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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Would you ninja the Onyxia mount?
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 6th 2009 at 8:00AM
Personally, I wouldn't do it, but that's really only because I know there are lots of rare mounts in the game that I'll never get (sigh, Red Proto-drake, I covet you), and one more isn't that big a deal. Not to mention that I like the guilds I'm in and the people I play with, and who knows what they'd think of me if I stole the mount from them or someone else. But not everyone feels the way I do, I'm sure, so let's ask: if you had the chance, in a PuG or a guild run, to steal the Onyxia mount as your own, would you take it? And if you would, is it just because it's so rare and special?
Filed under: Items, Odds and ends, Instances, Bosses
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 12)
jdryner Nov 6th 2009 12:38PM
Fox, you're a fine example of an upright and decent player. Before reading your post on this topic, I would have said "possibly" to the idea of ninja'ing the mount. Thanks for being a moral compass on this topic.
-Jon (Rathwyn/Coldmeiser, Alliance, Drenden)
Killchrono Nov 6th 2009 8:46AM
The sad thing is that mentioning the idea is going to bring out the ninjas who will try and justify their actions with some lame-ass excuse.
There is no justification of ninja'ing, EVER. If you do, feel free to brag about how you screwed people over or that they can't do anything about it, but don't complain when you suffer the bad rep that comes with it.
Yeechang Lee Nov 6th 2009 8:50AM
Anyone who considers a mount--any mount--so important to his self-worth that he is willing to destroy his reputation among thousands of people on his server by stealing it, needs to carefully reevaluate his priorities in life, starting by moving out of his mom's basement.
zappo Nov 6th 2009 9:38AM
Keeping in mind that server reputation is thousands of random people on the internet who you don't even know.
Fnord Nov 6th 2009 10:15AM
Your RL reputation is a function of thousands of random people in your town whom you likely don't really "know." Not sure what the point is here.
Skya Nov 6th 2009 10:51AM
@zappo, you're missing the point that many have made already.
Ninja'ing any item says a lot about the real life personality of the person behind those pixels, much in the same way that the majority respect those same "thousands of random people on the internet who they don't even know".
If you have no respect for others or their property in real life then you're definetely more likely to ninja something in game, I certainly wouldn't expect someone matching that criteria to come over all sensitive in-game and pass on the oportunity to show their true character.
zappo Nov 6th 2009 4:41PM
Am I missing the point? Or does saying "worrying about your online reputation" and "getting out of your mom's basement" seem unrelated? If you're worrying about your "online reputation", you already need to get out more.
And yes, there are actual real repercussions from having a bad reputation in real life.
This has nothing to do with being a good or bad person, or taking some imaginary mount in a game. My point is directed at the parent poster.
Fnord Nov 7th 2009 12:52AM
Ah, so actual repercussions are what make RL reputation more important than on-line reputation? Got it.
Have to admit: I've never thought of my reputation as something whose value varies depending on the price I might pay for a bad one. Naif that I am, I was reared to think it inherently valuable and worth having for its own sake, regardless of the circles you move in and whether anyone knows where to find you. Someone with integrity never really ends up needing to compartmentalize his "real" and "online" reputations.
catharsis80 Nov 8th 2009 4:50PM
I think the fact that people's personal reputations being focused on is the problem here. Reputation isn't the point -- treating your fellow man with respect and dignity is the point, not your bloody reputation. If it was "in" to be an ass, then ninja-ing this mount would give you good reputation.
Roddythew Nov 6th 2009 8:52AM
Like every person playing the game, I bring the morality I have outside the game to the game. I would no more 'ninja' an Ipod than I would ninja loot from people I know or don't know.
Some people posting to this topic have asked 'why is needing on a roll considered ninjaing?' Of course the point of the topic isn't about rolling on loot, it's about ninjaing. It's a term used by WoW players to indicate a person who has taken loot in a manner unacceptable to those playing the game. But just like in real life, there are people who will play fair, earning what they have by hard work (or sometimes luck), there are people who will simply take what others have by the easiest way possible.
