When fun and crummy tendancies coincide.

I didn't see a thread of this nature after skimming quickly over a few pages back, so I hope it's alright to make.

- -

Today, I let my trusting, fun-loving nature get the best of me.

I've been playing Guild Wars off and on for about 18 months now - I'd wager that I have something like 13 months of good, solid playing at this point - and have spent much of that time completely broke, or dirt poor as I like to say.

But it's been fun! So much fun that I've stopped caring about this that or the other item. I've worked for everything that I have. All the armor sets, the neat weapons, the skill captures, and the titles - official or not - that come along with investing so much time in a game.

However, after so much time I recently came upon an inscribable Dwarven Axe. Imagine my surprise when, after so long of find req. 11-13 gold items, 1 shard for every 15 FoW runs, common skins and 1 or 2 black dyes, I should happen to find for myself what I've seen a lot of people calling the second rarest skin next to a Crystalline sword (whether it is or not is not pertinent to this thread)! I was ecstatic. I finally had a way to work towards the higher-end items that I had been pursuing for so long.

So, I made myself a thread here on Guru and started attempting to sell the item in-game as well. For several days I advertised, getting bids of 100 ecto, 130, 140 in-game (though none on the forums, hehe). My dreams of grandeur were large, but they remained over-shadowed by the fact that Guild Wars has always been fun for me - a place where I can relax with friends, etc.

Just a few moments ago, a fellow in Ascalon city showed interest in the item, and wanted to see the skin outside. So outside we went, me wondering if he'd be the one to take the item off my hands - I had no idea how quickly and literally this thought would come to fruition. He saw the skin and enjoyed it very much, saw that it was inscribable and became more interested, and wanted to see the stats. He told me that he couldn't see them in the trade window, which should've been a clue to me that I was about to be ripped, but hey, I'm a trusting guy who just likes to have fun! Money is nice, but fun is much better. I have money in real-life, so what do a few ecto in a game mean to me?

Apparently, not everyone feels the same way. Because of my happiness and trusting nature I told the fellow to walk several yards away while I dropped it really quick for him to take a look at. Unfortunately I didn't see that his secondary was Assassin, and no sooner did I drop the item than he warped forward and grabbed it, leaving the game promptly after.

Yes, I know I'm an idiot. You can trust in the fact that I've drilled that into my head. But I'm not so angry as I am just plain dissapointed.

After so long spent playing this game with friends and having lots of fun just working towards the higher end of things, the fact that someone would just jump up and use the first opportunity to grab what I had luckily stumbled across without know or caring about who I was or what I'd come through up to the point of recieving this item just makes me sad. Not sad because I was back to being broke - it's what I'm used to, afterall - but sad that someone would take their position in a game so seriously that they would use such tactics on a trusting individual like myself to dupe someone out of something so that they could remain a big spender themselves.

I remember the very very first time I had a chance to take something from someone. I was being run to Droknar's Forge by someone who I did not know, me a level 17 warrior at the time and the person level 20, of course. Well, along the way I died, so I could watch the person do their thing, which is mure more exciting than sitting by zones waiting for the next traversal. My corpse was situated just before the Drok's zone, near the res shrine, and right before the person zoned they dropped a gold Crystalline sword to show off to us all. We ooh'd and ahh'd, and then the oddest thing happened. The person got cut off. So we ressed at the shrine and I used my one speed skill to run and grab the item. I whispered the person and returned it to them because, afterall, it's just a game, right?

I just wonder sometimes about the neediness of some people in something so simple as this digital world we all play in. The need to be the biggest spender or at the top item wise. I could ask "why?" but I think I could guess the answers by now, as I've heard them in many games where people interact in real time.

It's very saddening, and because of this and the fact that people everywhere are always scamming I'm taking an indefinite break from Guild Wars. I'll be on for the next few days to chat with guildies and friends, and will be giving away a great many of my items to the honest, deserving people that I do know, and people that I do not know either. Sometimes I have to wonder about the pack-rat behavior of folks that take, take, take mindlessly.

