We've been playing a lot of Street Fighter IV online. It's an ever-changing, exciting test of skill, adaptability and patience. Until, that is, you come up against a new kind of foe. The Street Fighter Jerk. You may not realise you've met him, but we're sure you'll recognise at least one of his traits.

But, tempting though it may be to adopt his ways, you don't have to be like him. Follow our simple guidelines and you won't have people cursing your name the world over. Unless of course that's what you want, in which case... you’re going to love these tips.

A simple one, this. It's not that we can't beat Ken players – so long as you block that rising dragon punch, you can maim them on the way down. No, the problem is that everyone picks him.

Above: Does this make you happy? Does it? DOES IT???

You see, unlike Street Fighter 1, there's a roster of 25 playable characters in SFIV. And yet we've seen ONE Abel player. ONE Fei Long player. ONE Sakura player (who probably only picked her because we did). And not a single Dhalsim, despite the fact one of the most recent SFIV tournament winners used Old Stretchy Arms. If you want to show true SF skill, use random select. Of course, if Capcom were to put Battle Point penalties for repeatedly selecting the same character, we wouldn't have to complain.

The Street Fighter Jerk will pick a one-win game with the shortest timer, hit you hard once with Zangief or similar, and then retreat for a time-out. The frustrating thing is, you often don't look at the timer and win count in the rush to make a connection, so your puzzlement turns to dismay as the lose screen appears. But you can't exact your revenge, as they're already gone, lost in the random matchmaking, possibly forever.

One for PS3 players, mainly, though it applies to 360 as well. You can tell who's installed the game by the fact the bout loads quickly. And with everyone having the option, it's just common courtesy to do so. Again, if you want to annoy people, combine this with the one-win match for maximum rage induction.

Some players have an annoying habit of kicking people out of their lobbies. Sure, bad connections are fair enough, but four bar players? Is it the risk of losing BP to a skilled player with a low score, or what? If you're really that good, be like Ryu and accept a challenge from anyone. It’s the way of the true warrior.

Above: What it feels like to be booted from the pre-match lobby

It's not cool to laugh at your opponent through the mic... although that soon stopped when our esteemed challenger became corner-trapped and lost heavily the following two rounds. We also received a message saying 'you hit like a bitch'. Is that a compliment? An insult? Either way, we had no idea what we were supposed to say in response. Er… you kick like a wether? Making friends, on the other hand, sending friend requests after great matches, is good. You can then meet up with like-minded people, with the added bonus of automatically avoiding the Street Fighter Jerk. Everybody wins.

But there's much worse to come...