Halo Etiquette: How to behave while playing Halo.

Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2004 9:57 pm

Hi everyone,

here are a few guidelines to make playing Halo online a bit less stressy (and more enjoyable for all of us). Please read these well and adhere to them.

First off: Join the CORRECT arena.

-> North American users are 99% NTSC (those that are not, know that they aren't).
-> European users have a more complicated division, I'll try my best to give an adequate overview.

PAL UK: United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark,...
PAL GER: Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland,...
PAL ITA: Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, ...

The NMP arena is there for playing the NMP version of Halo. This is a modified version of Halo about which you can read more HERE.

Next: DO NOT RUSH THE COUNT

If you've been in the Halo arena and just looked at the chat for 5 mins, you've probably seen this come by... and for a reason!
The 30 second start time Halo has before the actual game starts (you can delay this by pressing X and speed it up by pressing A -> speeding up = rushing) is used to SYNCHRONISE the participating xboxes in the game.
If you rush these 30 seconds, Halo will have to synchronise the participating boxes ingame which can cause LAG!

The HOST starts the counter!

This is just a matter of normal courtesy, if you join the game, DO NOT start it, because it's not really your game is it? Only start the counter when the host has given you explicit permission.

Read the chat!

Keep the main chat window open -> the host might have important messages for you to read and respond to!
For example: a host can't pull 4 boxes, but there are 4 in his game. He asks one of them to leave. Then LEAVE the game (i'm sure there will be another game soon for you to join).

Do not QUIT!

It's just plain annoying. If the lag makes the game unplayable, notify the host using the chat window BEFORE quitting. And if you really have to quit, always quit in game first and notify the host before quitting. This way the other players can still enjoy the rest of the game. If you leave the arena, or turn off kai or your xbox, THE GAME WILL CRASH. If you're losing, be a man and take the loss, you don't have to be ashamed, you'll get them back next time! Twisted Evil

Busy times in the arena.

Sometimes there can be a lot of players present in the Halo arena's (10+). If this is the case, you have a good chance of decreasing the possibility of LAG if you create a private arena where less people will be present (only the players in your game). It's a pity that Halo is such a big bandwith hog...

Don't demand gametypes!

The host decides the gametype/map. If you don't like it, host your own game or join another. If you've been playing for a while you can REQUEST a different gametype or map, but demanding is definitely out of the question.

Show RESPECT!

We're playing a game here, some competitive language use is allowed, but any disrespecting, harmful or obscene language will NOT be tolerated and may result in a ban. (And we do check this....)

Those were the most important rules that any Halo player should follow.

Here's one more guideline for Hosts: as a matter of courtesy and simple enjoyment of the game, only create/host gametypes with GENERIC weapon settings (starts off any map with AR, Pistol & Nades) and if you're playing unequal teams, always take one guy/gal less on your team than the joining team (makes it only more fair).

So in short, a quick summary:

Hosts: Only use generic weapons in your gametypes and take a Master Chief less on your team if you're playing unequal teams.

If everyone follows these simple rules, playing Halo will be a lot more pleasant!

Greetz!
Porsj: Addicted Halo Playa.

PS. If you feel that something needs to be added to this list, feel free to send me a PM.