Jais' Guide to reasonable behaviour on duel servers

[C'jais]

This isn't supposed to be another "Code of conduct", these are guidelines to not waste other people's time, making friends and getting invited to cool parties, and generally not making an ass out of yourself online.

 

0. So obvious it gets the "rule 0" slot: Thou shall not cheat. Evar. Never cheat. Never ever.

 

1. Thou shall not curse your opponent when dying. Of course, if it's between friends and agreed upon (IE inside joking), it's alright.

 

2. Thou shall not chatkill. However, if your opponent is continually wasting other's time by using the server as a chatroom, it'll be justified by all the other players when they congratulate you for getting the game flowing again.

 

3. Thou shall fight. Even though it sounds simple enough, many people forget this vital part of the game. If you're suspecting your opponent of not being capable of doing this simple feat, here's a test: Stand still with your saber turned on - if your opponent is dancing around, doing acrobatics, cartwheels, rolling on the floor etc, but not attacking you, he's laming.

 

The same goes for you - if all you ever do is wait for openings and spending the rest of the time doing backflips and cartwheels; it's time to reconsider how offensive/attacking you really are. Of course, it's alright to wait for openings once in a while, but if it's all you do, you're annoying the opponent.

 

4. Thou shall not flee from combat. Ever. It is utterly pointless - you're here to fight, not check out the scenery and the beautiful architecture.

 

It's alright to make a quick withdrawal to get some breathing room if hunted by a manic blue twirler, but make sure you get back into the action again and don't just spending the entire game running from your enemy.

 

5. Thou shall not make huge, overly high jumps. It's okay to make a few surprise assaults from above, but if you do it all the time, your opponent might just pick up on this, and start doing it himself - if that occurs, you won't be fighting, just jumping about all the time (IE Wasting time).

 

6. Thou shall not roll excessively on the floor. Dodging incoming attacks are fine, but making this a compulsive behaviour is not.

I've seen many red-users who seem to enjoy making their standard 3-combo and then rolling away immediately after that.

 

It is, of course, my own damn problem if I get hit, so I choose to step out of their wide-arcing swings until they're finished. This is but the beginning to the "Dance of eternal boredom" (as I like to call it): The overly dodgy red player rolls away each and every time he's finished making his combo, and I step out of the way each and every time he's doing said combo. Repeat ad nauseum. I've seen fights last nearly 10 minutes because of this "tactic", and the players in the queue tend to get bored, if not outright leaving the server.

 

Of course, the compulsive "roller" is in his full right to do his rolling - but he won't get invited to any cool parties this way. 'Nuff said.

 

7. 7? What's this number 7 about anyway?

 

8. Thou shall not mistake the duel server for a chatroom. That means, don't spend the first few minutes chatting up that other finnish freund of yours on getting the latest gossip on what's hot in Finland (no I have nothing against Finns) - you're wasting the queue-people's time yet again. If however, you're the only people in the server or if the dudes in the queue don't care whether you chat or not, I couldn't care less.

 

9. Thou shall not get offended if the other guy isn't following your own ideals of bowing or courtesy. This means, if you expect him to bow, yet he tears into you the second the match starts, it's your problem, not his. Notice he is entitled to decide whether he wants to bow or not, say "gf" or not - but if you start to bitch, moan and get angry because he's not conforming to your ideals of an honourable fight, you're the one wasting other's time.

 

(Doing a ten second bow, or even expecting the other guy to bow is ridiculous, IMHO - getting in place and making sure you're both ready is not. There's a fine line between the two, invisible to many.)

 

10. Thou shall use your saber. Contrary to popular belief (and based on actual research) - kicking all the time is not cool. Sorry guys, but the incessant kicking is scaring the people away who expect to use their saber when fighting.

 

Again, using kicks once in a while is okay, but you're severely annoying the people who wants some actual saber combat. This is a somewhat vague rule, and I expect many people to launch the usual "It's the other guy's problem if he can't defend himself"-mantra. This may be right, but this game is based on sabers, not feet, and the large majority prefers it this way. If it was cool to chatkill, it'd be accepted as well, but it's not. Same goes for this dubious fighting technique.

 

Disclaimer: If you're on a server with its own, formalized rules, respect them or leave. But when on a server with "no rulzzzz!" or simply a public server, arrive with these guidelines in mind, and you'll get more friends, not to mention making other people's online time more enjoyable. Trust me.

 

Again, just so people don't mistake this for something it isn't: These are not rules, nor some "Code of Conduct - this is my guide on how to make other's time online more enjoyable. I made this guide with Joe Average in mind, the one that do get annoyed if spends 10 minutes in the queue, only to be brutally kicked to death by some l33t dude who doesn't even lower himself to turning his saber on.

[Marker0077]

Why arets thou saying thou all the time. This isn't Nasareth man. Thou crack me the hell up.

 

First off, no offense, but the descriptions you leave are like lighting a cigar with the flames from a rocket, total overkill man, but I do the same at times, so I guess I'm not one to point the finger, just making on observation.

 

Secondly, lets go over the rules "Thou arets" laying out for everyone...

