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Signs you should stay away from a player in MMOs?
Question2
Member UncommonPosts: 43
What are yours? Personally, the following triggers red flags for me :
You can see that he is in town running around, but he doesn't respond to PMs. Never says anything in party chat except to ask for heals or that he wants an item. When he does respond, he usually acts super nice and apologetic (oh sorry man, I missed all your messages! I swear!) but right after you finish helping him, he goes right back to ignoring you. Basically, he's like the kids you knew in school who would only talk to you when they wanted to copy your homework.
Sometimes, players genuinely miss your messages because they are busy or perhaps there's a bug and he never got your message. But if a certain player somehow has a "chat UI bug" that causes him to miss your messages...which nobody else in the game has ever heard of...and which only happens when he doesn't want your help...it's pretty obvious he is doing it on purpose.
This is by far, the biggest red flag for me and almost always indicate that the player has some kind of problem (personality problem, etc). Especially if they go to the trouble of crafting an elaborate lie to try and cover it up.
E.G. The last player that I saw do this (refuse to respond) proceeded to troll a friend of mine by fake bidding in an auction (bidding using gold that he didn't have) to drive up the price for the seller. From what I understand, he won the auction, then admitted he didn't have the gold and the item went to the second highest bidder, but the second highest bid was still far higher than it would have been if he hadn't been helping the seller to drive up the price. Said problem player also tried to get rid of his reputation by starting a new character and went to the trouble of getting his IRL friends to lie that he was a totally different person, among other stunts.
He wants help with a quest, but when you ask him to help you with a quest, he makes tons of lame excuses like "It's too far away", "I can't be bothered" or "My pool is on fire". While leeches tend to be pretty obvious and hard to avoid unless you heard about them before hand, don't bother helping them the second time round after it becomes obvious they will never, ever, help you in return unless it benefits them in some way.
Usually says things like "I don't want to help your party do a raid because I already have everything I want from it" and tries to join the biggest, most well geared guild that he can purely for the benefits and will guild hop the moment a better alternative presents itself. Cancerous for guilds as they will rob the guild storage when they inevitably decide it is in their best interest to do so.
Harder to avoid : The type that pretends to be nice and comes up with plausible excuses for never helping you. I once met a guy who would be really nice to me, but whenever I tried to invite him for a raid or quest, he would always claim to have JUST started a dungeon right as I messaged him. After the fourth time he used this excuse, he stopped bothering with it, admitted he wasn't busy and that he just didn't want to do it.
Excuses to watch out for :
-I don't want to do this raid/quest/whatever (but he's happy to do it with others that he sees as more valuable, like his guild members)
-I'm going to log off soon (but he starts doing raids for the next hour, and when you ask him about it, he makes more excuses)
-I don't have any of those mats to sell you, sorry (but he has tons of them for sale on the marketplace at a much higher price)
-Anything in general that seems far too coincidental, like "coincidentally" missing your messages every single time you message him. Except when he messages you to help him for something. Or "forgetting" a promise for the 5th time.
E.G. You tell him that you have a headache, but he still keeps pestering you to do a raid because the party needs a healer. He doesn't see you as anything other than a tool to help him progress. He probably will not even talk to you unless he needs you to help him with something, nor will he help you with anything unless its to help you complete a pre-req quest so that you can help him with a raid or something.
Warning signs :
-Doesn't even bother to reply when you say hi to him. Even if you are in the same guild or in the same party.
-Doesn't bother to reply when you try talking to him about anything that doesn't involve his progression in the game, or just replies with generic one liners like "ok", "idk" or "yea".
-Doesn't care if you are sick, having any problems, etc. May claim to care, but usually stops responding right after. This includes in game problems like being scammed, etc.
-Usually incapable or unwilling to hold a conversation to save his life.
May pretend to be nice to you, but only while you are useful to him (This can be difficult to tell till it is too late). The most obvious sign of this is when he takes a break from the game, and stops responding to you on discord or whatever (or he totally blows you off)....until he is back and needs your help with the new content. Then he becomes super friendly again.
