Is it worth it to be nice?

I've always tried to be nice to others while playing, but experiences like that can really turn you off from doing so. I used to give out a lot of dyes that I was never going to use, and weapons I had no use for, but after a while that gets tiring, especially when the person doesn't even bother to thank you, then just turns around and tries to sell the item.

I still try to help out people when I can, but I'm not as overly generous as I used to be.

It is worth being nice, as whats goes around comes around. I really enjoy playing GW, and I like to share the knowledge I've accumulated over my (many) hours of gameplay with people who don't have so much experience ingame. Having said that though, I've had a couple of terrible experiences.

First, I'm standing around Ascalon pre-sear, where some guy is asking a couple of noob questions, like how do you level up and find other towns. So I party with him, and basically team with him through all the pre sear quests, explaining all the stuff I think isn't totally obvious. Once we get to post, I let him be, but he PMs me a bunch letting me know how he gets on, and that he got a run into the mountains and stuff. So I go meet him (at Droks O.o) and he is asking about armor...so I say, how much cash you got? I'll make up the difference for the full set of 1.5k, and bought him runes and stuff. And give him a mini pet. Then, I see him 2 days later in Lions Arch selling a crystalline sword!! So I PM him, wtf? No answer

Too bad we couldn't clone her! A couple dozen more like her would help just about any game (these problems unfortunately aren't unique to GW.)

T--

Yeah, well not all but most of the 11-13 old kids that play GW are real rude. Of course, I came across nice people in the game as well. I don't mind giving these people advice/runs etc, just not gold.

One time I was running a guy from Beacons to LA. Unaware of the lag, I thought I was running pretty smoothly to the first portal, until the lvl 9 Ranger started screaming "WTF ARE YOU DOING?!??!, ARE YOU f***ing dumb, RUN AROUND HIM!!". With all that Pin Down+Ice Spikes + Lag, I died.

I offered an apology and also to re run him, but then the n00b just left ...

After falling for it a few times I stopped being nice also. Truly, I've only met 3 people outside my current/past guilds that I could trust completely in this game.

And it pains me that no one trusts me except those 3 people. Even when I am nice, I always catch on that I get ripped off somehow. And it makes me want to just stay away from any in-game player to player interactions.

A friend of mine from an old guild decided one day to ask me if I would transfer 500k gold from one account to the other. I did so and he was very appreciative. After that I was offered a Trader job. He has immense collection of some of the best selling/most expensive items in the game. 3 weeks ago, he asked me to sell some items for him at 15% commission. The items I sold within 3 days netted me 90k[that's 15% of a LOT of gold!] so you can imagine how much stuff he trusted me with.

There's another person whom I helped sell things for in the past which I owe immense thanks to. From her sales, I aquired 3 15k Armor sets and Primeval-ed 4 of my heroes. Got a huge array of perfect mods and other nice weapons that she just gave to me as she progressed through the game at a rate much faster than I would ever be able to, sitting in towns using Trade Chat. Because of nice people like those I have doubled my net worth in the game. But people come and people go.. it seems. I guess I do my job and then move on to find other people that instill this much trust into me so that I can have all I want out of GW, without having to PUG Elite Areas or Solo Hard Mode, ever. And with the recent changes to Normal Mode, it's impossible for me to make money unless I change my casual play style.

The other day I offered to sell my Mini Jade Armor for 10k.. a stranger come up to me with 3k and a few white items in her inventory... I said "cash only".. then 2 minutes later she offered 7k cash.. I knew it was a ploy to under bid or a re-seller trying to make a profit... making me look like a noob seller.

That's when I realized something.. me sitting in Trade towns getting ripped off every day seems to become a trend and I need to make better use of my time on GW, because the people are starting to irritate me to no end.

I Canceled the Trade, and sent her this PM: You know, I think I'm going to be nice today and just give you this Minipet for free so that I don't look at you like you are a scammer anymore. and gave her the Minipet for free.

Then I logged off, and created a Warrior called "Ya Die" and instantly became a noob again, trying to see if I can get just one last bit of enjoyment out of this game, before I start selling my accounts.

grr.. double posted

Its always worth being nice.

A while ago my guild and I decided to give away a bunch of gold and items...we gave away some greens and prob 250k total...was a TON of fun.

About 20 minutes after I have away a Ragos Fire WAnd (I think thats what ti was anyway) the guy tried to sell it to me.

I LOL'ed.

It's a game guys....If someone was nice to you when you were a noob...then be nice back. This aint rocket science...