 

1. Thou shall not curse your opponent when dying.

This is just good sportsmanship, you can't stop people from being rude, all you can really do is just show them the same respect they show you & others. In other words, I'll attack when their on the ground, or possibly kick (but kicking is only a form of disrespect if the opponent asks you not to), etc; etc.

 

0. Thou shall not cheat.

2. Thou shall not chatkill.

3. Thou shall fight.

4. Thou shall not flee from combat.

5. Thou shall not make huge, overly high jumps.

This is all common knowledge, even for n00bs, especially 0 & 2 (by the way, 0 is a place holder, not a number).

Usually 4 & 5 go hand in hand, in this case, just kick them. That's the counter-attack for that. I usually ask them to fight first, but normally they persist, so just kick their virtual behinds.

 

6. Thou shall not roll excessively on the floor.

This is about the 3 red swing combo, I don't usually roll myself, but I do at times. It's a good evasive manuever & unless your just rolling around the whole room (which would actually make him a #3'er), I don't see anything wrong with it, whether you are or are not dodging an attack. For every move, there is something to counter it, in most cases a variety of ways.

If they red whore, you can counter that with any one of the 3 stances, blue special is easiest & most damaging.

 

7. Where the hell did 7 go?

 

8. Thou shall not mistake the duel server for a chatroom.

I agree, even though I do chat sometimes myself, I try to keep it under a minute. Usually it's about saying that binding specials is cheating, which it's not. I am going to program what I always say to that to an alias so I don't have to type it anymore. I love my "Hi, I'm a n00b because I bind specials :-)" button. Everyone else seems to like it as well. Since I have been using it I have found out most of the top ranked players on Dark Side (DarkStats) server use them as well, so that's somewhat comforting to know when I get those whiners who like to piss & moan about using it.

 

Chatting would not even be a big deal if all the duel servers would just set the timelimit to 5 minutes. At that point, they have 5 minutes, they want to spend most of it chatting that's their business, but when it's set to 30 minutes, over chatting is rude & TOTALLY inconsiderate. There are others that want to play & that's what I tell the guys in the duel via namechange.

 

In case your wondering what I always say about why binding specials isn't cheating, it's "If you're playing online with an XBox & your using a macro/turbo controller you're not cheating, how is binding specials any different? If anything it's more fair because you do not have to buy anything extra, anyone who plays can do the same thing you do."

 

9. Thou shall not get offended if the other guy isn't following your own ideals of bowing or courtesy.

Everyone should bow, there's no reason why anyone can't take 2 seconds out of their busy schedule to hit the crouch button. It's common courtesy just like saying please or thank you. I also bind "Good Fight" for after the duel.

 

Even if they don't bow, or don't bow to your liking, or whatever, just play. There are 2 main reasons why I bow, 1) it's good sportsmanship, 2) some people complain if you don't, so it's just easier & faster to just do it.

 

10. Thou shall use your saber.

From what I've read this should actually be called no kick-whoring.

 

No is obligated to play any certain way. they can kick whore, red whore, or any other kind of whoring for that matter. If you don't like people kicking, go join a server that doesn't allow kicking.

I myself don't usually kick. I only use it on those who are kicking as well, or if I just don't like the person I'll kick em down & red special them. If someone asks me to not kick during a fight, I have no problem with that either, but that's me. All in all, I don't like kicking though, that's not where the real fight is, but I can play any way anyone likes.

[C'jais]

Originally posted by Marker0077

Why arets thou saying thou all the time. This isn't Nasareth man. Thou crack me the hell up.

 

 

This is just good sportsmanship, you can't stop people from being rude

 

Exactly my point. This is a guide to not behaving like an idiot (from my point of view, of course) - this is exactly about good sportsmanship. These are not rules in any way.

 

This is all common knowledge, even for n00bs,

 

Common knowledge, yes, but how come I run into so many people who aren't aware of this fact? I must surely be playing on the wrong servers...

 

(by the way, 0 is a place holder, not a number).

 

True, however, "rule zero" is an accepted term.

 

Usually 4 & 5 go hand in hand, in this case, just kick them. That's the counter-attack for that. I usually ask them to fight first, but normally they persist, so just kick their virtual behinds.

 

Yes, but you're missing the point again - this is not directed at you (the one who suffers from these misguided people) but rather at those who commit this evil. Killing, which takes time if they flee, isn't going to solve the problem in the long run.

 

6. Thou shall not roll excessively on the floor.

This is about the 3 red swing combo, I don't usually roll myself, but I do at times.

 

This is not about whether the guy is allowed to do it. This is about whether you are wasting people's time by rolling excessively on the floor.

 

The general consensus is that rolling away from pain all the time is boring.

 

7. Where the hell did 7 go?[/b]

 

7 is the number that must not be named....

 

Ooopss - sowwwwwy!

 

8. Thou shall not mistake the duel server for a chatroom.

I agree, even though I do chat sometimes myself, I try to keep it under a minute. Usually it's about saying that binding specials is cheating, which it's not.

 

I never said binding moves is cheating. I couldn't care less, I'll fight them anyway. I see you agree with it the point anyway.