Think Leroy Jenkins, except that it isn't staged. Wants to go into a difficult raid without gear on because he thinks it would be hilarious (Look guys! I'm doing this raid while naked! LOL isn't that hilarious?!). Thinks nothing of dropping out of a raid party mid run because he was invited to another raid that he prefers. Would rather try to DPS the boss as a healer rather than heal the tank because he wants to prove that healers can DPS. Wants to bring his undergeared alt to a raid he's not geared for, because it's easy xp for him, and doesn't care that it means that the rest of the party has to do most of the work.
Usually doesn't bother to reply when people try to talk to him about it or just responds with rudeness when they try. Just doesn't care much about others.
- He never (or almost never) responds to attempts at communication unless he wants help from you.
You can see that he is in town running around, but he doesn't respond to PMs. Never says anything in party chat except to ask for heals or that he wants an item. When he does respond, he usually acts super nice and apologetic (oh sorry man, I missed all your messages! I swear!) but right after you finish helping him, he goes right back to ignoring you. Basically, he's like the kids you knew in school who would only talk to you when they wanted to copy your homework.
Sometimes, players genuinely miss your messages because they are busy or perhaps there's a bug and he never got your message. But if a certain player somehow has a "chat UI bug" that causes him to miss your messages...which nobody else in the game has ever heard of...and which only happens when he doesn't want your help...it's pretty obvious he is doing it on purpose.
This is by far, the biggest red flag for me and almost always indicate that the player has some kind of problem (personality problem, etc). Especially if they go to the trouble of crafting an elaborate lie to try and cover it up.
E.G. The last player that I saw do this (refuse to respond) proceeded to troll a friend of mine by fake bidding in an auction (bidding using gold that he didn't have) to drive up the price for the seller. From what I understand, he won the auction, then admitted he didn't have the gold and the item went to the second highest bidder, but the second highest bid was still far higher than it would have been if he hadn't been helping the seller to drive up the price. Said problem player also tried to get rid of his reputation by starting a new character and went to the trouble of getting his IRL friends to lie that he was a totally different person, among other stunts.
- He wants help from you, but never helps you in return.
He wants help with a quest, but when you ask him to help you with a quest, he makes tons of lame excuses like "It's too far away", "I can't be bothered" or "My pool is on fire". While leeches tend to be pretty obvious and hard to avoid unless you heard about them before hand, don't bother helping them the second time round after it becomes obvious they will never, ever, help you in return unless it benefits them in some way.
Usually says things like "I don't want to help your party do a raid because I already have everything I want from it" and tries to join the biggest, most well geared guild that he can purely for the benefits and will guild hop the moment a better alternative presents itself. Cancerous for guilds as they will rob the guild storage when they inevitably decide it is in their best interest to do so.
Harder to avoid : The type that pretends to be nice and comes up with plausible excuses for never helping you. I once met a guy who would be really nice to me, but whenever I tried to invite him for a raid or quest, he would always claim to have JUST started a dungeon right as I messaged him. After the fourth time he used this excuse, he stopped bothering with it, admitted he wasn't busy and that he just didn't want to do it.
Excuses to watch out for :
-I don't want to do this raid/quest/whatever (but he's happy to do it with others that he sees as more valuable, like his guild members)
-I'm going to log off soon (but he starts doing raids for the next hour, and when you ask him about it, he makes more excuses)
-I don't have any of those mats to sell you, sorry (but he has tons of them for sale on the marketplace at a much higher price)
-Anything in general that seems far too coincidental, like "coincidentally" missing your messages every single time you message him. Except when he messages you to help him for something. Or "forgetting" a promise for the 5th time.
- He obviously doesn't care about you except for your ability to help him play the game.
E.G. You tell him that you have a headache, but he still keeps pestering you to do a raid because the party needs a healer. He doesn't see you as anything other than a tool to help him progress. He probably will not even talk to you unless he needs you to help him with something, nor will he help you with anything unless its to help you complete a pre-req quest so that you can help him with a raid or something.