I feel for you, man. Just reading this it felt like it happened to me.

It's just like the real world. Good and bad people.

Its a very sad story. Sometimes incidents like this happens and there are some not so good peoples in GW, but there is a lot of good peoples too. I understand you feeling hurt but why leaving game? Take it little easier.
When i was been a new player i was scammed too sometimes. But i remembered "what does not kill you , will make you stronger" phrase and now just little more careful when dealing with strangers.
---
Sorry for possible mistakes.English is not my native language

I hope you got some screen shots so you can get this jerk permanently banned.

I suppose the reason for my immediate reaction of taking a break - not permanent, but I'm not sure when I'll return - is that the seriousness of the fun situation finally got to me. I've had lots of folks try to scam me in the past but never had anyone actually manage to pull it off; the idea that everything is just fun and good is ironically what led to me finally falling for a very simple trick, so I think it's time that I look into other games, at least for a little bit.

I could never leave Guild Wars indefinitely, but the way I look at it is that building up is the most fun part of the game for me - making new chars and taking them back through campaigns has always been a lot more fun for me than PvP or farming once you have completed a game. The finding of this Dwarven axe was more or less the peak of my little gold build up, and i don't like the recession back downwards, so by getting rid of some of my things and building up again I'll feel more accomplished.

That, and this just happens to be my reason for moving on to other things. I've been considering checking out other games, both online and off, for quite a while, as Guild Wars was my primary excitement when it came to using my computer.

Will definitely be back, but for whatever reason what happened this morning did upset me enough to call for a little rest, which is much better than just doing something stupid or lashing out in any way. I've always taken the more laid back approach to solving any problem like this to avoid getting myself too worked up.

A person who I met just earlier today told me "Those who steal will be cursed," which is an extended version of a two word saying that his people apparently have. I'm going to report the fellow, but I don't think much will be done about it since it was, in fact, my fault that the item became available for scamming. I'm not sweating the money too much, though.

First off, i am glad that there are people like you who are actually willing to return rare items back to their owner instead of just running away with them.
Second, I am sorry for your loss and frustration over this.
I am a very kind player in the game but i do stay aware of the possible scams that people do. This certainly has helped me keep my in game money lol. But perhaps a lesson learned eh?
It seems to me everyday though, that the pve portion of this game is turning more and more into how to make the most money possible. No surprise to anyone but i find that i have to turn off local chat just to see my guild mates talking when I'm in the usual busy cities.
I suppose your loss just kind of confirms it.

Scammers are hard to avoid and they usually find way to con the items or gold off of other players. I feel bad that you got scammed for that dwarven axe but like you said, this game is about fun and meeting other peoples to play with. It doesn't hinge on getting the rarest items and showing it off to others.

You played the game for 18 months and you don't know that there are no additional stats you can see when the item is on the ground?

Plus, everyone with enough money to buy a dwarven axe has surely seen the skin in-game, or did some research and found screenshots, so it was smelling of a scam the minute he asked you to zone out of town.

Well, he said he couldn't see it in the Trade window. Recently I was kicked from my guild randomly and not manually by anyone within the guild and had to be reinvited, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and figured the game was messing up again.

Like I said, I got caught up in the fact that I was having a good morning and a fun time in the game. The buying and selling of items has interested me since my very first Economics class in high-school, so when I go to buy or sell I always become interested, which is something to smile about.

In retrospect I should've been more careful, but because I don't covet items like that I suppose I just wasn't thinking about the fact that someone else would try and swipe it.

Just just let your happines and good nature get in way of common sense ... lesson no to do it again. Dunno how old are you but you need to learn to be cynical, untrusting and unfriendly when dealing with objects of high value, no matter if its reall world or just game.

What can i say ... why would anyone ever drop precious item on ground when in company of stranger? I mean, 'weird bug' ... request to drop item would cause me to tell said person 'go f*** yelf' and just quit.

