Breakfast topic: A guilty mind
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Mar 22nd 2007 at 8:00AM
I finally gave into the prevailing mood of the Horde and made a blood elf paladin the other day. All went well in the beginning, but as I was running up to an early questgiver, I accidentally clicked on one of the small level 1 cats that walk around blood elf areas. My giant sword destroyed it in one hit. It made a small, pathetic noise and flopped over. I glanced off to my left and saw my real-life gray cat, looking at me with love and devotion in his eyes, and felt a small wave of guilt.
Sure, it wasn't a real cat, and it made no sense whatsoever, but I felt kind of bad anyway. How could my paladin, a devotee of the light and a healer, kill a housecat? If only I could rez! It reminded me of the time I rolled a night elf on an RP server and got yelled at by a druid for killing a squirrel, and when I desecrated Uther's tomb and his ghost scolded me, and when I made fun of someone in general chat for being dumb and his guildmate told me he was twelve. One of my guildmates reported feeling bad for making a girl cry, while another said he hated not joining groups where the people have helped him a lot. And, of course, guild hoppers, ninja looters, and evil GMs have something to feel guilty about.
Whether killing innocents, plotting against our guildmates, or ninja looting, we've all done unethical things in WoW. Do you feel guilty for any of your misdeeds, or, like Tony Soprano, do you never think anything you do is wrong?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Zuuler Mar 22nd 2007 8:08AM
Actually I am proud of some of my more evil achievements.
My favorite though was the BE who asked how to get from Eversong/Ghostlands to the other horde zones in the game.
I told him he had to run his lvl 10 character south through Ghostlands and walk through the big portal, then run south, then east through EPL, and east through WPL.
He asked if there was an easier way, and I told him no. At which point, he set off for EPL.
multikast Mar 22nd 2007 8:09AM
only thing i kind of feel guilty about was one time, i charged 25s per stack of water for a guy that wanted 4 stacks. the problem was, when it came time to trade, he accidentally put 14g instead of 1g. i never said anything, so i made 14g for 4 stacks of water.
the guy must've been rich enough that he didn't notice.
Toolio Mar 22nd 2007 8:22AM
I was running a guildie to SM and as we passed Undercity I saw three 30ish Blood elves. A pali, mage, and a priest. They were all flagged PVP and dancing around w/ eachother. I stopped and thought, "Awww. How cute." Then I thought, "Why are they flagged PVP?" Then I thought, "They've probably been bad." Then I hit my multishot button and heard three BE's die, saw three hands shoot for the heavens, and heard three death rattles. I kinda' felt guilty. Kinda'.
Zuuler Mar 22nd 2007 8:31AM
My next favorite was going after this BE Pally named Pauladin, who routinely undercut prices on the AH by at least 50%, sometimes even more. Its like a main st USA meets walmart sort of thing. The main problem for me was he was selling herbs and leather, which was what I was also trying to make money off of.
For a while, I would watch for him to be online and in a major city. Then I would announce in general chat how he was responsible for instability in the market. He never responded to anything I said, so I think he either ignored it, or was a farmer.
Then one day I came up with a great idea. I started buying the stuff he had on the AH that was so much cheaper than what everyone else was selling for, and reposting it for a profit. I would then send Pauladin an in game mail message telling him I bought his medium leather for 50s and sold it for 1g 6s, a 56s profit.
After a while, I stopped seeing him online, and stopped seeing his stuff in the AH.
priest Mar 22nd 2007 8:32AM
You shouldn't feel guilty about killing BE's, No.3, it's 100% justified to see that hand, reaching...
But, back to the topic, it's cats, yes it is. My other half doesn't care what she kills ingame, but not the cats, oh no, never. And if I ever whack a Shadowword:pain on one (great fun), I get an earful.
On that subject, why are there pet cats and cats in the cities, but no dogs, except for that one in Southshore?
Zuuler Mar 22nd 2007 8:40AM
Theres also a dog in the farm in arithi basin, when the alliance controls it. When the horde controls it, it turns into a darkhound.
All elves have dramatic deaths. NE's deaths are just as bad as BE deaths. My favorite is the gnome deaths though, just because I really, really, really hate those midgets.
I dotted up a gnome mage last night, who frost nova'd me and ran away, right into a pack of raptors. That was a real giggle moment for me. Needless to say, he did not survive.
Ben Mar 22nd 2007 9:00AM
If you think killing a random cat is bad wait until you get to Hillsbrad hills and start doing quests in Tarren Mill.
I feel bad for poor, poor Stanley the dog. Doomed to spend an eternity being poisoned by horde toons in their 20s. :(
Jeff Mar 22nd 2007 9:22AM
Most Badass thing I've done so far was to kite and bring with me Morben Fel (The 35 Elite Darkmage in Raven Hill) to Sentinel Hill, then waiting some noobs attack him ( 4-5 of them) then feinted death lol ... It was funny to see all those noobs running around being mass killed by Morben Fel death spell.
Tony Mar 22nd 2007 9:25AM
what about the alliance NPC in Brill....you get to turn him into a zombie and then he kills his alliance friend. still on of the quest I look froward to when rolling an undead alt. Go Horde
Junzim Mar 24th 2007 3:10PM
You're a blood knight! It got in your way!
The Light is a physical force, no more sentient or godly than any other element be it fire, earth or water. Bend it to your will and it shall be a hard working thrall!
