Wall-hacks prove oddly ineffective as online violence spills out into the real world.
The city of Los Angeles is currently investigating reports of violent attacks at an Orange County Internet café on December 30th last year.
The violence erupted between two rival gangs of Counter-Strike players who took the term "hardcore" to a whole new level as in-game tensions became too much and a 100-man brawl took place. Instead of the game"s more familiar AK-47s and Steyr AUGs, chairs and metal pipes were the main weapons of choice, although a gun was eventually brought into play as one teenager was shot in the leg outside the NetStreet Café in what spectators described as a textbook crouch-and-strafe manouver.
On a far more serious note, a 19-year old male was shot and killed outside his home after returning from the NetStreet Café last July - although it"s unclear whether there is any connection between his gaming activities and the fatal wounding.
The Los Angeles police have been called out to the region"s various Internet and gaming cafes more than 300 times since June, apportioning much of the blame to disputes between rival Asian gangs. Disputes presumably far more serious than whether or not someone"s using an AimBot hack on the server.
The Los Angeles city council has begun to look at imposing age restrictions on such cafes, claiming that the locations - known, for some unexplainable reason, as "PC bangs" by the local youth - have become far too dangerous for minors to be allowed near them. A hearing will be held next week to discuss the findings from the LAPD"s investigation. All of which puts your complaints about "camping" into perspective, doesn"t it?