(circa 2016)

A while ago some of my old schoolmates told me to get this fancy game called counterstrike. I didnt expected much. "Wait you cant aim and sprint in this game?". The graphics werent the best and I still didnt understood why so many people played this game."It was just a bad Call of Duty remake" I thought but still I decided to try it out. If I didnt liked it pffff... It were only 16€ I paid for. Wouldnt be painfull at all. So I got the game round about christmas. Even though I thought I wouldnt like this game there was still some kind of excitement like if you buy yourself something new.

After the game finished downloading I started it up for the first time. I saw this nowadays old as ♥♥♥♥ counterterrorist with the valve logo followed by a scare every new player gets: The music volume that BLASTED through my whole apartment. I got really sweaty and almost ♥♥♥♥ myself finding the sound settings while my father screamed at me to get my ♥♥♥♥ calm. I thought he gonna come kill me. But luckely I found the settings and could durn down the volume. Even it was only the volume I got this event branded in my head. Never a game was SO loud on my pc. Maybe it even turned me on to play this game. So my first round in the game went very well. I spent some time against bots on easy. The first map Il ever started was Overpass. The first time I saw it and was really amazed how good it actually looks. I never had this type of map in Call of Duty. I couldnt even compare it with the Call of Duty maps as they were more likely straight like a tunnel and compare it to Overpass: Tunels, undergrounds, an playground, public toilets and a bank as a plantside. Eventually I got bored with bots and got back to the main menu. I clicked through the gamemodes and saw this "Matchmaking" button. Sounded interesting enough to try it out but no luck for me. It was restricted to player level 3. I thought I can do this in 5 minutes like I do in Call of Duty. Instead I think I needed about 6 hours in the casual gamemode. It was a fun time I say you. I met a lot of people: Friendly players, silent players, normies and the so called "Toxic players". I tryed to just ignore them but when I did some mistakes like not clutching rounds they eventually started to pin me down with their "friendly comments". So eventually it got me in anger and I felt bad because I could do better...I thought atleast. Today we all knew when you play counter strike you kinda get hardened against toxic comments. In my first days it got me even banned. It was mid time on mirage. It all went fine untill some dude in my team finally started talking to me: "you suck" "so bad" "noob" and so on. In my anger I buyed a mag-7 and blasted him my shell in his head. I felt good until I got the message: "You kicked from the game for doing to much damge on the round start" or something similar. I couldnt understand why I got banned and hes not for being toxic. I felt it was unfair but we all know its counter strike. Like real life its not always fair.

A few months forward I just playing with my schoolfriends some csgo. I see they all having cameos for their weapons. I asked "where I can get them?". They responded "buy them". In this moment I thought "wo would pay money for some pixels?". But my opinion didnt lasted for long. They were not the ones I know from other games where your gun just becomes red or green. it were like real ARTWORKS from other community members but aswell skins from valve. I really liked the "Aquamarine Revenge" for the AK-47 which featured red dolphins on a green/blue backround. I decided to buy some skins to pimp up my inventory. So I got the the store buyed an 20€ steam card and buyed my ak in field-tested. It was scratched up but I didnt care. I was happy. For the rest of my money I decided to buy some cases. Maybe my luck will be great (spoiler: It wasnt great). After I unboxed my 2 blue skins I thought "not bad". I checked them up on the community market and BAAM. Only 15 cents per skin. I felt a little scammed because keep in mind I payed 2€ per key. But still my hype for skins started back in the days.

After school some of my friends buyed steam cards. I asked "new Skins?". They said "yeah". I got home to do the dropping ritual with my friends. It just consists of whoever get new skins drop them for the other to showcase. I was really excited for it. When my friends got online I instantly asked them to do "the ritual". But all I got to hear: "Sorry man I dont have them anymore". I asked him where they gone? He responded with: "gambled away man". I was really confused. How is it even possible to gamble skins? I thought who even need them? Is this some kind of currency? They showed me the gambling side and thats how my addiction to gambling started.

