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This is basically a guide for newbies to the arena of Online gaming, particularly via PC, but most of it also applies to console gaming online now that the next generation of consoles are capable of doing so. By using this guide, you will avoid the usual pitfalls that most newbies succumb to at least once during their online gaming lifetime.
1 - The State of Online Gaming Today
Is not good. The online gaming community, whilst thriving, is thriving for all the wrong reasons, mostly criminal ones. Software is being pirated at exponential rates, key generators are widely available for cracking open game software that is available by free download, character traders, item traders, social engineers and crackers make comfortable living by leeching all the hard earned gains that players have made in existing games and selling them on to others, and cheats abound. All of these factors tend to put people off online gaming in the first place. But remember, gaming is all about 'challenge'. So if you want a REAL challenge, the online game arena is the only place to get one.
2 - Choose Your Platform
The majority of online gaming still takes place via Personal Computers, although more and more consoles are coming to the forefront. Each format has its own unique and distinct advantages. But with all of today's technology taken into account, including the wide availability of broadband/ADSL and the fact that each house usually only has one broadband feed going into it, the chances are that if you decide to go online via a console you're going to network it with your PC system anyhow, just for the sake of being able to use the internet and play online via console at the same time. Therefore the same considerations you'd use for making your PC secure are still valid if you've networked your console with it.
3 - Choose Your Game
Hardcore gamers are in the fortunate position to be able to take on a number of games at any one time. However, ask most of them, and they'll agree that usually there's only one game that they keep returning too time after time. The same will apply to the casual gamer after a period of time. There's one title out there that will grab your attention and suck your life away. For every gamer this game is a different one, but once you're hooked, you're hooked. Just make sure it's a good one, because you're going to be spending a lot of time playing it.
Picking a good game is the key. Simple precautions you can take are things like reading reviews online or in the press, then visiting any official site that may exist and surfing through any forums that exist for it. The best feedback you will get is from official forums, as these include players' views as well as those of the game's support team. If you see a forum full of complaints, avoid it. If you see a game where the support team start banning people for negative views, hide behind a collective name of 'Staff' and continually lock topics criticising their actions, avoid it like the plague.
4 - Buy Your Game
Always purchase or download your game from either a reputable stockist or a bonafide download site. The reasons for this are too numerous to mention, suffice it to say that if you get a pirate copy or a keylogger included with your download, you've wasted your time. Keep every receipt incase the goods are faulty, and, particularly with subscription based online games, keep your receipts each time you renew your subscription. Keep all your original packaging, including, if any, CD-Keys and the like, and register your copy as soon as you get it. This is because, as often happens, receipts are the only way to prove that an ingame account is yours in the event that it falls into the wrong hands.
5 - Protect Yourself
Now you've got your game, there are a few simple precautions to take before running it.
First thing is to install an up to date virus scanner into your PC to make sure your network is protected. Have it constantly running and run a manual scan for viruses at least once a week, and keep it updated.
Secondly, get a firewall. This can be either software or hardware based, most routers come with firewall protection built-in. Just make sure you've got it running 24/7 to prevent anyone on the internet being able to take control of your PC, and make sure you update it regularly with the latest version.
6 - Create Your Online Persona
Most games require you to input some form of identification, a player ID for example, or a name for your character. Whatever you do, never use an ID that gives out personal information about yourself, including your real name, your year of birth, where you live, something like JulieofBristol1986 is bang out of order and it's just asking for trouble. Try to go for something neutral, non-offensive, non-inflammatory, non-political, and unrevealing. There's a lot of weirdos out there, and you don't want them knowing anything about you.
7 - Password Protection
Most games require you to input some form of username/password. Never, ever, make your username/password an easy to remember one. Make it as long as possible, include special characters and symbols, and never, ever, let anyone else know what it is. Never use that same password for any other application, make it unique to the game you are using it for. And change it every 30 minutes. If you wish, Securicor now offer a password delivery service where they send a guard around to your house at your request, he enters a computer generated password without you knowing what it is, and away you go. Just make sure he's killed before he leaves the premises, as well as anyone else who might have known what your password was at Securicor.
8 - RTFM
Game manuals are very important, so read them. They teach give you the background, they teach you the basics, they show you the rules. By reading the manual before you play the game, the chances are you'll already be streaks ahead of 90% of the other players playing that game. Once you've logged into the game, you'll know exactly what you're meant to be doing, where you're headed, and how to get there. This will safe you standing around asking lots of silly questions and getting called a 'n00b' and picked on by the game's community.
