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Online gamings come a long way since the concept first began. Getting into the scene in any game can be a hard task, sometimes impossible with the smaller communitys, but with a few guidlines getting involved can be much simpler. Just make sure you have all of the essentials and your ready to go.
Essential number one...
A dark room. An online gamer without a dark room is.. well.. not really an online gamer at all. This is your quarters for your missions and if you really get into playing games this is where your going to be for a long time for many hours. First of all, get a comfortable chair, step two, close curtains, step three, make sure anything you'll need is within reach. Getting up is really overated, don't bother with it :) If you think you're going to need something get it before sitting down. Food, games and music all fall into this, as does anything like a headset or microphone. Keep it all near by and make this room your holy shrine.
Essential number two...
Chat programs. Before you begin getting into the deeper parts of online gaming your going to need a few programs. These can be anything ranging from MSN to mIRC, but each is very useful and range in features. mIRC is internet relay chat and it allows you to simultaneously chat with all your online friends. Find a clans channel for example and chat away. MSN... simple program for the online chat newbie if you ask me. Easy to use, easy to contact people, but very reliable. Very nice way to get in contact with people. ICQ is another good example. Although this is far more advanced than MSN. Features include calendars, away messages and a lot lot more. Tends to be instant messenger of choice with mIRC as a means of contacting everyone you want to in a simple way. Now obviously you dont need any of these programs, but each is a nice way to talk to people you meet while playing games online. Online gamers create communitys and this is the simplest way of being part of this.
Essential number three...
Winamp and a huge playlist of mp3s. Why exactly you may ask? Well online gamers are online for hours on end as I mentioned. Its only natural for us to need some source of entertainment while chatting/playing or both. Winamps a decent program for this as you can save playlists or play CDs on. Obviously this is more for the music lovers, but I can honestly say its a life saver in the odd boring occasion. Not into mp3s? Grab a radio and add it to your shrine then :D Still not good enough? Stick a TV within eye sight of your PC and use that as a means of entertainment. TVs a good source of entertainment and you won't have to miss all those "great" programs while your surfing or playing :)
Essential number four...
A sturdy keyboard and mouse/joypad or joy stick. These are your machines of death and without them your not going to get many kills or victories racked up. Make sure they are kept in good condition as they aren't much use if half the keys/buttons are missing. Theres nothing worse than aiming at someone, hitting the fire button only to find out your buttons stuck and then find yourself with a ventilated head. Configuring them is probably the most important part. Make sure you configure your controls to comfortable positions as if they are not intuitive or comfortable its going to get frustratingly painful after a few hours of gameplay.
Essential number five...
A pay per month isp. This is one of the most important deciders in whether your going to become and online star or die in a laggy puddle of blood. Priority connection for an online gamer is Broadband, cable or adsl, but if this is not within your reach go for a package that allows you to pay a flat rate for the month with no extra costs. This way you can play away without the problems of worrying about how much money your spending. 56k can get people down, but if you go for the right isp you can do just as good as the broadband players. Go for an isp designed for gamers, advertising low pings such as Jolt (first choice in my opinion) or Blueyonder dial up. Both of these isps provide 56k fixed rate service while being the best pinging 56k providers.
Essential number six...
Understanding of net speak. Although this is an essential, its not an essential to actually use it. Some people find it highly annoying, but the concept of it is quite useful. While annoying on forums it comes into its own when your playing a game. Quick messaging to your team mates which by using net speak you can get across quickly and with the minimum of fuss. For example:
Hello mate, how are you?
can be translated to...
Lo m8, how r u?
This example shows the usefulness of the different way of typing, but some people like to take it further and develop it into what is known as l33t speak, as in an elite way of talking... or so they seem to think :) IF you want to understand everything said its nice to be able to read it easily. An example of l33t speak is as follows:
I am the best CS player, I am far better than you.
can be translated to...
I r teh l33t CS playah, ph34r my l33t skillz or b owned.
Now obviously thats not a straight translation, but you should get the idea :)
Final essential...
