Internet

I've been a serious gamer since the days of the original Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and so on; and back then these were the simple sit-down games that you would play alone or with your peers around you. The internet revolutionized the way gaming is played. The way games are now developed have a high quality gameplay that allows players to challenge one another over the internet. I remember one of the biggest breakthroughs of internet gaming was Counter-Strike. This was a realistic first-person shooter that allowed people to come together on the internet and join certain servers with a unique type of gameplay. I was in middle school when this game became extremely popular. And I remember throughout my 6th and 7th grade of middle school, I was consistently playing Counter-Strike day and night during the weekends and immediately right after school once I got home. As time passed, I became more addicted to the game, and realistically I could care less of hanging out with my friends. I actually made friends on the internet while I was playing in the game. My addiction got so bad that I literally went over to the mall every weekend just to go to the internet cafe, so I can play Counter-Strike on a much faster internet speeds and high-quality computer. My family was starting to get fed up with all my video games, so they went over board and restricted me from using the computer at home. Eventually my addiction to play games online died out, and I started doing the normal activities that I used to do before the internet games. I did activities such as joining my school's basketball team, and I found that a great way to keep my mind off of the itching urge to play my computers games again.
Here is the trailer of Counter-Strike 1.5(the version I played):