It's worth it to be nice, but I usually exclude being nice to beggars, scammers and when I buy things. I mean when it comes to gold I assume that people would be greedy. With low lvs I answer shout questions and let them in the party if i'm going through an area with an alt, but no moneys.

Meh, the only people I bothered being nice to are my guildies.

Not worth the time or effort for that little pay off.

Being friendly.... well i think its worth it ^^ I help ppl with missions quests alot and sometimes give items away thou i dont get thanked sometimes i dont mind; i know i helped at least .Doing what you can for others makes the game more fun (well in my point of view).

when i first played this game i am honestly probably the biggest noob. i'd go to missions and quests with others and die like so many times it pisses the monks off, i remember i was stuck on shinjea island for like 3 weeks. Tried asking for help from others but i seem to get ignored. when a friendly person finally came to help me i was really happy he gave me a decent green dagger gave me golds and helped me get to the main isalnd to get max armours; been friends with him since then ^^.

I guess its because of that that i am helping others. do they really need it? i dont know, but if i have helped at least i know they wont go through what i went through,. ( curse those beginner island quests )

I don't understand the issue. You gave him something very nice and he used it in the way that garnered him the most benefit. Sure, he didn't treasure your sword forever, but he probably used it to finance a new set of armor and a couple of different weapon sets, as well as some skill purchases and maybe a couple of runes.

I see that as a massive benefit to him, and something you should probably be happy for.

Sure beats the hell out of my newb weapon story. I entered Postsear for the first time a couple days before Christmas '05. Some dude was selling a req fire crappy as hell raven staff and advertising it as max. Because I was a total newb I thought that that meant it was a perfect weapon. So I gave him everything I had. A few dyes, some crafting mats, and about 800g in painstakingly acquired cash. And I was literally gushing with joy when he said yes. It wasn't until I got my first few raven staff drops that I realized just how badly I had been screwed over.

I give people discounts on some stuff when it is clear that they are really unable to afford it, but most of my help comes in the form of aid on missions and quests. I spent a good while helping a few people through everything from Droks to THK yesterday and today on a variety of characters, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Way better return on investment than handing people cash.

Not worth it.
i simply ignore anyone who asks for gold or free stuff.

Being nice is a choice. If I feel like giving something to someone I don't expect him to be the same to me or to others. It's sad some people doesn't appreciate our good deeds. But hey at least we are doing something good to others

Yeah would have done, but they were a fellow officer, and simply sucked up to the main officers in it, that is the founding ones,

They had joined the guild about 3 months after me and simply went about blowing their own trumpet to make them look good, so there was no point retaliating.

When I helped people in the Guild or outside it i wouldnt then advertise the fact, because of that I was frowned upon by those officers.

An example was when a new guild memeber was having an impossible time doing the Grand Court of Sebelkeh mission, instead of going to eat I helped them out, I had about 30 mins to eat before going to a guild organised run. so i ended up having about 10 mins off that due to giving a hand, we had a window of turning up at between 8-8.15 i got there at 8 and unloaded my inventory so i had space and the leader begain to criticise me because they said i should have done it before and that i should be there at 8 not any later, even explaining the reason they didn't care, and the meet wasn't even organised by them. This occured after the other officer had been criticising me to all the others too.

"What's mine is mine"
I live by that motto.

I'm sure most of you are the same, but I've never asked for anything in game (i.e. hand out) so for sure I don't give hand outs unless I want to.

Yes I am a wealthy stingy 26 year old SOB .... that has earned every single gold coin I had, have and will get in the future.
I don't give, I don't ask for.

But, of course if I feel like it, I'll give an item. But gold (money) .. no ..

As MS said about the person turning around and trying to sell it .. I THINK I've had that happen to me before but not sure.

Of course you call them names in the general direction of your computer while staring at their spam lol


Edit** My advice is free and always available

if u look at my storage u will see that there are no weapons or offhands. I usually give awat stuff ppl need and stuff i dont need. often ppl can upset you. you give somethin away they now have ownership on it. but they should tell u if they are selling it. one time my cuz bro was sellin the golden pheonix blade i gave him. i got really pissed. when i found out that i found out he gave it sraight back. so ask then to give it bak. if they dont and you knw where they live........

beat the shit out of em

People do nice things because THEY want to help someone. Its always putting your interests first. Everyone does it. Helping someone makes YOU feel good. Understand? I'm not trying to make it a bad thing but its always your interest first. There are a few exceptions in which this doesnt apply, eg. when your child is happy, your happy.