Spare time and lots of it. I your going to be a hardcore online gamer your going to need time to spare. If your not going to be joining a clan its not so much of a problem, but if you are its very important to be able to get on the PC at frequent intervals. You'll be expected to be quite active being on the net most days and be available to play matches. These can vary from between anything from 40 minutes to I suppose about 2 hours. Just depends on what game you're playing. To me this is what makes playing online fun, playing wars so I make sure I am available for them, to do this I make sure I have a lot of free time :) To be the best you need to practise and practise a lot. In theory your opponents could have been playing the game for a long time and its a good reason to make sure your clued up on all the tips and tactics for your game of choice.
Well I suppose thats pretty much it, if you follow my guidelines you shouldn't have many problems in playing games online and if uou do I accept no blame :) You've just got to remember its a tough world online and you'll probably be hit down time and time again, but you just need to ignore this and keep digging in and you'll be sitting proud on top in no time at all :)
Essential number one...
A dark room. An online gamer without a dark room is.. well.. not really an online gamer at all. This is your quarters for your missions and if you really get into playing games this is where your going to be for a long time for many hours. First of all, get a comfortable chair, step two, close curtains, step three, make sure anything you'll need is within reach. Getting up is really overated, don't bother with it :) If you think you're going to need something get it before sitting down. Food, games and music all fall into this, as does anything like a headset or microphone. Keep it all near by and make this room your holy shrine.
Essential number two...
Chat programs. Before you begin getting into the deeper parts of online gaming your going to need a few programs. These can be anything ranging from MSN to mIRC, but each is very useful and range in features. mIRC is internet relay chat and it allows you to simultaneously chat with all your online friends. Find a clans channel for example and chat away. MSN... simple program for the online chat newbie if you ask me. Easy to use, easy to contact people, but very reliable. Very nice way to get in contact with people. ICQ is another good example. Although this is far more advanced than MSN. Features include calendars, away messages and a lot lot more. Tends to be instant messenger of choice with mIRC as a means of contacting everyone you want to in a simple way. Now obviously you dont need any of these programs, but each is a nice way to talk to people you meet while playing games online. Online gamers create communitys and this is the simplest way of being part of this.
Essential number three...
Winamp and a huge playlist of mp3s. Why exactly you may ask? Well online gamers are online for hours on end as I mentioned. Its only natural for us to need some source of entertainment while chatting/playing or both. Winamps a decent program for this as you can save playlists or play CDs on. Obviously this is more for the music lovers, but I can honestly say its a life saver in the odd boring occasion. Not into mp3s? Grab a radio and add it to your shrine then :D Still not good enough? Stick a TV within eye sight of your PC and use that as a means of entertainment. TVs a good source of entertainment and you won't have to miss all those "great" programs while your surfing or playing :)
Essential number four...
A sturdy keyboard and mouse/joypad or joy stick. These are your machines of death and without them your not going to get many kills or victories racked up. Make sure they are kept in good condition as they aren't much use if half the keys/buttons are missing. Theres nothing worse than aiming at someone, hitting the fire button only to find out your buttons stuck and then find yourself with a ventilated head. Configuring them is probably the most important part. Make sure you configure your controls to comfortable positions as if they are not intuitive or comfortable its going to get frustratingly painful after a few hours of gameplay.
Essential number five...
A pay per month isp. This is one of the most important deciders in whether your going to become and online star or die in a laggy puddle of blood. Priority connection for an online gamer is Broadband, cable or adsl, but if this is not within your reach go for a package that allows you to pay a flat rate for the month with no extra costs. This way you can play away without the problems of worrying about how much money your spending. 56k can get people down, but if you go for the right isp you can do just as good as the broadband players. Go for an isp designed for gamers, advertising low pings such as Jolt (first choice in my opinion) or Blueyonder dial up. Both of these isps provide 56k fixed rate service while being the best pinging 56k providers.
Essential number six...
Understanding of net speak. Although this is an essential, its not an essential to actually use it. Some people find it highly annoying, but the concept of it is quite useful. While annoying on forums it comes into its own when your playing a game. Quick messaging to your team mates which by using net speak you can get across quickly and with the minimum of fuss. For example:
Hello mate, how are you?
can be translated to...