9 - Trust No One
For every nice person you meet online, there's 100 nasty people. And even the nice people you meet are probably nasty people just pretending to be nice. You know they're nasty when they do any of the following:
Ask you for your username and password
Ask to hold your items for you
Ask you to pay for something for them
Ask you for money
Offer to level your character up for you
Offer to let you download the latest cheats from their website
Then there's the common con artists. Generally they're very wily people, but if you know what to look out for you'll be OK just as long as you don't fall for it. A few of the common cons are:
Any situation in which you're asked to input your username/password
Any situation in which they're taking items off you
Any situation in which they're offering something for practically nothing
Any time they ask for your e-mail address or ask you to visit a website within the first few minutes of you meeting them for the first time
Then there's your family. Are they loitering around behind you as you input your username/password? Does your cat suddenly take a fond interest in your gaming after you acquired that wicked new weapon in the game? Does your milkman ask what Clan you belong to? My advice is to either practice your gaming in a secluded and secure area or else kill them all just to make sure.
10. Have Fun!
I highly recommend Tetris on the GameBoy.
1 - The State of Online Gaming Today
Is not good. The online gaming community, whilst thriving, is thriving for all the wrong reasons, mostly criminal ones. Software is being pirated at exponential rates, key generators are widely available for cracking open game software that is available by free download, character traders, item traders, social engineers and crackers make comfortable living by leeching all the hard earned gains that players have made in existing games and selling them on to others, and cheats abound. All of these factors tend to put people off online gaming in the first place. But remember, gaming is all about 'challenge'. So if you want a REAL challenge, the online game arena is the only place to get one.
2 - Choose Your Platform
The majority of online gaming still takes place via Personal Computers, although more and more consoles are coming to the forefront. Each format has its own unique and distinct advantages. But with all of today's technology taken into account, including the wide availability of broadband/ADSL and the fact that each house usually only has one broadband feed going into it, the chances are that if you decide to go online via a console you're going to network it with your PC system anyhow, just for the sake of being able to use the internet and play online via console at the same time. Therefore the same considerations you'd use for making your PC secure are still valid if you've networked your console with it.
3 - Choose Your Game
Hardcore gamers are in the fortunate position to be able to take on a number of games at any one time. However, ask most of them, and they'll agree that usually there's only one game that they keep returning too time after time. The same will apply to the casual gamer after a period of time. There's one title out there that will grab your attention and suck your life away. For every gamer this game is a different one, but once you're hooked, you're hooked. Just make sure it's a good one, because you're going to be spending a lot of time playing it.
Picking a good game is the key. Simple precautions you can take are things like reading reviews online or in the press, then visiting any official site that may exist and surfing through any forums that exist for it. The best feedback you will get is from official forums, as these include players' views as well as those of the game's support team. If you see a forum full of complaints, avoid it. If you see a game where the support team start banning people for negative views, hide behind a collective name of 'Staff' and continually lock topics criticising their actions, avoid it like the plague.
4 - Buy Your Game
Always purchase or download your game from either a reputable stockist or a bonafide download site. The reasons for this are too numerous to mention, suffice it to say that if you get a pirate copy or a keylogger included with your download, you've wasted your time. Keep every receipt incase the goods are faulty, and, particularly with subscription based online games, keep your receipts each time you renew your subscription. Keep all your original packaging, including, if any, CD-Keys and the like, and register your copy as soon as you get it. This is because, as often happens, receipts are the only way to prove that an ingame account is yours in the event that it falls into the wrong hands.
5 - Protect Yourself
Now you've got your game, there are a few simple precautions to take before running it.
First thing is to install an up to date virus scanner into your PC to make sure your network is protected. Have it constantly running and run a manual scan for viruses at least once a week, and keep it updated.
Secondly, get a firewall. This can be either software or hardware based, most routers come with firewall protection built-in. Just make sure you've got it running 24/7 to prevent anyone on the internet being able to take control of your PC, and make sure you update it regularly with the latest version.
6 - Create Your Online Persona
Most games require you to input some form of identification, a player ID for example, or a name for your character. Whatever you do, never use an ID that gives out personal information about yourself, including your real name, your year of birth, where you live, something like JulieofBristol1986 is bang out of order and it's just asking for trouble. Try to go for something neutral, non-offensive, non-inflammatory, non-political, and unrevealing. There's a lot of weirdos out there, and you don't want them knowing anything about you.
7 - Password Protection
Most games require you to input some form of username/password. Never, ever, make your username/password an easy to remember one. Make it as long as possible, include special characters and symbols, and never, ever, let anyone else know what it is. Never use that same password for any other application, make it unique to the game you are using it for. And change it every 30 minutes. If you wish, Securicor now offer a password delivery service where they send a guard around to your house at your request, he enters a computer generated password without you knowing what it is, and away you go. Just make sure he's killed before he leaves the premises, as well as anyone else who might have known what your password was at Securicor.
