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VIDEO-GAME KING
The immensely popular "Halo" video
game and its sequel have spurred a
huge following from gamers with
a desire to handle some big weapons
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SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Having an “insatiable desire to melee peo
ple” whom you approach from behind.
Consistently “scanning the ground for
grenades and weapons.” Demanding that peo
ple “refer to you as Master Chief” and threaten
ing to have them “punished for insubordination
if they refuse.”
These are just a few of the humorous signs
that a person may be addicted to one of the
popular “Halo” titles for the Microsoft Xbox, ac
cording to www.haloaddict.com. While for
many gamers playing 2001 ’s “Halo: Combat
Evolved” and 2004’s “Halo 2” are simply a vir
tual shotgun-wielding, flag-capturing pastime,
for others the action game has replaced school,
work and other priorities.
"Halo 2" unleashed
Released Nov. 9 by publisher Microsoft
Game Studios and developer Bungie Studios,
“Halo 2” launched amid unparalleled fanfare.
Eager would-be Master Chiefs reserved about
1.5 million copies before the midnight launch,
which gamers celebrated at game shops
across the nation.
Freshman William Zurn, who works at the
GameStop video game store at Valley River
Center and is an avid “Halo 2” player, said about
400 people attended his store’s launch party.
“It was crazy,” he said. “With the wide
publicity this game had generated, the fact
that it was finally here was such a big deal.”
Microsoft sold about 6.3 million copies
during the holidays, bringing in $300 million,
according to a Jan. 28 Los Angeles Times
article. That’s about one-third of the aid
President Bush has pledged to victims of the
Asian tsunami. Microsoft even credits the game
for helping its struggling home entertainment
division turn a profit, according to the article.
Online dueling
The original “Halo” allows up to four
players per Xbox to engage in a variety of
animated bloodsport, including “Slayer,”
“Capture the Flag” and customizable game
types, or to network Xboxes together for group
play. But for “Halo 2,” Bungie included an
online system that allows up to 16 players to
blast each other simultaneously.
Users who shell out about $50 and who have
a high-speed Internet connection can subscribe
to Xbox Live to play friends or strangers over
the Internet. Players receive ranks from one to
50 based on their game playing experience, and
anyone can check a detailed report of a player’s
history online at www.bungie.net/Stats.
A random check of “Halo 2” statistics
at about 2:10 p.m. on Feb. 22 showed
approximately 433,956 unique players were
online in the last 24 hours, with 900,104
matches created and 90,138 unique players
online at the time.
As of press time, BlAcKjaK ruled “Rumble
Pit” games, which pit every player for himself
or herself, with 174 wins out 268 games
piayea. At about 10 minutes a game, that
means the player has spent about 45 hours
playing "Rumble Pit" games since the game
was released in November.
University Halo fans have even created
two Facebook groups, “Halo Is a Drug & I
Love it,” which lists about 81 members at the
University, and “Halo 2 — The Remix,” which
lists about 16 members.
Zurn, who goes by VigilantTomcat online, has
played about 331 games. Junior Ricky Almeida, a
“Halo 2” fan who uses the nickname
DjRicardo, has played about 269 games.
What addiction?
Zurn said he started playing Halo when a
friend introduced him to it. He said he liked the
“free” way people can fight in the game, as well
as its story.
“I tried it out, and I thought it was
awesome,” he said. “The whole game-play
itself blew me away.”
Zurn, who favors the energy sword or the
sniper rifle, said he used to play every day for
close to “five to six hours at least.” Although he
took a break from playing, Zurn said he
recently found it easy to resume.
“It’s like muscle memory how everything
works,” he said. “It’s just crazy.”
Zurn said he and his roommate each have an
Xbox and a TV and have an advantage when
they play on the same team online because
each has a screen to himself.
He said he and his roommate would
sometimes skip class or play until 3 or 4 a.m.
“If we lost a few, we wouldn’t go to sleep
until we won,” he said.
