Gorg’s Gaming Tips

How to build a positive gaming experience starting with your practices, moving forward into day battles and events.

#1 Start your day with a positive mood, realize you are not a medieval warrior but you play one on tv and remember that we’re all there for fun, first and foremost.

Having a positive mood means showing up to daybattles, practices and events with a mindset of looking for fun and fellowship, having a helpful attitude willing to help noobs and vets alike. This is not a sport to "take out aggression" on other fighters or settle real life disputes, leave that stuff at home. Anger on the field is just unsafe, if you become angry while playing, sit out a round and cool off, once you are cool, return to play and have more fun. Do not mistake a bad attitude for a competitive attitude; competition is fun, being a jerk is not. Learn the difference, learn to see it, learn how to deal with it. I have found whatever the event, if you go to it with a positive mindset looking for fun, you will have it. Remember, you started somewhere on your first day, you had "stupid questions" and wanted your very own "anime buster sword" or "8 foot flail scythe." Rather than making fun of ignorance, lend your years of knowledge to them and help them with all their questions and concerns.

#2 No matter if you play a good guy or bad guy in game, OUT of game is much more important than what your flurb is. Courtesy and safety and sportsmanship are much more important than what color you wear or emblem you have as heraldry.

In game fictional character vs. out game non-fictional character.

In game character is important to many, and not so important to others. Both are fine but if you have an in game character it is important to distinguish between that and your actual real life character. If you have an evil or mischievous in game character this is no excuse for actual evil deeds or mischief. Theft is theft, and being mean is being mean. Jokes and low level shenanigans among friends are one thing. I’m not suggesting we all treat events like bible camp! But one should not take any items from another player or unit without intent to return it undamaged (flags, weapons, garb, food etc). And as stated should only be done so if the other people are friends or if you’re in a sanctioned "banner war" where everyone knows this is the object of the game and has chosen to be a part of it. Again, refer to "golden rule" mindset, if you wouldn’t want it to happen to you, don’t do it.

Also, your out-of-game character is what will earn you respect: if you are helpful, if you are giving, if you are kind to people and wanting to further the sport as a whole. There is a very fine line between in game and out of game, make sure people know when you’re in character if you’re an evil character.

EXAMPLE: Svafnir is an evil angry dirty troll in-game. I love her character and she is spicing up the game-play with her snarling and yelling. She is never mean but seems ferocious. But Mokie, her out of game name, is probably the nicest person you’ll ever meet; she’s always positive, and looking to help out. Spot on Mokie.

Lastly, as mentioned, character goes beyond your unit. Some of my best friends are in other units. Some are in my own. But when we seek to be more positive and to better the game as a whole, then we don’t see an emblem or color, we see people we wish to help.

EXAMPLE: Arc, Noct, Spud, Thask, Torx etc. are in GTG. I’m in Atlantis. Sometimes in game we are enemies "sworn against each other" when battling as the bigger units in Dag. But for Summer Slaughter we worked together as "Darkwater" to make the biggest Florida event even better with out of state attendees and most of Florida showing up. Some of my other good friends are in Sons of Tara, Gold Leaf Legion, Blood Runners, Cu Sith, SME, Satsu, Iron Wolves, RVNS, Midgard, House Noble, Rome, Dragon Coast, The Warriors, Stormguard, Drentha, The Order etc and so-on and so-forth and too many to list…

Point being, do not let a color or an emblem define who you help and who your friends are. There is a difference between unit pride and isolationism. Once again, learn the difference, learn to detect this, and learn to deal with this.

#3 Always use the golden rule: Treat others as you would want to be treated. This goes into all facets of the game. Think before you act. Would u want someone to do to you what you are about to do to them? The golden rule: treat others as you’d wish to be treated, in game and out.

So, you might say "this is obvious right?" Well, yes it is but unfortunately, many of us, myself included, have trouble with this one. Especially in the heat of battle or dun.dun.dun.... on the internet!

EXAMPLE: Let’s say you’re in game, you believe you hit a guy on the other team. He continues to fight you or move to someone else fighting them. You’re mad.... like pissed.... that feint to shield side wrap you've been working on actually connected and you’re enraged the opposition didn’t take the shot. We have all had this happen.

