By Owen Jones
Imagine that you were asked to play football for your country in an important international game that was being televised to a worldwide audience and when the referee blew his whistle to start the big game, you confessed to your captain, that you did not understand the rules of football, in fact that you had never played the game before, but that you had played pool a few times.
How do you imagine that you, your captain, your team mates and the whole viewing audience would feel? Embarrassed, annoyed, upset, let down? This is how a lot of novices (newbies) think about going into a colossal, online, interactive multi-player game like 'Dungeons and Dragons' for the first time. They are worried that they will spoil the game for everyone else.
And it is a valid point, but everyone in that game was a newbie once and there are steps you could take to learn a couple of tips before you begin playing. The very first thing to do, is find the game that you want to play and read the manual. And then read it again and again. The game you decide on might also have a practice area, where you won't upset the experienced players.
If you see the letters RTFM after you have asked a question of someone, you will know that you did not read the (effing) manual thoroughly enough and that it is time to read it again.
You can also join forums to do with the game in question. Frequently there is a forum attached to the game itself. People are much more friendly and will be a lot more indulgent in the forum than in the game. Trust me, the Wizard of Daz would rather get asked where the bathroom is whilst he is in the forum than when he is battling his archfoe!
You also have to familiarize yourself with the controls of the game. There will be shortcut keys for items like inventory, spells, armaments, jump, cast a spell, turn left etc etc., so learn them until they become second nature. Again, it is very tedious if each time someone meets you in a game, you ask: "Excuse me, but how do I ....".
Don't be surprised if people begin shooting you on sight, if that is how you intend playing the game. Which brings us to a different vital point: it is just a game. You win some and you lose some and like chess or checkers, if you lose, you just reset the game and start again. Don't let your demise become boring when it is inevitable. Resign yourself to your fate, fall on your sword and start again.
The last necessity for a great online multi-player interactive gaming experience is a fast Net connection and a moderately new computer although the connection speed is the more important.
Other players are not going to wait for your arrow to kill them as it flies from your bow and speeds across the screen towards them at a snail's pace - they will simply side step it, walk over to you and put you out of their misery with a sword before your arrow gets to where they had been.
How do you imagine that you, your captain, your team mates and the whole viewing audience would feel? Embarrassed, annoyed, upset, let down? This is how a lot of novices (newbies) think about going into a colossal, online, interactive multi-player game like 'Dungeons and Dragons' for the first time. They are worried that they will spoil the game for everyone else.
And it is a valid point, but everyone in that game was a newbie once and there are steps you could take to learn a couple of tips before you begin playing. The very first thing to do, is find the game that you want to play and read the manual. And then read it again and again. The game you decide on might also have a practice area, where you won't upset the experienced players.
If you see the letters RTFM after you have asked a question of someone, you will know that you did not read the (effing) manual thoroughly enough and that it is time to read it again.
You can also join forums to do with the game in question. Frequently there is a forum attached to the game itself. People are much more friendly and will be a lot more indulgent in the forum than in the game. Trust me, the Wizard of Daz would rather get asked where the bathroom is whilst he is in the forum than when he is battling his archfoe!
You also have to familiarize yourself with the controls of the game. There will be shortcut keys for items like inventory, spells, armaments, jump, cast a spell, turn left etc etc., so learn them until they become second nature. Again, it is very tedious if each time someone meets you in a game, you ask: "Excuse me, but how do I ....".
Don't be surprised if people begin shooting you on sight, if that is how you intend playing the game. Which brings us to a different vital point: it is just a game. You win some and you lose some and like chess or checkers, if you lose, you just reset the game and start again. Don't let your demise become boring when it is inevitable. Resign yourself to your fate, fall on your sword and start again.
The last necessity for a great online multi-player interactive gaming experience is a fast Net connection and a moderately new computer although the connection speed is the more important.
Other players are not going to wait for your arrow to kill them as it flies from your bow and speeds across the screen towards them at a snail's pace - they will simply side step it, walk over to you and put you out of their misery with a sword before your arrow gets to where they had been.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on various topics but is currently involved with cat cannon games. If you would like to read more, please go over to our website entitled Kitten Cannon 3.