Proper Online Dueling Etiquette (Plus, Painful Choice Method Revew) -Snodin
Subject: Proper Online Dueling Etiquette (Plus, Painful Choice Method Review)
By Snodin



>From the depths of Hell, she emerged; her flaming wings unfolded behind a skeleton of black ash. Her day had come to take over the world and enslave mankind… Actually, I just signed on the computer to talk to YOU GUYS! [LOL] 

Hello, all! Snodin's back, and this time we're about to move on from the doomed reactions of people when (and if) the banned list comes across the ocean and into our lives, to a new uncharted realm called Proper Online Dueling Etiquette. I feel that this is a subject that I must talk about, because I myself am an online duelist, and believe me, I have seen the best and the worst of this pastime.

But first, let me go deeper into a subject I just barely touched ground on one article ago, and that's The Painful Choice Method. Since I've mentioned it, people have SWARMED me with emails (and believe me, I appreciate all of them). And for some reason, I can't really reply to everybody, so I'm going to just come right out and get to the nitty-gritty of it. The PCM was created by my good friend and among the most worthy of online duelists, Kuro. You may know her as the girl who loves Amazons, Harpies and Valkyries. Yes, this same young lady came up with the PCM, and I felt that somebody had to get the word out, so please, please don't give me the credit, it all goes to her.

For those of you who really want to know, the PCM is a method used to make everybody from the n00bs to the pro-banners happy. What you do is take that one banned card that you really, reeeeeeaaaally like- Yata, Lily, Rai, whichever- and keep it in your deck, while you take the rest out. This way, your deck isn't completely tourney-based but just fair enough to make you try different cards in place of the ones you took out. Kuro and I both feel that this is how Yu-Gi-Oh SHOULD be played; instead of tossing out all of those cards you wasted your (or your parents') hard-earned money to get, you get to at least put some of that money to good use at tourneys. (Don't forget that I've strongly stated that casual online plays don't count as tourneys, so you don't have to use PCM at all when dueling online.) And while we're now leaning towards that subject, let's get right into it, shall we?

NOTE: I understand that other article writers have done this kind of subject before, but I insist on putting my own words into it, because as an online duelist, I feel that this is part of my nature, to show people through my own experiences the dos and don't of online dueling. So to those of you who have done this before, don't think I'm trying to outdo you. Okay? Okay.


PROPER ONLINE-DUELING ETIQUETTE

RULE #1: Friends first, opponents later
This is essential; not just to online duels, but dueling in general- you must always be prepared when dueling, and you must make sure that you can trust your opponent to know that he or she is not cheating. Online duels are, sadly, a breeding ground for cheaters. I have heard stories and I have even experienced such situations that so-and-so pulled this off, and so-and-so got out of the jam this way… Should we avoid online dueling altogetheer? No. In my opinion, online dueling is the best form of training and practicing for the big leagues. But to make absolutely sure that your opponent is not cheating in the duel is to first bond with him/her. Become friends first, then you can become opponents. This is how I've gotten to be pretty close with those whom I duel even today. Because once you have a friendship going, you can form a bond of trust. And trust is key in online dueling; you can say in all honesty, "Okay, so you played Change of Heart on my Beserk Gorilla; nothing I can do about it, so I have to let it go." Or better yet, "Oh, wow! You got all five pieces of Exodia? Game's over." And likewise, your opponent can honestly say, "Okay, so you played Raigeki and killed all my monsters. I can't stop you." This is where online dueling gets to be as fun as tourney play. And in some cases, it's even better, because now that you're friends, you can play each other whenever you want… But is too much of a good thing bad? Yes…

RULE #2: "Let's Duel" is not a proper "Hi, how are you?"
This bugs the hell out of me. I get online to do many things; check my mail, chat with my closest buddies, surf the net for updates on my favorite sites, update my fics if I've made any, feed my Neopets… I don't justt go online to duel. When I'm in the mood to duel, I will, but only if the opponent is polite enough. But because so many people have tried to challenge me lately, I've decided to take a break from it, and only when I really, really want to play will I come back into it. Until then, I try to avoid all IM's that start with the phrases, "You duel?" or, "How about a duel?" et cetera. Funny enough, most of the guys that have opened their conversations with me in this way have now become new friends of mine; they're just patiently waiting for the time when I challenge them.

