This is a story about what happens when you make the mistake to ride on your fancy steed through Bree. Don't. I mean, seriously, just don't.
This is also a confession. A few weeks ago, Noctua guest blogged about 'trolling' on Ravalation. There are different varieties and levels of trolling and although I condemn the concept, I am no saint. The following conversation, taking place back in 2010, stuck with me because it was that one time that I couldn't resist the temptation. I usually go out of my way to help new players, but I guess there are limitations to my patience.
I don't remember the names, my steed and exact phrases, but it went something like this:
I had almost reached the southern gate of Bree when...
PLING
Brony: u have horse
Brony: i want horse
Ravanel: Hi there. Glad you like my horse!
Ravanel: You can buy a horse north of Bree at Hengstacer Farm.
5 minutes later.
PLING
Brony: i want horse
Brony: give me horse
Ravanel: Look, I can't give you a horse, because they are skills that are bound to character as soon as they are received. So you'll have to get one yourself at Hengstacer Farm or one of the various reputation factions.
Ravanel: Hengstacer Farm is north of Bree; you can recognize it by the drawing of the horse on the map just west of the Eastern Bree-fields.
10 minutes later.
PLING
Brony: give me horse?
Brony: plz?
You inspect Brony. Brony is a level 6 lore-master.
Ravanel: Actually, you'll need to get the riding skill before you can even use a horse.
Ravanel: Get to level 20 first; then you can complete the introductory quest and get your horse at Hengstacer Farm.
15 minutes later.
PLING
Brony: give me horse
Ravanel: As I said, you need to be level 20 first. You can probably get it earlier if you buy it from the LOTRO Store, but I don't know the details about that.
20 minutes later.
PLING
Brony: i want horse
Ravanel: I can't give you one. The game actually doesn't allow me to give away horses. You'll have to get one yourself.
I looked desperately at Conrad. This guy really wasn't going to give up, was he? My eyes fell upon a level 11 boar roaming the fields around the southern Bree gate. Would I...?
PLING
Brony: i want horse
Ravanel: Fine. If you kill 5 of these boars I'll give you a horse.
The boar is level 11. Brony is level 6.
The Rampaging Bristlehide defeated Brony.
I didn't receive any PLINGs after that.
Do you have stories like this? I'd love to hear them! Also, Noctua and Canis of Gamers Decrypted are collecting in-game conversations for their In-game Whispers event. Remember, they can be from any game. Send them to in before Sunday and they'll feature you on their blog.
Sometimes weirdos just latch onto you! You handled it well. For some reason I've been thinking this week of how nice it is in LOTRO to ignore someone with a characters, and all of your characters have them on ignore. This person is an excellent candidate.
ReplyDeleteVery true! That feature stops angry people from relogging to an alt to continue sending private messages. I wouldn't mind a system like that in SWTOR (and accountwide friendslists, now we're talking about this anyway! Love this in Guild Wars 2). It would've stopped the hate that I got after losing a warzone described in this post - although I guess it would've deprived me of a good laugh.
DeleteLet's just say that shut him up. For a little while, anyway.
ReplyDeleteIn a few days, he might be back at L11, but you never know.
Hahaha, that would've been brilliant! Of course, if it'd happen nowadays, I'd just send them to this horse giveaway instead. :)
DeleteThe only explanation I can think of for such behavior would be a very young player who has no clue about how the game works or basic etiquette.
ReplyDeleteStill you did much better than me. If it were me I would have just put the person on ignore way earlier. Plus I like your solution more. :)
That's my thought as well, and that's also why I feel a bit bad about it. It's the kind of behaviour you'd try as a 4-5 year old when you wanted a sweet (we have probably all done this, luckily that's so long ago that I don't remember!). I guess it's pretty amazing that they found out how to send private tells in the first place. I'd have liked to teach them that this kind of behaviour is really frowned upon in MMOs, but it was pretty clear that nothing but "here, have a horse".was going to be accepted. Hopefully I got the message through this way.
DeleteI know the feeling. I have a couple of friends who let their young son play Everquest 2 with them for a bit. It is amazing the stuff that he does know about and what he doesn't.
DeleteAlso, you could interpret your story as a lesson of "Don't do quests for people who can reply to tells for ponies". Kinda like "Don't accept candy from strangers". :p
No jury would convict you of trolling.
ReplyDeleteA guildie in WoW used to send gold beggars out into the world by telling them she hid her money on various mobs, so all they had to do was find them. She also used to tell them that she would give them the money they wanted if they brought her some made-up item that dropped from level 1 boars. :D
Haha, wow! (Sorry for the pun.) I can't believe people would actually fall for that! Then again, if they were on the level of my Brony, it becomes a lot more believable. Either way, it's a relief to hear I'm not the only one bringing these kind of devious plans into action. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteI truly must be a different type all the way around. When someone starts to bug me like that, which is usually about a minute after they start, I give them this message, and this happens. "well you annoying lil chit, you can annoy me all you want while you live in my abyss called the ignore list, welcome to ignore, drinks are behind the door, and there is no chance of escape, Have a good day/night." and then I place them in a long term ignore.
ReplyDeleteI usually put people on ignore faster as well (again, this post), but somehow I got stupefied by this guy. It might be relevant, too, that this kind of thing rarely happens to me in LOTRO (in fact, it was the first time and I've been playing since 2007): I play on a small server and the community is friendly. I'm certainly more like to hit the ignore button in SWTOR. Even then, I try to see things positively and stay friendly (with varying success). There's enough negativity going on in games as it is. :)
DeleteBut when someone bugs you it's veeeeery difficult to be cool. I usually ignore ppl, but gosh... that was... bugging someone hard. (IMHO)
ReplyDeletexoxo
dePepi.com
This happened on WoW and also will happen on SW:TOR with armor all the time. x.x Also, brony for life! Sorry you had a bad experence, haha!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, I can take it. I never get asked for armour in SWTOR somehow. It must have to do with me hanging out in my stronghold most of the time. Or maybe I just don't look like the type that gives away free armour. They're wrong, though, I don't mind helping random people out by crafting them some low level gear. As long as they're not as annoying as the specimen above, that is!
DeleteReading your posts makes me miss playing WoW... though to be honest, many things make me miss playing :/... I nominated you for a Blogger Recognition Award. I posted it here: http://www.psycholo-geek.com/2015/07/blogger-recognition-award.html if you want to check it out :)
ReplyDelete