Modern day gaming consoles are great, what with all that power to create fantastic looking graphics, surround sound and experiences that can now totally immerse you in the gaming environment. It is even possible to extend the shelf life of your newest purchased game by playing multiplayer online matches and in theory this is great, except for one thing, the guys and girls that decide to ruin the experience. So what type of thing is going on that can ruin the gaming session you are currently trying to enjoy? How about:
Cheating - Glitches and Bugs
It is possible to cheat online by finding glitches and bugs and exploiting them to your advantage. This might take the form of finding a way to shoot at people in first person shooters even though they are behind a wall, or worst still, you can drop entirely off the map, say below it for example, and shoot at people who can not even see you and can not fire back. This could be argued that the company that made the game should patch the problem so you are unable to do this, but at the same time why cheat? It is a game, play it how it is supposed to be played.
Cheating - Lags Switches and Turbo Fire
Incase you are unaware, your internet connection can make a big difference to online mulitplayer games. If your connection is slow or bad you can either appear to other players to be standing still or be jumping all over the place. If you have a bad connection, then you have a bad connection but some people build devices called lad switches that when used create the illusion of a bad connection. This often results in all the other players appearing to stop moving thus making it easy for the cheat to shoot, punch, jump on or whatever needs doing to win at the game. Another favourite is to use turbo fire buttons in shooting games, this makes the player shoot faster then the other players, again making it easier to take a player out and win the game.
Talk is Cheap
Having a headset on is fun and in some games essential. This allows player to communicate their efforts online if they are in the same team. But when you have player that thinks it is ok to abuse other players this is when the problems occur. They may be racist or use bad language in order to wind the other players up but to most people it comes across a pathetic, it does not work, it just makes you regard that player as a bit of loser that probably is just some teen kid in his room thinking he's a tough guy. THe real message to these types of people are to get a life, it is only a game!
The three examples above will not occur all the time, but they are worth taking not of just incase they do. But in any case, online multiplayer games should be fun and they are so please do not be put off from playing them. With the right people and no idiots who run the risk of being barred, multiplayer games are a great hobby to have.
