Charity for beggars, or lack thereof
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 8th 2007 at 1:12PM
I like to think that maybe it's because I'm special (but it probably happens to everyone who has a 70)-- periodically ingame, I'll get tells from lowbies, asking either for mount money, or to run them through an instance. I've made it a habit to laugh and politely decline (this is not a hard game, and they can play it themselves). But this post on Livejournal made me reconsider the question of why I should or shouldn't help beggars.Fordarkness tells the story of his mother selling some furniture that she was asking $500 for $25 to help out a couple who'd been going through some rough times, and he says that it seems like a good idea to help beggars out when you believe they genuinely need it. I've never begged for money or powerleveling (although I have begged same-level guildies to tank or heal an instance for me, I'll readily admit), but, like Fordarkness, I have been gifted money by friends who saw how close I was to my first mount.
Of course, guildies are a different situation-- I'll give them anything they need, because I figure you might as well show loyalty to someone besides yourself. As for beggars, though, I've never helped them, and unless they take an effort to show my why they actually need what they're asking for, I'll keep it that way. Have you ever felt the need to make a lowbie's day and gift them that mount money or run them through that instance? Or does a tell from someone you don't know asking for something automatically add them to your ignore list?
Update: Right after I finished writing this article, reader Preacherman23 sent us this elegant solution: one player puts 50g in the trade window of a beggar... and then just goes afk for an hour or so.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Making money
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Matt Park Mar 8th 2007 1:41PM
If they're unqie about it, then I don't mind helping them somewhat - if they come up to me and /say "My family has been brutally slaughtered, and I need funds in order to revenge them!" then I'll probably send some money their way. but when they come up to me, open a trade, and say "need money" then they ain't getting a dime.
Druid dude Mar 8th 2007 1:35PM
One problem with power leveling players through content is that they often reach end game and are not very good at playing their class.
Jeff Mar 8th 2007 1:37PM
As a generous dwarf (70 Hunter), I run one of these beggars about once a week when i feel like it... Hehe its always funny seeing lowbie that think Stockades are hardcore... It make me remember the old memories when the game was brand new hehe. Using a pet that screech and reduce atk pwr by 210 for all melee ennemies, I could pull nearly the whole stockades, without myself taking damage. I think more 70 should help others peeps. But from what I've seen, few of us help the nobodies like those beggars. Its also challenging to make the Stockades time attack hehe :) When you drunk and all its pure arcade action... And at the end of the run, i give each of those newbies a good Beer from Karanhos, whishing them good luck on their next adventures. Thats the way alliance should be ; not snob 70 from high end guild who act like they were never noobs at some point.
James Mar 8th 2007 1:40PM
No beggar on WoW 'needs' money. Why? They are not going to freeze to death tonight, they are not going to starve, and they are not going to be thrown out of their place due to back rent or have their lights turned off. Therefore, giving to these people results in one thing: encouraging them to keep begging. And people out there must be giving into these asshats, because there is way too many of them.
And what is up with these people being unable to spell "please"? Pls and plz are not the same word, and all I can think is these beggars are so lazy, not only can they not go out and kill things, they can't even move thier hands to type out a word as long as "please".
Randomdruid Mar 8th 2007 1:47PM
I'll help out when I can and I'm not too busy, especially for guildies, after all when I needed help getting the hammer to summon Gahz'rilla and charging it at the altar of Zul a lvl 66 guildie I asked helped me breeze through that process so my friends and I could get on to doing all the quests in ZF. I was in the high 40s at the time and now that I'm in my low to mid 60s I'd still be more than willing to help someone do the same. I remember tipping my lvl 66 guildie 2g (a fair amount of gold to me at the time) and he just laughed at my pocket change and said "you're welcome".
Jim Mar 8th 2007 1:43PM
The furniture story isn't analogous; the young couple needed furniture, but this is a game, and nobody in the game actually needs anything. I do, however, need my time, so there has to be a compelling reason for me to help out when there's nothing in it for me.
I play a mage. The other day I was followed around by a mid-level character for a bit as I was hurriedly running between the auction house, mailbox and bank in Ironforge, trying to get geared up for an instance run. My guildies were waiting on me. The character (a Level 45 Draenei paladin, I think) was sending me tells, asking me if I could make some water for him. I didn't respond, and then ported out to Shattrath.
He then told me that I was rude, etc., etc., I /ignored him, and judging by the responses by others in general chat, started complaining there, too. My response: "Even if I weren't busy, and I am, I don't give handouts to whiners with a sense of entitlement."
I have been considering /ignoring and blacklisting his entire guild. Helping out their members is what a guide is for, after all, and if one of their members is so frustrated that he can't find someone -- a guildie or otherwise -- to help him out, I probably don't want to deal with any of his guild.
And, sure, I help out guildies. I hand out any green profession formulae I find, drop what I'm doing when someone asks for an enchant, loan out prismatic shards, give away lowbie gear, and so forth. But the only time I'll make water for J. Random Toon is if he opens wide and makes like an outhouse.