Lo m8, how r u?
This example shows the usefulness of the different way of typing, but some people like to take it further and develop it into what is known as l33t speak, as in an elite way of talking... or so they seem to think :) IF you want to understand everything said its nice to be able to read it easily. An example of l33t speak is as follows:
I am the best CS player, I am far better than you.
can be translated to...
I r teh l33t CS playah, ph34r my l33t skillz or b owned.
Now obviously thats not a straight translation, but you should get the idea :)
Final essential...
Spare time and lots of it. I your going to be a hardcore online gamer your going to need time to spare. If your not going to be joining a clan its not so much of a problem, but if you are its very important to be able to get on the PC at frequent intervals. You'll be expected to be quite active being on the net most days and be available to play matches. These can vary from between anything from 40 minutes to I suppose about 2 hours. Just depends on what game you're playing. To me this is what makes playing online fun, playing wars so I make sure I am available for them, to do this I make sure I have a lot of free time :) To be the best you need to practise and practise a lot. In theory your opponents could have been playing the game for a long time and its a good reason to make sure your clued up on all the tips and tactics for your game of choice.
Well I suppose thats pretty much it, if you follow my guidelines you shouldn't have many problems in playing games online and if uou do I accept no blame :) You've just got to remember its a tough world online and you'll probably be hit down time and time again, but you just need to ignore this and keep digging in and you'll be sitting proud on top in no time at all :)
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Yar a mini fridge would be class wouldn't it :) If only there was an edit button :D
Oh and to get rid of glare turn your monitor brightness all the way up and also turn the TO brightness up until the glare is removed. Works a treat. GLare used to trouble me until I noticed it :D
Get a kettle near your PC damnit! Honestly I have a toaster and microwave within arm reach :rolleyes:
Hope someone finds it useful :)
Hope someone finds it useful :)
Yep I think I have everything on there.
Dark room is most important I feel, glare on monitor is very annoying. In the mornings after paper round, i enjoy playing TO, but sun appears, and i find my curtains don't stop the light getting through. So most mornings I grab my duvet from my bed behind me, and hang it off the curtain rail to block the sunlight. Works great, blocks all sunlight off :D
All I need now is a nice new Pc, hopefully in a week, depends when I can sell this thing. Fed up of this 8Mb Onboard chip :(
Haven't got mIRC either, will get that in a minute :D
Nice guide though MJ ..read it all.
Pot noodles are great source of food for online gaming.
They're quick (not much time away from Pc needed) :D, easy, and tasty.
Dark room is most important I feel, glare on monitor is very annoying. In the mornings after paper round, i enjoy playing TO, but sun appears, and i find my curtains don't stop the light getting through. So most mornings I grab my duvet from my bed behind me, and hang it off the curtain rail to block the sunlight. Works great, blocks all sunlight off :D
All I need now is a nice new Pc, hopefully in a week, depends when I can sell this thing. Fed up of this 8Mb Onboard chip :(
Haven't got mIRC either, will get that in a minute :D
Nice guide though MJ ..read it all.
Pot noodles are great source of food for online gaming.
They're quick (not much time away from Pc needed) :D, easy, and tasty.
sPiKeCaSt wrote:
> What about the beers?! the are essential!
Beers are included in the holy shrine bit :) Everything you need must be placed within this room. This includes beer :D Although I find playing wars easier while sober :p
> What about the beers?! the are essential!
Beers are included in the holy shrine bit :) Everything you need must be placed within this room. This includes beer :D Although I find playing wars easier while sober :p
What about the beers?! the are essential!
Reaper[oV] wrote:
> Woot, I pass, there's a surprise =P
*** Reaper recieves 72 l33t experience and 10 gold
:-D
> Woot, I pass, there's a surprise =P
*** Reaper recieves 72 l33t experience and 10 gold
:-D
Yeah I was going to add voice comms, but I decided against it. I was beginning to ramble on really :) Its a shame that I can read what you said with ease too o_O Man I need to get out more :D
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