Mother Of All Etiquette Threads

**maximusboomus** · 03-23-11, 09:23 AM

Nows theres a question I see flying around with the recent influx of new people... So let me throw some basic recommendations* out there... So here's the mother of all etiquette threads.

1) Lobby etiquette...

Lobby leaders have a few main jobs: Start a game on a TPG server is #1 priority. Then they ensure that the map they are playing is hosted by us too... Lobby leaders then throw out invites. They also are the top dog, what they says goes. If a lobby leader requests kindly for you to leave, leave. If a lobby leader says "Last 2 spots are for X player and Y player" he gets the spots, its his lobby he gets the choice - if you are in a lobby and 3 friends ask to join you, and there's 3 spots open the lobby leader gets a say in that, chances are he already has people on the way... Think of the lobby like a buddies minivan, he's driving, and he has ultimate choice whos going bowling. Lobby leaders also decide on Random or Teams. They probably will pick the captains too. Overall the Lobby leader is a sacred spot, listen and abide. Coz he also has the power to kick sorry arses to the curb, its not nice but that kick button is always available to a lobby leader if he deems it a necessity (CAUTION!!! Lobby leaders who are kick happy usually end up not filling lobbies... Just a tip).

Lobby members pretty much chill and chat before game. They can invite people, courtesy is nice and lobby leaders like to know if people are coming. Communication is key (You'll hear this allot!). Be playful and respect each other, racist and outward aggression is not allowed, and is a one way ticket to either being dropped off friends-lists, kicked or even banned.

2) In-game Etiquette

First off TPG pretty much has the unwritten rule of a allchat "R" (Ready / !ready / RRRRRRRR are all acceptable alternatives) needed by BOTH teams to start, if you're unsure if the other team R'd up then you can always allchat Ready? OR wait for them to type R (They'll usually do that if they see you not moving). When you Ready your team up make sure all your team is ready, too many times I've seen people impatiently R up whilst Blitzkrieg is on the loo or Walkers off having a not-so-clean-air-break. So when you ready, make sure your team is (as a rule of thumb someone usually steps up to be a shot caller that person will make sure the "R" is handed out or calls for it to be typed).

Win or lose we're here to play. Whiners and complainers (We've all been there suck it up I'm not targeting anyone here) need to learn to unmic 90% of their wine n cheese... I do. I hate losing and will get more and more frustrated (you'll hear the occasional "Fucking Ping" from me or WTF GRWRWRUGIAJF) but as a rule of thumb remember to make it a pleasantly quiet loss for the team, or buckle up and fight tooth and nail (ALWAYS RECOMMENDED). If you are a perpetual complainer on mic you'll find your circle of friends diminish...

Holds... Rule of thumb is if you're holding no healing, no moving, just sweep the horde. If a tank spawns a gentlemans pact is entered... The Tank can sacrifice, knowing that the opposing team shall do the same OR if the tank is 2nd round (team A has fought and killed the tank) then the deal is one man down, tank focuses its attacks on the 3 players who are there first, if the 4th player dropped and its ai its fair game too. The only time its really acceptable to heal is if you're bleeding out - HOWEVER please allchat "I'm dying I gotta heal" or have someone do it if you need to heal fast (Massive horde otw).

Mics. Use 'em don't abuse em. I'd like to impose this rule (It works so well on TPGS BC2 TS) chat away, if someone calls out "Mics / cut the chatter / less noise please / shut up please" that means too much chatter and you're probably gabbing away too much and the team is suffering because of it (Mic Spam), this is a pretty damn common rule and is working nicely for all our other hosted games, why not for the best of the hosted games! Acceptable chatter is shot calling/ player positions / weapon or item positions / enemy locations / danger areas / areas of interest / current status. I love hearing teams that call out nothing but the needed info as much as I enjoy a joking team, the key is gauging the audience... This takes time playing with people, get to know your friends tastes.