Your choices are many, but a few examples you may choose are:

a) Yell at him that he should have taken his shot. Not only does it make him mad now, but it creates in you the desire to seek out revenge, legally or illegally as far as the rules go. You probably also tell your friends that the guy is a sluffer, and to go after him in game, also possibly tarnishing his reputation among other fighters. Not the best choice.

b) You move to the side, ask a herald to move closer to the action, to view his next fight and watch to see if he doesn’t take another hit from either you or another fighter, and to call him dead if he doesn’t call himself dead from another connecting blow. This is a decent response to the issue. You haven’t called him out on field, you haven’t told your friends that he’s a sluffer and the herald had a small confrontation with him so that he knew he hadn’t taken a shot he needed to. Bravo! You’re getting there.

c) You make note of the player mentally. You wait until after the scenario, but not long after so it’s fresh in mind, and seek to talk with the player in question about the issue. You use tact and respect, not knowing if the shot might have been light, grazing, armor, or just a whiff in the air; you speak to him/her as an equal, not lesser person.

The player 90% of the time takes your speech and the problem is resolved in seconds rather than blowing up into internet memes, trolling, a tarnished reputation, or in some cases, fights.... The player respects you for coming to them in private, you respect them for hearing you out, you found out your flail didn’t hit their arm, it hit the underside of their punch shield and you would have slandered this person unjustly, and tarnished them for perhaps their whole boffing carrier for a misunderstanding.... you chose option c and are a better model player for doing so, and perhaps made a new friend or kept one you already had.

We all fall victim to options a and b sometimes, but if we always opt for option c then the game as a whole will only get better, and for the 10% of times a player may not hear u out, get your archer buddy to shoot them in game. jk lol

Jason Iron Will Woltz comments:

I learned the more appropriate rule would be to "treat others as they would like to be treated." I think this is an important distinction when you have players that prefer different levels of physical force and involvement into the game. Meaning that if you want to get shield bashed and fly through the air does not mean you should treat others the same but instead treat them as they would like to be treated. So the fragile girl that arches so she can participate but needs to "die" in game before getting rushed. Yeah don't hurt her.

#4 When crafting, rather than asking "Would this pass weapons check?"Ask, "Would I want to get hit with this over and over again? and Would this hurt me with longevity or perhaps permanently?" A safe field is the goal of every practice and event.

Weapon Build Safety

So, this one’s obvious too right? Not exactly.

With the current arms race in Florida and all over dag, people are coming up with thinner blades, smaller profiles, smaller striking surfaces on weapons and such. There is no problem with this if done safely with testing on multiple people of different body types by skilled craftsmen and women. The problem lies when you test it and a buddy says it hurts and you try to bring it anyway to see if it gets through weapons check. Or when you have a sword that the foam is breaking down on and try to get it passed anyway. Both are wrong mindsets and selfishly put yourself before the safety of an opponent. Once again, the golden rule.

If you are afraid to get hit in any location (well besides your balls) that is legal by a weapon you have crafted, remake it or add more padding. I’m not saying you have to make 12 oz tickle sticks of fur but pad your weapons correctly people. Florida has many accomplished weapons smiths and all the ones I know have zero problems helping with questions on how to make things safer and longer lasting. Alric even sells foam if you want to graduate from blue and pvc. There’s just no excuse. Pad your weapons to make friends, not to create enemies.

Another big issue one may encounter is arguing with the weapons check Harold. Please do not do this! Most good Harolds are not there looking to pee in your cereal and tell you that you can’t play due to a faulty soft spot on your blade or worn out pommel or stab tip. We are however there to keep the players safe. And any good weapons checker needs to know how weapons are built as well; it kind of goes hand in hand. If a weapon fails, ask a weapon smith or the checker Harold why it failed and if you need info, ask them how you could fix it. 99% of the time they can tell you right then, the other 1% you may have to wait till the line dies down from them checking and you can ask them then. Most pommels can be fixed extremely quickly on site with minimal materials and also account for many of the reasons a weapon is failed. Arguing with a Harold is not only wrong, but it makes you appear like you do not care for the safety of others, and it also makes you look like a jerk. It will not get your weapon passed It will only slow the line down making other people ornery as well.