Reminds me of story of warrior who dropped his perfect customized chas axe to showoff, sadly from him he was in explorable and his party member quickly ran to portal and zoned him withou chance of picking it up. Yep, expect 90% of people reacting similary - if you give em chance ot hurt you with next to no possible sanctions they will do it and even wouldnt need profit from it.

man that sucks.

but the bigger picture....there are people in RL who do the same thing....good thing it was only a game that you had to learn this from and not some RL situation.

Still suucks though.....we hurt for you!

hahaha

cool story

gotta love sin skills,

sry but that was just a dumb dumb thing to do.

It's like walking outside on the street with a text on your back with: "I carry 10 million euros and show them to everyone."

oh well its just a game, if your that poor want 5k from me? maybe you can buy an inscription then.

imo that guy isn't rly a scammer, you shouldn't be that naieve.

it is sad to know that things like this happens, myself been scammed for a "too good to be true" offer, learned this the hard way too, if you plan to quit GW for this very reason, well, there will be idiots on other games too, it's a tough lesson

the only thing you can do is move on (in case you didn't take screenshots) and from now and on be more cautious, if they want to see the stats there's the trade window, if they wanna see the skin they can see wiki or zone but never drop it

OP keeps saying how he is "a trusting individual" - there's the problem right there. The world is full of bad people who do not care about ripping you off, that's life. People can't be trusted, - so to trust is to set yourself up for failure. Probably better for you to have learned to not trust people via an in-game loss than having to suffer a real-life loss in the same manner. Hope you learned from this not to be trusting, otherwise you will keep getting burned throughout the rest of your life.

It's not funny at all. The poor guy got ripped off for simply being a nice person.

Granted, I would have seen it coming because I see the worst in people before the best of people, but it's still a shame.

Sorry that people are jerks man. I hope he gets what's coming to him and you're re-embers ed through good luck in the future.

I'm sorry but I have to say....
stupidity should be painful, and if you fell for that lame almost a year old tactic you should hit yourself.

I understand your idea of game play, I follow akin to this style.
But I'm not going to offer any words of remorse over your being scammed in such a simple and stupid manner.
1) leaving a city/ outpost to trade..... please
2) falling for the old bugged/broken trade window trick.
3) trusting an assassin in a instance enviroment asking you to drop an item.
You didn't really get scammed, I'm sure the Assassin is laughing somewhere that it even worked. You got educated!

The game needs more people like you (for your out look and game play style.... not the falling for the oldest tricks in the books part ), and always play the game how you want to and enjoy.

And I have some magic beans for sale too :P

I really shouldn't have been that silly, you're right. In retrospect I should have just sent him elsewhere, but I've never really coveted money in any way shape or form. I've had my car stolen and rather than freak out because I didn't have the money to replace it I've always directed most of my angered amazement at the laziness of some people who would rather invest time in stealing than getting things the honest way.

Reminds me of a guy who cheated on an exam in my Western Civ 201 class. He actually programmed the answers into his watch. I thought it was funny of him to do that because in the time it took to program the watch he could've just learned the answers and been done with it.

Just because you *can* dupe someone doesn't make it ok to do. Granted, it was slick of him and I wound up a thick-headed oaf for falling for it, but even so.

I suppose so. I'm only 18 at this point but cynicism hasn't ever really gotten anyone anywhere. Of course, I should be more cautious and think of the saying "hope for the best, prepare for the worst," but this is a game. In my life outside of a game I wouldn't approach my handling of expensive merchandise in the same way, but where it's all about digital coin what's the big deal? Why is something like that so appealing to someone that they'd swipe it? I'm also not an avid trader so I'm not up to snuff on what methods folks are using to deprive others of what they find.

Just things I'm sure I'll find the answer to in time, as I get a bit older.

I'm guessing that my mentality about a game being a game and not really putting any credit towards what I do within it is what got me into the situation in the first place. I'm more stunned than hurt, though, which I suppose I shouldn't be by the responses I've seen to folks taking advantage of others in the past.

Spoken like a true scammer. "It's not the scammer's fault. It's the victims's fault"

This is why GW isn't a lot of fun to play anymore. The nice folks are leaving the game because they're treated like dirt. The only ones left are the scammers and jerks like you who defend scammers.