8 - RTFM
Game manuals are very important, so read them. They teach give you the background, they teach you the basics, they show you the rules. By reading the manual before you play the game, the chances are you'll already be streaks ahead of 90% of the other players playing that game. Once you've logged into the game, you'll know exactly what you're meant to be doing, where you're headed, and how to get there. This will safe you standing around asking lots of silly questions and getting called a 'n00b' and picked on by the game's community.
9 - Trust No One
For every nice person you meet online, there's 100 nasty people. And even the nice people you meet are probably nasty people just pretending to be nice. You know they're nasty when they do any of the following:
Ask you for your username and password
Ask to hold your items for you
Ask you to pay for something for them
Ask you for money
Offer to level your character up for you
Offer to let you download the latest cheats from their website
Then there's the common con artists. Generally they're very wily people, but if you know what to look out for you'll be OK just as long as you don't fall for it. A few of the common cons are:
Any situation in which you're asked to input your username/password
Any situation in which they're taking items off you
Any situation in which they're offering something for practically nothing
Any time they ask for your e-mail address or ask you to visit a website within the first few minutes of you meeting them for the first time
Then there's your family. Are they loitering around behind you as you input your username/password? Does your cat suddenly take a fond interest in your gaming after you acquired that wicked new weapon in the game? Does your milkman ask what Clan you belong to? My advice is to either practice your gaming in a secluded and secure area or else kill them all just to make sure.
10. Have Fun!
I highly recommend Tetris on the GameBoy.
That's quite a lot of stuff.
Change password every 30 minutes? You're joking right.
I was thinking about maybe going online with the Cube if ever Mario Kart goes online (not likely apparenty) but then it would be just to play other people from this site.
oh and..
11. No matter how good you are at the game offline, no matter if you can finish the final boss off in under 20 seconds, online there's someone ten times better than you. It's quite soul destroying.
Change password every 30 minutes? You're joking right.
I was thinking about maybe going online with the Cube if ever Mario Kart goes online (not likely apparenty) but then it would be just to play other people from this site.
oh and..
11. No matter how good you are at the game offline, no matter if you can finish the final boss off in under 20 seconds, online there's someone ten times better than you. It's quite soul destroying.
I've never got my hands dirty in the mire of online gaming, and to be honest, I don't think I ever will.
Xbox Live for instance, I just can't be bothered. Do I really want darkbeast88 screaming "I beat ya you f****t!" in my ear. No.
Perhaps a massive RPG will sway me, like Star Wars Galaxies, but then again, it probably won't.
Xbox Live for instance, I just can't be bothered. Do I really want darkbeast88 screaming "I beat ya you f****t!" in my ear. No.
Perhaps a massive RPG will sway me, like Star Wars Galaxies, but then again, it probably won't.
This is basically a guide for newbies to the arena of Online gaming, particularly via PC, but most of it also applies to console gaming online now that the next generation of consoles are capable of doing so. By using this guide, you will avoid the usual pitfalls that most newbies succumb to at least once during their online gaming lifetime.
1 - The State of Online Gaming Today
Is not good. The online gaming community, whilst thriving, is thriving for all the wrong reasons, mostly criminal ones. Software is being pirated at exponential rates, key generators are widely available for cracking open game software that is available by free download, character traders, item traders, social engineers and crackers make comfortable living by leeching all the hard earned gains that players have made in existing games and selling them on to others, and cheats abound. All of these factors tend to put people off online gaming in the first place. But remember, gaming is all about 'challenge'. So if you want a REAL challenge, the online game arena is the only place to get one.
2 - Choose Your Platform
The majority of online gaming still takes place via Personal Computers, although more and more consoles are coming to the forefront. Each format has its own unique and distinct advantages. But with all of today's technology taken into account, including the wide availability of broadband/ADSL and the fact that each house usually only has one broadband feed going into it, the chances are that if you decide to go online via a console you're going to network it with your PC system anyhow, just for the sake of being able to use the internet and play online via console at the same time. Therefore the same considerations you'd use for making your PC secure are still valid if you've networked your console with it.
3 - Choose Your Game
Hardcore gamers are in the fortunate position to be able to take on a number of games at any one time. However, ask most of them, and they'll agree that usually there's only one game that they keep returning too time after time. The same will apply to the casual gamer after a period of time. There's one title out there that will grab your attention and suck your life away. For every gamer this game is a different one, but once you're hooked, you're hooked. Just make sure it's a good one, because you're going to be spending a lot of time playing it.