But I won't do anything, give away anything or be nice to say give them gold or whatever at all to someone I don't know, because I personally could careless about them.

Ah, so you are being "nice" to feel superior? That sounds quite egotistic imo. Doesn't seem very wise to me.

i used to borrow a lot of people cash, expecting that one day they'd pay me back, and suprisingly, a lot of people actually did pay me back.

I stopped doing that after i borrowed an alliance member 15 ecto so he could get a FoW helmet for his PvE warrior. I didn't realy mind borrowing him that much cash (back then, that was more than 100k) because i didn't realy need any cash anyway at that time. 1 month later i pmed the guy asking him if he was planning on actually paying me back one day. He suddenly claimed he didn't know me and that i should leave him alone. Later on he claimed it was probably "his brother who borrowed the ecto". The story didn't make sence, and all just sounded like a very poor excuse.

Needless to say i never borrowed anyone anything again. And i never will either.

It is by far not worth it to be nice online, but you just do it because indeed, you feel better doing just that.

That happened to me once. I try to help and give them some gold and they say, wow you must be rich, give me some more. I tell them I'm "rich" because I don't give it away.

QFT The OP makes me wonder why he gave it away in the first place. If you do something like that, it should be done for the good feeling you get helping someone. If you have other reasons for giving or are going to be pissed that it wasn't "appreciated" then stop it.

It is not worth it, dont trust complete strangers especially on internet.

Yes, it's worth it, if only because if you were deliberately behaving the opposite way, it would likely make you feel awful. It's also worth it because there are other nice people out there, contrary to popular opinion. It's just a lot of people get their hands burned this way thanks to the legions of 8-13 year olds who can't help but think of nobody but themselves. Basically, if you're broad minded enough to ask this question, then a definite yes, in my opinion. Thats the way it is for me anyway.

Anyway, my measure of kindness is the sort of thing you can't measure in gold anyway - assistance with a troubling mission or quest, helping a new player find their feet, answering simple questions that most people are too lazy to answer. Things like that cant be resold.

I have recently been on a "fill my storage like crazy" spree as i have a terrible feeling these "Monuments" in GW:EN will cost to build.
So i was on silk - farming webs on plains of Jarin (yes noob farm but at 1-3 per run and a 1-2min run it's still 30 atleast per hour for no effort)
One of the mobs i kill everytime is Hassin Softshell and he drops his green a lot - I don't hugly need the 35g from merching it so i open trade with random paragons and give it away, i don't care if they sell it or stick it in bin at least i feel good

But so far the only "thank you" i have had was when i gave a Stormbringer away in Ascalon.
Out of the 20-30 Hassin's Shell's i have had zero thanks
I don't do it to hear people thank me but it is nice when someone gives you free stuff even if you only merch it

I'm nice to the people I know. My kindness is earned in a game. I don't like to be taken advantage of, and I know my friends won't do that. The likelihood of a stranger doing that is much greater.

Yes as long as someone isn't an ass or treats me like one id gladley be nice to them ^^.

If you're nice, you'll either regret it as they waste your kindness or get stalked for more help.

I take a different view than most here.

You're not really doing anyone a favor by giving some random, new player an end game weapon.

Although it may make you feel good, you're actually doing a couple of negative things:

1) You're making the early part of the game artificially easy for them. This could impair their learning and leave them stuck on poor builds. This, in turn, could lead to real frustration once they hit the harder parts of the game.

2) You're actually robbing them of any sense of accomplishment once they finally get a good drop like that themselves. One of the fun things about a new character is that each time you adventure, you stand a good chance of getting a better item. I personally felt great when I got my first max collector bow, and even better when I got my first green drop. That achievement would have felt like nothing if someone gave me a max sword pity handout when I first stepped into Ascalon city.

It is MUCH better to help a new player with a mission, give them some tips on their build, or point them to a good website than to give them a perfect weapon.

It's the same misguided instinct parents have in giving their 16 year olds a new sports car. It may make the parent feel good, but it's really a form of vanity that does the kid no favor.

I think it doesnt really matter what the other person does, you did the good deed, dont worry about it - it even pays off in some cases. Like when I was in yaks and bought a bag to many, so I advertised free bag - sure enough, I get someone who takes it. About 2mins later, I get a random asking if I would like a bow, I go to their guildhall, and they give me an elswynth longbow. Sure not the greatest bow, but I still use it to this day

i m dissapointed with species as well

Wondering if it's "worth it" to be nice implies that you're only being "nice" to get some return on your investment, which isn't exactly as "nice" as it seems at first, is it?