Christian Holton Mar 8th 2007 3:14PM
These people really get to me.
Especially when they repeatedly ask me for something.
I learned my lesson back in Diablo, when someone would jump in and start saying "gimmesomeshit, oky" and "gimmeSOJ", ad nauseum. The only way to shut them up, apparently, was to give them something. Then and only then would I turn on my Townhack and kill them.
I take this approach. If they are new to the game, which you can never tell because there are lots of dishonest people in there, I suggest joining a guild and bugging them about it. If they are guilded, I tell them to go bug their guild. That's what I did when I needed money or items, and I pay back my debts no matter what. Even large sums get paid back either in gold or in tradeskill stuff.
Once in a while, I'll treat them like a homeless person. I ask them what they're going to use the money for. If they say "I need a good sword", I'll simply make or buy them a good sword for their level and class.
Most often their response, like so many homeless people, is less than pleasant. I take this to mean that they were just going to spend it on beer and/or cigarettes instead of actual food. F*&^ them if they don't want my food.
I actually knew a guy that got so sick of beggars that he made a female NE and walked around alliance towns stripped down nekkid and would ask for tips and dance for people. He'd send all the money to his main. This is largely how he funded his lvl 40 and 60 mounts.
Zuuler Mar 8th 2007 1:49PM
One time, I was in Orgrimmar, lvling my fishing in the pond. A low lvl orc asks me for money, I tell him I have none, which was true because I just spent all my money on training. Then he asks me if I have any gear he can have. I say no, all my gear is soulbound and I sell gear on the AH, and if he wants that gear he can buy it like everyone else. He then asks me if I have anything at all he can have...
I gave him 3 raw mudslappers I had just caught in the pond.
Point is, I don't help anyone who is not in my guild unless I am getting something out of it. I'm playing for fun too, why should I sacrafice my time and hard earned gold on someone I don't know. And if I suspect a guild member is only around to ask for help power leveling or asks for gold too much, they get the same treatment as a total stranger.
I pay my subscription fee, and I use that subscription to further my own character, not someone elses.
My favorite though, was this one guy got invited to the guild, and the first thing he asked for was money for his mount (he just hit lvl 40). And when someone said we didn't do that in our guild, that he had to go out and earn it like everyone else did, he /gquit. Fastest I ever saw someone leave a guild.
We had another guy who was looking to have use help him power lvl, and when we caught on and stopped running him through instances, he left the guild. We kept track of him for a while, and warned his new guilds he entered about him. I think the same thing happened there, when they stopped running him through instances, he quit the guild. And what someone posted above is true, having all those run throughs didn't make him a good player. When he was in our guild, he was the same lvl I was. When I hit 60, I was looking for a group to do DM west so I could get my dreadsteed, and he pst me asking to come along. I checked him out and he was only lvl 51, so I ignored him, but would have ignored him anyway. Not a very good power lvler in my opinion.
The most I do to help a beggar is to tell them where to get what they are asking for. Ask for gold, tell them where to go farm. Ask for a run through, tell them they will lvl faster with a group his own lvl.
And my favorite, ask for summons, tell them to go take the zeplin.
Halicante Mar 8th 2007 1:50PM
Beggars at the mailbox drive me nuts. I got my toons to 70 without once borrowing money...no reason they can't do the same. I have lent money to guildies many a time, but that's different. I always know that when I get a tell from someone with "hi" and nothing else, they will be asking me for money.
I will make food and water for people if they ask nicely, but if they just come up to me in org and open trade then send a tell with "water" then I tell them to eff off. Same goes for ports although I won't make a port for less than 50s and typical on our server is 2g. I've had people get pissed at me for not doing it for free....ugh if you don't like it then go the slow way.
Zuuler Mar 8th 2007 1:54PM
The whole mage water thing annoys me. Mana drinks are relatively inexpensive. I never ask a mage for water unless I am in a group with a mage and they offer it.
I get asked for summons all the time. Always ignore them. Don't care if they are offering to pay. If you're lvl 30 and have 2g to waste but can't get from Orgrimmar to Tarren Mill on your own, then just cancel your account.
My favorite ever though was someone in UC asking in general chat for a port to Silvermoon. Still waiting for someone in Shattrath to ask for a port to one of the other major cities. That would be too funny.
Acceptable Risk Mar 8th 2007 1:56PM
I generally don't give charity because I generally refuse to accept it. I remember farming the gold for my first level 40 mount. When I hit 40, I was about ten gold short before training my level 40 skills. A guildie gave me 20 gold to cover the mount and the skills. She said I didn't have to pay her back but that gold hung over me like a weight. I swore I would make good.
Over the next two days, I farmed for that 20 gold and eventually had it scraped together and sent it to her right before she was about to log off. I even went so far as disenchanting my own pants and selling the shard in order to make good on it.
I just hate owing people money. In game or in life.
Ragbar Mar 8th 2007 2:10PM
Why do these people feel the need to beg for money or instance runs? That's what I want to know. Like others have said, they don't NEED anything.
