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Can Counter-Strike Players Be Summed Up By Nation?
Thanks to GotFrag for its article discussing whether players from different countries are good at different aspects of online FPS Counter-Strike. The writer tries to claim: "Some countries, most of which are the leading ones in Counter-Strike, have certain specialities. This often means that the players in this country will have a 'special touch' in this area." Among the supposed conclusions are that Americans excel at "shooting [and] logistics", whereas Germans are best at "thinking [and] teamwork", and the French come off best when using "reflexes". How seriously can we take such broad conclusions?
I think this is just a superstition. CS players think that Germans are better at teamwork and Americans are better with 1337 and sniping so they will naturally assume attribute those traits to players of various nationalities even if they don't demonstrate anymore skill than anyone else. "We got pwned by those Germans, man they stick together" or "Those Americans all talk with numbers and are so interested in our mothers"
On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
are probably best at playing too much and dying.
Remember, there were no nuclear weapons before women were allowed to vote.
Yes Mom, sorry Mom.
Mexicans excel at zerging while our blue collar replacements in India fill in teams quite cheaply
Somehow I don't think that the location of a human being on the Earth inherently determines their specialty in Counter-Strike. Infact it's a ridiculous concept that suggests humans of a different nationality are fundmanetally different than that of another nationality.
The author needs to think about the generalizations he's making and realize that they're just that, generalizations.
Jesus, am I the only one on earth who never played counter-strike and doesnt even want to? As far as multiplayer FPS games go, CS isnt so crash hot.
I don't want to oppress your freedom of speech, but perhaps you should actually play the game before you start offering your opinions on it.
Gaaaaaa! MUST... CONTROL... FIST OF DEATH!
/.
England != United Kingdom
And may I say that this is one of the sillier stories posted on
this will not be any article of greatly described facts
Indeed.
Australians have the best aim (well, considering the counter-effect due to the amount of beer I drink when playing)
Robert Anton Wilson
Australians have the best aim
As if that is of any help when your boomerang rounds always come back and knock down your health points.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Similar studies into cultural differences have been undertaken by, for example, Geert Hofstede et al. He identifies 5 dimensions by which cultures may differ. For instance some countries, like the US, score high on the individualistic scale, while countries like Germany or China score higher on the collectivist scale. Power distance indicates the need, or lack of, for structure in an organisational context. Cultures with high Uncertainty Avoidance will be take less risk and vice versa, etc, etc. Anyway... his summary explains it way better than I ever could. A country-by-country-chart can be found here.
In conclusion, according to this study, yes, where you are from may affect your fragging-routines, i.e. "storm the front" or "camp and defend". But it will certainly not be the only factor affecting performance!
It is likely the case that certain countries have a "special touch" in a video game, however the cause is likely not attributable to the country itself. Some of the commonly assumed attributes of countries have very little correlation to what would normally be assumed about the country.
I suspect that it is the way certain people play in a country that spreads the "special touch." I am an avid gamer, and have found myself playing in a certain style because all my peers play in a similar fashion, and they seem to be effective players. Thus, the "special touch" is caused by how effective the player's peer's style's of gaming are.
We can't. It's as simple as that.
Goo goo g'joob.
VERY seriously.
I, for one, welcome our new "thinking [and] teamwork" overlords.
You have never played a korean in warcraft have you?
We are on slashdot and your concerned about GAMES? Kind of like preaching the sins of alcohol in front of a methadone clinic dont you think?
Or maybe THATS why your a troll.
If the differences in play style he has observed are due to culture then this makes sense. Canadian culture and American culture is remarkably similar. I occasionally go up there on business, and I sometimes forget that I'm in a different country (except in Quebec; that really is different)
Which reflexes are those? The ones that make your arms shoot straight up in the air and surrender? I didn't think you could surrender in Counterstrike.
Is that a real poncho? I mean, is that a Mexican poncho or is that a Sears poncho?
This is all very obvious. It just comes down to years of social engineering.
Americans excel at "shooting [and] logistics"
Years of gang warfare, drive-by murders and shooting to get the 'bling-bling' has provided Americans with unbeatable markmanship skills.
whereas Germans are best at "thinking [and] teamwork"
After the 2 World Wars, and having their Army, Navy, and Air Force taken away from them, the Germans have had to fall back on brains instead of guns. They regularly get together and team up for some beer and to try to take over the world again, only to pass out drunk.
the French come off best when using "reflexes".
These reflexes have been perfected through years of running away quickly and surrendering.
