual "down" or realization that you are not the special-forces member but an unpopular student attending school in West Lafayette, Ind. At this point gamers feel the need to play the game some more.

What follows is late night gaming sessions, sacrificing nights out with friends, disinterest in exercise or proper nutrition and, in some cases, skipping classes.

Before a student realizes it, he is hopelessly addicted to the "frag-whore" and all of his other responsibilities seem lesser priorities. The person who turned to games to cope with their under-satisfying lives find themselves worse off than before as they have no social-lives, they are failing school, they are infuriating their parents and they are completely convinced that they do not have a problem.

This is the path to the dark side my friends.

Main point two (The cure)

The first step to salvation is the realization that you do indeed have a problem.

Look at your grades, look at what you're capable of, look how you spend your free time and realize your condition. It is a humbling, pride-swallowing process, but to ensure the success of your tenure as a student, it is necessary.

The second step must be tailored to each addict’s needs.

If you are a user that has enough forethought to sense that you are on the path toward potential doom (no pun intended … well okay, it was), you can halt your degression down the spiral. You must uninstall "Counterstrike" and reintegrate yourself into more rewarding tasks such as studying, working out, spending time with friends and watching your diet.

Take away the temptation until you get a handle on your life, then slowly reintegrate the drug based on a strict moderative regiment.

Reinstall "Counterstrike" and allow yourself to play it only on weekends, or perhaps only on certain days.

It is important not to attempt to restrict it to an hourly basis as I have found that this is extraordinarily difficult. Thirty minutes turn into three hours. It is more beneficial to say, "I’m done with my homework for the weekend, now I’ll set aside Sunday afternoon to play."

Using a reward basis program also has potential. For example, when I finish my paper that’s due tomorrow, I’ll reward myself by spending a couple hours fragging after I turn it in.

Now, if you are someone who is not of the self discipline to deny the temptation of "Counterstrike" if it’s in your computer at all, you must take a deep breath, repeat "I am the VIP, protect the VIP" several times and delete "Counterstrike" from your hard drive.

You must treat it like an alcohol addiction, once an addict, always an addict, and realize that a few years down the road how many "frags" you racked up on the "Slayers" or "Boilermaker Penthouse" server while in college won’t be worth a warm bucket of spit.

Recap (to recap)

Computer gaming can be seen as a highly addictive drug.

Overuse can lead to devastating results.

You can stop the degeneration with control and self-discipline.

There are more rewarding activities than fragging that can actually enrich your life.

My name is John Wakefield (Texas Nutz) and I am a "Counterstrike" addict.

John Wakefield is a senior in the School of Liberal Arts. He can be e-mailed at opinions@purdueexponent.org.

‘Counterstrike’: as addictive as illegal drugs

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