You might think there are no ethics at all in online play! In PXO chat you will hear a LOT of offensive language and pilot names in extremely poor taste. We do not sanction or condone poor behaviour in chat! In fact we are violently against it and hope to kill offenders often in games! For Descent 3 to grow and survive, it requires new participants, and if a newbie's first experience (Remember, there are a LOT of children who play this game!) is a bad one, or if a parent sees offensive language in a chat room, they may never come back!

As in life, you should take insults with a laugh, and come back with something witty and better! Apologise for mistakes. Quickly! Acknowledge praise. Admit it when you are lucky. Be quick to offer assistance.

Do NOT spam the chat room! (That is what the "ignore" feature in Gate is for!) Do NOT use foul language or resort to Argumentum Ad Hominem. Do NOT abuse people, particularly in their absence!

TYPE KILLING

A keyboard above a ship means they are typing. It is unethical to "type kill" a pilot except under the following circumstances: They raise a keyboard in the middle of a dogfight, they have repeatedly type killed you without remorse, or they have dropped their keyboard and nuked you immediately.

SPAWNKILLING

Sad to say, some pilots feel the need to kill you as you materialise after a death! This is not an acceptable way to kill people! I will not fire on a newly spawned pilot unless they fire at me first or they are heading for spew that I want, in which case I will put a stream of fire into the spew to discourage them. Once they have fired their first volley it is open season! Let them have everything you've got! I don't feel bad about killing pilots who only have blue lasers - if they are stupid enough to attack with that weaponry then they deserve to die.

So, to avoid getting spawn killed (or very shortly thereafter), don't start firing until you have a target and weapons and don't head straight for that tasty spew that someone with 8 smart missiles has their eye on.

BE A GOOD LOSER

You thought you were hot! You've shot down about a million robots - what could be so hard about shooting down people? You had a nasty surprise huh? Finding out you were the lowest of the low! Ha Ha! If you are new to online D3 play, expect to be killed a LOT for quite a while...

If you are a poor loser, a moaner, or a whiner, very quickly people will avoid playing with you! So take those deaths with a shrug and the defeats with grace. It won't be that long until you kill someone 20 times without being killed...

If you agree to play someone up to a certain number of deaths - then stick around for the whole game! Once the kill total has been reached, if you were beaten heavily - ask for a couple of tips before heading back to chat.

If you are getting repeatedly killed, resist the temptation to rant and rave with the F8 key! I like nothing more than to kill moaners!

AUDIO TAUNTS

Because you can make your own audio taunts, there are quite a few offensive ones out there! Do NOT complain that a taunt is offensive: strictly speaking - they are MEANT to be! If a taunt upsets you - it is doing its job!

You can disable audio taunts with the F6 key if you wish. Personally, I do not select very offensive taunts, but some do! Particularly pilots who are incognito (playing under a secret alias)

Audio taunts are very useful! I often use them to cover the noise I make while picking up weapons or using the afterburner. If you suspect that you can be heard picking up spew, play a taunt while doing it! Taunts are not directional while spew pickups and Afterburner sounds are! You figure it out...