First, have a LAN party with your buddies to check out the Stooge. As long as everyone is "in" on what's going on, and it's not a serious deathmatch (so egos are somewhat disengaged), it's fun just to watch the Stooge at work. Drive the Stooge. Be a volunteer Stooge victim. Get into observer mode and watch the Stooge do funky things (put a good driver at the controls in a level with very 3-dimensional combat, and you'll see some wicked stuff). Record demos, using a listen server, a demo proxy, or WinQuake... if you catch some especially amazing stuff "on film", we may post it here. You can also record demos from the Stooge's point of view (you'll need a demo proxy to do this).

Now, take a moment to ponder what Internet gameplay could degenerate into if precautions aren't taken in future games...

At this point, many of you may be done with the Stooge. There are other avenues to explore, however, if the Stooge happens to be the thing to rejuvenate your jaded Quake sensibilities a little. First, of course, you could try the same things that you always do, just with a little (ahem) help from the Stooge.

Crush Some Humans

Log onto an Internet deathmatch server where you, as a cyborg, are welcome, and try to crush everyone. We expect a lot of people will try this at least once. :-) Let people know that you're a bot (if they haven't guessed so based on your name), refrain from smack talk (remember, you aren't rocking the house; the bot is), and leave if asked politely. Remember that if you're too much of a problem, the server admin will simply ban you or all bots from the server. In general, use common sense, and use the StoogeBot responsibly.

Playing on a teamplay server is usually not going to be well-received, at least by the members of the other team. Unlike a deathmatch, people can't just ignore your score once they know you're a bot; you are affecting the score of a whole team. However, sometimes it is fun to put one Stooge on each team if the teams are large, perhaps identifying them with special shirt colors.

Hunt the Stooge

A large team attempts to take out a single StoogeBot. This game should be played on a fairly large level with interesting layout, so that the team can use tactical and strategic tricks to bring down the wily Stooge. The goal is to be the last man standing, and if you die after a certain amnesty period (for example one minute into the game) you are not allowed to respawn. The QTeam package from Quake Innovations would be helpful for supporting a game like this, in Paintball mode.

Stooge Turrets

Another possibility in CTF play is to allow each team use of one StoogeBot as a configurable, placeable gun turret, Obviously this will not work well at all on some easily defended levels, where one Stooge with a good rocket supply can put up an impenetrable base defense. But on larger or more open levels with smaller numbers of players, it adds an interesting resource.

Stooge Handicap

A match between a very strong and a very weak player -- for example you and your Significant Other -- can be made more amusing by giving the weaker player the Power of the Stooge. Obviously the results of the match wouldn't say anything about anything, but gibs would fly. The Stooge can also be a powerful compensator for someone with an extreme lag disadvantage, provided that the lag is consistent.

Stooge-on-Stooge Violence

One of the obvious things to try is Stooge vs. Stooge. When faced with an adversary with identical fire-control abilities, you will quickly learn how to turn every small advantage into an opportunity. You may find it more fun if you configure your server to decrease weapon damage by a half; otherwise, your mean-time-to-death will be very small indeed.

Bot Synthesis

For something completely different, you can route a client-side navigator bot through the Stooge proxy to create an autonomous bot with awesome fire control. Of course, the navigator bot would have to be able to do weapon selection. For example, if you compile the Terminator bot source code with HATEFIRE defined to be 0, you get a primitive navigator bot that makes a respectable opponent when combined with the Stooge. It will have noticeably better fire control than the Terminator alone, especially if you are experiencing some lag.

StoogeBot Sparring Partners

Besides just futzing around on Internet servers or matching it up against other bots, you can use the bot as a training partner by having a friend operate it while you attempt to avoid its wrath. This is an excellent way to learn how to play a level strategically ("Hrmm, how can I get to the red armor without being seen?")

StoogeBot Contests