Yellowknife (Dec 03/04) - Players in army fatigues creep through a desert compound, picking each other off with pistols, machine guns and sniper rifles.

Sometimes, if the terrorists plant a bomb and the counter-terrorists don't defuse it in time, they all get blown to smithereens.

Rob Dillabough keeps a carafe of coffee handy as he plays Counterstrike online on a Saturday night. Frostbyte's first Counterstrike tournament will be Dec. 19. - Jennifer Geens/NNSL photo

This is Counterstrike, a realtime war game offered at Frostbyte, Yellowknife's first Internet Cafe. The game has proved so popular, the Cafe will stage its first Counterstrike tournament on Dec. 19.

The stereotype of a typical gamer is a teenage boy, locked away in his room with a Playstation or XBox. But Marcel Charland, co-owner of Frostbyte Cafe, said that since gaming has gone online, it's become a more social hobby and even a paying profession.

"It leads to people meeting each other and going to tournaments," said Charland.

"It gets them out of their rooms."

The age of the people participating may also break the classic gamer stereotype. Counterstrike has attracted players ranging in age from 12 to adults in their 30s.

Single players can join an online game or groups can pit themselves against each other.

And though Cafe co-owner Ian Cross estimates male gamers outnumber female gamers by about 20 to 1, he said more women are stopping by as the weeks pass.

Charland can vouch for the social side of gaming online.

A friend of his, who owned an Internet cafe in Ottawa, made friends with a female gamer playing EverQuest online. He moved to New York, where she lived, and they eventually got married.

Charland said generally the sexes prefer different types of games.

"Guys play bloody games and girls like puzzles," said Charland.

The most successful games tend to combine the two.

In Counterstrike, the goal may be to shoot members of the opposing team, but winning a round requires stealth, cunning and teamwork, as well as firepower.

Charland actually makes money playing video games. He once won $1,000 in a Counterstrike tournament in Edmonton.

"You can form a team of five and compete nationally," he said.

Like athletes, competitive gamers train about four hours a day. Charland said one professional player in Korea makes about $400,000 a year in endorsements.

"Over here we have hockey players on our cereal boxes," he said. "There they've got StarCraft players."