Why I don't play online games.

The BBQ Pit
1

Diablo: I’ve just finished the original Diablo with all three characters in less than a week and decide to try this Battlenet thing. I log on, get invited to join a game. We play for a little while, and I manage to pick up a cool weapon, upon which the other members of my party kill me and take my stuff. Repeat this experience several times over the course of a week, often being killed in a single blow by a low level character who shouldn’t have nearly that much power.

Quake 2: I’ve played the single player game through twice, and once again decide to try online. I figure since everyone is expected to try to kill me, I’ll be on even ground. Deathmatch starts, and while I’m looking for a better weapon, I get nailed and killed. I respawn, and in less than a second, I’m dead. I respawn again in a new place, and in less than a second, I’m dead. Repeat sixteen times. End score: killed 18 times, 0 kills. Over the course of a month, this happens in roughly nine out of ten games.

Starcraft: Again, I’ve finished the single player game on my own, and I think maybe this will be what I was looking for. No “cooperative” games in which your party kills you for any decent stuff you might have, and no respawn points where you can be killed a dozen times. My first game: I’ve set up a defensive perimeter with my starting troops and set about building structures to upgrade my weapons, when about a thousand low-level troops show up at my border. And keep showing up in wave after wave. I’m dead in about 15 minutes. I try again, this time making huge numbers of zerglings to try the same strategy. No dice. While my zerglings are battling opponent #1’s marines, opponent #2’s forty million low level troops show up. I’m dead in twenty minutes. In every game I play for the next two weeks, all of my opponents seem to be ganging up to destroy me before worrying about each other. It could be that I just suck at Starcraft, also. Either way, it isn’t much fun.

Diablo 2: All right, I think, no cheating possible due to new player killer rules and the character being kept on the server. I log on, and nobody wants to go into a game with a brand new character. I play a few sessions solo to get my assassin up a few levels, and finally get a group that wants to join me for a game. We play for a while, and eventually get into a hairy situation with a huge group of those fireball shooting guys who raise the dead, and at a crucial moment, the rest of my party stops fighting and retreats, leaving me to be killed by the monsters. They then raid my body and take my stuff. Different method, same result. I haven’t been back since.

So when I see “online game”, I read “hardcore gamers who like to pick on newbies”, which may not be fair, I admit, but that has been my experience.

2

I’m not going to justify what those guys are doing to you, but I think one of the problems is that w/ the exception of Diablo 2, all those games are fairly old. What happens is that the relative newbies and casual gamers have already moved onto newer games, leaving only the hardcore types who like to be jerks.

When everyone is pretty new to the game, they’re generally less likely to gang up on the little guy, cause everyone is a little guy.

I recommend trying out Half-Life and its various mods (Yeah, I realize this game is ancient too, but its still going pretty strong). Try some mods like TFC, Frontline Force and Counter-Strike. While there are a lot of hardcore types in those games, I’ve also had experiences where there are people willing to help out newbies. When I was all hardcore about Half-Life, I always answered the seemingly stupid questions and helped out the little guy.

3

U suX0r u st00pid n00b! 7331 hax0r just 0wn3d J00!

Sorry, couldn’t resist. I too have also failed to see the lure of online gaming to anyone who can’t spend 8 hours a day at it, since that appears to be the skill level of many of the players. And, from my above sentence, which I myself have seen plenty of variants of, the level of social discourse leaves much to be desired.

4

I think the only unfair thing in the rant was using “hardcore gamers” to mean “the seething mass of nigh-pathological adolescence that is online action gaming.” Precision shouldn’t suffer for economy of expression. :slight_smile:

5

Try Steel Beasts. Best multiplayer experience I’ve ever had. Only trick is that it’s not some big-name game, so it’s hard to find players. Well worth it when you do :slight_smile:

6

As far as getting slammed by the “rush” offense. Try finding maps that are not conducive to it or limit inital resources.

I play alot of Total Annihilation and found that it was a blast plaing on maps like “Shore to Shore” or “Ring Atoll” where the map was 90% water and took literally 10-15 min for a ship to cross for an attack. Surface rush tactics are worthless in this environment. In fact I have played water heavy map games that lasted for over 6 hours just because it required so much effort to put an effective force on your enemies doorstep. Strategy and tactics become paramount in a game that lasts more than an hour or so.

7

While I’m excited by online games and the possibilities they represent, the fact is that they attract assholes, so I never play them. I discovered this early on MUDs, and TradeWars, so I never even gave Diablo a chance unless I was playing with friends. But with friends, some of these games are a lot of fun.

8

I agree with most everything that the OP stated, but I was just a little confused on one point. A point which doesn’t make any difference whatsoever, but something which bugged me. You said that when you were playing diablo and diablo 2 that people came along, killed you, and stole your stuff. The only thing is, in
Diablo I, you should only drop your stuff if monsters kill you, and in Diablo II, the only way for others to get your equipment is if you allow them to. Sorry to have to bring such a trivial thing to light, but it was bugging me =(

Now as for a real response, I’d have to agree with what SouprChckn said; the people who are still playing those old games are probably just hardcore gamers who play them 8 hours a day, leaving not much of a chance for new players to make an entrance.