(All above comments made in jest, for those with a broken humour detector)
By that logic, that makes Americans more likely to play FPSes and strategy games. So why do Sports games dwarf every other genre in the game industry? *cough*Madden*cough*
"Get out of the house, make some RL friends and stop wasting your time in front of a silly computer. You will be far happier and much healthier."
/.?
This comming from someone trolling on
Maybe you should just take your own advice.
we are the obscure team who blends in with american clans! yes! obsurity! yes! #14 right between the power house nations of singapore and brazil!
Funny, I'm from California, and noticed all sorts of tiny little differences when I went up to Toronto. And the people I was staying with could *not* tell that I had any sort of an accent.
Not only that, but where does this guy get off saying that a game must suck in general because he just doesn't have interest in it? Parent may not like the game, but that hardly says anything for the success and quality of the game.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
I'm a reasonably good CS player I've played in some clans and gone to a couple tournaments where we placed.
Online you can tell where someone is from depending on the way they play, specific areas I find easy to tell are Russia, France and Quebec. I'll check the name afterward and realise I was right. I can't describe why it feels diffrent to play against someone from one of these areas however I feel I could prove it given certain tests.
I think the reasons for this are that diffrent countries discovered gaming at diffrent times, there is a huge diffrence in feel between people who did and didn't play quake 1.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each school of play at diffrent levels, a French strategie is not as useful on a public server but works well in clan matches(demos).
The most obvious elements of this occur when there is a dramatic change of strategies around the net some countries are left behind, for example "classic" camping came back but the German's didn't understand it for several months after everyone else did.
I would say it's very noticable, I'd also say that certain play styles have advantages over specific other play styles, it only takes about 4-5 rounds for opponents to have a decent chance of outguessing one another and players who lose learn faster. So no country will ever drop out of gaming, they may have to adjust though.
Interesting.. Is there a top nation at being fragged? I think they should also consider: best croucher, best knife killer, hardest to frag, best jumper, fastest runners, fastest runners while being shot in the back, best sight through smoke-grenade smoke, fastest flash-grenade sight recovery, etc.
As much as these generalizations sound rediculous, they most certainly have some merit. However, I don't think it has to do with how these players grow up, more like who they play on a regular basis. Americans tend to play Americans and Europeans tend to play Europeans just due to the nature of the internet. The closer the server, the lower the ping, so most teams play on local servers. You won't see Americans playing Russians on a regular basis simply because no one like playing CS, or any FPS, with a 150 ping.
I think this study has some signifigance, and I'll illustrate to you all why:
I attended a university with a lot of foreign students in the mid-90's. I play soccer. I played soccer at this university on the intramural teams. My team was comprised primarily of Americans. Because of the large population of foreign nationals at our school, there were teams made up almost entirely of the following nationalities: south african, mideastern/middle african, korean, japanese/chinese, mexican, south american, etc. I have played soccer since I was 5, and I can tell you for certain that each of these teams had a distinct playing style. The south africans were all about speed, but weren't as concerned about ball control - pass and run, the mideasterners had AWESOME ball control and passed ok, but didn't have a lot of speed (or didn't concentrate on that aspect - some of them were fast when they wanted to be), my team was of course a little more individualistic and generic in our play style, mexicans were very physical (not hacks, but in your face physical), and the differences continued.
Despite how much you think we're all exactly the same, our cultures and societies we grow up in do influence our lives a great deal, and do tend to show up in sports. While CS isn't the most grueling sport to play, it is none-the-less a team "sport" activity, and I think the differences in nationality do affect a team's playing style, strengths, and weaknesses. Just watch the World Cup sometime - you'll see what I'm talking about pretty quickly.
Okay you retards, that's enough "french surrender" jokes for today.
I think the article has some kind of point. Because of the internet's lagtimes, online do tend to play online with someone from their own country - playing on a Russian server from France really isn't much fun. So the skilled players from one country play against each other more - they watch each other's games more because they're part of the same community, and as with everything, they mirror what they see. If one country has a dominant clan of one style, the others would copy that. It won't give them better reflexes if, say, the top clan is good at that, but it'll make them emphasize that in their own game and, in the end, make them have better reflexes because of it.
I used to live in a small town where 4 of Norway's 10 best Starcraft players used to live. To be honest, I find most of the population to be nitwits in other things than CS. Im pretty sure that its mostly based on how your friends play, what they play, which stily of play, and how willing they are to teach you the same skills. I very much doubt that geographical location has anything to do with skills other than what the local population can teach you.
this is probably the most boring sig in the world