However, I will include some of my favorite methods of dealing with beggers. As a mage, I've got quite a few. I don't mind making water for my guildies, especially for our honor grinds and bg grinds. I usually log in and spend the first 15 minutes making 200 water and 200 food, only for it to dissappear the first time we que up (we're short on mages).
Beg 1) "Hi can you port me to blahblahblah"
Response: Create a portal to the city he did not want to go to, or even better, the city he's in right now. You'd be suprised how often people click it without reading their tooltip.
Beg 2) This only works when you're warlock buddy gets the "Can you summon so and so?"
Response: Have your warlock buddy get them to invite you to help summon. Cast a portal right on top of where the warlock summoning portal would be. Warlock cancel's spell right before it would appear. This is a good way to portal 2-3 beggars at once!
Beg 3) Can I have some food/water?
Response: Give them rank 1 food/water.
While these are all really simple and kind of mean, people do deserve it. I wish I could access my photobucket from work and post some of the screenshots I've taken of arguments with people over my decision not to give them water. My favorite so far is
"Well you obviously don't know how to play a mage"
Really? So "knowing how to play a mage" is being a vendor?
Gill Mar 8th 2007 9:58PM
If I'm in a city (say Stormwind or Ironforge) and I see someone looking for a group to Stocks, or Gnomer, or SM, or Deadmines, I run the lowbies through. Being a 65 hunter at the moment, it does't take that long for me and the lowbies to go through 'em. Plus I know at the end of it, I did a good deed helping them out progress through the game.
However, the one thing I can't stand is when the guys just follow me around and not do anything. Case in point: I took a full group to SM the other night. Only 2 out of the 4 guys (a Shaman and a priest) wanted to help me despite the fact they know I can take on the whole monastery by myself. That to me are the people worth helping out. At least they just don't sit back and enjoy the ride. They actually do something to enjoy the experience no matter how easy it is wit a lvl 65 hunter in tow. Meanwhile, the Pally and the human rogue just set themselves to auto follow the group, so I booted them out right before we fought the boss.
Metaphyzxx Mar 8th 2007 2:08PM
Funny thing is, I like running lowbies through some instances. I call it my pro bono work. I don't get to play as often as I'd like, so it gives me the option of doing something progressive with the limited time I have.
As for money, I'm a little this, a little that about it. I borrowed money from my guild for my first mount, (priest had a little trouble getting the $), and I've borrowed for a respec. From there, I made it a point to pay it forward, but I apply to 'need' moreso than 'greed'. You tend to be able to tell the difference... a lvl 5 toon asking for 5 gold... probably greed. A lvl 39 asking for 11g 58s, probably has something in mind.
Martel Mar 8th 2007 2:11PM
I play alliance. When I run into a beggar, I tell them they should reroll horde. I go on to explain that horde beggars are ezmode and make gold two or three times as fast because horde players have more money.
len Mar 8th 2007 2:24PM
Beggars are scum. They should be punished and harassed for the same reason as gold farmers - to destroy the incentives that bring them to game.
There was a beggar in IF recently, /yelling for money. I also discovered that he was opening trade windows with random people by the mailbox. So I gave him some knothide scraps to annoy him, but I kicked myself when I realized that it was still worth a few silver, which is more than he deserved. So I used the trick I learned here recently:
/emote throws money on the ground for [beggar].
His shout spam actually shut up for a few minutes. It started up again later, this time with the addendum "and no tricks!"
James Mar 8th 2007 2:18PM
@13
lol
brodie pomper Mar 8th 2007 2:22PM
What I like doing is sending them something useless. I mail a murloc eye with, "stop begging, douchebag." Attached to it. This comes from years of living in Philly and dealing with the homeless. I'd actually play a game with the homeless, called Doctor.
You ask the bum asking for money to show you his wallet. If he has less in it than me, I give him money. They usually had more money, or refused to play, because they probably had more money than me.
If they can get 1 buck every 10 minutes, they make more than me (after taxes) and don't have anything to pay for except booze, drugs, and food. I have kid, car, apartment, bills, food, hobbies, clothes, and miscellany to pay for.
DahCheet Mar 8th 2007 2:28PM
I've given a couple of pieces of silver to people but that's about it. I'm still a lowbie/noob (I hope to hit 30 for the first time this weekend) so I'm a little sympathetic. I'm hurting right now for cash so I'm not giving any out right now. I'd consider tanking for RFC if asked as long as they weren't stupid about it and I'm free. I've still got a ways to go and a lot to learn before being an ass about anything so I try to be nice about things.
AdamC Mar 8th 2007 2:20PM
I am with you guys. I can't stand beggars. I was in Westfall farming for boar ribs to get my cooking up and some lvl 12 asked for a VC run. After being laughed at by lowbies for offering to buy boar ribs for extremely high prices, I didn't feel like any charity, let alone helping someone who clearly had no need other than stupidly easy xp. I invited him to my group and then let him follow me and aggroed some gnolls. They tore him up and I just dropped the group. I think begging should be rewarded with death, but sadly this cannot be done in cities. Begging is the reason I always want to be able to gank my own faction.