The "n00b" factor

ID:154313
 
Jan 15 2002, 5:38 pm
Recently, in many games (specifically RPGs), a common insult is to call someone a newbie, or as some say, a n00b. This is just about the most annoying thing ever! A newbie is someone who is a first-time player, who doesn't know how to play the game. Newbies usually have a bad rep, as in they're bad and they make the game stupid for everyone else.

The point of all this is that the "standards" of newbieness are rising. Fast. If newbies are first- or second-time players, then why are you a n00b even if you have been playing steadily for a week? Here is an example of how ridiculous this is getting.

Ok, so let's say there's this game called "Super Mega Hydro Death on Wheels!!!" or SMHDW for short. Now, in SMHDW, there are levels, like there are in 90% of RPGs. The max level is 99, and you start off at level 1. Now, some guy who has played it forever decides to make it so that you're a newbie if your level is below 10. Then it goes up to 20. Then 30. 40. 50. 60. 70. 80. 90. Pretty soon, you're a newbie unless you're level 99. Hmmm. That's just a little bit high!

But some people dislike the level system of n00biness. Some use the amount of time you've been playing. I'll use DWO as an example. Right now, the "official" definition of a n00b is someone who has played the game for less that 3 weeks. In my opinion, that should be more like 3 days.

I remember a certain game in Tanks when a group of bad-tempered players were getting massacred, and they started to call everyone a n00b. So I decided that we were all n00bs, even the creator, Shadowdarke, was a n00b, since you had to play for 49687413964306 hours years to get out of n00biness.

So more and more frequently, you see the n00b factor rising. Sometimes, it's even "if you're worse than someone, you're a newbie." Now obviously this means that only one player can be and "oldbie" at a time.

Just to remind you, a newbie is someone who really doesn't know how to play the game, and is generally new, hence the name, newbie.
Jan 15 2002, 5:46 pm
Yes, my firm statement in my games is that someone is only a newbie as long as they proclaim themselves to be one, whether explicitly ("Hi, I'm new here.") or implicitly ("How do you move?").

If anyone says that anyone is a newbie without meeting one of those criteria, then they're lying. I usually wouldn't do anything about it except type 'say "No, [he/she] isn't.<ENTER>'.
Jan 16 2002, 9:01 am
I like to give newbies an official, in-game status as such... when you create a character, that character is flagged as a newbie (with special restrictions and protections) until they consciously renounce newbiedom... in Spelloria, for instance, I'm planning on having all players begin on the Island of Nhuebe, which has only weak monsters, beginner weapons, and basic quests... at any point, you can choose to go through the Adventurer's School, a simple series of instructions followed by tests, that earns you an Adventurer's Badge. Certified Adventurers are allowed to leave the island and venture off into the wide world.

If you have the badge, you're an Adventurer... if you don't, you're a Newbie. If anyone calls someone else a Newbie for any other reason, they clearly don't understand the game, and are therefore themselves a newbie.
Jan 16 2002, 9:21 am
It's for this exact reason that I propose injecting a new term into the online RPG vernacular, "intermediatebie." Unfortunately, I cannot see this term catching on with many hardcore players due to the fact that it's longer than 4 letters and therefore a waste of precious XP/looting time.
Jan 16 2002, 11:27 am
In response to Leftley
Leftley wrote:
It's for this exact reason that I propose injecting a new term into the online RPG vernacular, "intermediatebie." Unfortunately, I cannot see this term catching on with many hardcore players due to the fact that it's longer than 4 letters and therefore a waste of precious XP/looting time.

Heh, I can see it now... "ur such a intbie you intbie" "o yea well ur a n00b"
Jan 16 2002, 5:49 pm
In response to WizDragon
The way I define it is;

A newbie is a player who;
a) doesnt know -anything- about the game (IE even its controls)
AND/OR
b) acts like immature little brat ( I guess kinda the same way a lot of people around here look at DBZers ^_~ ). Im not saying being young makes you a newbie. Im saying running around doing things that piss everyone off, over and over and over again, even though youve been told not to, kinda covers it ^^;

You note neither term involves level, or playtime ^_~ The game creator could make a new char. WOuld that make them a n00b? ^_~

I call players playing a char with low playtime / level 'Lowbies'.