Here a phrase that peoples should use more.

DTA (Don't Trust Anybody)!!

If you can remember his name then report him, some screen shots would help as well. your axe might not be able to be returned, but you can make sure the assasin never gets any pleasure from it either.

Anghardel, what are you thinking of playing next? I'm curious because, to me, the game landscape is kind of bleak these days. About the only thing I'm interested in is the upcoming Spore, but it'll be a while before that's out.

I hope your break leaves you in better spirits and with a renewed zest for GW.

Someone stealing that axe from you is equal in value to stealing 100$ bill from you. and bet that that axe will eventually show somewhere at auction and will yield its new owner as much.

Game is just game when you play around casually, but when you get to hardcore stuff like this item, you get sucked in to it and it becomes serious stuff. (thats why I try not to be hardcore, ever :-) )

Well, I think the single biggest thing that drew me into Guild Wars was the look of the world. It wasn't quite so spiffy in Factions and Nightfall, but I really thought Prophecies had some zing to it. At the time I was just jumping into computer games more seriously, having come off of two year +stint with single player games, namely The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind and its expansions (which had very nice landscapes as well).

I haven't really looked into any specific new titles just yet, as I've been doing what I can to salvage my feelings about Guild Wars, but since I'm taking just a little break now is the time. Many of my good friends left Guild Wars for World of Warcraft, which I've just glanced at a few times, and that looks spiffy. Not sure about the pay-per-month business, though.

My biggest thing for a game right now is one in which I can have some fun and relax in; I want some unnerving lands, as well as some nicer, lush fields of some sort. I'll probably stick with an online game that offers the same sort of feel that Guild Wars did back when I join; I like the idea of sitting and chatting with people that I genuinely consider friends in an interesting game setting - gives me something neat to look at while I'm chatting.

Of course, I haven't made anything go *boom* in a long time, so I may have to look into some sort of FPS, or return to some of my old favorites for some good ol' nostalgic fun. Whatever I do wind up playing will have to be a heck of a lot of fun, though, as I play games to punctuate the stone-cold seriousness (usually) of work and Uni.

oh pls...

I am not defending the scammer at all, I just find the situation hilarious.

1) You don't go outside to trade
2) Dropping an item so the other one can have a look...
3) Trade panel not working ??
4) ...

can give some more stupid things he did,

you may call me a scammer, or a jerk I rly dont care because I know I am not . You may cry that the game is full of jerks, well be my guest almost everygame I have played is full off it, even in real life there are many jerks, scammers or whatever you want to call them.

Everyone here who is feeling the "pain" he is in because he can't thrust anyone anymore... oh pls, I just can say it was a good lesson and I am sure you won't do these stupidities anymore.

And quitting because you lost that axe... oh well maybe it was time to just take a break

Sad story, what a shame. =\

Skin -> he could saw while you were wielding it
Stats -> he could saw while item's on the trade window

So.....why drop it?
If someone asks me to drop something so he can see better...I know better..the guys is trying to steal from me.
With 13 months of playing and you fell for it?
C'mon!

I just finished picking my jaw off the ground and resetting it.

So THAT'S what that guy was up to... I had someone try that with me with an Elemental Sword I found. Even though he was "way over there", it still smelled enough like a rat that I didn't drop it. Now I understand what he was up to. Wow.

Maybe next time I'll drop a req 5 longsword and see how fast the "assassin" reflexes are.

Epiphany moment.

I was definitely being stupid, but it made some small amount of sense in my delirious head because I've seen stranger things happen in Guild Wars before, such as waking up to find all of my armor gone before having it reset after a download or mysteriously no longer having a guild tag, name, or panel but being able to access a guild hall, etc. I was way too caught up in something other than what I should have been thinking about, which was apparently the greed of some people.

- - - - -

But this thread was never intended to be a "zomg I got scammed and want my money back" issue. It's more of a "why would someone care enough to steal something from me in a digital world?" moment. I've gone a long time without the high-end stuff and am not quitting because I'm back to square one :P.

