Confessions of an FPS Newb: Multiplayer Edition

I had done it! I took a huge leap forward and played my first FPS game: Halo 3. I enjoyed it, but it felt like a lie. Playing by yourself, or with a sarcastic husband is one thing, but playing with the other cool kids is another. As everyone was telling me, the only way to experience FPS, and Halo in particular is to play in multi player. I decided to give it a try.

Console? Check (thank you husband!)

Game? Check (thank you no late fees from Blockbuster!)

Clanmates? Check (thank you 202p!)

What else was there? Nothing: just hold your breath and JUMP!

It was so much fun, but let me tell you with this game attitude is everything. I mean absolutely everything. Your teammates, your opponents, and yourself, all need to be in the right head space. If not, it is going to suck for everyone.

First of all, I let everyone know that I was really new at this, and my clan mates were cool with that. Really cool. The games they picked were newb-friendly, and when they weren’t I was warned. When someone new joined the game, they were told that Jay Cat was new, so ease up. People didn’t get upset when I had to ask questions, they answered as best they could. Before each game they explained what to do. Mostly it ended up being: go in and shoot people. Or go in and shoot Red people NOT Blue people.

When I was on their team: they were great, when they were my opponents, they were great. I mean I got killed a crazy amount of times, but I was also spared. Someone even stood there and said "Shoot me!!!" I missed, but the point is I was welcome with these people who had been playing the game for ages. When we played the racing game, and I couldn’t even get on the vehicle, my partner laughed it off, it was no biggie. When we played the game where you have to hold the skull for 30second, my teammates practically put the skull into my hands and told me to RUN. I got killed right away, but good times. I took some flying machine out for a joyride, and lost it to the enemy (who knew they could hijacked like in GTA?). No one blinked.

While having the greatest clan mates is important, you also need to have the right attitude. If you get upset about dying, don’t play this game. But since you respawn right away, why get upset? You are never out of the game for any amount of time. I am playing with people who are literally years ahead of me, so you have to relax about it! Not dying will come eventually if you keep at it. However there is a balance. I think the thing is to ensure that laziness isn’t keeping you down. Take the game seriously, but not yourself. Or others.

All in all, it was like being a happy-go-lucky mutt at Wimbleton; running back and forth between two top ranked players, chasing the tennis ball. Happy as can be, being a bit of a nuisance, a bit of a goof, never coming close to getting the ball, but having FUN. And sometimes, just sometimes, usually when a mistake was made, I was able to get that tennis ball, and feel good about it.

So here’s to having great clan mates, a great attitude and maybe, just *maybe* to getting that tennis ball a little more often.