Five Things You Shouldn't Do While Playing Call of Duty: Black Ops with Your Friends

Without a doubt, you and your friends are going to schedule a full weekend of Call of Duty: Black Ops gaming at some point. And when you do, you're sure to start getting on each others' nerves with your poor gaming habits. Prevent these from starting early by following a few common sense courtesies for video gaming with others.

1. Get the Controller Greasy

There's no way you can go 12 hours without food. At some point, you're going to start breaking out the pizza and chips, and when that happens, guess where all that grease, salt and sauce are going to end up - that's right, plastered all over the toggles and the hand grips. Avoid triggering an early grenade by keeping a few wet paper towels or wet wipes on hand while you play. And think about handing the controller to someone else while you chow down for a while.

2. Complain About Your Losses

Nothing gets on gamers' nerves more than a whiny player. It doesn't matter if you just got shot right before making the last kill of the scene, no one wants to hear about it. If you don't want to fight that fantastic fight scene again, hand it off to someone else - I'm sure you won't get any complaints when it comes to taking your place in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

3. Bad-Mouth Your Friends

It doesn't matter if you're the host with the most or the guest - there's no excuse for cutting down other players' abilities. No one cares if you can kill five guys in two seconds. Bragging about your gaming talent and downplaying that of others' won't make you friends - it'll get you uninvited from the next gaming weekend.

4. Play More than Your Fair Share

No one wants to hear "Just one more minute" when they ask for the controller. Set a timer if you must to make sure you all get your "fair share," but don't dominate the game. In a similar vein, refrain from taking all the cool shooting scenes and relinquishing the controller when you get to a climbing scene or boring sequence that no one likes. Believe me, your buddies will catch on.

5. Make Constant Comparisons to Previous Versions of Call of Duty

No one likes to hear how much better the previous Call of Duty was in your mind. Focus on the game at hand. Continually comparing Call of Duty: Black Ops to other COD or even non-COD games just to be the devil's advocate for a while is pretty lame. But in the same vein, don't bad-mouth other games just because their graphics aren't as slick or gameplay isn't as involved. In fact, try not to talk - or even think - about the other games at all while you play.

Being a polite gamer isn't a crime. Even if your other friends are breaking these common courtesies, don't sink to their levels. Set the standard and be a courteous player - you might even reflect well on their manners!