Team Fortress 2 Etiquette

---

After an eight year wait, Team Fortress 2 is finally available and you’re ready to bunnyhop and ‘nade spam your way to victory! Oh, whoops, developers took out the bunnyhopping and the grenades, and a lot of other stuff was changed, too. They even took out friendly fire mode! Some might think that Valve made "bad etiquette” in TF2 an impossibility (and took all the fun out of it as well), but they’re wrong! There’s always a way to tick of server admins, even when a game is as evenly balanced and jackass-proof as TF2. If you don’t want to get the reputation as a jerk, getting banned from one server after another, then read on and discover the unwritten rules of the game. Well, they aren’t all unwritten, some are made quite clear when you enter a match, but you get the idea.

Common Terminology

Although voice chat has been replacing text chatting in games more and more in recent years, not everyone has the luxury of a headset or a deep, hearty, manly voice to be proud of. While decades of instant messaging have replaced phrases in even mainstream media with two or three-letter strings (OMG, LOL, BFF, WTF), there are a few gamecentric TF2 terms you need to have in your vocabulary as well.

gg = Good Game, a phrase usually spammed by a bunch of players at the end of a match.

bg = Bad Game, because they can’t all be fun.

stfu = Start The Fun Up. Can also imply that the player wishes for you to shut your mouth. Either or, doesn't matter.

afk = Away From Keyboard, this person had to go to the bathroom or pick up a phone, so don’t expect much from them soon.

cap = Capture, could mean a briefcase or a control point depending on the map.

disp = Dispenser, and if you don’t know this or the rest of these terms, have you even been playing TF2?

hw = Heavy Weapons Guy.

rj = Rocket Jump.

sg = Sentry Gun.

tele = Teleporter.

wat = Stressed version of the word "what". Usually implies confusion.

cp =Control Point.

gtfo = It has come to my attention that your presence in this server is rather bothersome, and I would find it most appreciable if you would kindly leave, good sir.

ctf = Capture the Flag, although technically it’s now "capture the briefcase.”

tc = Territory Control.

Basic TF2 Guidelines

Team Fortress 2 is not like other multiplayer shooters. You need to worry about more than just your own ass, and you need to be a good team player as well as practice good sportsmanship. This is not a game about individual skills, who’s getting to the top of the leader board, and who’s grabbing an MVP placement at the end of a round. The title of the game says it all.

Always read the server rules before you join in on a game. TF2 will show these posted very clearly on a blackboard when you first load up a map. Most of what you’ll find will be covered by the rest of this guide, but sometimes you’ll find something weird like "no fighting in no man’s land.” That means you can’t engage opposing players in the unclaimed middle ground between bases. This is actually an old carryover example from TFC, since all TF2 maps are control-point based except for 2fort, and the automatic lock system makes "no man’s land” a little obsolete. However, you should get the basic idea of what we’re trying to get across here. Always, always, always read the server specific rules, or fear the mighty ban stick. Even if they’re something really odd like "don’t attack the Medics” you have to follow them, or else find another server.

If you join a team and notice no one else is a Medic, become a Medic! Find a Heavy on your side and follow him around, constantly healing him. Some more hardcore gamers might feel like a second banana doing this, but you get the same points the Heavy gets for kills, and your team will love you for helping the big guy clear out a room with an übercharge.

However, when you play as the Medic, don’t only concern yourself with teaming up with a Heavy and scoring übercharge points. When one of your teammates yells, "Medic!” or "Doctor!” they’re yelling for you! TF2’s interface will show you where the yells are coming from, and if you can you should hustle to get there and heal your buddies. Don’t forget, after healing someone long enough you’ll eventually start healing yourself. Also, you shouldn’t waste your übercharge when there aren’t any enemies around, or only one that the guy you’re healing can easily take out. Save it for a whole room of enemies or some other otherwise impossible scenario.

If you have the choice between staying back and saving yourself while a whole bunch of your teammates suffer, or rushing ahead and clearing out a sentry even though you know the engineer standing by is going to clean your clock second after, go for the self-sacrifice. This can apply to many, many scenarios. The golden rule of TF2 is to treat your team as you would your whole body, and that you as an individual are expendable until the next respawn.

