Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

JoBildo's Uncle Nigel... the bum-toucher. In the olden days of MMOs grouping was an easy and laidback affair for massively online gamers.  It didn’t matter who you invited to play with you, because the games were pretty simple, the pace slow, and the only thing you had to worry about was griefers.  Sure they were a pain, but in general the early playerbases of our online games were small select bunches of people.  The genre hadn’t hit the mainstream and it was hard to run into the proverbial “asshats” that populate the internet.   

Then someone decided to go ahead and make World of Warcraft a global phenomenon (curse you, Rob Pardo) and suddenly there are millions upon millions of us, and I’m sad to report that not everyone is as courteous and polite as my great-uncle Nigel Wortswallowington from Glastonburygloucestershire, England.  He’s a really nice chap.  Always opening doors for me and patting me on the bum as I run by.  What?  Your uncles don’t do that?  And your uncles are actually related to you? 

Let’s move on, then.

Champions Online is a whole different ballgame when compared to the action of its MMO-brethren.  Simply travelling without communication or a shared destination can get you separated from your friends, and possibly killed.  To that end, I’ve decided to compile a helpful list of “Dos and Don’ts” in order to help keep you far away from being called an asshat and closer to being a Nigel Wortswallowington.

• DO ask players if they would like to join your team.
• DON’T randomly spam team invites to the closest person at the Powerhouse even though they keep declining and saying “No thanks!” until they log off out of frustration.
• DO try to share all your missions when you join a new team.  It’s the best way to make sure you’re all after the same things.
• DON’T join a team, complete your mission, and then ninja-quit the group before anyone else has completed the task at hand.  It’s rude, and you’ll quickly earn the Asshat title.
• DO go back and help any companions who have been attacked and thusly slowed down when using their travel powers.
• DON’T start cursing in /Team chat when you realize ten minutes down the line that the reason you died in a Master Villain fight is because you left your team behind when they couldn’t follow your sorry flying butt to wherever it is you died.
• DO offer up heals if you have them to your teammates.  I know this game doesn’t have the same old holy-trinity setup, but hey… you took the healing powers, so don’t be selfish.
• DON’T complain if someone doesn’t heal you, to the point of hysterics, because chances are they were trying.  Baddies hit hard in Champions.  And until the Celestial set is released in November, we’re working with what we have!
• DO offer to help your teammates finish any additional quests they might have, even if you don’t have them.  It’s a nice thing to do, and unless you’ve far out-leveled the content you’re still going to get experience and resources.
• DON’T quit the team after someone has been nice enough to help you with three of your own missions, and they have the unbearable audacity to ask you for help with some of their own. 

I know a lot of these tips and tricks might seem obvious to the experienced (READ: polite and courteous) players, but I’m sure I don’t have to go on and on at length about the kind of people one runs into in a virtual world.  I guess that’s the realism we should expect when playing in a game populated by thousands or millions.  Next time you’re out and about in Millennium City and someone asks you to team up to go tackle the “Fight Club” mission, keep these things in mind: we’re all trying to play the game and have fun, and sometimes to do that we need a little help from our friends.  Don’t be an asshat kids, be a Nigel Wortswallowington… minus the bum-touching.