The Noob Conundrum

[XSA37]

For a long time now, I have been brooding on a gaming principle that seems to hold rather constant with almost all FPS games on the market today: That no matter what you do, you are a noob.

Please allow me to present an example to explain my position. Let's say you are playing... oh I don't know... Modern Warfare 2. You have just equipped yourself with a shiny new Model 1887 and picked off a few players from medium range. Suddenly, a teammate shoots you in the back for being a "Shotgun Noob." Okay, fair enough, shotguns can seem cheap in a game, especially when used in a camping situation. What do you do? Switch to your trusty M16 of course. Oh wait, once the game ends, someone in the post-game lobby calls you a noob for using the "cheap" M16. Fast forward a few games and a few lobbies. Suddenly, you realize that you can't use any weapon. Why? Because, no matter what you use, you are a noob for something. Suddenly, you realize that this is an FPS at its core, a bunch of people screaming noob at anything that isn't the weapon that they prefer.

So fellow escapists, ponder the following riddle for me. If every gun in an FPS is a noob gun and you play FPS titles, are you automatically a noob?

 

[Gigaguy64]

To some people yes.

To me, if it was put in the game to be used, then use it.

Noob is like Epic, its been thrown around so many times many people don't even know what it really means anymore.
So if get called a Shotgun Noob, i shrug it off and take out the same guy again, just to hear him rage.

 

[XSA37]

I just feel like, sometimes, a weapon CAN be for noobs (Like the grenade launcher when randomly fired across the map), however I feel like most weapons, when used correctly, aren't for noobs at all but actually require some skill to wield.

 

[mrdude2010]

my definition of a noob weapon is a weapon that takes no skill to get kills with. therefore, tac knife running and model 1887's are noob weapons. same goes for the rocket launcher in halo 3 when applied to people, or the sword, because the only situation in which it's effective is camping. ie noob weapon. how anyone could call the m16 cheap is beyond me

 

[oppp7]

Multiplayer. A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

Edit: That said, some weapons/etc are OP, but not all of them are.

 

[Siuki]

I just feel like, sometimes, a weapon CAN be for noobs (Like the grenade launcher when randomly fired across the map), however I feel like most weapons, when used correctly, aren't for noobs at all but actually require some skill to wield.

If you angled it correctly, a perfectly aimed "noob-tube" can effectively take out the entire enemy team at the start of the match. That is in not noob-like behavior, as far as I know. People haven't exactly called me a noob more than a bundle of sticks when I (totally on accident[no sarcasm]) shot them in the back when they ran over the commando knife an enemy. (I only played Hardcore a few times)

I've noticed the same thing in almost every FPS too. It seems that most of the weapons are blocked out and called noob weapons except for guns that are absolute crap, or the ones the people state(in their opinion) not noob-like.

Most "noob" weapons are extremely situational. Let's say a guy kills another guy with any shotgun in MW2(They can all one hit kill). That could be consider noob behavior, but then the guy who picked him of from across the map with a sniper rifle could be considered cheap too. And the sniper rifler would consider the guy with the heartbeat sensor cheap for finding his ultimate hiding place, but the guy who knifes the one with the heartbeat sensor could be considered noob too, as he was using Commando(Extends the knife's one hit kill range). But the knifer had to travel across the map, avoiding enemy contact and stealthily sneak up to the heartbeat sensor guy and kill him. Most of these "noob" weapons and perks are useless when put in a certain situation, and there would said perk/weapon be considered not cheap: when the potential noob-caller kills you, even though he'll still call you a noob anyways for dying by him.

Sorry for the mountain of text, I could go on to list counters for specific weapons or perks.

TL;DR not available.

 

[Burningsok]

when someone calls you a noob, take it as a compliment and just smile . It means your kicking his ass and all he can do is complain. Relish in it.

 

[S.R.S.]

Prove yourself that you're not a nOOb by teabaggin everyone. It doesn't hurt if your K/D ratio is better than theirs either.

 

[lukenhiumur]

the thing is, in COD6, either a gun is noobish or it sucks.
and no matter what, people will call you a noob for using good guns and winning. So who cares?

