Avoid Being Called a Noob
Whether you are new to online gaming or have played online games for years (i.e. MMORPGs), you have almost surely seen people called "noobs". You probably have even been called one, yourself. You may wonder how to avoid being called a noob. Here's a couple of steps and tips to keep in mind.
Contents
Steps
Knowing what noob refers to
- Recognize the different meanings and variations behind the word "noob":
- newbie – A new player. This is as non-insulting as it gets.
- noob /n00b – an annoying player (i.e. a beggar, whiner). This does not necessarily refer to a new player, but they often go hand-in-hand.[citation needed]
- newb – Abbreviation of "newbie", but often confused with "Noob". If you are not trying to be insulting, stick with "newbie" to refer to a new player.
Starting out the right way
- Use an appropriate, original username/character name. Don't create a childish l33tspeak username such as "Ipwnzorzuall". Similarly, don't choose a name that is a misspelled playoff of other well-known names, such as "Legalass", "Murlin", or "Gandolff". Additionally, one may want to avoid using "Xx xX" around your username, or commonly used words such as "azn" and "freak." Try to create a name unique to you, one that preferably doesn't have numbers "Bob15546". If you are a famous person one day, you want to be named as PhoenixDragon, not phenix1588drag4slashrandomblarg.
- For example, L4D2: Don't wait in the safe room and wait for other players to come to you, you will get kicked and called an epic noob.
- Epic noob: A person who is really annoying and won't try to be a better gamer, just pass on through and not learn. These people hate to lose and will flame because they get killed and it's pathetic.
- Use appropriate English punctuation. Despite what many may believe, it does not take much additional effort to add commas or periods to your sentences as appropriate. People will give you more credit as an individual, and will be more inclined to help you out, should you have a question.
- Don't overuse all caps. It drives other people to avoid you.
- Spell correctly. Don't abbreviate or deliberately misspell words. Contrary to belief, it does not make you look any cooler to do so—it makes you look very immature. If you really want to ask for someone's help, then be respectful and take the time to type out normal English. The following are some examples of overused abbreviations:
- "please" → "plz"
- "people" → "pplz"
- You can still use stuff along this: lol, ttyl, lol, afk, and so on. But instead of "Hi u r so cool u r teh best, try "Hi, you are so cool you are the best".
- Do not post garbage. This would include keyboard gibberish ("dsagterhgr,bds), or general nonsense ("yo yo yo wut up my gangstas"). More likely than not, you will be quickly ignored by most users.
- Be patient. If you asked for help, it may take someone a while to respond. Keep in mind that other players aren't required to help you if they don't want to.
- Be a creator, not a destroyer. Be a team builder, not a lone, selfish bully.
- In building games, don't go and destroy all that others made, even if they destroyed yours. Doing so can cause you a loss of reputation and will make you be called a noob.
- In survival games, do not ruin other people's chances of survival, but don't let them do that to you, like one big family. Hostility will be treated by the same level of hostility back.
- Get some real friends to play with you, and be friendly. Others will see that you are being nice and might want to be your friend too. Make as many friends as you can, but make sure you are not out there friending random people that you never met! But yes, you can friend any teammates.
Avoiding actions that annoy
- Don't chat in L337SPEAK. Not only is it downright annoying to read, but also is against most gaming policy.
- Example: "|3375|>34|< !5 4|\||\|0'/!|\|&!" → "l33tspeak is annoying!"
- Don't beg for help. In general, it makes you look pathetic. Most experienced players, who probably began with nothing and made their way up without begging for anything, won't give you anything, anyway. This is not to be confused with asking for help, in which case, most players are willing to help you out.
- Do not post questions or requests in an annoying manner. Keep punctuation to a minimum, and mind your spelling and grammar. Shouting "Help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!111" won't get you very far.
- Do not spam. In online gaming, spamming refers to the act of repeating something over and over again, as in copying and pasting "I need help!!" several many times.
- Don't impersonate well-known players. It's not original, and chances are, there are countless other players that have done the same before you.
- Do not flame. Flaming is the act of verbally attacking another person. Never flame someone just because you lost a battle, or something similar. Accept your loss and move on, even if the player did something that you disagree with. If you bypass the chat filter(use numbers or symbols in replace of words to offend someone or use offensive language) you will get muted, or even banned!
- Do not tell others to break the rules. This is very important to any other players. Don't trick a newbie to break the rules so you can report him and make yourself look good, because just because you might look better in a moderators eyes, your fellow players will have no respect for you at all.
- Do not call another player a noob. This really gets on people's nerves; they've probably encountered this thousands of times while playing online. A new player that has nothing begs for something then once they tell him to work for it he gets mad and starts flaming and calling them a noob. This gets very annoying and only proves the fact that you are a noob. Do not call people who are higher level than you a noob. That just gets on their nerves, and they can obviously beat you in the game.
- Don't copy another player's team. This is only for online team player based strategy games, If you fight someone in a battle and they beat you with their team, don't go and change your team to theirs and start battling with it. If you face your original team, they will be annoyed and call you a "traitor" and will focus especially on killing you.
- Don't whine. When ever you get beat in a battle or some sort of combat, Don't whine about it for example "aww man you beat me bad, that wasn't fair my computer lagged, Can i have my stuff back, come on my computer messed up, You were too good" , or even act all superior "I can pwn you any day ******".Just take the loss and move on.
- Do not show off. Never act like a show off after killing an NPC. You will often be called a noob.
- Do not advertise for a boy/girl friend saying "press123 for a hot beastly bf". People will call you a noob and an idiot. Anyway, what are the chances you'll meet the girl of your life online? Also, it's against the rules.
- Don't lurk. Familiarize yourself with whatever you're "noob" at then boom, with information, tell people of what you know in a "none show off" way, then you'll be professional.
Tips
- If someone calls you a noob, you can just pay no attention.
- Noob can be most identified by the in-game raging they do in the chat.
- Realize that you are probably up against child minds when all of the rules are broken. Avoid such persons because it's mentally unhealthy for adults and children to be interacting online in gaming and similar activity environments.
- Noobs will blame anything and anyone for a loss. Don't make excuses for why you didn't win that round.
Warnings
- Remember that there will always be jerks who will call you a noob for no reason - usually referred to as griefers, trolls, flamers and many more. Don't take the term so seriously; be your own judge of yourself.
- Some people may ignore you just because of your level. Just keep moving on, as there are nicer high-level players out there.
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