Warning signs :
-Doesn't even bother to reply when you say hi to him. Even if you are in the same guild or in the same party.
-Doesn't bother to reply when you try talking to him about anything that doesn't involve his progression in the game, or just replies with generic one liners like "ok", "idk" or "yea".
-Doesn't care if you are sick, having any problems, etc. May claim to care, but usually stops responding right after. This includes in game problems like being scammed, etc.
-Usually incapable or unwilling to hold a conversation to save his life.
May pretend to be nice to you, but only while you are useful to him (This can be difficult to tell till it is too late). The most obvious sign of this is when he takes a break from the game, and stops responding to you on discord or whatever (or he totally blows you off)....until he is back and needs your help with the new content. Then he becomes super friendly again.
- He wants to do whatever he wants, even if that involves screwing other people over.
Think Leroy Jenkins, except that it isn't staged. Wants to go into a difficult raid without gear on because he thinks it would be hilarious (Look guys! I'm doing this raid while naked! LOL isn't that hilarious?!). Thinks nothing of dropping out of a raid party mid run because he was invited to another raid that he prefers. Would rather try to DPS the boss as a healer rather than heal the tank because he wants to prove that healers can DPS. Wants to bring his undergeared alt to a raid he's not geared for, because it's easy xp for him, and doesn't care that it means that the rest of the party has to do most of the work.
Usually doesn't bother to reply when people try to talk to him about it or just responds with rudeness when they try. Just doesn't care much about others.
Comments
Similar to the above, but he is doing everything on purpose to get a reaction out of people. Deliberately uses flimsy excuses because he knows that they will piss people off even more (I totally didn't mean to try to scam you, I swear! I just accidentally tried to trade the wrong item! For the 3rd time!).
Pretends to accidentally type insulting PMs in open chat, "man, [player name] is such a noob" followed by "oops that was meant to be a PM!".
Short lived trolls are dumb and make it too obvious to -everyone- what they are doing, and usually get bored and quit fairly quickly. Long lived trolls pick their targets and only troll a small amount of people at once, while pretending to be Mr Nice Guy with his guild or people on his friend list (AKA people of use to him). When confronted by his targets, usually uses his guild/friends as shields and pretends to be innocent, that everything was a misunderstanding, that his guild can testify that he is a nice guy, etc. Always comes up with plausible excuses for everything he does (That wasn't me, it was my cousin, I swear!), and usually his guild/friends don't care as long as he is helping them with the game.
Long lived trolls are cancerous and smart enough to not do anything obviously illegal to get banned (at least, not on his main account). Unfortunately the only thing you can do is stay away from them...but it's best to stay away from them even if you aren't their target. Sure,
he's not doing anything to you...for now at least. But why bother associating yourself with a troll when there are plenty of other players you could play with? You, or one of your friends, might always be the next target...
He always goes out of his way to praise people and butter them up, or gives lots of free stuff to people. The people he does this to are usually the best geared players on the server, or people related to said best geared players. He might help a newbie if asked in public, but not
if done so via PMs, since the former makes him look good while the latter doesn't.
E.G. I once had a guild member who joined and was giving lots of free mats to other guildies in secret...1-2 months later, he convinced them to leave and join the new guild he was making, and the ones who accepted the gifts did so because they felt they owed
him. He didn't give anything to the senior guild members (probably cause he thought they would be harder to convince) and made sure to keep it a secret till the last minute.
There's a clear difference between people who suck up to those he thinks will be of use, and
people who are generally nice to everyone. But if he is only showing you one side of him, it can be hard to tell what he is really like. But if someone that you have only known for a short time is giving you tons of free, valuable stuff, or helping you lots of help, you probably should
ask yourself why.
One huge warning sign is when he is being inconsistent. Someone who is genuinely nice wouldn't be nice to the rich and famous only, or only when certain people are present and watching. Nor would they be badmouthing others because he thinks they are bad at
the game, or just passively watching while his friends are insulted in front of him.