I just get tired of always seeing someone working their hardest to scam another out of a buck, so I'll give it a rest for a little while and come back later for a fresh new start. It was a good learning experience for me, I suppose, but my momentary brain fart doesn't make it ok or even laughable, since I had my little mental justifications. Just my personal take on it.

Actually, thanks for this post... I was unaware of this little scam tactic (although had it tried on me).

From now on, folks... if someone wants to see a weapon skin, equip Koss with the weapon. If they want you to drop it, tell them "Koss said no."

Ah...So you too suffered a Morrowind Addiction (it IS the best game ever (next to Daggerfall))...

However, I feel horrible for your loss. But I admire your maturity in it, and how you're letting it go by so smoothly - as smoothly as that can be. If you weren't taking a hiatus, I'd ask to quest with ya.

@OP - I'm well past 18, but have pretty much the same attitude towards material things.

Something precious to me gets stolen or broken, /shrug, I enjoyed it while I had it. In the event of theft, I follow the steps in hopes of preventing the same thing being done to someone else. But giving the thief the additional bonus of making me miserable is something I avoid.

Come back to the game when your memory of the joy of the find has outlasted that of the theft.

i loved the flying horse bug in Daggerfall/

levitate while mounted and the horse comes with you.

also liked Arena before that which is now a free download from the Oblivion site.

for real nostalgia i have the original LEGEND OF ZELDA (8 bit) in a windows pc pixel perfect copy to play with now and then.

had it for years and the site that has it is still going strong.

Wow, what an obscure thread title...



Anyway, I live by the philosophy "Expect the best, prepare for the worst". Just a smidgen of forethought and preparation can prevent crap like this. Doesn't matter how much or how little you value your posessions, that's not the point.

As much as I hate scammers, I'd actually have to kinda agree with SilentAssassin, it's really your fault. Would you let him have the axe so that he can "try it on" and "see how it looks on his character" if he asked? If not, why not? Would you not trust him then? You say you're a trusting person, but that's not really the issue here, is it? You just f***ed up and didn't think it through.

Sorry to be harsh, but seriously, if you haven't learned by now that there are theives and scammers in every nook and cranny of our society, well that can't be taught. If you really don't care, you wouldn't have posted.

Oh, I certainly understand that I screwed up. Won't deny that. The guy was an aggro bubble away when I showed him the item and it completely slipped my mind that assassins can teleport with their skills. That's not the point of what I posted about, though.

It doesn't bother me that I no longer have the item, persay. It's the idea that someone actually would take it in a game, where nothing actually makes much of a difference whatsoever, that sparked me into posting a thread like this. The time folks invest in scamming people is like the time they invest in cheating on a test. All it would take is that same amount of time to make some legitimate dollars.

Brings to mind a fellow that stands outside of the local Food-Lion (grocery store) by my home. He constantly begs for money for cigarettes, and I've seen him do so for almost an hour before getting even the slightest amount of change from someone. An hour of the simplest work can net you well over the 5 dollars needed for a pack of smokes, and it's a guaranteed turnout.

It's more of an ironic realization for me. I'm glad I learned it early on in my life, having generally placed myself around people who have proven that they can trust me and having minimal exposure - thanks to my own doing - to folks who really just don't care to do much to get somewhere.

So yes, I don't give a lick about my lack of the item. If I would've never found it I would've been fine. I do, however, care about the fact that someone would put forth the effort to steal. The situation, to me, is very different from doing something like wearing a sign saying I have X dollars and would like to show them to people, and to letting the person hold the item, which is a much more blatant way of setting yourself up for dissapointment in my head.

Just disappointing, that's all. I mean it is just a game, and I've always thought the point of a game was to have fun, since games have such little impact on our lives outside of them.

Time isn't an issue. In fact, I'd say that person made out pretty good for the amount of time put it, compared to the other ways of making in-game money. The value of the in-game money isn't an issue, either, since there are tons of people who spend countless hours of every day investing their time to make in-game money, legit and non-legit. Begging is a waste of time and resources, I agree with you there, but it has nothing to do with what you're talking about.

