Thinking about playing online.....
 

Well, I have been playing FPS games off and on for about 10 years now and I am considering trying multiplayer games online. Since I have never done this before, I thought I would reach out to you guys for help and advice.

Currently, I play a bunch of hand-me-down games since I am usually to cheap to pay $40-50 bucks for a new game. I have BF:1942 (including Desert Combat, DCX and FH), COD, and MOHAA (full set). Things might change a bit in the next week depending on how Santa wants to treat me.

The main reason I would like to try online is that I am tired of watching my "teammates" shoot at walls, run into fences and drive the wrong direction. I thought it might be interesting to play Battlefield with real people running around.

The first thing I am looking for is a place to play where everyone is there just to have fun. Its just a game and I have no desire to play with people that think their whole world revolves around this stuff. I would like to enjoy my time, not get all stressed out and bug-eyed over the experience.

Also (and no offense) I would like to find a place to play that has a more "adult" atmosphere. I would rather not deal with pre-pubescent kids hiding out in their mom's basement living the fantasy life through these games. I'm married and I have kids, I get enough of that at home, this is a release for me.

My wife plays MMORPG's online so I get the horror stories of some of these kids (she has had to get several banned from the game because they "stalk" here when they discover she is really a girl--let's just say she wasn't very brilliant when picking a handle, she used her first and middle names.) and I would rather not deal with it.

So, back to my question.

Since I have never even tried this, I don't even know where to start. I know I need to find a server to play on, but how do I find teams, etc.

Thanks in advance for your help,

What you need is a whole heap o' luck, dude. You'll be hard pressed to find an adult community that doesn't think their game is the world, especially with BF1942. Depending on your tastes, though, there are a few games out there that do cater to what you're wanting.

I don't have either BF1942 or a computer that can run it, but going from my experience with Jedi Knight 2, servers where everyone just plays the game are few and far between. Mindless CPU team-mates are quickly replaced by griefers, team-killers, whiners, noobs, botters, cheaters, chat-whores and so forth. Your best bet is to find a server that is actively administrated, these tend to have the fewest morons on there.

An alternative to this is getting a bunch of your pals together and playing just between friends. I'm sure there's plenty o' people here on the TFP that'll be up for a few games. It's a much nicer evironment than public servers.

I play on a server called "Dontcamp.com". It's a great server, where people get kicked if they stick around a main base too long, or go into the enemy's main. Oh yeah, its a DC Final server. They have a decent Teamspeak server going too. Every Sunday they have a Teamspeak-Only tournament. Pretty cool, eh?

hulk -

how does one start a game like you mentioned? I personally don't know anybody that plays BF. All of my friends play Doom 3, Halo 2, etc., which is not a genre of FPS that I care for.

Painted -

How does one join a server? Just log on? I see the list of servers, but I have no clue which one to join/look at, etc.

I can't speak for BF1942, since I played the demo and was disappointed, but Call of Duty has a somewhat more mature community compared to, say, Counter-Strike, but it can still be pretty immature and idiotic at times. It's really hit or miss, but if you don't enjoy a particular server, there are literally hundreds of them out there.

First and foremost, make sure that your game has all the latest patches, then open the multiplayer segment of the game. When the list of servers pulls up, pick one that has an amount of players on that you are comfortable with, and preferably with a ping under 100 ms. Then just double click or click and select the Join Game or Join Server button. Voila. Welcome to the magical world of online gaming. Expect to get your ass handed to you for a while, until you learn the in's and out's of playing, since a lot of guys play these games almost religiously.

Yeah, as whocarz said, it's all done in-game. Read your manual, pretty much =) I use an app called GameRanger, but that's Mac-only, which does the hard stuff for me. But it's pretty straightforward in most games - set your options, tell the other players your IP addy and start the game.

Internet User's First Rule: People are stupid.

/Wizard's First Rule reference

Morons are everywhere, man. Sorry to break it to you, but that's just a fact. I mean, if there are enough people to vote Bush back into office, then you have NO luck finding a moron-less server. Try LAN-battles with your buds. Other than that, welcome to a new level of hell. :lol:

First off, goto
The All Seeing Eye , This program is the bomb-diggity for on-line gaming. Also starting a server of your own really isnt fun if you have cable/dsl or less, lag becomes a huge issue. Lan gaming can be lots o' fun though.