Picking a good game is the key. Simple precautions you can take are things like reading reviews online or in the press, then visiting any official site that may exist and surfing through any forums that exist for it. The best feedback you will get is from official forums, as these include players' views as well as those of the game's support team. If you see a forum full of complaints, avoid it. If you see a game where the support team start banning people for negative views, hide behind a collective name of 'Staff' and continually lock topics criticising their actions, avoid it like the plague.
4 - Buy Your Game
Always purchase or download your game from either a reputable stockist or a bonafide download site. The reasons for this are too numerous to mention, suffice it to say that if you get a pirate copy or a keylogger included with your download, you've wasted your time. Keep every receipt incase the goods are faulty, and, particularly with subscription based online games, keep your receipts each time you renew your subscription. Keep all your original packaging, including, if any, CD-Keys and the like, and register your copy as soon as you get it. This is because, as often happens, receipts are the only way to prove that an ingame account is yours in the event that it falls into the wrong hands.
5 - Protect Yourself
Now you've got your game, there are a few simple precautions to take before running it.
First thing is to install an up to date virus scanner into your PC to make sure your network is protected. Have it constantly running and run a manual scan for viruses at least once a week, and keep it updated.
Secondly, get a firewall. This can be either software or hardware based, most routers come with firewall protection built-in. Just make sure you've got it running 24/7 to prevent anyone on the internet being able to take control of your PC, and make sure you update it regularly with the latest version.
6 - Create Your Online Persona
Most games require you to input some form of identification, a player ID for example, or a name for your character. Whatever you do, never use an ID that gives out personal information about yourself, including your real name, your year of birth, where you live, something like JulieofBristol1986 is bang out of order and it's just asking for trouble. Try to go for something neutral, non-offensive, non-inflammatory, non-political, and unrevealing. There's a lot of weirdos out there, and you don't want them knowing anything about you.
7 - Password Protection
Most games require you to input some form of username/password. Never, ever, make your username/password an easy to remember one. Make it as long as possible, include special characters and symbols, and never, ever, let anyone else know what it is. Never use that same password for any other application, make it unique to the game you are using it for. And change it every 30 minutes. If you wish, Securicor now offer a password delivery service where they send a guard around to your house at your request, he enters a computer generated password without you knowing what it is, and away you go. Just make sure he's killed before he leaves the premises, as well as anyone else who might have known what your password was at Securicor.
8 - RTFM
Game manuals are very important, so read them. They teach give you the background, they teach you the basics, they show you the rules. By reading the manual before you play the game, the chances are you'll already be streaks ahead of 90% of the other players playing that game. Once you've logged into the game, you'll know exactly what you're meant to be doing, where you're headed, and how to get there. This will safe you standing around asking lots of silly questions and getting called a 'n00b' and picked on by the game's community.
9 - Trust No One
For every nice person you meet online, there's 100 nasty people. And even the nice people you meet are probably nasty people just pretending to be nice. You know they're nasty when they do any of the following:
Ask you for your username and password
Ask to hold your items for you
Ask you to pay for something for them
Ask you for money
Offer to level your character up for you
Offer to let you download the latest cheats from their website
Then there's the common con artists. Generally they're very wily people, but if you know what to look out for you'll be OK just as long as you don't fall for it. A few of the common cons are:
Any situation in which you're asked to input your username/password
Any situation in which they're taking items off you
Any situation in which they're offering something for practically nothing
Any time they ask for your e-mail address or ask you to visit a website within the first few minutes of you meeting them for the first time
Then there's your family. Are they loitering around behind you as you input your username/password? Does your cat suddenly take a fond interest in your gaming after you acquired that wicked new weapon in the game? Does your milkman ask what Clan you belong to? My advice is to either practice your gaming in a secluded and secure area or else kill them all just to make sure.
10. Have Fun!
I highly recommend Tetris on the GameBoy.
1 - The State of Online Gaming Today
Is not good. The online gaming community, whilst thriving, is thriving for all the wrong reasons, mostly criminal ones. Software is being pirated at exponential rates, key generators are widely available for cracking open game software that is available by free download, character traders, item traders, social engineers and crackers make comfortable living by leeching all the hard earned gains that players have made in existing games and selling them on to others, and cheats abound. All of these factors tend to put people off online gaming in the first place. But remember, gaming is all about 'challenge'. So if you want a REAL challenge, the online game arena is the only place to get one.
