Before playing in multiplayer matches, it is important to understand the rules and etiquette involved.
The latest COO Multiplayer Rules are always available in the COO Manual.
Individual competitions such as “Week of War” may have their own rules. Be sure to read these before participating.
Lag is, unfortunately, a large part of the XvT and XWA games. They were designed many years ago, so they can't take advantage of the high bandwidth connections we have now. 1v1 matches suffer the most from lag, as one participant (the host) has the most “pure” lag (lag from delays in communication), while the other (the guest) has the most packet-loss induced choppiness.
To resolve this, the 5/5 method of play was adopted, so called because the 10 minute match is divided up into two 5-minute halves. Each player hosts one half of the game, thus equalling out the lag.
When scoring a 5/5 match, remember to add up the results of both halves. Do not report them as two matches, as all matches must be ten minutes in length!
When playing a 2v2, 3v3,... match the lag does not work as in 1v1s. The player with the overall best connection should host the whole 10 mins. match and the lag will be (NOT equally) distributed among all the players. In the end there will be a lucky player with the least lag impact and a poor soul, not necessarily from the same team, who will have to endure the worst. Thus the scores will reflect this: if the player with less lag is also good he'll score an insane number of kills compared to others and even the best player ever will get a ridiculously low number of kills below his usual standards.
So, for the matches to be fair, it's normal to change hosts every few matches and it's courteous and honorable for both teams to accept it as long as there's another player with a decent connection. In the end it will be up to each player to continue suffering under permanent lag if the luck keeps being against him... Face it: it's almost impossible to predict who will have the worst in a 2v2 match until at least one game has been played on that host.
In addition to rules, be respectful when you participate in multiplayer events, especially against other clubs, where you are an ambassador of the EH. It is traditional to write “glhf” (for “Good Luck and Have Fun”) before a match starts, and write “gg” (for “Good Game”) afterwards. If you lose, do so with dignity, without making excuses. You can complain to your squadmates afterwards, but whining about the lag after just being beaten makes you look even worse :)