It’s also partially the games themselves. They’re all intensely competetive, especially starcraft and any games in the Quake series. Tournaments are held for them with prize money reaching into the thousands of dollars, so in addition to the pro-gamers who attend these events, you have hundreds of people aspiring to reach a professional level. Far too many people have stopped playing for fun, and have started playing to win.

If you wanted to play a game like quake II in an environment much like an online server, but more matched to your skill, you could try downloading some ‘bots,’ which act just like other players. You could gradually up the skill on the bots until you think you’re ready to compete with some real people online. Otherwise, you could try to interest some of your friends in gaming, and play with some people who you actually know who are around your same skill level. That would probably be the most fun of all.

Well, at this point, I feel I’ve typed too much and said too little, so I’ll be off.

Sincerely,
A hardcore gamer.

9

Number Six, you’re hitting me where it hurts here.

  1. Diablo and Diablo 2. Diablo multiplayer is a complete waste of time. Old, outdated, and ruled by hacks and cheats. Diablo 2, however, is a quality gaming experience. First off, don’t go looking in channels for people to play with. Not effective. Just join or create a game. Seems like you figured this out. I’m not clear on how they raided your body and took your stuff, however. This is only possible if you yourself set the option that party members can take your stuff, and this is only intended for use in cooperative play with people you know. I’ve never heard of anyone using it on battle.net. It’s not even useful for its intended purpose, since to reclaim your body all you have to do is leave the game and enter it again, and your body is waiting at your feet. Thirdly, as far as people retreating, that’s just how it works. People need to heal, they need to get more potions, they need a breather, whatever. That’s just how it is. You need to watch your party and see that when you’re the only one left fighting, it’s time to hightail it out of there yourself. If you get involved with a party who frequently leaves you to do all the fighting while they watch, find a new game.

  2. Starcraft. This game is not obsolete. While more people play the Brood War expansion, there are still thousands of people on b.net at any given time playing sc. A few points here as well.
    First, what map are you playing on? Don’t play Big Game Hunters (or any $$$$$ variation thereof).
    Second, what type of game are you playing? I can’t figure out from your OP if you’re playing against computers or people. If you’re being killed by computers, you are either playing too many opponents or your allies are sucking. It happens. If you’re playing people, you must be playing FFA (free for all), which is a horrible way to start off. You should be playing in 2v2s and 3v3s with people, or against computers if you want to start slow. As a newbie, you will lose (there’s a lot of strategic and tactical depth to the game that isn’t immediately obvious to the starting player), but you’ll learn if you don’t get frustrated and quit after a few games.
    Incidentally, 15-20 minutes is a pretty long game. I would advise that you get the expansion (should be available for $15 or less) and check it out. Most sc players are holdovers from a bygone era, and it’s a different vibe. bw is much more newbie-friendly. Check out the channel brood war usa-1000. Nice people hang out there, and they’re typically pretty receptive to new players.

And I’d be happy to game with you a bit on either game and show you some of the ropes, if you’d like. I don’t have the D2 expansion so we’d have some difficulty there, but let me know if you want to set up a time or something. Online gaming is fun.

10

It looks like White Lightning covered most of it.

On quake 2 did you try to dodge? Two things are important in most first person shooters. Learning to constantly move, and learning the maps. Oh yeah, also having a really good ping.

11

You just need practice, buckaroo. Quake 2 multiplayer is outdated… try Quake 3, if you can. Or Counterstrike. While both of those are inhabited by a good number of hardcore types, you’ll also find games that are more newbie friendly. Just avoid de_dust and de_dust2… ::sigh::

12

I only play multiplayer Diablo II over our home network with my friends, but I guess most people don’t have that option. The only game I’ve played extensively online is No One Lives Forever, but you can’t build up skills or take weapons so it’s difficult for it to get terribly unfair to newbies.

13

I have only dabbled in RTS games online, and always in newbie rooms so i can’t help much there but I can offer some FPS tips.

