Pet-tiqutte: Multiplayer Madness! by plushieowner |  |
GAMES ROOM - There are a few things on Neopets that annoy me. One of my little
pet peeves (pardon the pun) is in regarding to the Multiplayer competitions.
I hope many fellow Multiplayer gamers can relate somewhat to the things I will
mention in this article.
Firstly, for those who do not know what Multiplayer competitions are, let
me give you a brief idea about them before I begin. Well, they are monthly competitions
for three of the many games on Neopets. These games are Geos, Kacheekers and
Armada. The games are held at the start of every month with each match lasting
one week long. That means you have all week to play against one opponent. First,
second, and third place winners receive as prizes gold, silver, and bronze trophies,
respectively, and Neopoints. The winner of the first match goes on to play another
opponent who also won their first round. You have yet another week to finish
this match. The winner of the second round, hopefully that will be you, gets
to go on to the third round of games. The winner of this round goes off to play
in the finals,the last week of the competition. The loser of the third round,
however, receives a bronze trophy and 2,500 NP. The final match decides between
the first and second place. First place receives the gold trophy and 10,000
NP, while second place gets a silver trophy and 5,000 NP. You also earn player
points for Multiplayer games that appear next to your name on the main page
in every match you play. If you win enough games, you can make it into the "Top
100 Players" chart.
These games can be loads of fun if you participate in the monthly competitions.
Participating can also be a new way of meeting more people, besides the usual
method through chatboards or guilds. Did I mention that there are trophies and
NP prizes if you get a good enough?
Also, realised I said "can be loads of fun." As I mentioned in my introduction,
there is a certain pet peeve of mine to do with these Multiplayer competitions.
It's a known fact that some people can not or do not log in everyday. Others
do not log in even once a week or once a month for that matter. Luckily, I am
not one of those people. I need my daily Neopets fix. So everyday, there I am,
sitting in front of my computer waiting to make my next move in the competitions.
I mean, it isn't satisfying winning Multiplayer games by default when the other
person has not even had a chance to go. They may even be a much better player
than I am. Who knows? I have not seen them move once yet. I didn't mention this
fact earlier, but I feel like I should here.
There are two ways to win a match. You can win it the normal way through following
the rules, completing the game, and winning it OR you can be the player that
makes the last move before the week of the match runs out. The last way is the
easier, and meaner, way out. Winning is a big part of most games and I love
winning - but it isn't everything. I like to play fair and square, you know,
play by the rules. I usually feel so stupid when clicking the "move or lose"
Neomail button. I think either it takes the other player 24 hours to think,
that they are stalling time or that they are being lazy and moving at the last
moment. All of these reasons are lame and just plain annoying for the other
person you are playing against. The proper thing to do is to arrange a time,
in NST (found on the world page), to meet and complete the game. If you don't
have access to Neomail, its best to try and play at the very beginning and always
check back to see if it is your turn to go and do so.
Over the last few months, with careful observation, I have noticed that same
pattern in most of my games. If you one of those people do this please, I am
begging you, please DON'T do this. Serious players, like me, waste our time
trying to contact the other player and organise to play a game in which the
other player decides not to participate in at all. It is especially annoying
if the people your Neomailing has blocked Neomail and friend requests or is
not allowed to receive Neomails due to the lack of parental permission. In some
instances I have had people tell me that they are online, while I happen to
be online at the same time, so we begin our game. So player one, sometimes that's
me, sometimes its not, moves first. Then the other player goes. And guess what?
My opponent decides that it's time to leave. So I'm left hanging again, stuck
in the endless waiting and refreshing of the game page for them to make their
move so that I can have a chance to show and improve my skills. But don't get
me wrong, I am all for having fun but I mean, you know, it gets really annoying.
You can't just enter thinking I'm going to get a trophy and NP for doing nothing".
It doesn't work out like that. I have gained quite a few Multiplayer trophies,
entered monthly over the last months, and noticed this same pattern. It's mean
and dishonest to try and wait out your opponent. On a few occasions my opponent
even waited until the last day of the week of competition before making a move,
thus effectively winning and cheating me out of my game. The "move or lose"
button does reduce this effect somewhat, but not always. Sometimes, it can't
be helped. You're out of town, your Internet server may be down, or for some
other reason, so that you can't play for the whole week. If that's the case,
try to contact the person you are playing against to inform them of this. I
feel somewhat guilty that half the games I have played to earn my trophies I
didn't win through skill but luck. It just happened that I had the luck of the
Irish on my side and that my opponent hadn't bothered to move.
It says up the top of the Multiplayer homepage "You will need to arrange one
game per week for four weeks". It is not as if you aren't told about the games.
The Multiplayer set-up sends Neomails whenever you have a game to play. You
also receive the warning "Move or lose" Neomails. It is not hard to organise
one game per a week. In addition to this, a number of people have been just
joining the competitions to make Neofriends. Sure these competitions can be
fun, social events on your Neopian calendar and you may make a few friends along
the way. Nevertheless, it is impossible to meet and make 100 friends instantly
like a couple of people think. If you do, you would be better looking on the
chat boards. Some people do not like getting any or more Neofriend requests
by blocking them so you might meet a few people whom have blocked
Neofriend requests. Also if you lose the a round in this single elimination
game you have to wait until the next month before you can play again.
Basically, if you can't handle that simple commitment then Multiplayer competitions
aren't really for you. I wrote this article not to nag but to put my views across
and maybe people who do this will realise how annoying it is and to stop doing
it. Feel free to Neomail
comments, flattery, suggestions, dung mail, (I would prefer not though, I would
rather have constructive criticisms) or whatever about my article. |
