Don’t be another Leeroy Jenkins
Leeroy Jenkins, a true internet legend. This video existed before YouTube. And this is the first viral video I watched on the internet when I was a kid. In the video, you can see a bunch of people gathering at the gate of a dungeon kind of thing, getting ready to slaughter some monsters. They were checking their items, their equipment. A guy (possibly the leader) talked about how he is going to cast his aoe spells, which means spells that deal Area of Effect damage. And one guy even did the math. But suddenly, a player yelled “LEEEROY JENKINS!” and rushed into the dungeon like he had gone mad. The rest of the team were in shocked, they had no choice but to follow him while cursing and swearing about how stupid Leeroy was. And then, it was the sad story of how a fully prepared team got slaughtered by the monsters.
This player, Leeroy Jenkins, is the perfect example of a bad video game player or what video game players called rambo, noob (the opposite of pro, usually suck at playing). As mentioned in the textbook, a good video game usually requires the players to collaborate with others to achieve a certain goal and players can learn the collaborative problem-solving skills. This is very true for the team in the video, they were well-prepared, they discussed the strategies. However, Leeroy Jenkins clearly did not collaborate. Instead of following his leader, he ran into the dungeon alone like Rambo, causing the death of the whole team.
When we talk about video games, we mostly refers to consoles like xBox, PS etc. and PC online games such as WoW or LoL. One common thing about these two types of games is that they both require the player to have good team work. No team work = GG. One noob is all it takes to ruin the game.
Teamwork is crucial especially in first-person shooting (FPS) games. You can always play by yourself and go against computer bots, but that’s no fun. The real fun of video games is that you can go online and play with other players around the world. But to experience the fun, you have to have good collaborative skills. In many FPS games like Counter-Strike or Left 4 Dead, the game emphasis is on teamwork. Like many other FPS games, there are not just normal guns that you can use but many other weapons like grenades, flashbang, grenade launcher, flame thrower etc. In order to be good at playing the game, a player must know how to use these weapons, at least have a basic knowledge. Using them in the wrong way, in the wrong time may cause death.
I will give you an example from my own experience. Well, I suck at FPS games. The two FPS games mentioned above are the FPS games that I have played. When I was playing CS about 6 or 7 years ago, I loved buying a lot of grenades and flashbangs. But i suck at throwing them. There was once when my teammates had low hp, running away from the enemies, and I tried to scare them off with a grenade. So I threw, feeling glorious for saving my teammates lives. But I threw too high, the grenade hit the wall and bounced back. BOOM. Instant deaths. After that, there was a huge wave of cursing and swearing at how bad I am, calling me noob and I got kicked out of the room.
So this is the game that I am playing every day now. It is called League of Legends (LoL). It is one of the fastest-growing and the most popular online video game in the world now. It has an embodied story behind the game, telling the story of a virtual world where different Champions (characters) joined the League to compete against each other, and can be summoned by a Summoner (player). Each Champion has his/her/its own back story.
As shown in the image above, at the bottom part of the screen, you can see the items you own and the abilities you could use. This is an iconic interface that was mentioned in the textbook which players can use to direct action in that virtual world. The abilities are fixed, every player gets the same thing if they choose the character that I chose. But it is up to the player of what items to buy and how to sequence in using those abilities. You have to make decision, adjust your strategy in different situations. When I was new to this game, I did not understand when my teammates said “mia“. After numerous defeats and asking, I finally know how to interpret this cue. Other than simply telling “an enemy is missing”, it carries a wider range of meaning such as “be careful, he might be coming to gank(to try and kill an enemy by surprise, often with more than one player) you.” etc.
I scored a penta-kill in that match. (Yes, I’m awesome.) This is the result of experiential and active learning in game. To be a good player in an interactive online game, you have to be collaborative and understand various cues. And this is how I became a carry from a noob like Leeroy Jenkins.
Curiouser and curiouser 
LOL. I guess playing FPS with others is also a good way to learn how to get used to receive a cold-shoulder when you are being useless, what an essential social skill.