Unfair attacks - premature attackulation, it happens... You're poised to attack the SV you R up and pull up the chat box and see they R'd up, you jump 25 point pounce!!! And you manage to rip through half the guys health before the others pop you then you see in allchat "WTF We didnt Ready up!!!!" - A typical my bad situation can happen to us all (Though usually your team dives in too because they're conditioned 4 attack 4 die to be the best SI team), if this happens Apologize, offer a restart of the chapter, or similar damage to your team on start, if the opposing team says screw you guys and starts to run continue to play, its not the end of the world and 9 times out of 10 I've seen a team pissed off by premature attackulation to a point of becoming a force to be reckoned with. Courtesy is key, treat the other team as you wish to be treated. Communication is key...

You've been a very naughty boy... Problem players are around, and tend to ruin a game. If someone is being a problem player its your prerogative to get screenshots, demos or logs to prevent those players ruining other peoples games, admins are around ask their help, if in doubt contact the high admins and ask for help. As a rule of thumb TPG is pretty idiot safe, pubs tend to bring in the most erratic players.

Dropping out (Not rage quitting) is usually a little frowned upon, try to allot enough time to finish the game, if you must intentionally drop make sure you have someone loading up L4D2 to replace you instantly - bad enough you're dropping out don't make the whole server wait for you (Thats right you make 7 people wait), no steam logons (NSL) are common in the first minute of gametime, but random disconnects or crash to desktops can happen; if you drop there's pretty much a couple of minutes grace period, if you message someone "coming back rebooting" you may get another few minutes grace, people will drop in and may be asked to stay or leave, its L4D2 its a game, if you drop and take 5 mins getting back don't expect your people to wait. Communication is key, let people know whats happening - in-game or steam message.

Rage quitters... Do it and you'll lose respect from your friends quickly. We all have hard games, and pretty much everyone has had one moment of "screw it" and wanted to leave some have even just left (I have RQ'd once - under massive stress from RL and ingame circumstances - Thorsen has forgiven me though...). Play the game to your best, get bested or be the winners either way suck it up. DONT RAGE QUIT!!!

3) Conclusion

Theres allot of us who enjoy L4D2 (Some with pings under 100!!!) we're all here for a good time, treat each other with respect, refrain from the drama and concentrate your energy on kicking some arse!!!

*These are just from playing here a long while, not TPGs enforced rules, TPG has a core of rules rooted in teamplay and respect of each other, if you don't know them yet.... Learn 'em.

**enf** · 03-23-11, 10:52 AM

Nice post. If we clean it up a bit maybe we can make it a sticky... *hint hint wink wink*

**flame** · 03-23-11, 12:36 PM

When wiping an entire team with a car proper etiquette is to tea bag them all, priority being max.

Seriously though, Before the R it is frowned upon to break doors (although if you make me wait forever I get bored) if they r and take time picking horde doors and railings are fair game. Dont make the other team wait through 4 respawns so you can get the exact 4 si combo you want. I am bad about talking in safe room and and forgetting we hadnt ready, as soon as you can throw the ready up, Preferably before the safe room door opens as this is a nice starting gate, when we open this alls fair in love and zombie apocalypse. Have freaking fun!

**enf** · 03-23-11, 12:57 PM

Now I have seen people on my team jump over a cliff or in the water at the beginning of the map to get a different SI, but Ive yet to see multiple people do it on a team or one person do it over and over again until they get what they want. Any of these are really frowned upon. You are trying to give your team an advantage over the other team by exploiting our ready-up process that gives you ample time to get what SI you want.

Now as far as SV picking off CI behind the safe room door, that could go either way. There are usually MAYBE 5-10 CI that are within eyesight to kill and usually its just waiting for people to ready up, not 'kill all CI and THEN ready up'. So if we want to keep it really fair, you could go as far as not allowing it so SV have to deal with whatever is out the doors when they open them. Usually they will stay within the confines of the safe room and still pick them off after readying up, but at least SI have the option to attack them in the safe room if they see fit.

Thoughts?

**BrockSamson** · 03-23-11, 01:27 PM

Great Post!

I have always thought ditching an SI for another one was ok. But now because I never played VS realism anywhere else but TPG...I can see how we are taking advantage of the ready up rule we use. New players would probably not even consider sacrificing an SI as an option, therefore allowing experienced players to take advantage by essentially exploiting ready up. I am going to stop killing my SI.