 

[Miles Tormani]

my definition of a noob weapon is a weapon that takes no skill to get kills with. therefore, tac knife running and model 1887's are noob weapons. same goes for the rocket launcher in halo 3 when applied to people, or the sword, because the only situation in which it's effective is camping. ie noob weapon. how anyone could call the m16 cheap is beyond me

I don't think the rocket launcher is that much of a n00b weapon, but as a power weapon, it is easier to use effectively than, say, a plasma pistol.

(EDIT: Try throwing a bubble shield at them when they're firing the rocket at you. Endless amusement for you, a million oncoming curses for them.)

As for the sword, a good sniper will take you down, especially at range. As an aside, one person no-scoped me mid-lunge once. It was awesome, and his comment of "Got you ************" made it just the slightest bit more awesome. I had to hand it to him. I thought I got the drop on him and he takes me out anyway, with a disadvantage. I wish I messaged him saying that was the best death I ever had in the game.

I always felt that sneaking up on someone with the sword, well enough for them to not notice its blue glowyness, was fun, and challenging, enough to not dismiss it as a n00b weapon. If you can take out the user by moving out of his zone of control, it's not really much of a n00b weapon at all.

Marathon/Lightweight/Commando Pro Tac-knife, on the other hand, is something I'd classify as a n00b tactic. I just fired buckshot all over your face at point blank. How the hell are you beating me?

(Should I be amused that Firefox considers "noob" a spelling error, but not "n00b"?)

 

[BenzSmoke]

I thought 'noobs' were people that are new to playing a game, or did the idiots start using it out of context until it became another meaningless insult?

 

[mrdude2010]

my definition of a noob weapon is a weapon that takes no skill to get kills with. therefore, tac knife running and model 1887's are noob weapons. same goes for the rocket launcher in halo 3 when applied to people, or the sword, because the only situation in which it's effective is camping. ie noob weapon. how anyone could call the m16 cheap is beyond me

I don't think the rocket launcher is that much of a n00b weapon, but as a power weapon, it is easier to use effectively than, say, a plasma pistol.

(EDIT: Try throwing a bubble shield at them when they're firing the rocket at you. Endless amusement for you, a million oncoming curses for them.)

As for the sword, a good sniper will take you down, especially at range. As an aside, one person no-scoped me mid-lunge once. It was awesome, and his comment of "Got you ************" made it just the slightest bit more awesome. I had to hand it to him. I thought I got the drop on him and he takes me out anyway, with a disadvantage. I wish I messaged him saying that was the best death I ever had in the game.

I always felt that sneaking up on someone with the sword, well enough for them to not notice its blue glowyness, was fun, and challenging, enough to not dismiss it as a n00b weapon. If you can take out the user by moving out of his zone of control, it's not really much of a n00b weapon at all.

Marathon/Lightweight/Commando Pro Tac-knife, on the other hand, is something I'd classify as a n00b tactic. I just fired buckshot all over your face at point blank. How the hell are you beating me?

(Should I be amused that Firefox considers "noob" a spelling error, but not "n00b"?)

i gave someone who had never played halo before a rocket launcher and dropped them into a social slayer match and they got 3 kills out of it. noob weapon. while i usually dont consider the sword much of a threat it does kind of seem to me that its really easy to camp with it and wipe out players who are genuinely better than you, which i dont like.. same thing with teh shotgun if someone is close to you all you do is fire and press the melee button and in halo you will probably get a kill because of hte ridiculous lunge distance afforded the shotgun


back to MW2
the most frustrating thing about knife running is that once theyve started their lunge theyre invincible making it impossible to shotgun them in the face (or even m16 them in the face) in such a manner as to stop them from killing you


edit* all of those teh's should be the's (new keyboard) i know it sounds like im just complaining about certain tactics, but unlike a lot of people i really don't mind weapons like the needler, the mauler, the plasma pistol, etc.... most vehicles are kind of cheap though

 

[Siuki]

I thought 'noobs' were people that are new to playing a game, or did the idiots start using it out of context until it became another meaningless insult?

The latter. It's become a term that is now "a person who lacks skill in a game," though I think that covers both sides of the noob spectrum. One side is the meaningless insult for one people believe "suck" at the game, the other is a newbie(notice the spelling), who is one that is new to a game and therefore lacks skill, hence the definition. Don't even talk about nub, I don't know when that came into existence.

