Gamer sense: The Ten Commandments

Given my proclivity to collect trophies in games, I would say I'm a little better than the average gamer, though everyone has titles they are experts at. However there's a way you can approach every game that I call "gamer sense," that some people don't seem to have. I am subscribed to James and Mike Mondays, and enjoy watching them play old and/or rare games. Occasionally, they miss things that to me, are quite obvious. Call me elitist, but I feel like these habits are pretty universal, and implementing them will make you a better gamer in general.

Thou Shall Visit the Options Menu before starting thy Game.

In our excitement to get to the action, tutorial, or 10 minutes of opening cutscenes, it's helpful to know what you can customize about the game. Even if you don't tweak anything right away, if you need a difficulty reduction, want to turn up the game music or hate that R1/shoulder is fire (I despise this).

Thou Shall Go Left when the Main Story branches Right.

Not everyone's a collector, but games almost never put upgrades and bonuses in your main path. Even if you run into nothing but dead ends, you've deduced that the game is linear!

Thou Shall break Shit.

This is a test of the game's physics. Shoot/slash everything in the first room you start. If you see a crack in the wall, does it break open to reveal a secret or is it graphical? Is that door texture or does it open? Can you hurt your teammates?

Thou Shall Make multiple Saves.

Yep.

Thou Shall Throw a Hadouken.

If you're playing a new fighting game and don't want to interrupt the flow every 2 seconds, try out familiar inputs from Street Fighter. Smash Bros are the only fighting game I can think of that doesn't share inputs with SF. That leaves the rest of the fighting game market.

Why won't it go forward!?!?!?!?

Heed the HUD.

In coop, it'll keep you from taking the only food for yourself, despite having full life. You also learn what info is available. A friend of mine always asks how he died when the message to 'press X to survive' button is right there in the middle of the screen.

Thou Shall Listen, but...

Play with the best audio you have. Aside from sick soundtracks, sound design is a long part of the developing process and should be prioritized in your game experience. Telling where you're getting shot from is pretty important to survival. Also, special attacks and collectibles usually have audio cues that aren't to be ignored.

Thou Shall Grind Levels to thine own Music.

Game music is a sacred gift, and such repetition may sour your experience. If you're gonna do something tedious, jazz it up with something you can sing to, or make up your own lyrics about rocking bad guys.

Thou Shall not Play only one Platform.

If you have the funds, then get over your brand loyalty! Nintendo has a new gimmick each system, and most of them work quite well! Microsoft boasts a great controller for FPS games, the Gears and Halo series. Sony made a perfect controller, and shares your best gaming moments at the press of a button. Keyboard and mouse are pretty much the only ways to play RTSes and PCs offer the ultimate customization.

Thou Shall Watch thy Mouth.

If you're going to vent your frustration in a litany of racist, sexist or otherwise derogatory marks, mute your microphone. We all get heated, but share your comments with friends in private chat, rather than the general public. Also, don't diss on others' favorite games, and instead rejoice in the fact that they enjoy video games! There are still people who don't enjoy video games, called "sleeping husks." That was just me, ending my Commandment of Respect with a diss!