So, there’s a (fairly straightforward?) question I’d like to post to the other Spartans across Waypoint:
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What code of conduct, if any, do you follow when engaged in a multiplayer match?
Your answer can be as brief or as expansive as you wish. In my case, I always focus the entirety of my gameplay around honor and respect, with little-to-no care for whether I win or lose. Here’s a list of the rules I always follow: -
No Power Weapons: While I’m sure that there’s a certain level of skill required to properly operate Power Weapons (Sniper Rifles, Heavy Explosives, Super Melees, etc.), their higher damage output tends to pitch a battle in the wielder’s favor. When in a fencing match, it would be utterly dishonorable (and, admittedly, ridiculous) for one of the fencers to suddenly use a Rocket Launcher upon his opponent; the true point of the battle is to see whose skill with the weapon they’ve been given is greater than the other’s. The same applies in the digital battlefield; I would leave a match in shame if I ever killed an opponent with advantageous weaponry. - No Non-Loadout Weapons: Same concept as the “Power Weapons” rule. While not as excessive as Power Weapons, most Non-Loadout Weapons tend to have higher damage output or accuracy than Loadout Weapons. If I can’t kill an opponent with the weapons I’ve been given at the start of the battle, then I have no right to kill them with weaponry that’s meant to “give me an edge”. - No Boosts: I refer to modifications such as Overshields, Camouflage, or anything similar. Yet again, these are pieces of equipment designed to provide that additional “edge” in a match; but, there is no honor in killing an opponent when my shields can suddenly take twice as many hits as theirs. - No Spawn-oriented Killing: There are two types of killing that I will do my very best to never engage in: Spawn Killing (where I eliminate an opponent immediately as, or after, they have respawned from a previous “death”), and Respawn Killing (where I immediately eliminate an unsuspecting opponent that happened to just miss my nearby respawn). As a simple rule-of-thumb, I work with a “No Kill” window of five seconds; if I spot a player who’d just respawned, I ignore them and move on, or – if they press the matter – will not engage for at least five seconds. Likewise, if I’ve just respawned, I won’t engage nearby opponents during that window, due to the fact that’d I’d just miraculously appeared out of nowhere near them. The five seconds allows myself – and all other Spartans – to properly re-acclimate to the battlefield, so a much more honorable clash can take place. - No Killing Idle Players: I believe the more popular term is AFK (Away From Keyboard) / AFC (Away From Controller), but the simple description of an Idle Player is someone who’s present in the battlefield, but isn’t presently being controlled. There is no respect or honor in killing an enemy that can’t defend themselves; if I ever see any Idle Players, I simply ignore them and move on to a more worthy opponent. - No Hunting Weaker Players: While these opponents can defend themselves, as opposed to Idle Players, there is no respect (or honor, for that matter) in purposefully targeting opponents weaker than myself. This, interestingly, didn’t become an issue until Halo 4. Perhaps I was simply lucky during Halo 3 and Halo: Reach, but I’ve more recently had times where I’ve been mismatched with one or two players whose skill level is clearly below my own. And believe me, I believe I’m an Average-to-Below-Average player, so when someone’s worse than me, it’s typically disturbingly obvious. Whenever this happens, I quickly memorize their name/appearance and do my very best to either avoid engagements with them, or – if pressed – try to lower my skill level to something my opponent can match. Understandably, this is an extremely difficult rule to follow/execute. - No Quitting: No matter how frustrating a match can be, no matter how painful circumstances might become, NOTHING excuses quitting a match. As Spartans, when we join together in a lobby, that becomes an unspoken promise that we will all see our fight through to the bitter end. To quit is to not only show complete disrespect to my opponents, but also to completely invalidate any reason for my future opponents to show any respect to me. In short: quitting is the equivalent of cowardice. If I cannot handle the occasional bad luck on the battlefield, then I shouldn’t play at all. The only time I will ever be seen leaving a match early will be when my internet connection suddenly drops (and if it does, once I get it back, I usually send apology messages to my former opponents); apart from that, I will never have a legitimate excuse to abandon my duty. - No Unsportsmanlike Conduct: I refer to things such as “Teabagging”, assaulting/shooting a fallen opponent, spamming noise through my microphone… Essentially, anything that would indicate a complete lack of respect to my opponents. This, of course, is common sense, as doing so otherwise is blatantly dishonorable, and – frankly – completely immature.And that’s about it; beyond that, my play style is a bit “berserker” focused as I try to find my opponents as quickly as possible and usually try to apply as many “brute force” tactics as possible, unless circumstances manage to teach me to look for a more tactically defensive approach. Sadly, some of these rules weren’t implemented until Halo 5: Guardians, as it took quite a number of painfully shameful matches from Halo 3, Halo: Reach, and Halo 4 to teach me what code of conduct I wished to follow.
And so, the floor is open. Feel free to list any behavior patterns/rules you personally follow. If you have any questions/concerns about my playstyle, I’ll answer them as best as I can.