 

[Swarley]

I thought 'noobs' were people that are new to playing a game, or did the idiots start using it out of context until it became another meaningless insult?

Noobs is an insult, newbs is the term for new players.

OT: There's no such thing as a "noob" weapon as far as I'm concerned, just superior weapons that people hate dying from.

 

[Zaik]

It depends.

On one hand, 95% of this stems from nerdrage.

The other 5% generally comes from exploitable design flaw that generally gets fixed once the whining crosses a certain threshold.

 

[Zackary Yakumo]

no, no weapon is a "Noob" weapon. its just taht when you are better than sdome, they call you noobs. oplain ands simple.

 

[Siuki]

my definition of a noob weapon is a weapon that takes no skill to get kills with. therefore, tac knife running and model 1887's are noob weapons. same goes for the rocket launcher in halo 3 when applied to people, or the sword, because the only situation in which it's effective is camping. ie noob weapon. how anyone could call the m16 cheap is beyond me

I don't think the rocket launcher is that much of a n00b weapon, but as a power weapon, it is easier to use effectively than, say, a plasma pistol.

(EDIT: Try throwing a bubble shield at them when they're firing the rocket at you. Endless amusement for you, a million oncoming curses for them.)

As for the sword, a good sniper will take you down, especially at range. As an aside, one person no-scoped me mid-lunge once. It was awesome, and his comment of "Got you ************" made it just the slightest bit more awesome. I had to hand it to him. I thought I got the drop on him and he takes me out anyway, with a disadvantage. I wish I messaged him saying that was the best death I ever had in the game.

I always felt that sneaking up on someone with the sword, well enough for them to not notice its blue glowyness, was fun, and challenging, enough to not dismiss it as a n00b weapon. If you can take out the user by moving out of his zone of control, it's not really much of a n00b weapon at all.

Marathon/Lightweight/Commando Pro Tac-knife, on the other hand, is something I'd classify as a n00b tactic. I just fired buckshot all over your face at point blank. How the hell are you beating me?

(Should I be amused that Firefox considers "noob" a spelling error, but not "n00b"?)

i gave someone who had never played halo before a rocket launcher and dropped them into a social slayer match and they got 3 kills out of it. noob weapon. while i usually dont consider the sword much of a threat it does kind of seem to me that its really easy to camp with it and wipe out players who are genuinely better than you, which i dont like.. same thing with teh shotgun if someone is close to you all you do is fire and press the melee button and in halo you will probably get a kill because of hte ridiculous lunge distance afforded the shotgun


back to MW2
the most frustrating thing about knife running is that once theyve started their lunge theyre invincible making it impossible to shotgun them in the face (or even m16 them in the face) in such a manner as to stop them from killing you

If you try to shotgun them when they start lunging, you're too late. I use the tactic sometimes,(I'm slowly coming out of it) and I have to say that it is getting hard.(No that's what she said jokes, please.) People can kill you easily at a range and you have to stay hidden most of the time, which can and will be considered camping.

On the other hand, the riot shield is a riot to use(pun intended). It's fun to watch a person see you, slowly walk away, foolishly empty a clip firing straight into the shield, reloading in a corner, and dying when I toss a knife at them. It's hilarious. Blast shield's also great when they start tossing 'nades or deploying any other explosive, which they sometimes resort to.

 

[Theron Julius]

It's not as bad in Halo. Since you don't really choose weapons no one can really label you a noob. Except for the 8 year olds, but you mute those anyway, so that's of no concern.

Edit:

my definition of a noob weapon is a weapon that takes no skill to get kills with. therefore, tac knife running and model 1887's are noob weapons. same goes for the rocket launcher in halo 3 when applied to people, or the sword, because the only situation in which it's effective is camping. ie noob weapon. how anyone could call the m16 cheap is beyond me
I don't think the rocket launcher is that much of a n00b weapon, but as a power weapon, it is easier to use effectively than, say, a plasma pistol.

(EDIT: Try throwing a bubble shield at them when they're firing the rocket at you. Endless amusement for you, a million oncoming curses for them.)

