The Covid-19 pandemic has managed to wreak havoc on the global economy and almost grind the world to a halt. The world’s governments were forced to undertake some drastic measures to limit the spread of the disease, like mandatory masks and severe lockdowns. As it turned out, forcing millions of people to stay indoors and even work remotely had one unintentional consequence. According to Gismart, the number of active users of online apps skyrocketed by 200%. Not only that, but the average length of gaming sessions has increased by 20% since the beginning of the pandemic. Many of the new players that joined were inexperienced, or noobs, as seasoned veterans like to call them. They lack the skill to play on the level often demanded by the rest of their team. As such, they are chastised by other players and that ruins the experience for them. To help you overcome this hurdle, we have compiled a list of Tips and Tricks for New Online Player.
Table of Contents
Stick to Your Game
By far, the most popular online games are FPSs (first-person shooters), followed by MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing games). Titles like Call of Duty, Fortnite, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft are the first to come to mind when talking about online gaming. However, that doesn’t mean those are your only option. If you like games like that, you are in luck, because you will have no issues finding a suitable server. For those of us that enjoy other types of games, there are other possibilities. For instance, if you regularly meet with your friends for a game of poker, don’t feel pressured to jump onto the first available CS: GO server just to spend some time with them. You can easily find online poker rooms you can join and play.
Beware of Scams
Internet is filled with schemes offering you various hacks that will allegedly help you get a better score, like aimbots. In most cases, they will only get you banned. Gaming isn’t the only field that suffers from scammers. Many of them are selling hacks that guarantee wins on online slots. The truth is that many of the slot machine hacks are worthless in the best case. At worst, they can get you in a lot of trouble. As you could imagine, online casinos tend to frown upon people who try to cheat and will come down on you like a ton of bricks if they catch you.
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The only guaranteed result of these scams is that you will lose your money and time with them. After all, if any of them worked, these people wouldn’t be selling them on the Internet. They would use them, rob casinos blind, and retire on a tropical island. The mere fact that they are trying to peddle them is proof enough that they are a waste of money and effort and potentially a huge legal risk.
Be Prepared
One reason why noobs have such a bad reputation in the gaming community is that many of them fail to prepare themselves for online games. Some even lack basic knowledge, like commands. Getting asked in the middle of the game how to jump or crouch, for example, can irk even the friendliest player. Such a question will draw the ire of your entire team on you. After all, you need 30 seconds of googling to find out basic commands for almost any game. Instead, save your question for more advanced lessons, like tactics or which weapon or a vehicle is best for new players. Generally speaking, most people like to help out new players and will do so gladly, but don’t abuse their goodwill with questions you could (and should) easily find answers to on your own.
Learn the Ropes
The sure way to have fun with online gaming is to learn the ropes of your chosen game before going off to a deep end of the pool. If the game has dedicated noob lobbies or a ranking system, that can help you in the beginning. Most games employ rankings-based matchmaking for this purpose exactly, to prevent more experienced players from slaughtering new ones. If not, you may want to play a few single-player missions to get comfortable with controls before jumping into the fray against human opponents. Not only you will have more fun playing against people who are on a similar level as yourself, but you will also be able to contribute more to your team. At least you will reduce the chance of someone calling you a noob.
Involve Your Friends
If at all possible, try to play with your friends, especially if any of them already has some experience with the game in question. This will make your experience vastly better, as you will always have someone to turn to when you get in trouble or stuck. Remember the rule about asking the right questions? Well, that doesn’t apply to your friends. You are friends for a reason and you can ask them anything. Not only you won’t have to worry about pissing off some experienced players and catching flak from them, but your whole gaming adventure will also be that much more pleasant when you share it with your friends. Over time, you will make new friends and your circle of people you can play online with will broaden.
Have Fun
Above all else, have fun. The only purpose of online gaming that matters is to enjoy yourself. Everything else, like points, or ranking, or even win/loss or kill/death ratio is ultimately meaningless. Many people claim that some of the best online gaming experiences they ever had were in the games they lost. After all, all these games are just colorful pixels on your screen. None of it has any impact on your real life. We all need a fun outlet in these trying times and online gaming can be a perfect one. Provided you approach it the right way, that is.
