Now, more than ever, gaming is an online beast. Regardless of the genre or platform, if your playing a big name AAA title, chances are your going to spend a lot of time gaming online. Thanks to setups like the PSN, XBL, Steam, X-fire and more, playing your favorite games with your pals has never been easier. Alas, the etiquette for managing your online friends leaves a fair amount to be desired. I blame the parents and rap music, oh and Marilyn Manson too.
Find out why a little patience, some pre-planning and a little common sense can help you manage robust online friends lists and the communication burden associated with them after the jump!
As a gamer who plays on three different platforms regularly, with numerous friends on each, I am constantly playing catch up with missed messages, invites, questions and problems. Which is to be expected seeing as how nobody can be in three places at once. Even if you only game on one platform, friends lists tend to grow faster than Frawlz after eating his Wheaties.
The first thing you need to realize is that you can’t please everyone, and attempting to do so is a one way ticket to a wicked ulcer and a migraine. When you log on the first thing you want to do is cruise your message list and respond to the most important ones first. Which is not to say the sender you reply to first is the sun to your moon, simply that someone asking for advice or help takes precedence over someone saying “Waz up?”
Since gamers connect with some of their friends predominately through a gaming platform, it’s to be expected that questions about your weekend plans, and other non-gaming issues will find their way into your inbox. Here is where sites like Facebook (and Sarcastic Gamer itself) come in handy. When I get a question I know is answered already somewhere else, I simply reply with a link to said location. This cuts down on messaging when you really want to be gaming and guarantees that everyone is getting the same info.
If you simply MUST respond using text, keep it brief and to the point. You don’t need to write your life story, just the who, what, when, where and why. Since damn near everyone has voice chat, there is really no need to go overboard with information you could easily say in two minutes the next time you meet up with the friend in question.
If your an XBL user with a mic, what the hell are you doing sending me text?! Dropping a voice message and replying is so easy I doubt I have written more than ten text messages since I got my Xbox 360.
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“We’re buds, not roommates.”
hahahhahaha
definitely lots of good advice though.
If I didn’t take invite number 1, 2, or 3, I’m probably going to ignore 4-20…
I feel that text messages is like the ‘polite’ way of messaging people.
Anyone can spout 15 seconds of crap on a mic, but when someone takes the time to type out a proper message then i feel better towards them.
Plus, its annoying when you don’t understand them, be it mic problems, voice problems etc. and you have to ask them to repeat them selfs.
Great article PMPB.
I too rely heavily on text chat on XBL It is quicker to quickly read a text than to listen to a 12 second voice message (and sometimes I don;t have my mic hooked up yet.)
The chat pad that connects to my 360 controller is probably the best investment in online gaming I have ever made.
By the time you write a comprehensible text message, I could have responded to you if you sent me a voice message. Besides, texts are impersonal. A person’s voice says so much about who they are, how their day is, and their true/false concern about you.
I have a feeling that this artical was made because i invited you to my “home space” twice. Which you didnt answer. Keep in mind that Home is a Online meet up place.
I, honestly, can’t be bothered sending a text message. Most of my voice messages are over within 5 seconds.
I LOVE using my mic vs typing everything out in my xbox messages. Sometimes I forget I have the ability to do that and it takes me 3 or 4 messages before I remember I don’t have to spend 10 minutes typing when I can spend seconds speaking. And everyone loves to hear me speak…right?
Nothing worse then getting a voice message you can’t understand though.
seriously SGs articles are really descending into gaming irrelevance these days
can’t you guys write some more stuff about video games? I dunno mabey some reviews
You’re totally right sure, but cmon two pages about how you have too many freinds on your list….
just saying
Alright Rich,
Write us a two paragraph article right here about something of gaming relevance to you.
Can you do better?
I thought it was a very well-written article. I thought the jokes he dispensed throughout it, broke up the “serious” parts of the article nicely. I think it’s a very relevant gaming article. I’m not trying to start a fight with Rich, I’m just trying to say “Well Done” to PMPB.
@8bitBass n Ch1cken
i think i was just in a bad mood, it just seems to me that SG gets so many articles now that they should come in catagories, mabey divided into news and rants
oh yes and i don’t mean rants are a bad thing either, lono certainly has enough of them
ok cool