We've all been there. You're enjoying yourself with some online play, be it on the PC or over XBox Live, and all of a sudden something happens that ruins it all. It can be anything, but invariably it's the actions of another player rather than the action of the game itself.

You see the problem is that different people have differing opinions on what is acceptable and what isn't. It all comes down to etiquette, and the biggest problem is that, with online gaming, there are no hard and fast rules. What few rules there are appear to be unwritten, and therefore some people don't know about them.

The idea for this article came from a guy I used to work with. He'd identified business benefits by writing down the unwritten rules of the department in which he worked. As everyone could then see everything about the way they did business, everyone could work in the same direction. Now I'm not saying that writing down these rules will make online gaming even more fun. However, if everyone could stick to these simple guidelines then I can imagine online gaming becoming far less frustrating. So here they are:

Don't disconnect
It's not big and it certainly ain't clever. There's nothing more frustrating than putting together an awesome performance against a player who is undoubtedly better than you. You're just about to pull off a memorable win, and all of a sudden you have no opposition. Rather than sully their online record, the other player has quit so that you don't score a victory over them. Very annoying, very childish and an easy way to find yourself on my blocked list.

No shouting
Seriously, what makes you think that I want to listen to you shouting random words down a microphone at me? Or singing for that matter. Or humming. Or telling your wife what you want when she goes to Taco Bell? If I really wanted to know that I'd of asked (as well as asking you to get some for me). So remember that there is a mute button on virtually every headset I've seen, flick the switch, do what you gotta do, and then come back to the game.

Remember what you're playing
I agree that certain in-game tactics are annoying (I've recently witnessed a spawn-camper in Rainbow Six Vegas get booted from the game for that) but seriously people have some focus. Shouting at me because I've just crashed my car into your car on Burnout is ridiculous. Would you shout at the console if you were playing offline? Thought not! Also, if I'm in a player match on my XBox 360 and you call me a "****ing noob" then you're gonna get blacklisted. Everyone starts somewhere, and if you want people with high skill levels then go to the Ranked matches.