Five ways (not) to behave in Blur

This is the fun part.

I’ve gotten my first taste of online multiplayer with Blur, and I’ve got to say…some people are doing it wrong. Despite the number of excellent races I’ve had with friendly total strangers who are simply having fun whether they win or lose, I’ve heard a fair amount of loud whining already, and I’d kind of like to nip it in the bud. It’s all about people’s attitudes. So before you jump in for some online Blur multiplayer (and certainly before you join me for Friday night’s event), let me manage your expectations:

The beta is over.
Things have changed. That’s WHY they had the beta — to change it, to improve and balance the game. Yet I’ve heard people complain that their old driving methods don’t work as well now — a power-up has been moved, or a car behaves a little differently, or whatever. I’ve found that a larger selection of cars, a wider selection of tracks, and those little tweaks from the beta have caused me to have to alter what I’ve learned — not to mention that there are now a whole lot more people getting in on the action, of varying skill levels and experience. If you are moaning about what’s not the same anymore, I think you need to approach Blur with a fresh attitude and less preconceptions. And speaking of all those new drivers on the road…

It was never just about you.
Last night I played with folks who had the game early — press, Activision people, and anybody who was lucky enough to find a store that broke street date. And those folks in the last group were still clinging to beta glory that had long since faded. Someone boasted that they were in the top 20 of the beta as if it should confer special powers unto them and their car, and another person bemoaned the fact that they weren’t going to enjoy the game after Tuesday (when it comes out) because ”it will no longer be exclusive.” If you were playing Blur early to make yourself feel cool, you were playing for the wrong reasons — everybody else felt cool simply by playing Blur. And the entire world getting the opportunity to play the game? That was always going to happen. If you want to be the only person getting all the attention for your mad skills, head over to single-player career mode, where you are, without question, the star of the show.

Rubbin' is racin'. So is shuntin', bargin', and shockin'.

Less whining, more learning.
“Aw, why do you keep hitting me with attacks?” “Stop sending shocks my way!” “I went from second place to 14th in two crashes!” Yes…you did. And you are going to continually be the target of attacks, even when other players don’t know that they are targeting you specifically. Blur’s motto is “powered-up racing” because it’s racing with power-ups, things designed to make this much more interesting and dramatic than just circling the track in a pretty car. Your driving skill and attack strategies factor into who wins the race…but so does everyone else’s. Blur is about chaos, unpredictability, and not knowing exactly what is going to happen or who is going to win until someone speeds (or flies, or crashes, or is shoved) over the finish line. If you are looking for a polite lap around the track where the perfect line wins over cunning and opportunism, you are simply playing the wrong mode. That said, there is a mode in the game that removes power-ups for racing purists who find them distracting. So you can have it your way — but get in the right lobby, okay?

Verbal restraint is good.
One of the best features of Blur, to me, is the 20-person races. No other racing game has done that before so I generally go to that mode first. But the downside is that, instead of seven other people hearing your unfunny stabs at comedy, now 19 have to suffer. Last night I left a game because of the constant stream of inane chatter — and I’m not just talking about jokes I wasn’t in on, I’m talking about people humming one note for several minutes, like a three-year-old does when it realizes it can make sound. I think commenting on the in-game action is fine — there’s always room to tell someone they got a good shot in on you, or even to let them know it was you who barged them off the side of a cliff — but this isn’t open mic night, nor is it an experimental music expo. Making noise to hear yourself make noise is a good way to get muted, if not reported, and as for the more innocuous stuff, remember that everybody is playing their own race, and they don’t need constant updates about what power-ups you just got and what your global strategy is, nor do they need to hear you go “yahoo!” every time your car catches air. Audio plays an important part of Blur, since you often hear incoming attacks before you see them — so respect that and shut up.

Don’t be a jerk.
This is good advice for daily life anyway, but I’ve found the lobbies in Blur to be much more friendly, open, and jovial than you’ll find in other games. Let’s keep it that way, yeah? This really is a game that encourages “friendly competition” more than most, and it’s what keeps me coming back. We already have enough hardcore games online where people inexplicably feel they need to be brutal to the other players outside of the game environment; there’s no reason for Blur to fall into that trap. And it’s up to the players to make sure it doesn’t.

With that out of the way, I can’t think of anything that will get in the way of my having a blast. What I didn’t blog about were all the great races I’ve already had, and all the people who are not, intentionally or unintentionally, impacting other people’s enjoyment. There’s a lot of people who just wanna go fast and get crazy, and laugh all the way to the finish line — and Blur is definitely the game for them.

Buckle up. This is going to be fun.