At first I thought: "Why should I gamble?". It were my skins and I would never gamble them or give them away... at first.
But this managed me to bait me. I thought as a naive person: "I can easy win this and double or even 10x my skins!". So I deposited my first skin. Fast forward. I really managed to double my money and I was really happy but you know the drill... one time gambler = all time gambler. So I lost my skins in the process just like this. They were gone. I felt scammed and even let a tear go. Back then 40€ were REALLY much money for me. This continued for 2 years. I lost over 500€ and I still regret ever gambling but I managed to stop gambling forever. I felt really free because I got money for other things now. I didnt just took all I have and spended it on gambling.

In my gambling time counter strike got boring. Same maps, same gamemodes. There was nothing new added to the game besides cases and bug fixes. But Gaben listened to me: Operation Hydra. It was my first operation ever. I couldnt believe valve would do this. All I asked for came to reallity. And the best part about it was: It was free. But I still got the operaton pass and had a lot of fun with my remaining friends.

"Remaining friends?" you ask? Yeah by that time most of my core counter strike mates were gone. They got eventually bored of the game. But I holded on. I still enjoyed to play this game for the competitive aspect. After I reached my 1000 hours milestone I could understand my friends. I got bored with it and played it much less. From time to time I enjoyed It like in the good old days but if you play the same game for over 2 years it doesnt become more exciting.

So why am I even riding this? Counter strike was besides the gambling a great experience and I really enjoyed my time. I love the maps, I love the skins and (maybe) the community a little bit. It was an great rollercoaster of fellings and emotions.
It shaped me. I got new friendships and some of them lasting til today. Even the gambing with friends was fun. But when valve started care less for this game it simply died for me. It just didnt use the great potential it haved. Enough talking (or better say writing). This game is a must have in every steam libary

If you never tried out this game believe me: just do it. It will be a great experience you will never forget.

Have a nice day and remember: dont gamble with your hard earned money :)