RULE #3: Online compatibility
Believe it or not, most online duelists have a certain preference when it comes to dueling, and it doesn't end with their taste in decks- they also get to choose their opponents when online. Have you ever been turned down by an online duelist because he/she found out you play with a Chaos deck? Or have you challenged someone with a cookie-cutter deck who turned you down because you believe in the banned list? You'd have to experience this sooner or later, because unlike touneys, you get to choose who you duel, not just when. Don't take it the wrong way when someone turns you down; it just means that he/she has a preference in challengers. This is both good and bad; good because people are free to duel their way with nobody giving them slack about it, but it's also bad because this means certain people aren't trying to change up their strategies or strengthen their decks. By the time you get to a tourney, you'll be pinned against somebody who will most likely play with a deck, or in a way, that you absolutely loathe. But that's how it goes in tourneys, and in real life- you'll have to face them sooner or later. So when it comes to online dueling, the best thing to do is go both ways: if you want to go by your preference in duelists, then do so; if you want a real challenge, go the other way. It's your choice, and it's not so painful.

RULE #4: Avoid Spam like the Plague!!!
Yes. We've all faced this before, haven't we? "I summon Gearfried!" "I activate my Trap Hole!" "WHAT? You set a Trap?" "I set it two turns ago." "When did you do that??" "Scroll up and see!" This is the absolute worst part of online dueling; forget the fact that your opponent's grammar consists of @'s, 2's and other shortcut typos. The worst is when the duel goes way too fast due to many, MANY messages, and you've missed something important. This is the very setback that cheaters try to take advantage of; they'll probably talk like this:

Cheater: hi
Cheater: how are you?
Cheater: Let's duel
Cheater: I'll go first
Cheater: I draw
Cheater: I set three s/t down
Cheater: By the way, how old are you?
Cheater: where you from?
Cheater: what's your favorite movie?
Cheater: I saw Spider-Man 2 the other day
Cheater: It was awesome
Cheater: Doc Oc rox!!
Cheater: I summon Berserk Gorilla
Cheater: ATK 2000
Cheater: End turn
Cheater: Go.

DO NOT DO THIS. Cheaters will purposely spam to make sure you can't re-trace his/her steps, and once he/she pulls something off, you feel like you can't stop it. A proper thing to do when online dueling, is getting every single bit of info of your turn in one fair swoop:

Player: I draw

I set two m/t and summon Gearfried

End turn

[end message]

This will give your opponent all the time in the world to get ready to make his or her move, and since there's not that many messages, he or she can easily look back on the progress of the duel. If you have inadvertently spammed your opponent and never meant to do so, now you know your mistakes. You may, of course, still run into a missed step, but that's where patience comes in; if your opponent says that he/she made a move you missed, gradually scroll up the page and check it out for yourself. You're not dueling on a timer, unlike tounrey play.

RULE #5: Chat Room Duels… The Path to Dueling Nirvana
I hate chat room duels, especially the ones where it's four-on-four, or something like that. Team duels are bad, because it doesn't really matter who's on "your team;" EVERYBODY IS AFTER YOU. I've been singled out one time too many, and it has made me avoid these things like the plague ever since. If it's your cup of tea, however, then by all means go for it. But the point of this rule is like that of Rule 3; everybody has a preference in dueling, and some people just don't do the chat room thing. So when inviting somebody to one, be very polite about it. The other thing I hate about chat room duels are the random people that're there or that show up, and just spam, spam, SPAM! This is going back to Rule 4; avoid spam. If you're still new to all this and you want to duel, then definitely avoid chat room dueling, because it WILL mess you up, one way or the other. If you're comfortable enough to do chat room duels, then that means you're that much of a professional to take whatever comes your way. This is what we call Dueling Nirvana, as it were; you've been there, you've done that, you've conquered the odds. Good for you.

RULE #6: Beat the temptation of last-minute cheating
I know I've been there: I have a set Trap hole when I should have had set my Waboku, and just when my opponent is about to finish me off… I wanna switch my Traps and say, "Ha! I activate Waboku." I know that every time that last-minute flinch comes to me, that's the Devil saying, "Come on. You know you wanna do it! They can't see you, just do it!" NO! I never did, and I never will; I swear, on my honor. And I'm here to tell you now, it happens to everybody. I know it does, because it's happened to me a few times. But you must always, always accept the consequences when dueling online; if you set yourself up for a beating, then you deserve it. You know you do [*wink*]. When you've beaten the Devil (or whatever you wanna call it) and accepted your fate, then your online dueling days have come full circle: you are now, officially, a worthy duelist. You know when to take loses like a mature adult, and you gracefully "shake your opponent's hand" as it were, and congratulate them for a job well done. Once people know about your proper form, they'll spread the word to all their friends, and then they'll want to duel you because they know they can trust you. And this will be the start of your career as an online duelist. Now all you'll have to do is go back to Step One, and follow the proper etiquettes all over again.


And so there you go, all of the key rules to proper online etiquette, which have come to me through my experiences as an online duelist. I hope you've enjoyed this article, and I wish you and your opponents a fun, fair game.



Snodin: KaodMaster@aol.com -I accept all responses and all Instant Messages, but don't be surprised if I turn down your duel challenge, as I am still on my dueling break.

….And yes, I do own Neopets.    ^___^