I also thought shooting the CI from INSIDE the safe room door at anytime was fine. I don't see any reason not to allow it because you are going to do it anyways once the SI ready up. I have seen people poke out the door just enough to shoot from places they wouldn't be able to if the door was closed... I am not ok with someone going one millimeter out the door before the SI ready up. But if you could shoot the CI with the door closed from the safe room, go for it.

**Oni-scout** · 03-23-11, 01:55 PM

Wait wait wait, ditching SI such as on the first round in parish has always been acceptable where are you getting frowned upon from? What if you start out, you have the best SI spawns imaginable and you're supper happy.... suddenly 2 people on your team drop from game "no steam logon" they come back your spawns are ruined. Guess what? The other team will start out with those perfect spawns when their turn comes around and there won't be an error that far in the game.

So with what you're saying one team will almost always have different and sometimes worse spawns than the other. Why the heck would you not sac spawns to get ones that are alright? We're already sitting waiting to make sure pings are fine and no one is going to drop.

The breaking doors seems arguable but really if you're spawning in an SI to break doors and not sacrificing it afterward then the other team knows where that SI is and you can't just spawn in some tricky spot. I know they can't hear the hunter nnd if the majority of us find this to be an unfair advantage then other things should be adjusted survivor side as well.

Keep in mind that every few minutes if the survivors haven't left the room some ci might be picked off and some might get caught up in a random horde and run at the safe room. I've seen many teams ready up immediately after a horde is cleared up and run out but guess what, no ci's have re-spawned so isn't that an unfair advantage? I know that more than likely this wasn't on purpose and everyone probably just came back from afk and it's time to go.

If you want some of these to be widely accepted such as the not throwing away unwanted SI everyone needs to agree and there might need to be a round restart after everyone's connections are stable to make sure SI spawns will be the same for both teams. Also if there is no door breaking then maybe there needs to be no killing of CI until after a team is ready and no afk in-between rounds to stop clearing of horde if the door opens.

Just my input.

**space.cowboy** · 03-23-11, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by Oni-scout

Also if there is no door breaking then maybe there needs to be no killing of CI until after a team is ready

This.

**maximusboomus** · 03-23-11, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by Oni-scout

Wait wait wait, ditching SI such as on the first round in parish has always been acceptable where are you getting frowned upon from? What if you start out, you have the best SI spawns imaginable and you're supper happy.... suddenly 2 people on your team drop from game "no steam logon" they come back your spawns are ruined. Guess what? The other team will start out with those perfect spawns when their turn comes around and there won't be an error that far in the game.

So with what you're saying one team will almost always have different and sometimes worse spawns than the other. Why the heck would you not sac spawns to get ones that are alright? We're already sitting waiting to make sure pings are fine and no one is going to drop.

The breaking doors seems arguable but really if you're spawning in an SI to break doors and not sacrificing it afterward then the other team knows where that SI is and you can't just spawn in some tricky spot. I know they can't hear the hunter nnd if the majority of us find this to be an unfair advantage then other things should be adjusted survivor side as well.

Keep in mind that every few minutes if the survivors haven't left the room some ci might be picked off and some might get caught up in a random horde and run at the safe room. I've seen many teams ready up immediately after a horde is cleared up and run out but guess what, no ci's have re-spawned so isn't that an unfair advantage? I know that more than likely this wasn't on purpose and everyone probably just came back from afk and it's time to go.

If you want some of these to be widely accepted such as the not throwing away unwanted SI everyone needs to agree and there might need to be a round restart after everyone's connections are stable to make sure SI spawns will be the same for both teams. Also if there is no door breaking then maybe there needs to be no killing of CI until after a team is ready and no afk in-between rounds to stop clearing of horde if the door opens.

Just my input.

I agree, in fact I thought of including this but its so widely done... Easiest was to stop this is as SV ready up faster! Readying up tells them lets roll, I see nothing wrong with obtaining a different si, as long as it doesnt take a year... The doors same thing... You make me wait I'll be doing shit

**maximusboomus** · 03-23-11, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by tr_enf

Nice post. If we clean it up a bit maybe we can make it a sticky... *hint hint wink wink*

Let me know what needs refining and I'll happily post this as a sticky or article

**bobbarkerissatan** · 03-23-11, 02:50 PM

Wow, I'm honestly surprised that killing SI before the ready is so disliked considering I see it done at least once per game without a single complaint.