Not an all that "normal" blab this time again...

Arh, well, the 4th round was a rather long one, compared to the others, and number 5 was a bit "off" the pattern. That makes me wonder, is anyone expecting a certain length of these Blabs ? Does anyone really care ? And why is the grass green ?

Bah, anyways, on the subject of world domination once again, specially aimed at the "The whole world should be gaming" rant... The entire world, which should be gaming, should be on Case's ladder. Case's is the pinnacle of internet gaming (for me atleast). It's what it's all about. It's reason why I play online, it's the reason why everyone should play online. Competing with others, and getting it on "paper" so to speak. There's nothing like a good round of friendly competition. But alas, the reason so many people don't join the ladder or quit so easily is usually because of the hassle it can be. Some people take competition too seriously, or not seriously enough. There are lamers, whiners, non-reporters, cheaters, padders, adolescent punks, immature wankers and so on. All things that can diminish the pleasure of it.

But those are everywhere. All over the internet. Hmm, guess i'm turning this into a "required online conduct" Blab. Most gaming networks have some basic behaviour rules which are a required read when entering their service. But seriously, this shouldn't be needed. It is common sense to treat other with respect and not talking crap to them, right? Well, yes, but not everyone seems to think so. Lady K from the Gamers Extreme PLG-msg board, a relatively known figure in that community also doing some work on some other PGL related web page which I have had lost my Bookmark to, once did a nice editorial/post on online conduct (at Gamer's Extreme). It was a nice set of rules, and I am inspired by those here. It's basically a set of un-written rules that should apply everywhere, as they really make sense. Some people don't seek to be anything other than a nuisance, and with their selfish and immature manner ruin the pleasure for everyone else. But these rules, and behaving maturely when being online, is truly common sense, so this is what I will refer to (awfully serious today, sorry, hehehe). Ok, some basic rules that I can come up with in my weird Gnug head right now. Some basic rules that SHOULD be something that most people find to be quite obvious. Well, nuff delay, here goes in no particular order:

Treat others with respect!

This being obvious and a must. Even the lamers, you can reason with just about everyone by using common, simple ... reason. If not the people are acceptable to reason, simply ignore them politely.

Be polite!

This quite falling under the category of rule number 1.

Help out newbies and newcomers!

You were once one of them. And whether you recieved help back then or not is besides the point, no need taking vengance out on the wrong people. If your patience or time is running short, try and assure that someone else in the chat room helps out.

No Obsceneties!

You talk to your own Mother with that mouth? Now i'm not trying to play baby sitter here and tell everyone not to swear, but do use common sense! You will always get farther with it instead of obscenety and profanity. Obscenety will just fuel the fire and create a general negative environment which is pretty mush useless. Most of the time, people who use obscenety and profanity are adolescent, immature kids which have the disillusion that swearing makes them sound cool and tough. And that's the picture most people get of you if you lower yourself to that level.

No Spamming, repeating and typing other meaningless crap!

There are other people around, you will most likely be Muzzled/Ignored when doing this.

Excersize good sportsmanship!

Don't gloat after a victory, it's degrading the other player. Aswell as you shouldn't whine when loosing. Nobody likes a sore loser or a sore winner.

Talk before you play!

Try and spend time before and after the eventual match finding out some basic ground rules! Setting eventual rules pre-game, inquireing what level your opponent might be, as equally skilled players will have the most pleasure in games, not some hard-core veteran slaughtering on some unsuspecting newbie. And after the game, (and/or during) try and keep some healthy dialogue going when needed. Give/take advice like the good sportsman you are. Some people get somewhat insulted if you try to give advice, but it should be fairly to detect what kind of person your opponent is. Also, if they ask for some advice, I would urge you to be helpful, they will thank you for it, and deem you respectable (Usually, hehe) Also, if you are accused of cheating, which sadly is rather common, do try and explain how you did what you did, how you beat your opponent, most people are reasonable and listen to reason.

Don't cheat!

Rather obvious, but some still do it. And it's sad, it ruins the pleasure for everyone. The mere suspicion that cheating was involved ruins it all. Well, I should think we can all agree on that cheating SUX. It's the lowest of low, and you should stay as far away from cheats/trainers as humanly/gnuggly possible. A common excuse for cheaters is something like: "I did it because others did it", or, "I did it to see if the other one was doing it" (Particularly hinting to the infamous "Full View" cheat in this case".

There's no excuse for cheating. And the more you just stay away from it the better. Cheating includes using so called "Trainers" for one. Exterior 3rd party (illegal basically) programs to boost your play in any form. Also, "Padding" ones score in any form is also cheating. I assume you are all reasonable enough to determine on your own what exactly cheating is.

Be Cool, Don't be a Lamer!

NT :)

Hmm, might make Gnug315 do a section or something where I will update these rules or something. As they need some more thought and updating... Need input from others about this as well. If you got any ideas, just email me at: Gnug215@gnug.org.

Anyways, this is how the world online should be according to me. I wont enforce this upon others or anything, but doesnt all this make sense ? If you dont agree, and want to voice your opinion about it, be sure to email me. *pointing to that email just above*

Arh, a long blab once again, until the next time: GNUG!