2 - Choose Your Platform
The majority of online gaming still takes place via Personal Computers, although more and more consoles are coming to the forefront. Each format has its own unique and distinct advantages. But with all of today's technology taken into account, including the wide availability of broadband/ADSL and the fact that each house usually only has one broadband feed going into it, the chances are that if you decide to go online via a console you're going to network it with your PC system anyhow, just for the sake of being able to use the internet and play online via console at the same time. Therefore the same considerations you'd use for making your PC secure are still valid if you've networked your console with it.
3 - Choose Your Game
Hardcore gamers are in the fortunate position to be able to take on a number of games at any one time. However, ask most of them, and they'll agree that usually there's only one game that they keep returning too time after time. The same will apply to the casual gamer after a period of time. There's one title out there that will grab your attention and suck your life away. For every gamer this game is a different one, but once you're hooked, you're hooked. Just make sure it's a good one, because you're going to be spending a lot of time playing it.
Picking a good game is the key. Simple precautions you can take are things like reading reviews online or in the press, then visiting any official site that may exist and surfing through any forums that exist for it. The best feedback you will get is from official forums, as these include players' views as well as those of the game's support team. If you see a forum full of complaints, avoid it. If you see a game where the support team start banning people for negative views, hide behind a collective name of 'Staff' and continually lock topics criticising their actions, avoid it like the plague.
4 - Buy Your Game
Always purchase or download your game from either a reputable stockist or a bonafide download site. The reasons for this are too numerous to mention, suffice it to say that if you get a pirate copy or a keylogger included with your download, you've wasted your time. Keep every receipt incase the goods are faulty, and, particularly with subscription based online games, keep your receipts each time you renew your subscription. Keep all your original packaging, including, if any, CD-Keys and the like, and register your copy as soon as you get it. This is because, as often happens, receipts are the only way to prove that an ingame account is yours in the event that it falls into the wrong hands.
5 - Protect Yourself
Now you've got your game, there are a few simple precautions to take before running it.
First thing is to install an up to date virus scanner into your PC to make sure your network is protected. Have it constantly running and run a manual scan for viruses at least once a week, and keep it updated.
Secondly, get a firewall. This can be either software or hardware based, most routers come with firewall protection built-in. Just make sure you've got it running 24/7 to prevent anyone on the internet being able to take control of your PC, and make sure you update it regularly with the latest version.
6 - Create Your Online Persona
Most games require you to input some form of identification, a player ID for example, or a name for your character. Whatever you do, never use an ID that gives out personal information about yourself, including your real name, your year of birth, where you live, something like JulieofBristol1986 is bang out of order and it's just asking for trouble. Try to go for something neutral, non-offensive, non-inflammatory, non-political, and unrevealing. There's a lot of weirdos out there, and you don't want them knowing anything about you.
7 - Password Protection
Most games require you to input some form of username/password. Never, ever, make your username/password an easy to remember one. Make it as long as possible, include special characters and symbols, and never, ever, let anyone else know what it is. Never use that same password for any other application, make it unique to the game you are using it for. And change it every 30 minutes. If you wish, Securicor now offer a password delivery service where they send a guard around to your house at your request, he enters a computer generated password without you knowing what it is, and away you go. Just make sure he's killed before he leaves the premises, as well as anyone else who might have known what your password was at Securicor.
8 - RTFM
Game manuals are very important, so read them. They teach give you the background, they teach you the basics, they show you the rules. By reading the manual before you play the game, the chances are you'll already be streaks ahead of 90% of the other players playing that game. Once you've logged into the game, you'll know exactly what you're meant to be doing, where you're headed, and how to get there. This will safe you standing around asking lots of silly questions and getting called a 'n00b' and picked on by the game's community.
9 - Trust No One
For every nice person you meet online, there's 100 nasty people. And even the nice people you meet are probably nasty people just pretending to be nice. You know they're nasty when they do any of the following:
Ask you for your username and password
Ask to hold your items for you
Ask you to pay for something for them
Ask you for money
Offer to level your character up for you
Offer to let you download the latest cheats from their website
Then there's the common con artists. Generally they're very wily people, but if you know what to look out for you'll be OK just as long as you don't fall for it. A few of the common cons are:
Any situation in which you're asked to input your username/password
Any situation in which they're taking items off you
Any situation in which they're offering something for practically nothing
Any time they ask for your e-mail address or ask you to visit a website within the first few minutes of you meeting them for the first time
Then there's your family. Are they loitering around behind you as you input your username/password? Does your cat suddenly take a fond interest in your gaming after you acquired that wicked new weapon in the game? Does your milkman ask what Clan you belong to? My advice is to either practice your gaming in a secluded and secure area or else kill them all just to make sure.
10. Have Fun!
I highly recommend Tetris on the GameBoy.