The Gamespy shell: things you should know
 The numbers refer to the picture below
  • As of version 1.29 the gamespy internet shell looks somewhat different enabling you with more options (1).
  • After you joined the shell,  select your version in the column version (2). This will show you only the games that you can join. Next press refresh and then hit on ping (3). This will change the list into the most recent games you can join and have the lowest ping will show up on top of the list.
  •  If you’r looking for a friends game, you can even type in a part of the title of your friends name below the list of games and above the chatbox.(4)
  •  Just press the game you want to join (if there are 2 crossed swords (6) in front of the game, this means its already begun and you cannot join it anymore.) and then click on join game (7). If you get the message unable to join game, have a look if the game isn’t full already(!8). Another reason could be that your internet/firewall/hub/switch/modem  isn’t configured properly. For help on this common “not enable to join/create a game” problem pls visit the following link for more information about this matter. cdv- forum Support - Router Problems 
  •  Below the chat box there is this icon (9) with either 1 or 3 people on it, if you click this you will only receive private messages. This is very handy for talking to friends. To talk private, just click on the name of the person you want to talk to in the chat box (10) or select the person in the list of players (11) and hit the chat icon(12) below the list. Alternatively you could manually type a PM to a person by typing this in to the chat box::”--->(nickname):(type message). So in practice this becomes    --->[E-BEL]^_^Angel^_^: hi ,how are you doing?
  •  If someone is bothering you, you have the options to mute that person. To do this just click on the mute button (13) below the player’s list. You will not receive anymore messages from this person untill you log in again on the gamespy shell.
  •  Another fancy option in the gamespy shell is this one: Let’s say you got a friend playing a game and you want to know how he is doing, or just what he is playing or with who. Type in the following message in to the general chat. (not the private!!)  --->(nickname):@@@GETINFO       (14)         So in practice, suppose I’m playing already and you want to see how I do:   --->[E-BEL]^_^Angel^_^:@@@GETINFO              After a second or 2 you will see a list (15) stating the name of the game, whether is rated or not, who is playing in it and how much score they have ( generally a good indicator for winning). Apparently you can only do this 3 times in a short time period in a row.