internet cafes in the former USSR

are great. they are the only places where you can find all sorts of degenerates in a single room. Gamers, nerds, 12 year old kids watching the latest porn vids, and a shit ton of girls chatting with their potential "husbands" - most likely losers from new zealand, england, ohio, etc.

a friend of mine kept telling me that she had numerous suitors in australia, and a doctor in california. i cynically told her that the guy in australia was most likely a construction worker, and the doctor merely a supply guy at a local hospital. i felt like a dick saying that but it was probably true.

see, vis-a-vis most of the former soviet union that i've seen (moldova, ukraine, transnistria - a small little slice of heaven, i'll freely admit), internet cafes are still one of those escape zones where what is real in reality isn't. escapism at its finest.

i'll be honest. i like the former CCCP because what's usually buried well beneath the surface is all out on full display. the society of the spectacle is in full effect. it's like a jay-z video with a bunch of flatheads, dolled up girls, pot-bellied mafia types, clueless expats, patchouli-smelling peacecorps volunteers who cling to their pathetic social groupings, philosophical alcoholics, endless domestic disputes on the bus, heartwrenching romances, incredible poverty, the illogical indentured servitude that is the international aid community, political hypocrisy, etc. but then you find something great like this following story. this is totaly a feel good story that i can relate to. This isn't about politics. this is about a pure video game junkie who couldn't get enough. 48 hours is a lot, but who hasn't been on some kind of bender that they just didn't want to end.

evidently this kid had transnistria trying to find him. what a malchik. do you think it would be unethical as a scholar to freelance for the tiraspol times?

Search for missing boy ends; found after 2 days playing "Counter-Strike"

Following an intensive manhunt for a lost 12 year old, the boy was found Monday in Pridnestrovie. He had been spending two days in a cyber-cafe playing "Counter-Strike" non stop. Earlier, a police search was underway after his parents reported him missing.

By Jason Cooper, 31/Oct/2006

Hiding out in this cybercafe in Pridnestrovie, a 12 year old game player eluded a manhunt for two whole days


BENDER (Tiraspol Times) - For two days, a 12 year old Pridnestrovie native battled it out nonstop in the parallel universe of ''Kontrstrayk'', Russian for Counter-Strike, the world's most popular online action game and first-person shooter. While leading his team to victory after victory in the cyberspace, in the real world, the parents of Artem Shurygin were fighting a battle of their own: Frantically looking for their lost son.

In the streets of Tiraspol and Bender, the two largest cities of Pridnestrovie, 12 year old Artem's father and mother were growing increasingly desperate looking for their son who was nowhere to be found. Checking first with friends and classmates, and not finding him, they started touring the local hospitals and even checked several times with the morque. They also contacted two local radio stations, posted information on the Internet, and involved the PMR police in their missing person search.

On Sunday, photocopied "Missing"-posters could be seen on lampposts in Tiraspol and Bender, featuring Artem's photo and the phone number of his parents. This finally led to a call from someone who had spotted him in a local cyber-cafe, engrossed in a 48 hour long game of Counter-Strike.

" - Kids love to play, and everyone liked the way I played, so the game took control of me, and I just didn't want to quit," was the explanation given by the young gamer when he was picked up by police and brought home to his worried parents.

Artem Shurygin receives high grades in school, getting mostly 4's and 5's which are top grades as per Pridnestrovie's Russian-inspired grading scale.
" - My favorite class is Math, but school is too easy for me. Here, in the game, I get more of a challenge," stated Artem in an interview with New Region Press in Tiraspol, the capital of Pridnestovie.

Counter-Strike is a team-based first-person shooter computer game in which players join either the terrorist or counter-terrorist team, and combat the opposing team while fulfilling predetermined objectives. In 2006, statistics regularly shows over 200,000 players for Counter-Strike, making it the most widely played online first-person shooter game in the world. According to data from the content-delivery platform Steam, these players contribute to over 4.5 billion minutes of playing time each month.

Government rules to curb gaming mania

New government regulations introduced earlier this year aim to put the brakes on what the authorities see as a computer gaming craze. The rules restrict the hours where cyber cafes are open to underage hours, barring entrance past midnight and on school days.

Random spot-checks by local police are in place to make sure that the rules are enforced. In case of repeat violations, a cyber cafe can lose its business license and will be forced to shut its doors. Parents of underage users who commit infractions receive fines of 15 PMR Rubles (equivalent to USD $1.78 at the current exchange rate, see sidebar).

The level of commitment to computer gaming among the youth of Pridnestrovie is one of the features which often makes a lasting impression on foreign visitors. In 2005, a British newspaper, The Guardian, visited Pridnestrovie to report on the country's recent progress. What they found was a very European country not unlike many others. As the newspaper reported, Pridnestrovie today has "its own flag, crest, anthem, president, parliament, uniformed border guards, security service, police, courts, schools, university, constitution" and: "...the kids are playing western computer games: Tomb Raider, Tank Racer. The shops on 25 October Street include Adidas and a fast-food restaurant decorated with giant, blown-up photos of American skyscrapers. Up the road, there is a vast new sports complex built by the biggest local company, which is called Sheriff, a tribute to the wild west frontier marshals of the US. At the Hotel Timoty, the receptionist, Tania, is dressed in a stretchy white tracksuit, emblazoned Dolce e Gabbana."

Pridnestrovie, which is also known in English as Transnistria or Transdniester, declared independence in 1990 in the midst of the break-up of the former Soviet Union. Although still unrecognized internationally, it functions for all practical purposes as a separate and independent nation with its own government institutions, borders, a flag, its own money, tax authorities, passports, and an elected parliament which is in the hands of the country's leading opposition party. (With information from The Guardian)