Let's go ahead and get the boring parts out of the way, shall we? When you begin your Murder Miners career, the first thing you want to do is adjust your controls and aim settings. You may be satisfied with the default controls, and that is fine, but not that many people like the default aim settings. I am going to go through with you on how to change control settings and aim settings for mouse and keyboard only, just to make it easier to follow along.

How To Change Controls
1. Go to 'options' in the bottom of the main menu
2. Go to 'Controls'
3. Go to 'Customize Controls'
4. Left click on the control you want to change
5. Click the new key you want that action to be in
6. To cancel changing a control, simply press esc.
7. Once you are satisfied, simply click 'back'
Note
You cannot put two controls on the same key. Be aware of this, because if you do that, it will set the other action you set to that key to nothing. That means you will not be able to use that action unless you set it to another key.

How To Change Aim Settings
1. Go to 'options' in the bottom of the main menu
2. Go to 'Controls'
3. Go to 'Customize Aim Settings'
You will find two options for an 'x' speed and a 'y' speed. I recommend keeping them equivalent to each other, as that makes for more balanced aiming. Play around with these settings. See what's right for you. Do you like slow aiming speed? Fast aiming speed? Or maybe a little in between?

This is going to be a little "out there", but if you want to play competitively, please, PLEASE, play MML maps. These maps are found in the 'Murdermatch' category, and have been made specifically for competitive play. Much too often I see people playing on Cat Scratch, or other maps that are considered artistic, and they go to these maps for practice. NO. Don't do that. Not only will you not be able to experience competitive situations, but you will also not be familiar with maps that are used in the Muder Miners League. You know what kind of Maps they use? That's right, MML maps, and not Cat Scratch. (It's still a great map, Dog)

Advantages Of Playing MML Maps
1.It will be easier to learn callouts. These help your teamates know who, what, and where everything is going on in the map.
2. If you are an average player playing against a pro player on a map you know like the back of your hand, and the pro player has never played on it before, you will most likely have the upper hand on most encounters. This means you have a higher chance of WINNING.
3. By playing MML maps publicly, other players could also be encouraged to start being active in the competitive scene of Murder Miners. That could mean a worthy opponent, a good teamate, or even a close friend.

And you should not just play on MML maps. That would be boring. You should only play on them for practice, getting better, learning callouts, and participating in tournaments. So yes, you should still hop into a twenty player game of infection, or build pixel art in match making mode.

So, you found out the settings that are right for you, and you have an idea on what kind of maps you should practice on. Now before you get started, you should familiarize yourself with different mindsets, and how you should set goals for yourself.

What Is A Mindset?
A mindset is how you look at the game before, during and after you play it. There are a lot of mindsets, and they could be considered "gaming philosophies" if you like. Since there are so many,
I will just give a few basic ones, and all of these mindsets have their up's and down's, so you should find the best one for you. And remember, everybody has a different mindset, whether these differences are big or little, so you should not be worried about following these mindsets exactly to the point. Just use them as a base plate to form your own mindset that will help you enjoy and get more out of the game.

The Casual Mindset
I really do not recommend this mindset for those who want to play cometitively.
Pros:
1. Tend to be less frustrated
2. Easier to get into the game and have fun
3. If you don't care for getting good at the game, this mindset is for you.

Cons:
1. You won't be as good as competitive players skill wise (usually)
2. It would be more difficult to join MML
3. You may be looked down upon by better players

Overall, people usually start gaming as casual gamers. These people play mostly "Just for fun" and are usually very easy to get along with and play with. People who want to get better or win a lot usually do not prefer this mindset.

The "Winning" Mindset
This mindset is for super competitive gamers who only want to win. I don't really recommend this guide for anyone who likes to have friends.

Pros:
1. Generally VERY good at the game
2. You will win a lot

Cons:
1. Most of these people have personalities equivalent to a soggy, fermented, shotgun-diahreah induced terd.
2. You will tend to get more frustrated with the game and with people you are playing with when things don't go your way.
3. People generally will not like you for being such a "tryhard"

Overall, not too many people like these kind of players. Their mindset is too focused on winning and not getting better. Even though they are generally better at the game then others, they are also generally mean people. I used to be a player with this mindset so I should know.

The Positive Mindset
This mindset is debatably the best one to play by, and I like to call it the "getting better mindset." This mindset is made for people who still care about winning, but not to an extreme. They don't focus on being the best, but rather being the best that they can be.

Pros:
1. Generally better at improving their game
2. Generally don't get too frustrated, but can after a while
3. Generally good at not rage quitting when they die, but rather analyzing their death, seeing what they did wrong, and try not to let it happen next time
4. Generally easy to get along and play with

Cons:
1. Generally do not become the best players ever
2. C'mon, this has to be the right mindset, right?

Overall, I recommend this mindset to any person who wants to get better. So instead of calling "hax" on someone when they kill you, have you not considered that maybe you engaged while you were still one-shot? Or maybe you walked into that grenade even though you knew it would be coming? Analyze your deaths, and learn from them.

The image below is the loadout selection screen.


This is the first thing you will see when the match starts. What is it? The loadout menu. You can choose two weapons from the eight weapons available, but which ones are the best? Which ones should I use? That is what this Section os going to cover.

Popular Loadouts
There are some loadouts that seemingly everyone uses, so I will list some below.

1. Machine Gun and Shotgun
This loadout is considered the "noob loadout". This is righteously so. This loadout is only effective in close to medium range, and contain no precision weapons (weapons that can scope.)
Do not use this loadout unless you are on a VERY small map.

2. Sword and Hookshot
This one is even WORSE than the noob loadout. NEVER use this. EVER. This loadout will suck out every ounce of competitiveness that you have. Not only is this loadout ONLY decent at close range, but the sword overcharge can easily be stopped by a quick 3 shots to the head by a pistol.

3. Sniper and Shotgun
This loadout is surprisingly popular. It seems good at first, sniper at long range, shotgun at close range. But it really is not all that great. Using these weapons together, you are trying to put yourself into multiple play styles at once. Need I also mention you will suffer at medium range? But seriously, it's really one or the other. If you wanna play a sniper, you wanna play at long range. If you wanna play a shotgun, you wanna play at close range. Do you see what I mean?

4. Pistol and Battle Rifle
This is the default loadout for MML matches. All the other weapons are on the map. This loadout is surprisingly deadly in the right hands, but the Pistol and BR are so similar, why would you want to use them both?

5. Sniper and Pistol
Now this loadout is the one you want to be using. You will excell at any range with the help of the pistol, and your foes will fall quickly due to your relentless headshots. The BR also works in place of the pistol for this loadout, but the pistol really kills it with this one. Literally.

Note:
Everyone has their own preferences. But the three weapons you want to focus on getting good at is the Sniper, Pistol, and BR. Every weapon is situational, and excell at some situations better than that of other weapons, but these three are probobly the most balanced all around.