Remember playing Super Mario Brothers for hours on end when you younger, your eyes glued to the TV screen, your fingers flying madly across the control pad? Today's college students are children of the video game age, and many of them still play video and computer games, albeit on a more intellectual and challenging level.
The biggest difference between games of the '80s and games of today is the advent of the personal computer. Instead of being limited to playing games on console systems like Nintendo or Playstation, gamers can now choose between traditional systems and newer, Internet-based computer games.
Within the sphere of computer games, an even greater variety awaits gamers. In fact, an entire subculture of computer gamers thrives on the Internet. One such gamer, freshman Brian Nakash, has recently gotten hooked on Starseige Tribes, a capture-the-flag type game. Tribes is categorized as a Massive Multiplayer Realtime Strategy game because it is played by real people, in real time. Over the Internet, players form teams of "ten versus ten" to compete for the flag.
According to Nakash, gamers often meet on the weekends for local area network (LAN) parties and tournaments to compete in a more casual environment. Gamers bring their own computers and play their favorite game all weekend.
Such an intricate and extensive gaming culture has developed in part because of the gamers' tendencies to become addicted to their games. For Nakash, part of the lure of Tribes is the community spirit it fosters. "You make friends through these games," he said.
However, other types of games entice gamers in different ways. Sophomore Dan Barry said that he was once addicted to role-playing games (RPGs), a type of computer or video game in which one player competes against the computer.
In RPGs, the player usually sees the character he or she is playing on the computer or video screen. A subset of RPGs are first-person games, like Quake, in which the player sees through the eyes of his character, as if he is really the game character.
Barry said that RPGs are addictive because they lure you into an exciting plot. "They're really long and involved," he said. "They have story lines like a book or a movie."
However, Barry is no longer a computer game addict. After watching his schoolwork suffer last year, he decided to confront his addiction and deleted all his games from his hard drive.
Sophomore Judith Soule was once addicted to Snood, a popular games on campus. In contrast to the character-based games Nakash and Barry played, Snood is a Tetris-like puzzle game, available to download free from the Internet.
Soule said that Snood is incredibly addictive because games go by so quickly that it's easy to lose track of how many you've played. "I couldn't stop," she said. "I was like, I'll write my paper as soon as I play Snood."
Since Snood is a one-person game, Soule admitted that players might find that their addiction compromises their social lives. "You sit in your room and you play it all by yourself," she said. However, like Barry, she has weaned herself off of Snood this year, a fairly easy process for her because she doesn't have her own computer.
Nakash, however, is still highly involved in computer gaming. He became so interested in Starseige Tribes last year that he started his own gaming company, which broadcasts online gaming.
"You can tune in to my station to hear matches being covered over the Internet," he explained. "My company has gotten exclusive rights to the Online Gaming League ladder (a roster of the best gaming teams). Right now, the money that we're making is going into our costs." Soon, Nakash hopes to sell ads for his company's website in order to make a profit.
Money is a prominent aspect of gaming - both making money from tournaments and gaming companies, as well as the widespread pirating of games. For instance, the Cyber Athlete Professional League (CPL), a group that sponsors tournaments for Quake and other games, offers cash prizes totaling anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 for the winner of the CPL World Championship. The promise of such lucrative prizes often entices competitive gamers.
In the case of Everquest, one of the most popular role-playing, multiplayer games, when you purchase the game, you also purchase an account with Sony, the game's manufacturer. "You maintain a character and you build up on that character," Nakash said.
As you build up a character's experience level, the character becomes more and more valuable. "You can sell those characters on eBay," he said. "I've seen people pay up to $10,000 for an Everquest player."
Also, in the age of free music via MP3s and CD burners, many computer games can also be pirated. "There is wide-spread hacking of Playstation games," Barry said.
Since Playstation uses CDs to run their games, it is easy to burn them. "It's really easy to get any game you want off the Internet without buying it," he added.
However, Barry admitted that, if he really liked a game, he'd buy it. "If I feel a game or an artist is really, really good, then I will go out and buy it," he said. "But that's rare."
