I intend these tips to be very general. These tips do not go into character/role analysis, matchups, map strategies etc. To clarify, with these tips I am not telling anyone how to play. I am saying IF you want to be a better teammate and have more fun or stress less, THEN these are some SUGGESTIONS on what to do and not do which you can take or leave at your personal discretion. Purpose Hello, these tips are bourne out of a small hope to do some part in bucking the trend of toxicity and blame in online shooters, by setting out some explicit guidelines for how to mentally approach hero shooters, and how to think about the game and other players. I am by no means an expert esports pro gamer, I am just someone who has spent a lot of time into ‘hero shooters’ like Team Fortress 2, Overwatch 1, Paladins and now Marvel Rivals. I just want people to enjoy their free time more, and thus be better people to play with and against. I intend these tips to be very general. These tips do not go into character/role analysis, matchups, map strategies etc. To clarify, with these tips I am not telling anyone how to play. I am saying IF you want to be a better teammate and have more fun or stress less, THEN these are some SUGGESTIONS on what to do and not do which you can take or leave at your personal discretion. Environmental awareness of ALL players informs decisions First: GROUP UP! Maintain peripheral environmental awareness of all your TEAMMATES. Use this information to understand WHERE your FRONTLINE and BACKLINES are: i.e. Where can I retreat to for help from teammates? How far is TOO FAR forward to push? Second: Maintain peripheral environmental awareness of all your ENEMIES Use this information to inform your decisions on who/when/how to attack, and focus with your teammates Remember that frontlines/backlines are CONSTANTLY SHIFTING; since there are 12 people in each match, each with different characters and abilities, each making their own spontaneous decisions. SO it is necessary to always be reevaluating the situation and being FLEXIBLE in your thinking. When something bad happens, don’t blame anyone, just remember that the amount of analysis you can do on the fly is limited. This is what makes online shooters so difficult yet fun; being presented with more information than you can handle, but still being able to make sense of it and make impactful decisions. It is impossible to always have eyes on all 12 players in a match, so give yourself AND YOUR TEAMMATES a break when something goes wrong. Be humble, know your role, but be flexible This is a team game, live as a team, die as a team. It is unfair to target single players on either team for winning or losing. Each person acts on a team of players, whose decisions dynamically affect and allow for the resulting gameplay in each unique match context. Assume everyone is doing their best Be HUMBLE, don’t overestimate your abilities, or the abilites of OTHERS - Consider: Could you do any better in their role? - Could they do any better in your role? - Is someone on the OTHER TEAM doing better in that role? How? Appreciate the limited time you have to play together (often around 13min per match) Know your ROLE, but be OPEN to switching. You should have about 3 of each role that you are at least comfortable with. So you can appreciate what it takes to be successful in each role and how your characters WORK WITH and against other characters. Don't blame, look for the positive If your team is losing: look at the OTHER TEAM for what is going RIGHT; NOT what is going wrong on your team. DO NOT SAY/THINK stuff like: “you suck…my team sucks… these are the worst tanks/dps/heals ever” “our ____ (hero) sucks” INSTEAD THINK: “the other team is doing really well” “Their ___ (hero) is really good”, Then consider: “what can I do to try countering them? (within the limits of a 13min online game match with strangers)” LEARN FROM LOSES: be mentally prepared to LOSE/DIE. Don’t overthink why you died, and don’t blame teammates. Embrace and appreciate the RNG wheel of online matchmaking. In other words: APPRECIATE excellent teammwork, instead of wallowing in the negative, recognize and appreciate the ONLINE GAME ENVIRONMENT’s LIMITATIONS. Avoid scoreboard fixation DO NOT fixate on the scoreboard. Focus on your teammates and what is happening around you. I used to remap the scoreboard to something like Del, End or PgDown to make it easier to focus on what is happening in the heat of battle. I think there is more than enough time to look at the board during respawns. Similarly DON’T be a stat-monger. Or as I like to call it, comparing the digital peepee. Stats are only a snapshot. Assume everyone is doing their best in the limited amount of time. Furthermore important statistics for tanks and healers (including damage blocked, and amount healed) are NOT listed on the in-game scoreboard, and only listed in the post-game scoreboard. Which is more reason to not fixate on the scoreboard during a match. INSTEAD: Use the scoreboard to monitor what HEROES are being playing on BOTH TEAMS. Use this information to inform your matchup analysis, remembering to be flexible in your thinking, switching or offering suggestions at your discretion (NOT telling others what to do), and while appreciating the limits of a 13minute game. Suggest and move on DO NOT tell others what to do, or blame them Instead you can pose an open suggestion/comment: - E.g. “Can we try another tank?” - “Can we try grouping up more?”If they refuse, or there are no results, MOVE ON, remember you are only 1 person on a team of 6, you are playing with strangers with only like 13min together; so WHY stress and be rude?! Instead of trying to elaborate your perspective in the moment, CONSIDER: how much can someone possibly learn to change their perspective in a stressful versus environment in under 13 minutes? If someone is being rude or abusive. There is this wonderful function of online games where you can MUTE and REPORT other players, so it is as if they are more firmly the anonymous digital strangers you are playing with for a mere 13 minutes of your day. In Marvel Rivals this is accessed by pressing “P” by default during a match, where you can mute the text and/or voice of anyone in the match. In other words: OBSERVE (group and environmental awareness), SUGGEST, do your best, recognize LIMITATIONS, recognize the OTHER TEAM, MOVE ON. Saying "gg" Regardless of whether you win or lose. Try to say “gg” at the end of each match. This shows that you appreciate the collective time of everyone in the match to try their best and have fun. Also it should help you focus on the positive. What went RIGHT during the match to make it a good game? Generally I like to thumbsup/COMMEND everyone when we win, but I am starting to be a little more discerning also commending people when we lose, or not commending those who had bad sportsmanship. It will be interesting to see if the commendation system in Marvel Rivals becomes more nuanced/meaningful in the future. Conclusion Again, I intended these tips to be very general suggestions. You would need to do your own exploration and experimentation for more in depth character/role analysis, matchups, map strategies etc. To repeat, with these tips I am not telling anyone how to play, I am saying IF you want to be a better teammate and have more fun or stress less, THEN these are some SUGGESTIONS on what to do and not do which you can take or leave at your personal discretion. I hope these are a sort of helpful starting point for how to approach the game as a teamplayer. I hope for Marvel Rivals, and the genre’s, continued success; that newer players continue to join, and improve the collective experience; that older players continue to develop their patience, mastery and leadership. And I hope everyone has more fun and less stress during their free time, in this case spent playing an online hero shooter. glhf