Unlike other multiplayer shooters, you should keep in mind there is no such thing as "stealing kills” in TF2. If you put a lot of work into killing an enemy but then one of your teammates gets in a lucky shot and finishes him off, you’ll both get the credit. Whoever gave the most damage gets the "kill” point, while the other person gets an "assist” point. That may make a difference in your complete overall stats, but in the game itself you both get the same, equal point on the scoreboard. This is also how the Medic scores points for every kill scored by a player he’s healing. Plus, come on, you know someone screaming, "OMG U STOLE MY KILL!!!” in any game is just plain annoying.

Again, unlike other shooters, there is no such thing as "camping” in TF2. It’s called "strategy.” For example, the Pyro is a great class to play if you love waiting around corners for the enemy to run out, because that’s exactly what the flamethrower was designed for. The Sniper should stick to the backlines of the battle as much as possible. Even the Engineer’s main strength is building large, accurate, stationary guns that are relatively hard to take down if they’re placed right. Now, there is a difference between this and simply running to an out-of-the-way part of the map of no interest to your team or the enemy and staying there just to get a long life for your stats. If you just want to stay in your own base, at least be productive about it.

Know your role. Each class is clearly defined as offense, defense or support. Play your class accordingly. Although these role distinctions are not concrete (for example, the Heavy is technically defense, but obviously he could be used for a killer offensive as well if the proper support is in place), you need to learn basic strategy and adapt to the teamplay aspect. The Sniper is meant to stay back and take potshots from afar. The Engineer should concern himself with the defensive measures of his own base. The Scout is meant to run ahead, sometimes right past enemies without trying to kill everyone he sees, and grab control points or briefcases. The Spy is perfect for taking out enemy sentry guns or a Sniper who’s a little too good at taking headshots without getting caught. If you don’t play the class correctly, you will die, often, and you won’t get much love from your team, either.

There is no friendly fire in Team Fortress 2 (pending a patch doesn’t restore it in the future). Therefore, it is perfectly acceptable and, in fact, good practice, to shoot at teammates who don’t seem to be acting right or have suddenly rushed back into your base after running out. The Spy’s disguise is very convincing, to the point that he even steals the names of real players on your team who are playing the class he’s disguised as. So even if it looks like it’s your well known friend taking a peculiar interest in your base’s sentry guns, then all of a sudden they start sparking up, shoot him. Shoot him in the head. If he bleeds, keep shooting. Then, when your own teammates shoot at you when you run back for the resupply, you’ll understand why.

If an Engineer built a dispenser and you notice that nearby he’s in the middle of building or upgrading a sentry, don’t go over to use it unless you really need it. The dispenser provides a self-replenishing source of building materials, and he probably built it to get a level 3 sentry quickly without having to run back and forth to the resupply room.

When playing as an Engineer, don’t just worry about your own buildings, but look after your fellow Engineer’s buildings as well. When you see one of your team’s sentries getting messed up, even if you didn’t build it, you have just as much of a responsibility to repair it as its original constructor.

If you’re a fast class like a Scout, leave the teleporters for the slower classes like the Heavy. The teleporter needs to recharge after every use, and in that time you could practically run across the map and back.

If you’re a slow class like the Heavy, don’t boldly go after briefcases by yourself. Leave that to the Scouts and other fast classes who actually have a shot of escaping with it.

Basic Multiplayer Etiquette

If you see someone facing a wall and not doing anything, chances are they’re not at their keyboard and they went off to go to the bathroom, answer the door, or grab another Red Bull or beer. Technically they should have just stayed safe inside their team’s respawn room if they were going to get up, but even so, don’t take it upon yourself to "teach them a lesson” about it while he’s gone. If you spot an enemy in this position, wait for him to move before you shoot if you really just want to waste him, but preferably not in the back.

