Letter Booklet
- 1. Etiquette Article by Aria Serras Photography by Victorique Rutledge Illustrations by Shana Takizawa Are you angering others during online video games? Do people tell you off during your favorite FPS matches? Are people telling you to go back to single player and learn how to play? If you have to ask these questions it means that you probably are the fabled and dreaded “noob.” Short for “newbie,” a noob is a novice video game player, someone who hasn’t quite learned the etiquette of online gaming, who habitually and often unknowingly interferes with other players’ enjoyment of the game. A noob gets in the way, gets killed a lot, and generally disrupts the flow of the game with ridiculous antics and dumb mistakes. They are the “rookies”, the “greenhorns”. A noob is someone who walks out into the middle of a firefight, then gets up from the com- puter to make a sandwich, leaving the other players to wonder what happened. A noob will sprint while firing their loud automatic rifle at distant target best left for a sniper, pouring though ammo and announcing his and your squad’s location. Noobs make a mockery of the experienced players’ enjoy- ment of the video gaming world with a behavior that says they haven’t bothered to learn the game or the controls, and aren’t interested in doing so. Plus, they get in the way of others, which is an inconsider- ate disregard of other players’ gaming enjoyment. It may not seem like such a serious slight, but people do get angry. (Above) This guide will help you learn how to cease Just like at the table, this poor etiquette and behavior. You will learn the etiquette and civility are basics of typing , characters, and teamwork. expected online. Etiquette 37
- 2. MIA KEKE Acronyms, OP Typing, NERF TOP and Chat CTF, BRB, AFK, FFA? What? What does will let their own guard down and reduce their ag- it all mean? Sure it can seem like a complex, even gression against you. This can also take to form of foreign language. Here are some acronyms you inciting the anger of the enemy so that they become might encounter in an online video game match. brash and impulsive. GLHF This originated in chat-room slang, and has been A personal favorite strategy of mine is to be XDE Here are some examples adapted into text-messaging during in-game com- unusually cordial with the enemy team. This often of common acronyms and munications. Remember to use these expressions if leads to mock role playing and flirtatious encoun- their meanings: you get up from the computer mid-game to make ters. This will often make the enemy feel uncom- AFK: Away from Keyboard a sandwich or something. Don’t leave your fellow fortable around you and less likely to attack you. In BRB: Be Right Back players hanging. Some nerds and geeks (read: me) some cases, you can catch the enemy off guard by B BBL: Be Back Later with good typing skills prefer text communication making them want to respond to you so much that CTF: Capture the Flag. FFA: Free for All in-game. Others like voice using software such as they are not moving or focusing on the objective. FPS: First Person Shooter TeamSpeak or Ventrilo. One must also recognize how to resist the BOT GG: Good Game Be sure that even though you are typing in ac- taunting of a troll. In this case, the best approach to GTG: Got to Go ronyms, that proper grammar and punctuation are take is almost always to become cordial with them. G2G: Good to Go MIA: Missing in Action still used. Peep naturally do not want to converse Nothing angers instigators more than when people NS: Nice Shot with those who appear to be unintelligent and most agree with them. They do not get the satisfaction RPG: Role Playing Game of what you say will be ignored. they desire and they will in turn be grieved by their RTS: Real-Time Strategy GG As is the case, be sure that you never type in efforts. Remember, don’t feed the troll. TK: Team-Killer TY: Thank You all caps. You make think that is makes your words Another tip is to never try to type when one is AFK WTH: What the “Heck” easier to read or brings more attention to them, but feeling delirious. You will look like a fool and you others will assume that you are yelling or annoying will regret the random things you typed. It gets even MID and will thusly ignore you all the more. Because of worse if you watch creepy psychological thrillers situations like this, the caps lock key on a keyboard and horrors while sick. You may become prone has been frequently referred to as “cruise control to being crazy paranoid and dizzy for a few days. for cool” in many a sarcastic message. Chaos;Head is just an awful game to play in these On the other hand, typing in all lowercase conditions, so please, do not attempt it. is usually okay when typing quickly in a game. It’s Emoticons and ASCII are magical art forms of quick and efficient and you do not necessarily type typing. They involve making pictures and symbols BTW the full sentence in one go anyway. with the characters on your keyboard. Feel free to DC Not only can typing these acronyms to your create and use any symbol you want as much as teammates increase communication production possible. This excludes stereotypical smiley faces and win the day, but in some games when you can of course. This is because those are dumb and communicate with the enemy team, one can use unclever. Make a happy crab like instead. To do so, BRB in-game communications to their advantage. Mostly simply type this: (V)^><^(V). People will instantly used to talk trash to the other team, “all chat” is a assume that you are very clever and a force to be secret weapon that can be used to accost the psyche reckoned with. Let’s face it, who wants to fight of your uncouth enemy. somebody to wastes the time to type a crab into a (Above) First, there is the typical trolling. This is where game? Certainly not me, I will tell you that right Cruise control for cool. you feign ignorance on some account so that others now. I will not fight a crazy crab maniac. 38 1...2...Pewpew! Etiquette 19