 

Everyone should bow, there's no reason why anyone can't take 2 seconds out of their busy schedule to hit the crouch button. It's common courtesy just like saying please or thank you. I also bind "Good Fight" for after the duel.

 

Even if they don't bow, or don't bow to your liking, or whatever, just play. There are 2 main reasons why I bow, 1) it's good sportsmanship, 2) some people complain if you don't, so it's just easier & faster to just do it.

 

You are contradicting yourself. I'm merely pointing out that bowing should not be expected (as you do as well, it seems) - and that it's a good idea to make a gesture of readiness (which you seem to agree on as well).

 

10. Thou shall use your saber.

From what I've read this should actually be called no kick-whoring.

 

No (one?) is obligated to play any certain way.

 

You're mistaking these for rules again. People can play however they like, but if all you do is kicking, it tends to scare people away - and since this is a guide on how to not scare people away from your playing style, I advise people not to do it all the time.

 

You are contradicting yourself again here - you're stating that "everyone should bow", then later you state that people can play however they want.

[Marker0077]

Originally posted by Cjais

Common knowledge, yes, but how come I run into so many people who aren't aware of this fact? I must surely be playing on the wrong servers...

Try Dark Side servers, but be warned, most of the time the best players on the net go on these servers because these servers have statistics.

 

Originally posted by Cjais I never said binding moves is cheating. I couldn't care less, I'll fight them anyway. I see you agree with it the point anyway.

It's a stereotypical comment, it wasn't directed towards you specifically.

 

Originally posted by Cjais You're mistaking these for rules again.

Ya I was. I thought this was like your personal saberists code or something.

 

Originally posted by Cjais You are contradicting yourself again here - you're stating that "everyone should bow", then later you state that people can play however they want.

Let me clarify. Everyone "should" bow, it only takes 1 second to do FFS, but if they don't don't make a big deal out of it, it wastes too much time, just play.

[Rad Blackrose]

3. Thou shall fight. Even though it sounds simple enough, many people forget this vital part of the game. If you're suspecting your opponent of not being capable of doing this simple feat, here's a test: Stand still with your saber turned on - if your opponent is dancing around, doing acrobatics, cartwheels, rolling on the floor etc, but not attacking you, he's laming.

 

The same goes for you - if all you ever do is wait for openings and spending the rest of the time doing backflips and cartwheels; it's time to reconsider how offensive/attacking you really are. Of course, it's alright to wait for openings once in a while, but if it's all you do, you're annoying the opponent.

 

I disagree with this rule here in how it is written. Being passive and waiting for an opening by all mean is a viable style of play. While I do know that swordplay/fencing and lightsaber combat is by far different, they are the same in concept. You don't charge a person who is already hacking and slashing while holding your saber out. You roll, cartwheel, etc to:

 

1.) Get out of harms way; a dodge is better then a defensive parry in terms of openings.

 

2.) To set yourself up for a blow opposite of your opponent.

 

By saying that a person cannot wait to counter instead of being offensive, then you are being close minded to a variety of fighting styles. The first commandment (in my own mind) of karate in all forms is for it to be used in self defense only, with the second being not to throw all your weight into your moves/keep proper balance at all times. You're saying lets throw half a fighter's style out a window, making them be aggressive twenty four - seven.

 

I'll reply more to this later.

[C'jais]

Rad, first of all - I wrote this not as rules, not as a code of conduct, not as how I'd want you to play. I wrote this to make people realize that there's a queue. And the queue is boring. Watching drawn-out jousting matches between two red junkies is utterly pointless, and very dull.

 

Now, waiting for openings is fine. Really, I do it all the time myself. But there's a fundamental difference between doing a slash on your opponent every minute, and doing a fast, flowing fighting technique with lots of action, swings and openings. Some people think this is about all out retreating until your enemy does that little slip up that allows you to get the drop on him. Now, that was one hit, imagine if that overly dodgy opponent is doing it all the time, slowly scraping his opponent's life away with each cautious hit. It takes ages. I can't take it. And since this is my guide, I advise people not to do that, for the sake of getting everyone involved.

 

Karate and this game has very little to do with each other. Self defense is fighting with your life on the line. Duels in this game are supposed to be fun for everyone. Spectators have a right of not being bored to sleep while waiting.

 

This can be likened to the ancient technique of rolling into your opponent, each hit taking off 1 or 2 HP's - doing this all the time in order to actually kill your defenseless enemy is just pathetic.

 

That said, don't take it so seriously - it was meant for those extreme people that really do those things, with an extreme example to prove my point. Most of my examples are very extreme (as Marker pointed out), in order to get my point across.

[SPY_jmr1]

hey, Cjais, wth happened? we got one of these in the swamp, AND the valley...

 

what to do? wanna clue me in on the reasoning?

[C'jais]

Originally posted by SPY_jmr1

hey, Cjais, wth happened? we got one of these in the swamp, AND the valley...

 

what to do? wanna clue me in on the reasoning?

 

Sorry, I posted it to places to get more response. I know the most people in the swamp, but this is the place where I expected I'd get the best replies from the gaming community.

 

Delete the one in the swamp.