No, I think the issue is scams and theives. The issue is morality, not practicality.

Like I said, I hate scammers with a passion, but I can see why people do it - cause it's easy. It's a lot easier to do in an online video game than it is in real life, so of course, more people do it. The only difference is we don't have cops, lawyers, and judges to throw these people in jail, we have Anet that bans them.

So if you are asking yourself why someone would do that, I believe you are asking a morality question - How could someone do that? How can someone be so uncaring and selfish to do something so craptastic? How can anyone steal anything? I'm sure psycologists can answer those questions, at least in part.

Ah! I'm not the only one! I haven't had a rare item stolen from me like that, But I do not have access to the super high level areas. All my level 20's are usually stuck in a mission where everyone's in a party, noone invites me, or the groups are ALWAYS idiots. I have to save up and grind 800g at a time, maybe the occasional luck hits me and I get mod worth over 10k (The most expensive thing i ever had was a superior vigor.)

I only have *ONE* friend who is willing to share a thing or two every now and then. But I rarely ask him directly (He's recently been agnry about other friends of his making it a habit to ask him for stuff, something I avoid with everybody.)

I just wanted to say that. I'm glad I'm not the only one out there who works for my stuff.
(There are other Morrowind addicts here, too? Awesome.)

araghhh that sucks. Its never happened to me, but damn. If you're looking for other games, remember that they have their own share of scammers. Dishonest people are everywhere....

So, if I put $1000 on a table in restaurant, then walk away for 30 minutes, will the money still be there when I return?

Speaking of which, my uncle recently died in a plane crash, and I need help transferring his assets from his Nigerian bank account. I would kindly like to ask someone to help me with that, all you need is to send me minimal funds to arrange the transfer, and after it's complete, I'll deposit 10% as a compensation.

Yes, it's victim's fault. Going against good judgement and experience, even knowledge of scams is inexcusible.

It sucks to lose such axe, but in this case, it's not an excuse. If anything - learn from this, so you don't get ripped like this in real life. Those scams hurt more - consider being scammed out of your retirement fund like Enron did. And you'll lose more than an axe, but you'll be working a minimum wage job till you're 80 or you die, simply because you won't have a dime in the world.

Life sucks, so do people - in MMOs, you deal with people. It's just naive to expect anything noble of them - but be grateful when you do encounter such players.

That's definitely the sort of response I'm looking for. A more complete look over the tendancies of people to steal.

The way I see it, this being a game and all the benefit of the theft is less tangible and more symbolic than it would be in another situation, persay (unless, of course, the person will sell the item they took from me and use it to make real-world money by selling it through one of those GW-gold websites). So I still have to wonder why someone would do it, with the different drives. Or maybe I've got it all wrong and the drives are all the same, no matter the eventual benefits of the item.

That's more where my immediate surprise fits: the ultimate benefit of it. I've never been attracted to stealing in or out of games because it's unecessary. I'm not a material hog, but I've always been interested in people who are. So, while I am in fact personally angered at having something of mine stolen I'm more surprised than anything, and I suppose that has something to do with the fact that this is the one and only time I've fallen for such a stupid and seemingly - looking back over it - obvious trick.

It just doesn't seem worth anyone's time to do something like this in a game, of all places. Maybe outside where money counts, but in this sort of setting? It's similar enough, granted, but not so much that I can consider each theft in anywhere near the same light.

/signed

People like this should be reported and permanently banned. He/she is no different than a common plain THIEF!

He/she has knowingly breached the EULA and A-Net should ban his/her account permanently. Failure to do so would mean that other "players" can continue to scam people with full immunity from prosecution!

I also have picked up several items inadvertently dropped by other players and I have always given them back, once asked.

People...this is a GAME! Items and money are not real! Status and fame and titles and awards earned during gameplay are not real! It is an imaginary world inhabited by imaginary avatars!

I feel immensely sorry for the people who see the need to win this GAME so much that they would do almost anything to achieve this goal!

Since when is "win at all costs" and "screw thy fellow player" the catch-cry of the GW community?