Classic example : He wants item X. Doesn't want to do the quest or whatever
that will give him item X. Complains it is too hard or too boring. Doesn't want to talk to other people to form a party to do it. Doesn't want to talk to others to buy it, or complains he has no gold. Doesn't want to do anything to get gold as they are too hard/boring/takes too
long. You get the idea.
Is usually bad at the game (skill wise), but doesn't want to do anything to improve, because that's too hard/troublesome. Will never read a guide or watch a video if he is having trouble with a boss, even if you link it for him.
He only wants to do the easy stuff in the game. The moment he runs out of easy stuff, he gets bored and quits. Trying to help him stay in the game or get better is generally futile, as the moment he doesn't get spoon fed, he will quit. Usually doesn't talk except to occasionally ask for help. If he doesn't get a response in a few minutes, will probably log off to play another game instead.
Usually joins a guild to get carried through anything he find hard, which is probably most of the endgame content. Is usually pretty easy to spot because he will not do anything on his own to upgrade his gear, even if it is something really simple. If told to get decent gear before coming along on guild runs, will usually stop responding or will only do it if you do most of the work for him.
Guild leaders, don't waste your time on guys like this.
He swears he wants to plays the game, but never actually does it. He will spend hours in town spamming emotes, but is always "busy" when you try to invite him to a raid. Or spends hours linking "funny videos" on Discord and just keeps saying he will log on "any minute" now. As far as anyone knows, he hasn't even stepped out of town in months, or logged on for that matter.
Mainly annoying for Guild Leaders or anyone trying to organize a raid party. He doesn't want to play the game, but for some reason, isn't willing to admit it and would rather lie to cover
it up. Sometimes, goes to the effort of making up elaborate lies (I overdosed on my meds, ended up in the hospital, my cousin was using my computer to play another game) that get more and more inconsistent.
At first glance, he wants to be friends with everyone. But what he really wants is to have a huge friend list, for maximum benefits. He's not willing to commit to being anyone's friend, beyond the bare pleasantries. If you are partying with him and you get jumped by some
PKers, he won't lift a finger to help you because those PKers are his "friends" too. If you get scammed, he may pretend to have sympathy for you, but meanwhile he's buttering up the scammer at the same time. If a troll runs up to you and starts shit talking about you, he will just sit and watch.
Warning sign : When someone screws you over, and he refuses to get involved because he wants to be "neutral". "Oh, my friend scammed you? Sorry to hear that. No, I won't help you talk to him about it because I want to be neutral you see..."
The only thing you can expect out of him is nothing.
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Folks who suffer from persecution complexes as well.
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Hmm if the gender has been confirmed before that one may actually be fun.
Not being controversial, the missus doesn't allow me to play with other girls!
Cannot relax, even on the simple raids.
Feels the need to be the Red Ranger for every raid.
The chat filter is constantly updating with his instructions
Awkward raid; everyone else is quiet, most likely laughing or shaking their head behind the monitor.
Nobody follows his lead and you still win, but he still complains.
Cannot grasp the concept that failure is an inevitable part of an MMO.
A wipe is catastrophic, then they rage quit while they were no better than anyone else. Which is ironic because the leader or general does not abandon their team.
Or the party enters the dungeon...to discover that someone had unequipped all their gear right before entering, because he thought it would be hilarious. And then he goes "Nah, we don't need to restart, you guys can handle it! I will just cheer you on from the side!".
Oh and the classic : Failing a raid because people refused to drink pots. Like...why.
Would you rather socialize with trolls or leeches? By all means, be social, but if your friend list largely consists of people who just want you to help them power level their character (and their 10 alts) while never helping you with anything, you are not going to have a very fun gaming experience.
What are some signs of this?
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
What do you mean by trying to group everyone?
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
and people that post a wall of txt moaning about other players.....
i will stick well clear of them...
Oh, I get what you mean. IMHO it depends on what the invite was for and what he does afterwards...if its just a random party invite and he goes "come help me with this quest", then yea its annoying. But if someone is inviting you because one of your friends told him to (they don't always check with you first) or something like that, then its pretty normal I think.
General spotted
Nah I am messing with you man.
If someone did the Leroy I would laugh so hard