Aw, gosh...
Newbs are people I teach how to play a game that I'm good at, like Counter-Strike. I have been known to sit alone with a newbie or three on a server with nobody else around, buy no weapons, and teach them how to play a bit better by teaching them how to shoot. Newbs are polite people who really *do* wish to become better players, and understand that what I do may look impossible, but isn't.
Noobs (aka "scrubs"
are newbs who are too clueless to read a game's manual. In CS/CS:S, these are typically the people who are so silly that they do not realize what the radar does, cannot plant the bomb without detailed instructions, and shoot their teammates when they feel they're not being respected.
n00bs are Noobs who've graduated to using hacks, deliberately playing country-music MP3s on the voicecom, spraying the walls with really lame pornography, and generally acting like the kinds of meanspirited children one keeps away from sharp objects, small animals and gasoline
Generally, the same players who are Noobs... and cannot graduate to being Newbs, because of a lack in some critical social/intellectual area (such as being able to read, basic civility, or a sociopathic personality) become n00bs. n00bs are generally immature and hate-filled people. I feel pity for them, but I cannot help despising them, just as I would despise anybody who cheated me in a "real game", such as people who deliberately abuse the rules of "barroom pool" or other friendly games of sport, such as pickup basketball- we all know the equivalent of the guy who plays dirty and doesn't respect other players desire to simply play for the fun of it, and such people are almost always either sociopaths or idiots, or both- it really doesn't matter what game you play- people who win at
all costs are a pain.
In short, we are
all newbs at one point or another. I was a newb at modding this game- now I am halfway to being skilled, but I am not so skilled that I'm 1337
One of my favorite parts of playing in any game has been meeting players at the tops of their game- for example, I have had the rare pleasure of playing CS with members of CPL (professional) clans. In my experience, most of the people who are at the top levels of skill have been quite nice and socially well-adjusted- it's gotten to the point that when I meet someone with obscenely high k:d ratios who's a ****... that person is probably not "skill"- I have never met a genuine member of a CPL clan who treated me or other players with disrespect, insulted us, or didn't play the game.
So... newbies are potential rock stars, and should be treated with decency and respect- they may be teaching
you some day. I was not the last guy who came to FL modding, and many people who've come after me have already done really cool things, like Watercooler Warrior or Mephistopheles, who were both people who wrote me email about FL modding when they were brand-new here (believe it or not... and I haven't been here that long, lol). That's one of the reasons why I try to encourage new modders around here, when they seem promising- sometimes they really bloom
Noobs are potentially newbs, and should be gently guided towards reading the game's manual, if possible. It may be difficult to be patient with them, but they are potentially salvageable. I try my best, which is not always good enough
n00bs, on the other hand... are like wet dogs carrying sticks of dynamite in their teeth. They stink, they cannot be converted into humans, and you don't want them to come into your house
Sun Mar 20, 2005 9:37 am 
