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Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

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Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#431

Post by bawana »

arkh wrote: post #269
dev0p wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This kind of interaction is what makes me miss the "old internet" the most...

My intuition is it still exists. This "old internet" sentiment is due to the fact it was mostly academics in their world and geeks in theirs on internet at the time. Then it made it easier for everyone to use so everyone used it. But I bet there are still the same proportion of geeks in the population. Which are still socializing on niche area of internet. We don't see it because we're old farts and have jobs and hab…

Pre-monetization. Would this come back if money was made useless?

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#432

Post by achenet »

tejohnso wrote: post #334
somenameforme wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, exactly this. No idea exactly what happened but people at some point seem to have stopped accepting other people having different views or perspectives. With basically every community there was invariably some sort of oddballs. I remember a BBS with this guy called 'Nihilist' who was a total insufferable asshole that'd make glory days Linus look like the world's most gentle man. But as is the nature with commun…

> 'zomg burn the witch' And that often comes from groups who loudly claim to promote, and obnoxiously demand diversity and tolerance.

The classic "tolerance of intolerance" thing (not sure if it fully counts as a paradox).

Basically this has been stuck in my mind ever since 2018 when I hear a friend of my aunt's teenage daughter answer the question "should we tolerate the intolerant" with "no, we should NOT tolerate intolerant" people.

I didn't think of this back then but, by definition, if you do not tolerate intolerant people, you are yourself intolerant, and therefore do not tolerate yourself, which I imagine could lead to some problems if your life goals are anything other than "self-loathing tortured artistic genius".

Related, the classic "I can tolerate everything except the outgroup" from Scott Alexander https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anythin...

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#433

Post by rimunroe »

gognog wrote: post #354
richardlblair wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent many a weekend on your servers as a teen. Thank you for running them! (I was MethodMan)

Hah, I remember your gamertag! I (gognog) would've been the 180 ping player on your team you wanted to kick, playing from NZ cause there weren't any servers here. Small world, those WC3 servers were the real deal.

Your name seems familiar, and I distinctly remember one regular who would frequently rubber band around due to their ping.

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#434

Post by achenet »

fho wrote: post #229
doublerabbit wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LAN parties were welcoming on so many levels. Never played DnD? Come join. One time I recall was an isle of misogynist folk who haven't showered in days playing WoW. The smell... no comment and in one case I recall at one LAN where a delivery woman was scared to walk down the isles to deliver so she asked me nicely if I could. No problem, pizza is here boys. But within reason, they kept to themselves and were there t…

> I just got back from a goth music weekend this weekend > the mean age would be 40-something At least in Germany the "black" scene has a serious "recruitment" problem. It's basically the same set of people for decades now with very little additions to the pool. It strange to me that I am amongst the youngest attendeds at concerts and "disco" events at 40.

Huh, here in Lyon, France, the scene (or maybe I should say scène) is quite vibrant and you've got everything from old ponytail greybeards who remember their first Black Sabbath concert to 16 year old edgy teenagers who think smoking rolled cigarettes they bought from a government regulated shop with their parents money counts as "sticking it to the man and overthrowing the capitalist system".

You're welcome to drop by, the Rock'n'Eat in particular is a good "vampires, werewolves and other demons of the night" type venue and it's quite near my house, so feel free to hit me up if you ever feel like going, it'll be a good opportunity for me to practice my German :)

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#435

Post by javier2 »

GlobalElite wrote: post #46

I grew up with CS1.6 and spent what must be thousands of hours on it before I turned 18. But I can't stand what Valve did to modern versions of CS. The reason? Gambling. So much fucking gambling everywhere. Other games have lootboxes, I hate them, but they are usually "contained" in the sense that you do not see them in every context surrounding the game. But because CS skins can be traded between players, there is n…

I love CS, but I also hate the gambling shit. You can literally spend your death time gambling in the game.

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#436

Post by javier2 »

mervz wrote: post #61
GlobalElite wrote: post #46

I grew up with CS1.6 and spent what must be thousands of hours on it before I turned 18. But I can't stand what Valve did to modern versions of CS. The reason? Gambling. So much fucking gambling everywhere. Other games have lootboxes, I hate them, but they are usually "contained" in the sense that you do not see them in every context surrounding the game. But because CS skins can be traded between players, there is n…

Hate it all you want, but it's the sole reason Counter-Strike still exists today. Without skins, Valve would have shut the door on the game (and quite possibly the company entirely). Skins is literally a money printing machine.

You can sell and make skins without the literal loot boxes

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#437

Post by Karrot_Kream »

endymion-light wrote: post #294
arkh wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My intuition is it still exists. This "old internet" sentiment is due to the fact it was mostly academics in their world and geeks in theirs on internet at the time. Then it made it easier for everyone to use so everyone used it. But I bet there are still the same proportion of geeks in the population. Which are still socializing on niche area of internet. We don't see it because we're old farts and have jobs and hab…

Honestly, this is partially why I actually love a lot of what's on Hackernews. This site still seems to have a big proportion of old school geeks within it's population, and it feels like one of the only places left for good discussion that i've found on tech.

I don't meh. This site has had a huge change now that it's become a sort of GenXer geek culture icon. I had originally come to this site to escape the stupid Natalie Portman sliding my bowl of grits Weird Al worship that was on Slashdot but it came back here and everyone who was into that culture joined this place too. A particularly uncharitable part of me wonders why folks who are so displeased with the state of greater social media are willing to override norms of other sites just to chase their particular idea of social media but of course that is the basis behind Eternal September.

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#438

Post by 2w3e4r »

rimunroe wrote: post #72

I will forever mourn the general demise of server browsers. Too many games require you to use matchmaking systems, which means it's very hard to build up a small community in-game anymore. You either have to rely on forming small parties with people you've stumbled upon one by one, or you have to seek out people from some much larger area like Reddit or Discord. It takes a lot of the serendipity out of the experience…

100% - local servers is what led to having lan events in your city, less toxic players and its just funner running into the same players. those were the good old days

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#439

Post by 2w3e4r »

epolanski wrote: post #142
rimunroe wrote: post #72

I will forever mourn the general demise of server browsers. Too many games require you to use matchmaking systems, which means it's very hard to build up a small community in-game anymore. You either have to rely on forming small parties with people you've stumbled upon one by one, or you have to seek out people from some much larger area like Reddit or Discord. It takes a lot of the serendipity out of the experience…

I legit miss early 2000s gaming. 1) People interacted, they truly did. Dramas, friendship, everything. Where? Quakenet, Forums. Every clan had their channel, some easily reached 1000+ people. 2) People genuinely played together in teams: CS, Day of Defeat, you name it. You had your clan and spammed #5on5 on quakenet. 3) Those clans actually met in lan! At Smau Italian Lan Party 2002 there were more than 60 Counter St…

agreed - damn i miss DoD now too haha - that was a fun mod to play when i wanted to get away from CS

Re: Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room

#440

Post by 2w3e4r »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #211

I have a (knowingly irrational) dislike for Counter Strike because it fragmented what was previously an essentially single 'Quake / Quake 2" community, making the free-for-all adrenaline frag fests that I most enjoyed less populated, specifically at LANs. I got my fun from balls out running and firing rockets and rails in the chaos of free for all, and CS offered what was essentially the 'we're all campers' version,…

i used to think that too coming from quake i was like wtf if i die i have to just wait? lol. but i've grown to love all the tactical skill required in CS. tbf back in the day you could bunny hope like a quake player before they neutered all that
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