- 3. When working as a team, one must know also often cull inattentive players, making extended Know the what their position and status of the team and mis- vigilance a problem as well. Since the burn-down sion is and understand its importance. There may fights are faster and more convenient, they are often be the tank, the damage-per-second, the healers, the preferred, saving sustainable DPS as a last resort. support, the assassins, the sniper, the runner. What- However, this method allows a specially geared and Avatars ever the position, know that your team is depending prepared raid group to face bosses with completely on you to carry it out to the fullest. unrealistic health values, making it a valuable tool in What is often referred to at the “tank” is a the raider’s arsenal. character class in many massively multiplayer online Crowd control is a large subgroup of DPS role playing games such as World of Warcraft, These characters have lots of unique skills fo- League of Legends, or Warhammer Online who cused on disabling and slowing down enemy units. is responsible for being hit as often as possible. It is this character’s job to stack health and armour “If you know your enemies and know and ensure that they are the ones who are being targeted. This archetype is like the brave hero of yourself, you will not be imperiled in a the group. Everyone gets excited when they arrive and take all the aggro. This character is fearless and hundred battles... If you do not know refuses to be killed by anything and makes everyone your enemies nor yourself, you will be sad in the process with their lack of death. Another typical class is known as the Damage imperiled in every single battle.” per Second (DPS). This person stacks nothing but — Sun Tzu damage and attack speed. Since all the focus should be placed on a the tank, DPS are able to ignore The third main group to most games is the healer. worrying about health. As a measure of capability, This person is responsible for limiting casualties in it is more accurate than a simple damage value that the battlefield. This is so true, that if anyone dies, does not reflect how often the damage can be dealt. you can basically just blame it on a bad healer. In Eve Online the weapons you attack with will fire Because of this, healing often comes with a lot of in volleys, while in more traditional MMO’s you stress and angst that makes the class seem unfavor- strike with melee weapons or fire ranged weap- able. A game with any one of these classes missing ons/ spells, however the relevant attacks need to is often doomed to fail. Especially if healers charge ‘recharge’. Therefore whilst an attack may deal 500 into battles against DPS and assassins. points of damage, if the weapon can only fire once Caps are captures, as with Capture the flag. every 5 seconds, the damage will be calculated as You might see it in usage like your teammate may 100 damage per second. It is therefore a poten- say, “Someone go get caps while I defend,” which tially useful metric both to game players and game would mean to go capture flags by attacking the designers. “Less QQ more pewpew!” is the typical enemy base while your teammate guards your base. warcry of any damage dealer. Caps are the usual scoring method which is the While some bosses have a strategy, often number of times you have successfully captured the this strategy can be escaped or overcome through enemy flag and brought it back to the home base. alternative means unintended by the developers. Popular games like Halo and Call of Duty both One is the burn-down (some bosses are actually have quite a lively CTF game following. designed this way). The other way is being able to Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of withstand a boss’s attacks and continue to produce yourself, your allies, and your enemies is critical to damage indefinitely. In general, sustainable DPS any game. In the words of Chinese tactician Sun refers to the ability to produce damage over a long Tzu, “If you know your enemies and know yourself, Be sure to know who you period of time through their attack chain. In a raid you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles... If are facing and what you can do before a conflict specifically, this refers to the ability to stand and you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you arises. fight however long it takes until the boss is defeated. will be imperiled in every single battle.” Achieving sustainable DPS in a boss fight Knowing historical quotes of dead dudes is can be challenging; energy/mana, consumables, also very critical. In fact, quote them as much as ammo and chaos control can all be serious barriers possible to inspire your team and put the fear of to the ability to stage a long-term fight. Raid bosses God into your enemy combatants. 20 1...2...Pewpew! Etiquette 41