Sterra is right, the most important rule in first person shooters is to Move Constantly: stand still for more than a heart beat and I will put a rail in your ass every time, guaranteed. Don’t make yourself an easy target: run erratically, jump, and crouch, anything to throw my aim off. Ping: also important, but there’s not much you can do except upgrade to broadband if you haven’t already. Know the maps: this is crucial; I played Quake III for a month before venturing online, if you’ve beaten Q2 you must know the levels pretty well. Strafe: Don’t ever turn and then move, master the art of strafing and circle strafing – if you are good you should be able to easily dodge rockets and run in a circle around your opponent with your crosshair permanently planted on his head. Rocket Juggling: This is the skill of perfect rocket placement, always aim your rockets at your opponent’s feet (less chance of missing) when they get blown into the air have a rocket waiting for them at the exact spot they are going to hit the ground, repeat until target is dead or begging for mercy. Aim: If you are using a delay weapon like the rocket launcher learn to lead your target, anticipate where he is headed. If you are using the lightning or machine gun, learn to keep that crosshair locked down on your opponent no matter what. And if you are using the rail gun, just have really good aim and use the zoom feature. This can’t be taught, just keep practicing until you can bull’s-eye womp rats from a dozen parsecs. Rocket Jumping: in one quick precise move, while running, look down, jump, fire a rocket, look up, and fly to your target location. Not easy but very useful. Last but not least, Don’t neglect powerups try not to go out of your way to get them but if armor or health is nearby go for it, armor really does make a difference, and even if you don’t think you need it pick it up so the guy behind you won’t get it.

Things not to do: Camping: everyone hates the loser that sits up high picking people off like a pussy. Quad or BFG Whore Sometimes acceptable but Quad Damage and the BFG are usually the tools of punks who can’t get the job done without an insane advantage. Talk shit if you can’t back it up: this one is pretty self explanatory; if you tell me you’re gonna kick my ass you better do it or I’m gonna make you my permanent bitch.

With enough practice anyone can become a Quake master, I used to suck hardily, but eventually I got the hang of it and now I’m always in the top three of any game I log onto. I’m still not a zen master like this guy I know who plays like he has a sixth sense or something (moves like lightning, unnaturally accurate, and always knows where everyone on the map is – he’s hella good at all video games though). Don’t give up, and you can be dishing out the whoop ass instead of receiving it, which just might change your attitude about online gaming.

14

Oh, Cain, you missed the most important rule of all… USE THE MOUSE. It is absolutely impossible to play any FPS with just the keyboard anymore.

I knew one guy who said that he “Played naturally” with just the keyboard. I always said, “That’s fine, just be prepared to lose.”

15

A few thoughts in response:

It wasn’t clear, but the events listed herein occurred over the period of several years. I did usually wait several months before going online, but that’s because I never buy just released games. I tend to wait a couple of months before buying the game to allow time for the patch to come out, and so that I can read the reviews to decide how to spend my limited gaming cash. In most cases, it was after the game had been out about a year.

Diablo: Maybe you’re only supposed to be killed by monsters, but that’s not what happened to me. It was always other members of my party, usually insanely powerful, who took me out.

Diablo 2: The other members of my party told me all the people had to set the same options for the game to work, so I set up my game the same as they did. They told me they always set the option to let others raid your body so that other party members can retrieve your things for you without your having to go out and find your body again. This seemed a reasonable way to play a cooperative game, so I agreed. Turns out I was playing the sucker.

Starcraft: I played FFA because I was sick of people who were supposed to be on my team turning on me. If I am playing by myself, this cannot happen. I don’t remember the names of the maps.

Quake 2: I kept getting killed within seconds of appearing. I would respawn, would start to look around and see where I was, and boom, I’m dead. No time to try any of the fancy manouvers listed.

I realize that the main problem here is that I suck so badly at these games. It wold be nice if my friends also played, but none of my friends play computer games, so I have to make do with whoever I can find online when I get a chance to play. However, it is no fun at all playing these games when I lose every time, so I’m not going to spend a long period of time having no fun getting my ass handed to me so that I can get good enough to actually enjoy the game, when I can pop in the single player game and start having fun right away.

16
  1. Don’t look around at all, get moving right away and don’t stop moving. 2. With the exception of rocket jumping and juggling the tips i suggested aren’t fancy or special they are mandatory for competitive play. If you want to stay alive for more than a few seconds online, play the computer and master strafing, dodging, and aiming on the run.
17

Starcraft has a decent pseudo multi-player (I forget where it is, exactly, though). The single player is useful mostly for teaching you what your troops can do, not for training you for multi. The pseudo multi, though, is great for teaching you your early and mid game strats (it sucks for late game, though, as the computer stops doing anything useful once it runs out of resources), and launches early rushes like a bitch.

Good luck. If you need somebody crappy to practice SC against, email me or something.

18

Oh, gods be damned, I can’t believe I’m going to do this. It’s 1337, not 7331. 1337 stands for LEET (Elite)

19

::grrrr:: Damnit! It’s not camping if you’re using the sniper rifle!

No, I am not sensitive on this issue.

20

I had the same problems with Quake 2 multiplayer that Number Six and others mentioned. My computer is on a satellite link, which is fast but death for online play- with a minimum ping of 400 it’s impossible to stay connected, so i have to use my son’s machine.

I just got Half-Life Platinum, with Opposing Force, Team Fortress Classic and Counter-strike. I wonder which would be best to start online play- I prefer cooperative games over deathmatches. Does anyone know anywhere to sign up for a good game? (One where a newbie has a chance before being annihilated?)