Patrick Mar 22nd 2007 9:39AM
The only thing I feel guilty about was a total accident on my part. I was in a ST PuG and had just downed one of the bosses. For some reason, the group leader changed from group loot to free for all without announcing it. So there I was, happily clicking through the loot expecting the need/greed windows to pop up. Instead, 2 blues (that I couldn't even use) ended up in my bag. Call me an accidental ninja I guess.
dilfred Mar 22nd 2007 9:42AM
I felt really guilty about fortitude buffing someone once just before they jumped off the zepplin towards Undercity. They said thank you very much, jumped and died. I did not know then that the fall damage is based on your max health, but by just buffing them, i'd increased it, but they were not at 100% health when jumped.
A little time later I realised that it's a great sport especially on people whom I know are beggers or spammers.
I cannot stand killing the squirrels in Moonglade, simply because of the little Eeek they let out when dieing :(
FireStar Mar 22nd 2007 9:57AM
If you've ever done the (H) Tears of the moon quest more than once then you're knowingly killing a horde member! How dare ye!
JJ Mar 22nd 2007 9:51AM
I hate killing the 'innocent' animals in the game ($%@! vultures don't count, lol), although I must admit that I made a sizeable dent in the deer population of Darnassus when I started out skinning. I'm quite picky about doing quests that require killing animals for any reason but food. Humanoids, though, no problem! Dumb furbolg deserve every bit coming to them XD
My top two guilty incidents, both in line with the cat-killing story:
1) One day in game I just looked up and saw that all the npcs, critters included, had these wierd health bars over their heads, and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of them (heh, now I know it's the 'v' key). Well, my husband had the bright idea to try right-clicking on them. Poor chicken. My husband found my subsequent shock and horror utterly hilarious.
2) I rolled a Tauren, and was ecstatic to see my first wild prairie dog--so adorable. I tried to pet him. Wrong button >.<
I've got a rogue on a PvP server. I make a point of not ganking lowbies, unless they're doing something naughty. Or are gnomes. *grins evily*
I haven't really ticked anybody off, except for when I was wandering around Silvermoon with my male Blood Elf, wearing a pink lunar festival dress. True, it was an RP server, but I don't think anyone can argue that a pink dress is inappropriate for BE's... Anyway, some guy got quite upset and started chewing me out (while staying in character). I responded totally RP-deadpan and started going on about male-female equality, and about how comfortable the dress was. I don't think that made him much happier XD
psdavies Mar 22nd 2007 9:52AM
I go out of my way to kill critters. Many people I play with do the same. It never ceases to amuse me when a multi-shot decides to hit that snake or that rabbit in addition to the mob I'm fighting.
daniel Mar 22nd 2007 9:53AM
I always get these stupid guilty feelings when I gank someone out of pure boredom and the thought of them being a crying twelve year old pops up. Knowing that my colleague's 10 year old son plays wow which doesn't really easy my mind at all. Damn my conscience!
Thijz Mar 22nd 2007 9:55AM
When I was lvl 28 on my Draenei Shammy, I was fooling around in Elwynn (Stalvan quest line) and I saw that the Tower of Azora was being attacked. Being some holy octopus thing who fell from the sky (know your lore!) I did not hesitate in getting my revenge. I turned into a Ghost Wolf and made my way to the Tower.
The sight when I got there was horrible, there were dead Gnomes everywhere! I ran up the stairs, to find a lvl 24 BE paladin killing the boss of the tower. He was just healing himself and he would have survived his fight against the boss if I did not Earth Shock him. His heal was interupted and there he was, without being able to cast healing spells for a few seconds. I charged into him, throwing down some totems (Magma Totem FTW!) and I completely annihilated him.
Since most pally's are total idiots, I expected him to spawn right on top of his body, so I waited in the top of the tower for him to come back. After a while I saw his body disappear, he spawned at the foot of the tower! I jumped up and climbed over the little fence, followed by a free fall to the bottom of the tower. I ran outside and saw him running away in the distance. I turned into my wolf-form and started to chase him...
In a matter of seconds I cought up with him, I turned back to my normal self and Frost-Shocked him, a short fight followed, holy spells and shocks were flying around, but again he stood no chance.
As if he was a humanoid mob, he ran away when he had about 30% hp left, I Flame-Shocked him and watched him die of the DoT...
Why do I feel guilty? Because he really stood no chance. He wasted his time running to the Tower of Azora, only to have the painfull memory of dead gnomes and a crazy shaman burned on his mind.
Ana Mar 22nd 2007 9:57AM
In Nagrand, they did too realistic a job on the Talbuk death noises. The first one I killed made me gasp at the horror of my actions - then I realized I had 29 more to slaughter at the behest of Mr. Nesingwary. I ended up turning my sound off for the whole questline. :-P
andy Mar 22nd 2007 10:05AM
I feel guilty all the time, leading a guild will do that to you.
Warrior wants to stay arms/fury but wants to raid karazhan? sorry m8, but we're short on prot warriors. not only is this wrong for me to be asking people to spec one way, but it also makes them less happy with their toon.
"My 12 year old lvl 7 paladin (cronic reroller and drama queen) brother wants to join the guild". sorry but hes too low, too young and is a bit of a pain... the poor child cried.
"hey dude, i busted my ass off over the last 2 nights to get attuned to karazhan, can you fit me in?" Sorry m8, but everyone had signed up previously...
leading a guild makes me feel aweful all the time :(
Ændy Mar 23rd 2007 4:19AM
Every time you kill a kitten...God kills a kitten. Please, think of the kittens.