By Burt Lum

Participants have names such as Marcinko, Masta Wu and GenSteve. What brave new world have you entered?

It's the alter-ego cyber-game world, where your online identity and your computer skills are all that matter.

In this milieu, the Internet, the launching pad for so many novel ideas, becomes the backdrop for the gamer world, where clans have formed for fans to coalesce.

Although you can play many of these games at home, you can witness the creation of a scene at congregation points around the planet. We have a few of them right here in Hawai'i.

One such place is 808Burners in 'Aiea. You can find them online at 808burners.com, but to see the action you need to brave the real world.

Store owner Walter, the only guy who uses his real name, busily takes care of customers, fires up computers, burns a CD and talks story all at the same time. The kids file into the shop with their own computers to jack into the network to play Counter Strike, one of the most popular war games.

As I watched a player maneuver through the online war zone, another player on my left said, "Don't watch him, he's not that good." It's trash-talking gamesmanship at its best. At 808Burners, players flow in and out of the shop. They're playing for fun or honing their skill for a tournament to determine which team will represent Hawai'i in national competition.

The game scene is as much a real world experience as an online one. The competition within the clan is evident, but there's a strong sense of community, too.

Another example of this is Hawaiigamer.com.

Whereas 808Burners is an Internet access point and meeting place, Hawaiigamer.com is a Web portal and congregation point for gamers and clans to share info and interact online. They also offer a neutral ground for the game community to coordinate functions — such as an inter-clan event on the opening night for "The Matrix Reloaded," coordinated by the Hawaiigamer folks.

As the community develops, it's reassuring to see the positive energy and guiding passion of the people behind the scene. ;-)

Reach Burt Lum at burt@brouhaha.net.