As for the sword, a good sniper will take you down, especially at range. As an aside, one person no-scoped me mid-lunge once. It was awesome, and his comment of "Got you ************" made it just the slightest bit more awesome. I had to hand it to him. I thought I got the drop on him and he takes me out anyway, with a disadvantage. I wish I messaged him saying that was the best death I ever had in the game.

I always felt that sneaking up on someone with the sword, well enough for them to not notice its blue glowyness, was fun, and challenging, enough to not dismiss it as a n00b weapon. If you can take out the user by moving out of his zone of control, it's not really much of a n00b weapon at all.

Marathon/Lightweight/Commando Pro Tac-knife, on the other hand, is something I'd classify as a n00b tactic. I just fired buckshot all over your face at point blank. How the hell are you beating me?

(Should I be amused that Firefox considers "noob" a spelling error, but not "n00b"?)

You speak the truth, sir. You are my new hero!

This is why I can't believe how people can hate Halo's multiplayer. Every weapon has some sort of drawback. Even the supposed n00b weapons. The splazer has a very visible charge time, rockets are slow, shotguns and melee weapons have little range, and snipers are slow enough to be ineffective unless you can get a headshot or the prey is in an open area. Halo has actual balance unlike some games I've seen *glares at MW2*.

 

[Stoic raptor]

When someone is angry at me for being a noob, or for some other reason, its really funny to piss them off more. Until everyone else complains because their eardrums broke from his constant complaining, whining, and screaming.

 

[mrdude2010]

my definition of a noob weapon is a weapon that takes no skill to get kills with. therefore, tac knife running and model 1887's are noob weapons. same goes for the rocket launcher in halo 3 when applied to people, or the sword, because the only situation in which it's effective is camping. ie noob weapon. how anyone could call the m16 cheap is beyond me

I don't think the rocket launcher is that much of a n00b weapon, but as a power weapon, it is easier to use effectively than, say, a plasma pistol.

(EDIT: Try throwing a bubble shield at them when they're firing the rocket at you. Endless amusement for you, a million oncoming curses for them.)

As for the sword, a good sniper will take you down, especially at range. As an aside, one person no-scoped me mid-lunge once. It was awesome, and his comment of "Got you ************" made it just the slightest bit more awesome. I had to hand it to him. I thought I got the drop on him and he takes me out anyway, with a disadvantage. I wish I messaged him saying that was the best death I ever had in the game.

I always felt that sneaking up on someone with the sword, well enough for them to not notice its blue glowyness, was fun, and challenging, enough to not dismiss it as a n00b weapon. If you can take out the user by moving out of his zone of control, it's not really much of a n00b weapon at all.

Marathon/Lightweight/Commando Pro Tac-knife, on the other hand, is something I'd classify as a n00b tactic. I just fired buckshot all over your face at point blank. How the hell are you beating me?

(Should I be amused that Firefox considers "noob" a spelling error, but not "n00b"?)

i gave someone who had never played halo before a rocket launcher and dropped them into a social slayer match and they got 3 kills out of it. noob weapon. while i usually dont consider the sword much of a threat it does kind of seem to me that its really easy to camp with it and wipe out players who are genuinely better than you, which i dont like.. same thing with teh shotgun if someone is close to you all you do is fire and press the melee button and in halo you will probably get a kill because of hte ridiculous lunge distance afforded the shotgun


back to MW2
the most frustrating thing about knife running is that once theyve started their lunge theyre invincible making it impossible to shotgun them in the face (or even m16 them in the face) in such a manner as to stop them from killing you

If you try to shotgun them when they start lunging, you're too late. I use the tactic sometimes,(I'm slowly coming out of it) and I have to say that it is getting hard.(No that's what she said jokes, please.) People can kill you easily at a range and you have to stay hidden most of the time, which can and will be considered camping.

On the other hand, the riot shield is a riot to use(pun intended). It's fun to watch a person see you, slowly walk away, foolishly empty a clip firing straight into the shield, reloading in a corner, and dying when I toss a knife at them. It's hilarious. Blast shield's also great when they start tossing 'nades or deploying any other explosive, which they sometimes resort to.

when i get bored i use a riot shield, scavenger, blast shield last stand a pistol and a throwing knife.. gooooood timmmesss gooooood timmesss