The noob

The noob is a webcomic started by Gianna Masetti in June of 2004. The plot revolves around a new gamer named Ohforf'sake (generally referred to as "Ohforf") who represents the quintessential noob in a MMORPG. The comic serves as a parody and as something of a social commentary on the MMORPG genre in general. Notably, it criticizes MMORPG staff for incompetence and also shows the perceived image of MMORPG players as inclined to act antagonistically with regard to seemingly minor infractions and situations in the virtual worlds in which they interact. The noob is currently a full color comic, although in the beginning that wasn't the case. The noob is very well known among the players of various online games like World of Warcraft, RuneScape and other MMORPGs.

The comic was nominated for a Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards in 2005 and it received an honorable mention in the Gaming category. Since 2006, the comic has been featured on in their comic section.

Characters
Main characters

Ohforf'sake
A neophyte player, Ohforf is the protagonist of the comic. He is neither a role-player nor a player-killer, instead simply trying to have fun and experience the game.
Hypatia
A slightly more experienced player of Clichequest and a close in-game friend of Ohforf'sake. A female character, Hypatia is well used as commentary on the situation of females (and those who play female avatars) in MMORPGs.

Darkie
Known in full as "Sir Darkblade Wolfeyes Orcbane Raislin De Urden Von Strudel", he is a role-player. He is a friend of Hypatia and despises player-killers. He is generally regarded as fairly incompetent and eternally seeks female companionship

The RPers
In full, "The Righteous Protectors of the Crimson Star", this is a guild of role-players. At one point the guild tries to create an army by merging with other anti-PK guilds and forming the Zealot Elite Righteous Guardians (the acronym of which is "ZERG", a humorous reference to the race of the same name in Blizzard's Starcraft). The word "Zerg" is associated with using large amounts of units to overwhelm the enemy, even though each has little skill in battle (such as a large mass of the cheap and quick to produce Zergling from Starcraft) and in the same way, the RPers are poor in battle but plan to overwhelm the PKs.

The PKers
The primary antagonists - though sometimes also the anti-heroes - of the comic, the PKs kill other player characters for the loot and enjoyment. The six major PKers featured in the comic are "Cyrus", a level 200 with rogue admin powers, "Your Name Here", "Dakilla", "D34dly D34dly", "Drakoola", and "Fred the Dread", the latter five being members of a clan called "The Outcasts".
In Runescape a "pker" is a person who fights in the wild for cash

Sir Bob
A flamboyant, very experienced, and skilled high-level player who quit Clichequest early on in the strip, but has since returned by popular vote among the comic's readers.

Game Masters
Game Masters, or GMs, in Clichequest eerily resemble members of the Ku Klux Klan because of a similar resemblance in Ultima Online. There are many GM's, and notable are GM Malevolence plus the four "GM's of the Nerfageddon"; GM Plague, GM Famine, GM War and GM Death (the true horsemen are interpreted to be Conquest, Famine, War, and Death). Each rides a colored "steed", making a clear reference to the Four Horsemen. Lord Saxon is the creator of Clichequest, a clear reference to Lord British from the Ultima Online series and brings about the Nerfageddon after being knocked into a pool of water, but before he can truly get into his rampage he is picked up by GM Famine while shocking a character with purple lightning and thrown into a small pond (referencing the end of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi when Darth Vader throws the Emperor into a giant shaft leading to the center of the Death Star, killing him).

Running gags
The jokes found in The noob are often drawn from MMORPG "culture".
Movie References
The noob often makes references to popular movies. Movies that are repeatedly referenced include Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now, I, Robot, and Ghostbusters.

Character names
Some character names are references to the habit of MMORPG players of naming their characters after icons of popular (usually fantasy) culture. This theme first appears in the third episode, where the player has to choose the name for his character. His first few tries all reference The Lord of the Rings, including obscure variants like xXxAragornxXx. All of these attempts fail as all variants are taken. His naming attempts consequently move on to Forgotten Realms (a setting), namely the dark-elf character Drizzt Do'Urden. These two works of fiction, along with the Dragonlance novels (another setting), are a common source of player character names in MMORPGs with a fantasy setting, as players are often inspired by these works and seek to emulate the protagonist(s).

Later, on arrival in Elfboro, Ohforf finds that almost all the elven citizens are named Legolas with minor spelling variations - for example, Legolaus, Legolazz and Leg'olas, all presumably named in dubious honour of the fictional elven archer Legolas from The Lord of the Rings.

The author of The noob commented at one point that she had encountered characters in World of Warcraft named after characters from the comic, evidencing the size of its sphere of influence.

Roleplayers
One of the distinct playing styles in MMORPGs is the "Roleplayer," defined as one who plays in character. In one of the more popular MMORPGs, World of Warcraft, roleplayers are given separate servers on which to play - these servers have a different ruleset that encourages appropriate naming and behaviour. In Clichéquest, the roleplayers exist in a separate town instead.

Print versions
The noob has been in print at since 2005, and is now on its fourth volume. The books contain 50 episodes each: book 1 covers 1 through 50, book 2 51-100, book 3 101-150, and book 4 episodes 150-200.

Reviews
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*[http://fr.news.yahoo.com/29112006/308/mmorpg-reportage-video-sur-les-recolteurs-d-or-chinois.html Yahoo! Actualités]
*[http://pegasus.n4f.no/utdrag_nr2.pdf Pegasus Magazine (January 2007 page 4 ISSN 1890-0704)]

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