- 4. There is one place you shouldn’t be camping though. Camping where you can attack an enemy spawn point before a player has a chance to take a Teamwork step is considered bad form. The game genres that requires some of the most teamwork is the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). MMORPGs almost always have tools to facilitate communication between players. Many MMORPGs offer support Working as a team is one of the most im- There is one tactic and role that no one ever for in-game guilds or clans (though these will usually portant aspects of any multiplayer or online based wants either on their team or against, and that is the form whether the game supports them or not). game. It allows one to feel like a master tactician camper. They are a terrible taboo. In addition, most MMOs require some degree of and challenges people to constantly create counter- Ah, yes the camper. “Camper,” “noob camp- teamwork for parts of the game. These tasks usually measures and tactics to overwhelm the enemy team. er,” “quit camping, noob,” your opponents cry. require players to take on roles in the group, such Some common game types that involve active What does this mean? Is it just a different playing as those protecting other players from damage team play and cooperation are Team Deathmatch style, just a different strategy of play, to stay close to (called tanking), “healing” damage done to other and Capture the Flag. base, guard the flag, and protect your team mates? players or damaging enemies. Team Deathmatch is based strictly around Or maybe you’re just hiding in some building, or MMORPGs generally have Game Moderators or killing, but at least there are two approximately even out in the wilderness somewhere, laying down in the Game Masters (frequently abbreviated to GM), who teams so not everyone will be out to kill you, and bushes, laying in wait, patiently waiting for your en- may be paid employees or unpaid volunteers who some astute teammates might be nice enough to emy to show. Are you a scout on an outpost, waiting attempt to supervise the world. Some GMs may heal you or provide cover fire if someone is sneak- to alert your teammates of an approaching enemy? have additional access to features and information ing up behind you. Camper. Because this can pay dividends when you related to the game that are not available to other Contrast this with capture the flag or CTF. are looking to ambush the enemy. players and roles. It’s another game type that requires teamwork and You can call it camping, but that just means These guilds often get up to around three cooperation, and can be a lot of fun, especially with the enemy isn’t going to attack in the most obvi- hundred members and participate in activities that vehicles and skilled players that are operating as ous way. Camping, ha! Is it like some are almost last for hours and require a group of twenty-five “Treat your men as you an organized team, unlike free-for-alls that quickly unaware that there is a war going on? Roasting people for basic hour long events. These “raids” would your own beloved become mindless run-and-gun frag-fests. “Capture marshmallows, assembling s’mores? See, it’s no fun as they are known are the bread and butter of any sons. And they will follow the flag,” I know it may sound lame. But you might for the other players who are counting on you to dedicated MMO gamer. Being a part of a raid you into the deepest valley.” be surprised once you try it. It has lots of action, attack their base; there’s not much action; they want is often likened to having a part-time job. Every —Sun Tzu suspense and thrilling moments, especially when you to come out with guns blazing, loud, preferably member is responsible for meeting at the appointed vehicles and high-skilled players are involved. This while running in full upright sprint, to where they time a regular basis. In my personal experience, I is one of the most enjoyable types of matches for can just mow you down easily with heavy machine would have to attend a raid every Thursday, Friday, the seasoned player. Here you will get a chance to gun fire. See, they are also camping. and Saturday night at eight o’clock Central Time. assemble and organize and operate as a team for They’ve got snipers in the hills and behind If even just a few people fail to log on in time, the a common goal of capturing the enemy flag while the houses. So they are hypocrites if they call you whole event would have to be postponed. defending your own. It’s very similar to all those a camper. It’s almost like they’re saying, come on Although the direness of the situation may classic invasion sports. Like soccer, football or out, you cowards, and fight like a real man, with not be as severe in other games, full team participa- even chess—it’s built upon the principle of invading guns blazing, and preferably in a jeep that we can tion and coordination is always a must. It may seem the enemy space and preventing said enemy from easily destroy with a well-placed RPG. It’s just more cliché, but the team must be like Legion. A univer- invading your own. Classic. It also has elements of smack talk, really. So keep camping, campers, just sal conscience made of a collective of beings