BENGALURU: Gaming may have always been this 19-year-old’s passion, but developing games has been his priority from the beginning. Chirag Nangru, a Hyderabad-based Counter Strike player is of the view that gaming can be adapted to one’s personal choice. “There are no set rules in gaming. If someone likes PS4, others may go for PC or mobile gaming. To each his own,” he smiles. But more than playing, this gamer likes to concentrate on the developing part. Chirag says, “Settling in gaming field can be competitive if you are a gamer and you just want to play in the future. But learning and developing games, and exploring the technical aspects is more exciting, according to me.”
Chirag, who is pursuing a degree in Information technology (IT) at Keshav Memorial Institute of technology (KMIT), Hyderabad, has been playing Counter Strike 1.6 since his childhood, but his interest piqued after he participated in the World Cyber Games. “My first tryst with the game happened when my friends and I visited that World Cyber Games (WCG) forum last year. We got the opportunity to watch the famous team H2S playing, and we were also able to meet Manikanth known alias R!P, a famous Indian gamer. We also met R0bzart, who is our present teammate,” he says.
Chirag is critical of how gaming is yet to gain a foothold in India. “There is a huge potential for India to do very well in gaming. However, the picture is not very pretty at the moment. Giants like NVidia, AMD, UBIsoft and others can literally do wonders here too. But more often than not, Indian gaming teams are not promoted.”
Chirag is no stranger to gaming tournaments, and acing them as well. “I have participated in many tournaments such as AMD Game Show (2017) where my team (Team 911) won the CS:GO Best team award along with the cash prize. At NVIDIA Gamers Connect (2017) they also won the CS:GO Best Team award. We have a long way to go before we say we are the best though,“ he smiles. Chirag follows a schedule to juggle his love for gaming and academics. He says, “As I am the captain of my team, I decide the timings which will be suitable for practice. I make sure that everybody’s interests are considered and this includes keeping aside significant hours for academics as well. But we make sure to play every day for at least three hours to get better at what we do.”
Chirag’s gaming idol is R0bzart, who is still considered a legend in Counter Strike 1.6. “I learned the ropes of the game from him; watching him play taught me a great deal,” he says, adding that he wants to be a code programmer and game developer in the future.