Once again, learn the difference between safe and unsafe, learn how to detect this, learn how to fix this.

#5 Courtesy while on the field. How to act while fighting and how to promote a positive field presence.

Promoting positivity on the field is extremely important, and there's a certain etiquette that you should model yourself after and also certain things not to do if you wish to promote positivity and a fun filled experience for yourself and all.

Everyone likes getting kills in game. And everyone likes seeing a shot they’ve been working on land its target and do its job. It’s another golden rule EXAMPLE: You want your hard work and training to pay off by killing a player or wounding a limb, so taking your own shots is paramount in a positive player and field. Sluffing should not be in your repertoire and should never be used under any circumstance. Even if you think another player has been sluffing you that day or if you think you’re better than the noob who just took your leg. Sluffing makes you a jerk, and it will harm your character in game and out.

Furthermore, if the shot that hit you was light and not of sufficient force to be considered a legal wounding hit, grazing and slid off its target, or hit an armored portion of your body, yell "LIGHT" "GRAZE" or "ARMOR" accordingly, so the person knows you’re not sluffing. If you merely continue to fight as if you were never touched, it could be misconstrued as sluffing, thus creating another situation where an example in my #3 point would occur. The right thing to do is call what hit you, don't assume the other person knows.

Another thing in the same vein as this is when you throw a shot you yourself deem unworthy to be counted. EXAMPLE: A good red fighter will yell out "RED" when he uses his sword with two hands and a shot connects, as well as call out "BLUE" when he is using a red weapon single handedly like if his hand comes off or if he has been previously had one of his arms hacked off. He also will do this if trying to destroy a shield in game. but the good red user , if he grazes a shield or hits it too light will commonly tell the opposing player "Don’t take that" or "NOT GOOD" so they know he is being honorable in his own fighting and allowing them to retain their shield points.

Not only red users should do this type of honorable field action. Everyone should. If you wear armor it is a rule that if you have armor destroyed on certain parts of your body, and move on to another opponent, you must disclose to the new enemy which pieces of armor have been destroyed. EXAMPLE: Player “A” wearing armor approaches player “B”. Player A says "right arm left leg armor gone" this way player B knows the weak points of his opponent and can adjust his striking accordingly.

The same goes for green and blue wounds, if you approach a new opponent and your arm has been hacked by a blue or red, or stabbed by a green or yellow weapon, you must say "left arm green/poked, right leg green/poked, so they can adjust their strikes accordingly. In fact if you fail to do this, they could think your sloughing a blue strike because you've already been green wounded in the leg. Knowing that all 4 limbs can be green wounded without a fatality, they may assume you were blue wounded which is the most common wound in the game. It’s the Golden Rule again: you would want another player to tell you their chest armor has been broken or that their arm has only been greened and not hacked off.

Speaking again about how we all love landing a good shot, especially on an equal or better skilled opponent, try tossing out compliments. Everyone loves compliments, from the most humble monk in the world to the leader of a fortune 500 company, and there's a proper way to take a compliment. EXAMPLE: Let’s say Torx gets a really good pocket stab with his 8 foot spear on my sword side shoulder, right past my shield and guard, he’s my buddy and i want him to know that was a killer shot, i toss out a "wow man, good pocket stab dude" he smiles as he always does and kills probably 8 more people before he dies and respawns. Chances are next time i get a good strike on him past a good defense he'll do the same for me. We have just positively re enforced each other and others saw it as well, and will seek to do the same. Try this and i guarantee you will have more fun and go home more fulfilled by having a positive mindset. In no way am i saying every time you die and every time u kill someone that someone should make a compliment like a robot, or that you should compliment people to seek your own compliments, but a well earned kill or hit by way of valor and honor should be recognized, as you'd wish for yourself to be recognized. Say “thanks bro!” and go kill some more.

There are many more things to say about the subject.

But I need to go make weapons. LOL