Everybody wants to make friends, right? Everyone wants to be accepted by others, to hang out with those who can help them reach beyond the status of newbiness, to find partners to do clockwork runs with, and to learn how to be a valuable player from those who already are. The only problem, it seems, is that many....many new players have no idea what sort of etiquette should be observed in the friend making process. Here are a few tips on how to make friends, specifically what NOT to do.

First of all, many new players seem to want to make friends with endgame players (you know, the ones in 5* gear) which is perfectly fine. Those of us who are in 4 or 5 star equipment obviously know how to play the game, and when asked for advice we can provide some enlightening opinions or helpful hints. I actually encourage newbs to ask us 5* people for help. Newbs, or new players, should be nurtured and crafted into valuable members of the spiral knights community, as we are relatively small as it is and a growing community will lead to a better game

Noobs however (notice noob does not equal newb) should not be nurtured, but should be shunned. Unfortunately, it seems many a newb exhibits noob behavior, either out of ignorance or proclivity, to no resolve. I myself have noticed that many a newby attempts to try and become a friend through noob like behavior, and this may confuse those players who are actually willing to learn (the newbies) with those players who only exist to annoy (noobs). To help all you newbies who want to make friends and learn from the pros, here are a few quick tips on how not to act like a noob.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) -Don't send random friend requests to someone without any sort of communication beforehand-

-I'm sure most of us endgame players know what I'm talking about here. We'll just be loitering around at the Auction House when all of a sudden we get two or three random friend requests from people whom we have never met or spoken to before.

All you new players out there, know this: Random Friend requests, en masse, from those we do not know will not make us want to be friends with you. At the very least, introduce yourself and show some indication that you are new, mature, and willing to learn, before you throw out a request.

2) - Know the proper time to send out a friend request -

-Assuming you have learned not to throw out random requests in the hopes of getting a friend, the next step to making a buddy is to know when to send a request. The right time to send a request? after the appropriate conversation of course.

If you want to make friends, do NOT :
-Insult the person with rude comments or swears, and then send a friend request like nothing went down. If their first impression of you is an immature kid who seems to have just learned swear words and thinks it's "cool" to throw em out every other word (like those annoying grade schoolers on xboxlive...) then why would they be friends with you?

-Beg for free stuff. No one likes beggers, especially if their reason behind asking for free stuff is "we be friends now! give me stoof plox!" No one will be your friend if you beg for stuff.

3) -Don't throw random trade requests to people without first saying something-

-Again, just like the out of the blue friend requests, we endgame players are often hit with an endless onslaught of random trade requests without warning. New players, never send out a trade request without warning, assuming we will know what it is you want. We aren't mind readers, if you don't at least have the courtesy to say something like "Hey, i have some mats i want to sell, would you be interested in any of these?" before you spam trades to rich looking players and throw random mats on the screen, then no one will be your friend.

4) -Don't use Leetspeak-

-For those of you who do not know, "leetspeak" is a very annoying manner of speaking involving unnecessary abbreviations and the butchering of simple grammar. Everyone uses a select few leetspeak terms, (I mean, Newb and Noob are Leetspeak), but taking double the time typing every word as an abbreviation or with a number only makes you half as understandable. Stick to the occasional "pwned" or "noob" when joking around with your friends, but for the most part PLEASE type in fully formed sentences. The minimum age to play this game is 13 for a reason: by then you should have a simple understanding of basic language. USE IT.

5) -Learn the game mechanics-

-The best way to stop being a Newb without falling victem to Noob behavior is to simply learn how to play yourself. There are some rather hard to find guides for new players, most of them obscured among the wiki, and I know that some players are bad at navigating sites to find this sort of thing. Here are a few links that will prepare you Newbies to become Pros:

http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Official:Introduction
http://wiki.spiralknights.com/List_of_commonly_used_abbreviations
http://wiki.spiralknights.com/New_Player_Briefing

If you absorb the information in those three simple links, Many of the annoying questions that turn us Pros away from helping Newbs will not be a problem, and we can then help with actual opinions (rather than "Hey! Why can't you craft me a 5* vog cub coat! Free stoof please!" Newbies might ask something like "Which is more useful, a Leviathan Blade or Cold Iron Vanquisher? Any opinions?")

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So to wrap things up, there are only a few simple things Newbs must abide by to not become Noobs.

Have the common sense to talk to people, just as if you were talking in person. Sending requests of any kind to a complete stranger will make them feel annoyed, and unsettled. I myself have clicked "delete" right away on hundreds of random Friend Requests, and sadly i believe that some of those I shunned were actually Newbs wanting legitimate help bettering themselves who fell victim to Noob like behavior. Learn the game, because learning for yourself will always make you stronger than if you ask someone else the shortcuts. And finally, sorry for this WALL OF TEXT that I put up here, but I'm sure that many more experienced players have these concerns, and I am but one who is expressing my voice.

Good luck to all you Newbies! I know you will become fantastic players one day, as long as you stay away from the path of the Noob.