and good old hide-and-go seek. Furthermore, on well- remember to attack when the enemy finally shows units. Members must be able to sense the thoughts, designed large multiplayer maps with lots of online up. It actually makes for suspenseful, more thrilling ideas, and tendencies of their fellows-at-arms. For players it can be epic fun. play. It’s more fun when you can’t predict where the example, when playing League of Legends, my When working as a team, one must know enemy will attack from. You are not camping, you teammates know that if they find themselves in what their position and status of the team and mis- are orchestrating a well-timed ambush, a surprise trouble, all they have to do is run at me in a straight sion is and understand its importance. There may attack. This is all camping, but camping is okay, as line and I will be able to save them. Likewise, if I be the tank, the damage-per-second, the healers, the long as you remember that there is a war going on. know that I am in trouble, I will set up a situation so support, the assassins, the sniper, the runner. What- Try to make it fun for others and mix it up by doing that a nearby team member can jump in to my aid. (Above) ever the position, know that your team is depending something different, and camping from the same Although communication is important, and ideal “My name is Legion: for on you to carry it out to the fullest. spot for too long will make you an easy target. team can often coordinate without words. we are many. 42 1...2...Pewpew! Etiquette 43
- 5. One of the most important skills one must team is not necessarily the one with the most kills, learn when they are a part of a team is when to but the one that knows how to focus on an objective. swallow one’s pride or desire to have an optimum In fact, in most objective games, the winning team is kill:death ratio. Sure everyone wants to look good often the one with the most deaths since they were and get lots of points, experience, and money for able to concentrate on what was truly important. dealing a killing blow, but that is not always the main Sometimes, one might themselves throwing objective of the team. their life away for a nonobjective reason. This is In games where there is a capture or destroy the typical sportsmanlike suicide. When a friend objective, it is more important that the mission is of yours is in trouble, it is often good etiquette to carried out than glory being earned in combat. In intercept their pursuer, even if it means the death of some cases, you might find yourself acting as bait yourself. This is not necessarily a strategic action, but while your team carries out some greater purpose. it helps form bonds in the team. People will often When that time comes, know that your death was unintentionally become more malicious towards not in vain, but for progress. someone if they run away as well rather than doing In other cases, you might find yourself carry- what they can to prevent a likely death. ing out the deed of diving. This is when one ignores As a general rule, unless you are carrying out a all obstacles and attackers and sacrifices themselves primary objective, support a teammate being preyed to deal damage to or further the objective. If you on or at the very least, make a gesture that shows that successfully do this for the team and help them either your hearts is with them or that their death will progress at the cost of your time and health, then be avenged. This usually comes in the form of a stun, (Below) congratulatory comments are sure to follow. shield, and use of a powerful attack on the enemy to Victory and high-fives is in In situations such as these, one must not be let them know that the deed will be returned. the future for those who ashamed of their beloved kill:death ratio, for it was A harder part of kill:death ratios to ignore know how to cooperate. well spent in the call of duty and victory. The better involves the often annoying “kill steal”. This is when one does the majority of the damage to an enemy, and a teammate runs in and deals the final blow. The original attacker is often deprived of maximum experience, money, and statistics. This usually results in the angering of the attacker towards the killer. This ire tears teams apart. The worst part about this is that most “kill steals” are the result of happenstance or the killer seeking to ensure the death of the enemy. The most important part of this situation is that the original attacker must hold back. Usually the killer will apologize in any case, but the morale of the whole team rides on the shoulders of the attacker. He must not be upset and accept that the assured death of an enemy is more important than claiming bonus credit for the deed. In some cases, team members may actually go out of their way to try to feed and buff up one par- ticular member so that they can be unusually strong and carry the rest of the team through the game. Maybe the designated member possesses an item that grows stronger with kills or the person needs to unlock a powerful ability as soon as possible. What- ever the case, everyone must recognize that dealing the killing blow is not nearly as important as clearing the path of obstacles and enemies. If one wants the ultimate reward of cheering and high-fives, these rules of engagement and team play are strongly recommended. 44 1...2...Pewpew!