Online gaming is serious business, at least that's what you'll believe if you log onto a Call of Duty or World of Warcraft server and simply observe the sort of folk you're sharing some web-space with. Whether players are communicating by way of microphone or keyboard, the result is the same - people lose their tempers and will threaten to kill other players over "crimes" they've committed against them, or to put it more aptly, things they've done that resulted in their virtual death. Granted, the players receiving the abuse are rarely helping themselves, employing widely-loathed strategies in order to get a kill or win the game. Sure, you might suggest that some of these underhanded tactics are, in fact, legitimate strategies, but that doesn't make them any less irritating when you're on the receiving end of them. Speaking as someone, however, who uses many of these tactics myself from time to time, I can't deny that they can be satisfying, and the irate nerds screaming at you only make it all the more sweet. Here are 10 online gaming tactics that will make everyone hate you...
10. Noob Tubing
The term "noob tube" is most closely associated with the Call of Duty franchise, specifically the earlier Modern Warfare games, whereby the grenade launcher attachment to the game's assault rifle was wildly over-powered, essentially allowing you to kill numerous enemies in one fell swoop from half a mile away. This caused angry players to refer to it as the noob tube, and though it has been under-powered in more recent CoD games, it's never been able to shake the derisive name. While the weapon is part of the game, you'd best be prepared to endure a wealth of abuse if you do use it, because "pro" players deliberately decide against using it even if it is arguably the most efficient weapon in the earlier games. This reflects a wider trend in FPS games, though, whereby programmers don't think about the power levels of their weapons properly, and the result is an unbalanced experience which players - most often newbies - can take advantage of, at least until a patch is released.