[h1]Good old times...[/h1] (circa 2016) A while ago some of my old schoolmates told me to get this fancy game called counterstrike. I didnt expected much. "Wait you cant aim and sprint in this game?". The graphics werent the best and I still didnt understood why so many people played this game."It was just a bad Call of Duty remake" I thought but still I decided to try it out. If I didnt liked it pffff... It were only 16€ I paid for. Wouldnt be painfull at all. So I got the game round about christmas. Even though I thought I wouldnt like this game there was still some kind of excitement like if you buy yourself something new. After the game finished downloading I started it up for the first time. I saw this nowadays old as fuck counterterrorist with the valve logo followed by a scare every new player gets: The music volume that BLASTED through my whole apartment. I got really sweaty and almost shit myself finding the sound settings while my father screamed at me to get my shit calm. I thought he gonna come kill me. But luckely I found the settings and could durn down the volume. Even it was only the volume I got this event branded in my head. Never a game was SO loud on my pc. Maybe it even turned me on to play this game. So my first round in the game went very well. I spent some time against bots on easy. The first map Il ever started was Overpass. The first time I saw it and was really amazed how good it actually looks. I never had this type of map in Call of Duty. I couldnt even compare it with the Call of Duty maps as they were more likely straight like a tunnel and compare it to Overpass: Tunels, undergrounds, an playground, public toilets and a bank as a plantside. Eventually I got bored with bots and got back to the main menu. I clicked through the gamemodes and saw this "Matchmaking" button. Sounded interesting enough to try it out but no luck for me. It was restricted to player level 3. I thought I can do this in 5 minutes like I do in Call of Duty. Instead I think I needed about 6 hours in the casual gamemode. It was a fun time I say you. I met a lot of people: Friendly players, silent players, normies and the so called "Toxic players". I tryed to just ignore them but when I did some mistakes like not clutching rounds they eventually started to pin me down with their "friendly comments". So eventually it got me in anger and I felt bad because I could do better...I thought atleast. Today we all knew when you play counter strike you kinda get hardened against toxic comments. In my first days it got me even banned. It was mid time on mirage. It all went fine untill some dude in my team finally started talking to me: "you suck" "so bad" "noob" and so on. In my anger I buyed a mag-7 and blasted him my shell in his head. I felt good until I got the message: "You kicked from the game for doing to much damge on the round start" or something similar. I couldnt understand why I got banned and hes not for being toxic. I felt it was unfair but we all know its counter strike. Like real life its not always fair. A few months forward I just playing with my schoolfriends some csgo. I see they all having cameos for their weapons. I asked "where I can get them?". They responded "buy them". In this moment I thought "wo would pay money for some pixels?". But my opinion didnt lasted for long. They were not the ones I know from other games where your gun just becomes red or green. it were like real ARTWORKS from other community members but aswell skins from valve. I really liked the "Aquamarine Revenge" for the AK-47 which featured red dolphins on a green/blue backround. I decided to buy some skins to pimp up my inventory. So I got the the store buyed an 20€ steam card and buyed my ak in field-tested. It was scratched up but I didnt care. I was happy. For the rest of my money I decided to buy some cases. Maybe my luck will be great (spoiler: It wasnt great). After I unboxed my 2 blue skins I thought "not bad". I checked them up on the community market and BAAM. Only 15 cents per skin. I felt a little scammed because keep in mind I payed 2€ per key. But still my hype for skins started back in the days. After school some of my friends buyed steam cards. I asked "new Skins?". They said "yeah". I got home to do the dropping ritual with my friends. It just consists of whoever get new skins drop them for the other to showcase. I was really excited for it. When my friends got online I instantly asked them to do "the ritual". But all I got to hear: "Sorry man I dont have them anymore". I asked him where they gone? He responded with: "gambled away man". I was really confused. How is it even possible to gamble skins? I thought who even need them? Is this some kind of currency? They showed me the gambling side and thats how my addiction to gambling started. At first I thought: "Why should I gamble?". It were my skins and I would never gamble them or give them away... at first. But this managed me to bait me. I thought as a naive person: "I can easy win this and double or even 10x my skins!". So I deposited my first skin. Fast forward. I really managed to double my money and I was really happy but you know the drill... one time gambler = all time gambler. So I lost my skins in the process just like this. They were gone. I felt scammed and even let a tear go. Back then 40€ were REALLY much money for me. This continued for 2 years. I lost over 500€ and I still regret ever gambling but I managed to stop gambling forever. I felt really free because I got money for other things now. I didnt just took all I have and spended it on gambling. In my gambling time counter strike got boring. Same maps, same gamemodes. There was nothing new added to the game besides cases and bug fixes. But Gaben listened to me: Operation Hydra. It was my first operation ever. I couldnt believe valve would do this. All I asked for came to reallity. And the best part about it was: It was free. But I still got the operaton pass and had a lot of fun with my remaining friends. "Remaining friends?" you ask? Yeah by that time most of my core counter strike mates were gone. They got eventually bored of the game. But I holded on. I still enjoyed to play this game for the competitive aspect. After I reached my 1000 hours milestone I could understand my friends. I got bored with it and played it much less. From time to time I enjoyed It like in the good old days but if you play the same game for over 2 years it doesnt become more exciting. So why am I even riding this? Counter strike was besides the gambling a great experience and I really enjoyed my time. I love the maps, I love the skins and (maybe) the community a little bit. It was an great rollercoaster of fellings and emotions. It shaped me. I got new friendships and some of them lasting til today. Even the gambing with friends was fun. But when valve started care less for this game it simply died for me. It just didnt use the great potential it haved. Enough talking (or better say writing). This game is a must have in every steam libary If you never tried out this game believe me: just do it. It will be a great experience you will never forget. Have a nice day and remember: dont gamble with your hard earned money :)