Keep in mind you’re playing on the World Wide Web. Not everyone in a server you’re playing in will have the same political, religious or philosophic opinions as you, and even if they make their own beliefs public either in the form of their nickname or something they say in the chat, you have no right to jump on them for it and start an argument. That being said, it should go without saying that any form of hate speech is bad. If you’re a racist, a sexist, a religious (or anti-religious) zealot, homophobic, or anything of the sort, don’t start up with your twisted views in a game or you’ll be chewed out and banned faster than you can spit (with any luck).

Technically, TF2, Half-Life, and most other shooters for that matter are rated "M” for Mature. That means that, in an ideal scenario, no one you’re playing against is less than 17 years old. However, we all know that’s simply not true. So, even though you could assume that everyone in the game is at least a young adult if not older, you should still practice self-censorship against more mature language and discussion as if there was a 13 year-old right within earshot, with his parents right next to him in equal earshot. Try not to use the more harsh swears in your vocabulary, and that goes for talking about what you did with your girlfriend last night or the massive amount of alcohol you consumed at a frat party and the weird crap you got into after.

Along the same lines, don’t use pornographic or otherwise offensive sprays. Use your common sense and when you pick a spray, think to yourself, "Is this really appropriate and would it be okay showing this in general public?” If you want to get political, go ahead, but on the same token if someone else has and you don’t agree with their little campaign poster, don’t go postal on them in the chat. Of course there’s a fine line between politics and hate-speech as we pointed out above.

So, you have a headset and you’ve kissed goodbye to typing in the chat. The same rules still apply to your conversation, though. Don’t get offensive or stupid, and don’t do things like use the voice channel to be an amateur DJ and play your latest iPod shuffle, or shout out obscure references to the Howard Stern Show (unless it’s really, really necessary), or put the microphone directly in your mouth to speak. If your headset is relatively new and not incredibly cheap and low quality, you only need to position the mic to the side of your mouth, not right in front of it. When you first put it on, exhale, and if the mic is getting hit with your breath, it should be moved just out of the way. Also, when you go into the audio settings don’t max out the dB boost. In fact don’t even use it at all unless you have to. Keep in mind that what you sound like when you test the mic in the audio settings is exactly what everyone else is going to hear.

Do not give out your Steam account information to anyone, no matter what they say. Some scammers try to claim they’re from Valve Software or they’re Steam technical support staff. Don’t fall for it! If someone else gets hold of your account and logs in at the same time as you or otherwise screws around doing bad things, your account will be shut down and you’ll have to go through the very pain in the neck process of getting it reinstating.

Remember you’re playing a game. You’re not in a chat room. If you start a good conversation with another player, take it to the Steam chat function outside of the server, especially if no one else seems to care.

If the server-specific rules are annoying or stupid, don’t start an argument over it, just leave. It’s not your house so they don’t have to play by your rules. If you think you could do a better job of being an admin, than start your own server.

Cardinal Rules

These are the two most important rules of Team Fortress 2 and multiplayer gaming in general:

1. Do not cheat.

Don’t cheat, don’t try to cheat, don’t ask about cheats. Cheating in a Steam game won’t just get you banned from a server, it will get you banned out of the whole game! When you join a Valve Anti-Cheat secured server, you are agreeing that if you are found to be cheating, you’re giving up your right to play. Plus, cheating in a multiplayer game is just lame, especially in Team Fortress 2, the most newbie-friendly shooter in history.

2. Remember, it’s just a video game.

Everyone playing is just trying to have some good fun, and that’s all you should be doing, too. In fact, Team Fortress 2 has been designed, from class balance to art direction, in a way so that it can’t ever be taken too seriously. Sure, you should want to win, but don’t flip out when you don’t. Everyone and anyone can go into a TF2 server and play at the same level as everyone else, some simply a little better than others. If you’re a hardcore pro gamer, TF2 is probably not up your alley, but even if you’re not, you should always keep your emotions in check. Once again, be a team player, show good sportsmanship and don’t be an egomaniacal jerk.

Now, keep this guide in mind the next time you play, and you will have a wonderful gaming experience and no one will have any reason to ban you or call you out for doing something dumb. Have fun!