Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (video game)

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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive text Type Video Game Launch Date August 21. 2012 Status Active Product Line Counter-Strike Platform Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Linux Website https://blog.counter-strike.net/

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an online multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) that was developed by Valve and released on August 21, 2012. It is one of Steam's best selling video games, with around 25 million copies sold by the end of 2016. The game is the fourth installment in Valve's Counter-Strike series and is the direct sequel of Counter-Strike: Source. The game faces a variety of potential ethical issues such as gambling, terrorism, and cheating.

Gameplay

In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, two teams (Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists) face each other and need to complete certain objectives to win. Each team needs to win a certain number of rounds to win the entire match, with the number of rounds needed varying across game modes. The game itself is played on different maps that feature their own distinct layout.

Competitive

The competitive game mode features two teams of five that compete in a best-of-30 match (first team to win 16 rounds). In the defuse variation, the objective of the Terrorists are to plant and detonate a bomb on either the A-Bomb site or B-Bomb site. For the Counter-Terrorists they are tasked to defuse or deny the planting of the bomb by eliminating the Terrorists/waiting out the round. Similarly the hostage variation, the objective of Terrorists are to run down the timer and prevent hostages from being reclaimed, while the Counter-Terrorists try to reclaim the hostages. There are four scenarios that end a round: Counter-Terrorists defuse a planted bomb, Terrorists detonate a planted bomb, either team has all five players eliminated, or the round timer runs out. Each round lasts for 1 minute and 55 seconds if the bomb has not planted and the bomb itself has a 40 second timer. Likewise, there are similar scenarios in the hostage variation.

Each player can purchase a variety of different guns, armor, and grenades in order to accomplish their objective. All players are pitted up against similar players in the same skill group/rank to ensure for fair matchmaking. Ranks begin with Silver I being the lowest and The Global Elite being the highest. At the end of each match your skill rating will be adjusted based on your performance and whether you won or lost.

Casual

Similar to the competitive game mode, the casual game mode involves the main objective of bomb defusal, bomb detonation, or hostage rescue. The main differences are armor and defusal kits are provided free of cost upon the start of each round and the overall economy for purchasing supplies is different than competitive. In addition, the casual game mode is limited to 15 rounds and at any point players can switch between the Terrorist side and Counter-Terrorist side. Other notable differences include 2 minute and 15 second rounds, a max of 10 players on both teams, and friendly fire is disabled.

Deathmatch

Unlike Competitive and Casual, the Deathmatch game mode has unlimited respawning as opposed to one life per round. Furthermore, there is no economical restriction in terms of purchasing weapons. A single round lasts 10 minutes and each player receives points dependent on eliminations. All Counter-Strike: Global Offensive maps are playable on the Deathmatch game mode.

Arms Race

The Arms Race game mode have players cycle through a list of weapons in progression. The game mode features unlimited respawning and each weapon requires two eliminations before automatically promoting to the next gun. The final weapon is a gold knife and the winner/their team is announced upon being the first to obtain an elimination with the knife. Weapon demotion is also possible when either the player gets eliminated by a knife or commits suicide. Additionally, the mechanic of "Team Leader" allows for players to immediately promote to the next gun. Both the Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists teams have their own corresponding team leader which is determined by the player with the furthest weapon progression. If a player eliminates the opposing team leader they will be promoted unless they are also a team leader.

Danger Zone

With the rise of battle royal games, Counter-Stike: Global Offensive created their own similar game mode in December of 2018. The number of players in each match is 16. Throughout the map, players will need to either obtain cash or find weapons to eliminate others. With the cash, a player can purchase weapons or gear that will be supplied via a drone. Similar to other battle royal games, as the match progresses the safe area becomes increasingly small forcing players to engage in combat. Rockets rain down and hurt the player if they're not in the safe zone. The last one that survives wins the match.

Ethical Issues

Gambling

One of the ethical concerns that Counter Strike: Global Offensive has is the gambling of cosmetic game items. In particular, as part of an update in 2013, Valve introduced random skin rewards when players finished a match. These skins are purely cosmetic and do not have any influence on the overall gameplay.

These skins can be traded with other players through Steam and also could be sold through the Steam Marketplace. Furthermore, rare skins hold high market value as some knife skins are valued over $400 and some even in the thousands. Another way to obtain skins outside of playing the game was through crates. A player may purchase a "key" that allows you to open and obtain a random weapon from these crates. Similar to slots at a casino, the odds of obtaining a rare skin that is valued more than the key is slim and commonly you are rewarded with a skin that is valued a lot less than the $2.49 key purchased.

As the game grew in popularity, websites started offering services that would allow players to bet on professional Counter-Strike matches through the use of skins as virtual currency.This promoted gambling as players could buy skins off the Steam Marketplace with real currency and then bet on these websites. Underage gambling is another issue as Steam and the gambling websites have no way to verify the age of the players. Other forms of gambling include roulette and coin flips where the player's odds would be determined by the market value of their skins.

The effect of these betting websites could be felt even in the professional e-sports scene. One instance was the iBUYPOWER match fixing scandal where iBUYPOWER was largely favored to win their match against NetcodeGuides. However, the match ended with a uncontested win of 16-4 for NetcodeGuides and was rumored to have yielded a gain of over $10,000 through the popular betting website: CS:GO Lounge. .

Cheating

An example of what a cheater would see in game

Due to the competitive nature of Counter Strike: Global Offensive, there are bound to be players who sought unfair ways to win their matches. The most common cheats involve aim assistance, seeing enemies through walls, and automatic firing. Aim assistance will typically allow players to instantly lock on to the heads of their targets once they are seen on screen. Visual assistance aids the player in seeing targets through walls, highlighting the targets on screen, and potentially showing target locations at all times on the minimap. Automatic firing can come in the form of locking onto targets and shooting for the player or have the program shoot for the player when their crosshair is over a target.

Terrorism

Outside of gameplay ethical concerns, the idea of making a game around terrorism in itself is an ethical issue. Although the teams are called Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists, this naming scheme doesn't seem to have an effect on the gameplay of the game. Sponsorship companies have raised concern in sponsoring professional players on a game involve with terrorism. Additionally, new audiences could avoid playing or watching the game due to the game's connection with terrorism.