No one 'needs' anything in this game: it's a game. One poster claimed he would ninja the mount because he needed it for the 50 mount achievement. Why? What sort of person 'needs' to cheat in order to feel good about an accomplishment in a game? Does he brag to himself? "I have 50 mounts! Yee haw!" It's a pitiful way to live a life and pitiful that a person would feel a 'need' to do hurt others in order to boost his own feeling of self-worth.
Or he could just be an all around dick.
cmichaelcooper Nov 6th 2009 9:03AM
50 mounts guy wasn't serious, he was being sarcastic.
Axolotl Nov 6th 2009 9:18AM
@cmichaelcooper
You got that right, I just like to throw the proverbial stick in the henhouse :-D
Apparantly it worked, since the comment got voted down (morally 'wrong' answer)
The only true ninja-ing would be masterlooting and not giving it to the highest roller.
I tend to put a "everybody NEED on the MOUNT if you don't have it yet" in party-chat at the start of an instance-run, so there is no confusion on what is to happen when it drops. ;-)
I agree with Tricia (a bit further down) on that one.
Still, it's fun to read shocked/outraged reactions once in a while
Stridez Nov 6th 2009 10:27AM
Yeah, much like you, I try to bring my own real world morality to the game. I'm a ninja in real life, so I simply wouldn't be being true to myself if I did not ninja this mount if the chance arose. I would no less ninja my own grandmother's iPod (okay there goes my stories believability right there) than I would the Onyxia mount.
In all seriousness, no, I would not ninja this mount. Personally it doesn't even appeal to me all that much, but if it did, I would still not ninja it.
However, I'm confused as to why people are downrating those who say that they would. Mike Schramm asked us a question, and to downrate those giving an honest answer to this question, even if you don't agree with it, seems pretty silly. That being said, shame on all of you would-be ninjas.
Rizmin Nov 6th 2009 2:44PM
I wouldn't, but I'm also abnormally nice and have a guilt complex about EVERYTHING and would probably feel bad even if I won it fairly. If I ninja'd it, I'd probably have some sort of nervous breakdown. And I don't like people thinking I'm a twat.
csarcops Nov 7th 2009 2:55PM
@Rizmin
I'm like this, I tend to feel guilty when I win rare things, even by rolling fairly. I got the Horseman's Mount pretty early on in the holiday (rolled a 93!) and my guildies thought it was wonderful, but for the rest of the holiday when I offered to run HH with people, they would tease me, "Why do you need to go, you already got his mount." Never did see it drop again.
I wouldn't ninja the Ony mount, #1 because I'm never master looter. I only run with friends and guildies, and I trust that nobody would be such an asshat.
Sleutel Nov 6th 2009 8:56AM
In a game where all the loot amounts to pixels, the most important thing is how you treat your fellow players. The problem isn't that you stole some pixels--who the fuck cares?--it's that you shat all over 24 other people to do it.
WoWie Zowie Nov 6th 2009 8:59AM
of course not. besides the fact it would ruin my chances at finding a good group to run with ever again, its also rude to the nth degree and to even attempt to justify master looter stealing is the sign of a weak minded bottom feeder with an inferiority complex.
atlanna1 Nov 6th 2009 9:02AM
I never pug and my guild has a policy of EVERYONE rolls need on mounts anyway so the possibility of having one ninja'd from me is zero anyway.
Kyle Nov 6th 2009 9:02AM
I wouldn't ninja it. And if it was a PUG, like others have said, everyone should roll need. It's just common sense.
cyndigirl47 Nov 6th 2009 9:03AM
NO, no never. Its just not worth it, why would I steal something from someone else? Yes I know its just a bunch of ones and zeros but its still a coveted item none the less...besides I don't need that kind of bad joojoo.