SCIT Counter Strike Tournament

In the incessant rains of August, the Symbiosis Center for Information Technology (SCIT), at Hinjawadi, Pune, celebrated their Annual Day on the 1st and 2nd of the month…and they did it in a big way indeed. SCIT celebrated their Foundation Day on these two days during which an annual Techno-Management Festival called ‘Techie Kaun?’ was conducted at the college campus.

Techie Kaun’ has been conceptualized by the PGDM students of the institutes, seeks to find the best in the varied fortes of business and technologies. The 2-day event challenges the genius within you and gauges your proficiency in the two fields. Students from various technical & business institutions across India are invited to participate in this mega event consisting of an array of exciting competitions & quizzes. This technical bonanza offers an exciting and motivating stage to show case one’s technical expertise.

When one speaks about technology how can one not mention the upcoming craze of the youth…none other than ‘gaming.’ ‘Techie Kaun’ had an entire event dedicated to gaming and aptly called it ‘Gaming Playoffs.’ The event was this year sponsored by GamersIndia.com, where a number of teams were pitting against each other to attain the numero uno position in everybody’s favorite FPS ‘Counter Strike.’ There were a number of clans, having five persons each battling for the final grand prize of 10K. The gushing rains couldn’t deter the raging blood within the players…there was competition…annihilation and finally victory!

Though the quarters as well as the semis were an extremely interesting and intriguing watch, the best was left for the last…the finals of the ‘Gaming Playoffs’ event. The event did go beyond the scheduled time. It was initially supposed to get over by around 8…however due to the heavy flow of participants, it went upto 9:30.

The favorite map used by most teams was Dust2. The finals witnessed cut-throat competition between two equally strong teams. There were a number of ups-n-downs that both the teams experienced. At one stage, the runners-up were leading with a score of 7-2, but ironically ended losing at 11-10. It was perhaps perseverance and consistence that led them to victory. Inspite of being close to defeat at one point of the game, the winners did not loose their cool or give up the fight.

The winners represented Modern Education Society’s College of Engg, Pune. The clan included Piyush Agrawal, Mayur, Clinton Lobo, Oscar Gomes and Aniruddh Patil. The runners-up clan belonged to the Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies (SCMS-UG), comprising of Tej Malhotra, Rahul Devnani, Nikhil Thakur, Manish Singh and Devashish Sahni.

When we had a little tête à tête with the winners they commented, “ We practice regularly for quite some hours. Infact we are regular at Buddha’s Paradise where we all meet up and work on our Counter Strike skills.”…so now we know their secret hideout of the strikers.

Nothing could dwindle the high spirits of the runners-up team who were joyous about securing the position amongst so many teams and exclaimed that “We will surely make it next year.”

Though there was immense competition and heat during the finals, the winners along with the runners-up exhibited the true spirit of their favorite Counter Strike.

Surprisingly…or should I say amazingly, at the ‘Gaming Playoff’ we met a female gamer called Rimjhim who participated in the event but sadly lost. According to her “it was the lack of co-ordination that led to our clan’s loss…but yet I would like to invite females into this field since it is an extremely interesting and engaging field.”…Wonder was it the lack of co-ordination or the dearth of knowledge of ‘Counter Strike’ that led to Rimjhim’s clan’s ill-fated loss. All the same she did seem to be quite proud to be one of a kind in the field of gaming that has ironically been most predominantly ruled by the darker sex.

It was indeed an excellent experience being present to witness an event like this which to a very extent ventures in a field that is quite a nascent concept in India. The enthusiasm and zest present within each and every participant, organizer and spectator all added up to the feel of the event.