I must apologize about my lack of a post for today. I had a term paper due, and like many WoW students, I have horrible time management skills. But that’s another topic I hope to address entirely.
Anyways, onto business!
First, I want to extend Gwaendar a hearty shoutout. He has honored me with a spot on his blog roll which I will reciprocate in kind. One Among Many has also done the same. I thank them both for their links. I believe it’s important to recognize writers who link to you. Any of you aspiring writers would do well to keep that in mind.
Today, I plan to start an ongoing series of blog posts about our struggles in WoW. I guess you could call it my catch all on days when I have no material!
In addition to WoW Blogs, I also read non-WoW blogs to help improve my writing and style. Lorelle’s Blog Struggles series has inspired me here, as you can see.
An Epic Tale
I’ve been lucky throughout my entire WoW raiding career. I cannot say there was an incident where my instance raid ID or my loot had been stolen and ninja’d. Unfortunately, others have not been so lucky. Big Bear Butt had his raid instance partially taken.
Kirk wrote an excellent reaction to the situation that I think everyone should check out.
In a game like World of Warcraft where players need to interact with others, social reputation is the currency. How players view you could either open doors or close them.
A situation like this one where a player has done something unfair will cause other players to think badly of them. The Guild in question will be labeled as an organization where none of it’s members can be trusted until the culprit is found.
I know what you’re thinking.
One Question
Who cares what they think? So what if I ninja loot and commit other acts? I pay $15 a month to play this game how I see fit and I don’t care what other people think of me.
One Answer
Because if you do that on a consistent basis, no one is going to want to deal with you. Take a look at the following list and possible penalties.
- No fun in groups because you can’t get any
- Zero raiding opportunities
- Crafters won’t want your business
- Online abuse
- …Need I say more?
He Was a Warlock
Let me cite an example. A year ago when I transferred to Ner’Zuhl (gosh has it been that long already?), I heard stories of a Warlock named Evilana. Apparently he was a bad player and had a bad reputation. To get associated with him meant serious bad news. I never knew precisely what the reasoning was behind it, but I did not want to deal with a player who sounded that bad. In fact, he was a target of many flamers on the WoW Forums. I was new to the server at the time and like a kid entering high school for the first time, just wanted to fit in. I didn’t actively participate in any e-floggings but I stayed distant.
A while later, I had gotten word that he either transferred off the server or ebayed his character (or both).
That was the last time I ever heard about him again.
The Lesson
Do not underestimate the power of a united social force. They have a mind of their own. Think of it as the online version of the mob mentality. They can spread the word about a player’s dominance and make him seem like a god. Or they can shred his reputation entirely like he is a pile of dirt. The popularity of a person depends entirely on what other people think of them. You can think of certain world leaders as an example. Popular opinion can spread like a wildfire and ruin WoW careers.
The End?
So what’s going to happen with BBB? I can only imagine. I suspect if they ever find the person involved, he’s only going to get a slap on the wrist and a stern talking to. But I plan to observe any developments with great interest.
Internet is just a more contained form of what we call reality. If you manage to do something that gets others putting up wanted posters about you in real life, it is the same online.
Actually, I would have to say that whatever you do online has more consequences than in real life (Like employers doing internet checks on the ones they are interviewing!). Sure, you will play this game to have fun, but you also have to remember that others play this game too. There is nothing wrong and no harm in acting respectful to others.
p.s. I don’t understand how you can write so much Matt. I try to write any blog post and my mind just blanks. 😛
Oh yeah, Kulrayk, I agree with you 100%. Just look at this guy:
http://valleywag.com/tech/your-privacy-is-an-illusion/bank-intern-busted-by-facebook-321802.php
Writing comes naturally to me. I usually keep a notebook on hand or e-postit notes on my macbook for ideas. Then I flesh them out during the day by hand and type them in the evening. I don’t know how I do it either.
From time to time I like to repeat on my own blog…I’m not a writer, never has and not good at writing. But I do read books allot so it helps.
I agree with a lot of you post about maintaining reputation in game or as it related to WoW since its the one I play usually. You have more to gain advantage wise for all that time invested to level your character through all those levels. I’ve had this as notes to write about at some point more so in asking the question “Does your Reputation Matter?”. And in a lot of ways it does if you are to truly enjoy the game. It does affect how your friends view you or relate to you in the game in groups or raids. Even when applying to guilds your reputation will matter i’m sure if people there know you already to be good or like the warlock guy above in the post.
Kulrayk I used to always wonder myself how I could think of stuff to write about WoW in the beginning. I realized as long as I was doing stuff in the game all the time stuff just falls out the sky to write about after a while or driving down the road you get a though out of the blue. When it happens I just make a notes.
Galo, you ought to give yourself some credit. You may not consider yourself a writer, but the fact that you have a blog and actively write speaks otherwise =). You may not believe yourself good at writing but I find that most readers aren’t picky.
Not sure how I did, but I did write my followup piece to your entry on Maintaining Reputation today I have being meaning to write.
Reputation, to me, is almost the most important part of wow. Everything that you do or say is seen or heard by someone that you will likey encounter later within the game. It’s hard to fix a bad reputation and easy to obtain one, kinda like rep with the Bloodsail lol. All it takes is one slipped word of offense and bam!, all of the sudden people don’t want to raid or group with you. I’ve seen it happen and it’s not pretty. I’ve even talked to a person who couldn’t play on his main anymore for the awful spamming he would get just because he ninja’d Domo’s chest almost two years back.