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.