[Leokaiser]

I remember my first berating on Live. It took me days to solo my Paladin to level 6 or so - my first character on my first MMO... soon to join my first group.

"Oh wow, a camp full of Orcs, and the 'consider' thing says they'll kill me easily" I think to myself as I settle in with my group at Orc1; srs bznz! So, I'm killing stuff with my new friends and everything is going great and... oh no! The big green killing machine is attacking me! I'm wearing cloth and I'm not even aware of the concept of a 'tank' at this point - all I know is that I'm dying fast.

So, I can a) take it in the face and fall down like a Italian football player or b) do the only thing that seems reasonable to keep myself alive... run around in a circle until someone saves my ass. Obviously, my choice of option 'b' places me in the 'newb' category.

Now the group's tank is faced with an option. Does he a) realise that I'm new to the game and politely inform me that running won't stop me taking damage, and if I stand still it makes it easier for him to taunt the mob, or b) turn on caps lock and say "NEVER RUN AROUND WHEN IM TRYING TO TAUNT THE FUKCING MOB YOU FUCKING NOOB!"?

If you are that tank, which answer to you think would place you in the 'fucktastic douchebag' category?

Thankfully, another player in the group sent me a tell explaining my error with slightly more palatable language. I would have become a better player either way, but I left that camp, my first group, with one player on my friends list and one on my ignore list.

Tone is everything.