^_^ As always just a thought.

Elorien
Jan 22 2002, 1:58 am
In response to Lesbian Assassin
Thats a good system. But you'll find after a week people wont be confined by that. People will judge anyone who hasnt been playing as long as them or they dont like as a newbie. Sometimes even if the person has been playing longer they will be considered a newbie because there not one of the loud oldbies who yells at people all the time, so they never get noticed.
I get called a n00b sometimes because I usually play the game, not sit around in the main area using the game as a chat room.
Thats actually the case with me at BYOND. Most of you, if not all of you, would consider me a newbie here. Yet Ive probally been here longer then alot of you. I just never really post on the forum.
You cant lable someone a newbie or an oldbie. Because in the end it comes down to what the people think you are and the way you act.
-DogMan
Jan 22 2002, 12:03 pm
In response to Leftley
Leftley wrote:
"intermediatebie."

Actually, the term is midbie. You have n00b, lowbie, midbie, oldbie, in that order. Some have inserted highbie as a state between midbie and oldbie, but it's sort of a relative thing.

--Tarmas.
Jan 22 2002, 1:06 pm
In response to Tarmas
The one thing that everyone needs to understand here is the fact that no matter how you slice it or what system you devise for determining who is and isn't a newbie, there are going to be those who continue to use the word n00b incorrectly. In fact, the term n00b is completely wrong to begin with. It should be newbie, or at the very least newb. I mean, seriously, how do you pronounce the number 0 as part of a word? So you'll just have to get used to phrases such as "u r sutch a n00b!!!11!" and "u stooped n00b!!!11" because the people who use those terms will never go away and they seem to have an inablility to comprehend the basics of the written form of the English language.
Jan 22 2002, 1:08 pm
In response to Cyrlous
The oldbies do usally call them "newbies" as opposed to "n00b" (I don't even use "n00b", I use "newbie" in all cases.).
Jan 22 2002, 1:23 pm
In response to Nadrew
Yes, but then again you also capitalize the beginning word of your sentences and write coherent and intelligible posts. That alone sets you apart from a lot of people who post to message boards (not just the BYOND ones).
Jan 22 2002, 2:05 pm
In response to Nadrew
I use n00b and newbie interchangeably. It's not an insult or a compliment in my books, just a statement of what you consider another person.

--Tarmas.
Jan 22 2002, 2:36 pm
In response to Tarmas
Blah, why all the annoying levels of precision? If you haven't been playing since at least the Reagan administration, you're just a worthless n00b, duh.
Jan 22 2002, 2:38 pm
In response to Leftley
Only been coding since 1990, unfortunately.. :( I'm a n00b compared to most of the people here. When I grow up, I want to be like Deadron..

--Tarmas.
Jan 22 2002, 3:05 pm
WizDragon wrote:
Recently, in many games (specifically RPGs), a common insult is to call someone a newbie, or as some say, a n00b. This is just about the most annoying thing ever! A newbie is someone who is a first-time player, who doesn't know how to play the game. Newbies usually have a bad rep, as in they're bad and they make the game stupid for everyone else.
Just to remind you, a newbie is someone who really doesn't know how to play the game, and is generally new, hence the name, newbie.

newbie is nothing more than another name, calling, or adjective to call someone, or to claim that they are. It goes clear back to the ways of making fun or people, or calling people names.

clearly, an oldbie is the same exact thing, an adjective. personally i think its quite stupid and the entire concept gets flushed down the drain by me. a person who has never played a game before, and is now playing it for the first time, is simply that. if you feel the need to make short words to describe such a person, then do so. but i do not agree with the fact that people use these shortened versions(being lazy) against that said thing or being.

FIREking
Jan 23 2002, 9:07 am
In response to Cyrlous
They go away from my games in droves. I see to it.