CityOfAngels said it best. "Ppl are stupid". especially teenagers. Not all but man you'll see the underbelly of the on-line world. Im not going to get into the cheating issue. And yes, you will be accused of it several times over.
BF1942 can be fun, "IF" you can find the right servers. Clan/Squad servers are more regulated and give a better on-line experiance.

COA -

You do realize, if you have ever been in Tilted Politics, that I vocally supported President Bush, right?

Is there a way to differentiate between servers? Does anyone have any recommendations of servers that they are familiar with? I look at this huge list of servers and I get overwhelmed.

Also, being a beginner, how filled should the server be that I consider? Should I look at one that has just a few open slots or a whole bunch?

How would one join a clan if one has never played online? I looked at a bunch of clan sites and I get the impression they want someone who has online experience.

Thanks,

Ok, to differentiate(sp) servers. Its all a personal taste, "to me anyway". All servers are not the same, some run mods and some just play stock. You'll have to get a flavor of what you want. The All Seeing Eye allows you to filter out what you want and do not want, Also if you find a server you like, you can then put it into a favorites folder.

As far as "slots" or "player count go's". some games depending on what the server holds will go up to 64 slots i belive. Ping is somthing you will want to notice first. higher the ping "for me" 100 or above i tend to stay away from.

And yes, clans/squads will at least the well-known ones will require that you have some exp to back yourself up. As they tend to do competitions, or "ladders".

Have a look at one of the ladder leagues. OGL



Edit: Clans/Squads will require your time and dedication. Just a heads-up

From my experience, clans are completely unnecessary. If you like being in an online gang (which is pretty much what a clan is), then go for it. You get to put a cryptic tag in your username.

Oh, and from what I hear, myg0t is about the worst clan ever. Don't know if they're on BF1942, but...

Well then, you should fit right in! ;)

And I say that with all due respect completely in humor.

Well, that would be because myg0t isn't a clan. myg0t is a loose affiliation of people who set out to make it so other people can't have fun playing games. On other words, a bunch of guys with small penises who are very angry that they can't get girlfriends because they're too afraid to come out of their parents basements and can't stop watching nasal creampie porn. Seriously. If you ever see someone with a myg0t or a JAP tag, and there's not an administrator in the server, just leave right then. They actively promote cheating, because they have no lives.

As far as finding a good server? Experiment. That's the only way I've found that actually works. Even servers run by my friends are usually populated by fucktard asshats, because that's the people that are constantly playing games: 14 year old pubescent boys who think they have something to prove, and think that calling me a nigger in an online game will accomplish that. So when I first play a game online, I server hop an awful lot (probably check 150 servers or so) till I find about 2 that I like, where the people are respectable. Then I either stick with those, or I go to other servers with people I meet in those 2 good servers.


Note: You can see I harbor a lot of dislike for the online gaming community. Take that into account when you read this post. Heh.

What I do is try different servers out, you'll eventually find a good one. When you do, keep it in your favorites list, write the name/IP down, whatever it takes to remember it. Then join that server when there's space available. I used to cycle through maybe 5 different servers when I played TFC back in the day. The bonus is, if it is a good server, lots of the same people will frequent it, and you'll start to recognize people, and they you. It's pretty cool.

I guess I will just jump in and give it a shot.

I tried once a few nights ago and got spanked pretty bad. It was like they knew where I would spawn. Everytime I came back, I got killed by a tank. rinse. wash. repeat.

I thought I could hold my own....maybe a bit more practice is in order.

he would know
 

As the man says:

Spawn killing.. yeah that's pretty immature as well :crazy: I usually just look at what has the lowest ping and work my way up.. but then again I don't play FPS online.. mostly just NWN.. heh.

I play on http://www.wolfgaming.net's Forgotten Hope v.65 (BF1942 v1.61) server, its probably the best Forgotten Hope server out there. You'll run into some fucking idiots every once in a while, but for the most part people there are good to play with. The only downfall is that you can't "cuss" on the server without being bitched at by admins. The server also uses the PTK/FTK console commands, so you can punish or forgive teamkillers, which is great.

Its server is: 65.206.113.131:14567