CSGO – Ethan Pruzhansky

When I was about fourteen years old, I used to spend a lot of time playing video games. Counter-Strike Global Offensive was one of the video games that I became addicted to and adored. I spent over a thousand hours playing that game, and it gave me a significant competitive advantage. There would be tournaments to compete in, as well as a ranking system to determine your level of ability. There were callouts and phrases that I had never heard before when I first started playing. “There’s a guy on the platform,” for example, or “Watch mid, there’s snipers.” When the game is over, everyone says “GG,” which means “good game.” At first, I didn’t understand anything. As I played the game more, I began to understand what some of these callouts meant, and some people were kind enough to explain callouts that I didn’t understand. I started putting in more hours and improving my game skills. People would accuse me, “Bro, you’re a smurf.” I was perplexed when I first heard this phrase. My first thought was, “Why are they calling me the small blue creature from the movies?” I was playing with a friend, and he told me that it means you’re a skilled player using a low-ranked account. I honestly took that as a compliment because I had never created an account to do so. That made me feel pretty good about myself because I was improving at the game. One of my favorite weapons in the game was the sniper known as the “AWP,” which had the moniker “OP,” which stood for “Overpowered.” To fully utilize the capabilities of this gun, you must be extremely skilled. When I got really good at the game, my friends would request that I “carry them.” This means that a skilled player must perform exceptionally well to compensate for a friend who is bad at the game. This made me feel very accomplished because I knew if my friends asked me to carry them, I would be very good at the game.