Zurn said one day he played from noon until
5 a.m. the following morning.
“I was so bored that day, but it was fun,” he
said.
Zurn said he has also skipped work in the
past to play.
Almeida, who said he also plays other Xbox
games, said he mostly plays online in random
games about three days a week for about an
hour or longer. He said “Halo 2” typically
comes after his other priorities.
“Usually, when I do play, my productive stuff
is out of the way,” he said. “It’s my free time.”
But Almeida, who prefers the shotgun, added
that some people get more involved with the
game.
“You an tell there’s a lot of hard-core players
online, though,” he said. “You can hear them
barking orders.”
Freshman Brian Bergersen, who prefers a
pistol and sub-machinegun combination, said
he got an Xbox the first week they were
released and got the original “Halo” right away.
He said when he got “Halo 2,” he didn’t play
online right away, but now plays online “all the
time.” Bergersen said he plays about 10 hours a
week, but the game is just a hobby that doesn’t
really interfere with his other priorities.
“More often than not, it is something to take
priority over stuff I should be doing,” he said.
Zurn said “Halo 2” with Xbox Live is a “
completely different experience from the game
itself.” He said there is “always” a multiplayer
game to join online.
“Halo 2” players on Xbox Live can use
a headset to verbally communicate to taunt
enemies or strategize with teammates.
“When you play multiplayer, the communi
cation part is such a big part of being able to
win,” he said.
Bergersen added that using the headset
allows him to talk with friends at other schools.
Zurn added that the ability to duel-wield
weapons and the improved graphics make
“Halo 2” a good game.
Bergersen said many people focus on the
killing in “Halo 2,” but he said that shouldn’t
be the emphasis of the game.
“Competition to see who’s the best. That’s
what the most important aspect of it is to me,”
he said.
A serious side
While a “Halo 2” addiction may sound far
fetched, young people can become addicted to
video games, according to an Oct. 5 article in
The Washington Post.
David Walsh of the Minneapolis-based
National Institute on Media and the Family said
what video game manufacturers call “the God
effect” can make games addicting by making
players feel like they’re the center of the
universe, according to the article.
“This is an exciting form of technology that
kids really, really like,” Walsh said, according to
the article. “As a psychologist, I understand
why it’s so engaging. It’s Psych 101 — stimulus
and response.”
University psychology assistant professor
Jeffrey Measelle confirmed that video games do
have the potential to be addicting.
Measelle said many modern video games
adjust to players' skill levels, providing vari
Tim Bobosky | Photographer
able rewards to the brain in an incremental
way similar to those provided by gambling
and watching TV.
He added that behavioral psychology can
help explain video game addiction because
games can become a "quasi-social" activity in
which gamers control "all the terms of social dis
course." for people who lack social interaction,
games can be "fairly gratifying," he said.
1 le said people face the biggest risk from video
games in early childhood. Adults face problems
when games replace other activities in life, he said.
There are resources available for gamers
concerned about their habits. On-Line Gamers
Anonymous, www.olganon.org, offers a
12-step program and other services to people
who are struggling with online game addictions.
“We are a community of gamers, their families,
friends, and volunteers, who all know the
powerful and destructive addiction of on-line
gaming,” according the group’s Web site. “This
addiction can be devastating to the real-world
lives of gamers and all of those individuals close
to them. Through the encouragement of open
discussion, support and referrals, we strive to
help the victims of on-line game addiction. ”
Yet Measelle added that games can have
positive effects in the form of "cognitive
training." He said a study has shown people
who play a fixed amount of games over a week
have demonstrated enhanced performance on
attention tasks. I le said games can also aid eye
and coordination issues.
Internet rumors continue to swirl about the
release of Halo 3 after some gamers were left
unsatisfied by “Halo 2”’s abrupt ending. Some
people speculate it will be released with the
anticipated “next generation” of Xbox or to rival
the release of Sony’s next PlayStation, Zurn said.
parkerhowell @ dailyemerald. com
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