Therefore, being truly nice is always "worth it".

^_^

Just food for thought.

Sorry i had no idea people felt this way about free stuff.
I promise i won't give anything for free ever again

It all depends on the person who u are talking to lol. You'll know when to be nice and when not to lol. But it is worth being nice, you never know you might be rewarded.

I find it interesting how many people in this community think that whether or not to be nice to someone depends on what that person is like.

I'm sorry, but I don't think I could keep a straight face while saying something like, "I'm only nice to nice people", or "I'm only nice to people who aren't strangers". Let alone, "I'm nice to people lots, because you never know when you might get something good out of it."

Did you know that reputable, commonly accepted psychological studies have shown that only 10% of adults are capable of making, or even recognizing, a moral decision on a level higher than that of a five-year-old?

Now think about the other 90%...

And what moral decision is that between an higher sense and that of a 5 year old? Seems like a bad statistic to me, and its hard to believe in something from the internet, let alone in a forum.

It's always worth it to be nice to people, but you take a great risk when being nice becomes a matter of monetary charity. I have no shame in saying I do not give hand outs to people outside of my alliance, too many people out right lie about being new. I will however, help a total stranger in Shing Jea with a quest or run someone to Piken for free, I just don't give out money or items.

In fact, I don't even see these requests as my local chat is off 99% of the time I'm on, so I don't feel bad for not giving stuff away to "new" people :]

I have mixed feelings about being nice.
I'm doing most Tyrian map compares on guru lately, which I think is being nice to others that need help. I also know that last 1-2% is hard to find.
I quit (or almost quit) comparing maps with lower %, since it's still easy to find spots and the title should not be a ride in the park.

The same in game.
I used to hand out weapons in Ascalon and other places and might still do that sometime.
But I'd rather mission/bonus/quest with someone.
I don't mind 'abuse' of the items I gave to someone, but I do mind a frequent stream of whisps for small favors.
There have been a couple of people lately that I'm really considering putting on my ignore list. And the only reason is that I've been nice to them once or twice and they just keep asking for more.

In my guild, I'm just being me (that's nice almost all the time) and it paid off so far, being promoted to officer, later appointed as second in command in the guild.
I know almost all members, so I know who really needs something and who don't.
But also in the guild, being nice is more about playing with people and less about giving stuff away.

I usually tell people information like where to go to find the Xunlai, etc. etc., but if they ask for money/items, I give them a little bit. If they don't ask for more, turn around sell the items that I gave to them etc., then I add them to my friends list and give them a bit more

Congratulations on being the first to disbelieve! Somebody had to. ^_^

My wife has a degree in psychology. Maybe I can convince her to write you a nice explanation of the details of the studies, the exact findings, etc. Probably not, though, so don't hold your breath.

Honestly, if I were you I'd continue to disbelieve me. I can't say that hearing all about criminal psychology over dinner does anything to improve my opinion of my fellow man. You're better off not knowing, I think.

Holier Than Thou. And much nicer too! Piquant the "^_^".

This supposed wife might be able to shed some light on this particular complex going on in the quoted post. Behind this cheery exterior lies inner despair, hopelessness and trauma. Inadequacy, some sort of insecurity, about personality and self worth. But that's not the main cause. It's the want for power. The person doesn't have enough personal power to support their self esteem. Being so overtly almost condescending, it's like some messianic illusion of self. But in this case the nicety is not well-founded. It's convoluted and just a defense, a means to survive.

Exerting this smugness? over others to save face, and not having to face people in the flesh so to speak. The need to be special, but being too afraid to truly expose oneself and BE special, thus the made up specialness over which the person has control over. Losing control? Is that the reason? Being in control.

With this armor of smugness, the person is in control and in safety when coming face to face with others. It's kind of sosiopathic? Bordering on solipsism, that only YOU are really real, others are just like fantasy? No, not that severe, but still, I feel the person quoted actually has a very LOW opinion of others, maybe projecting something personal, where they themselves only are really worth it.

And this fake cheerfulness compounds that, they actually hate others because their love has not been received by them. The person wants to love, but is embittered by the rejection of the love and thus to maintain mental integrity feels the need for this delusion.

Anyway, ask the missus.

in my opinion, its always worth being nice... although i do lose my temper sometimes, i desperately try to stay nice to people and it takes a lot to push me over the edge, but from being nice I've made a good group of real life friends through the game