Etiquette

[Gorka]

I thought to remind new players of some of the "unspoken" etiquette about playing sloth, that players of 10 years or more will remember, that all seems to be a thing of the past now. I'm not suggesting we abide by it religiously, or that we adopt it in a fake manner, I'm just saying that recently there is a lot of room for improvement.

* If you find something that's not yours, and it's valuable, check over gossip if you can take it.
* Don't take things that you don't need to sell them. When you need something take the minimum to get by.
* Ask before you join a group.
* Don't join a group until the group has finished killing the mob they are attacking. Don't gate in with xerxes at 2%, that's rude, you didn't contribute anything.
* Announce going afk, and when you come back. It's respectful.
* Don't talk about quest information over public channels, use tells or ask people to help you. The reason being is that some players (a rarity I admit) don't want to hear the solutions to quests, but find them out themselves.
* Pay attention in groups as a sign of respect to the leader, who has to pay attention on your behalf all the time. Take self-responsibility... no you weren't left behind, you didn't unweb quick enough.
* Generally calling two gems and one mob is what is the "norm" but is decided by the leader.
* Try to be better in groups, offer to run to areas, sing songs, debuff and be on webs, source your own chopper even if that just means picking one up from the common points.

They really boil down to two general ideas...

Don't try and gain where you haven't contributed.
Have the attitude that things are not a right, but a privilege.

I shouldn't have to mention these things, but clearly they aren't taught these days. Why should you do these things? Because it makes every ones playing experience more enjoyable. People who don't adopt these things silently frustrate other players and at points it does boil over. The more I group I find it takes good vibes from me. I want to strangle people, and I have to take a break. Some leaders assist botters in their groups, but that won't be me. Honestly, that sense of entitlement that you expect others to do things for you as a right, without the decency to contribute pushes me to my limit. It's a form of selfishness, plain and simple, I don't care if you think your a "good person" - that's not good behaviour and I will call you out.

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It has to be understood that etiquette can also go too far the other way and become religious. A classic example is our "gratz" culture... we gratz everything. I swear if gossiped I had liberated a bogger in the deepest recesses of my nostrils and announced it on gossip you'd all gratz me. I could make up that I had just loaded eq that didn't exist, and you'd all religiously gratz me. Basically, "gratz" is cheap these days... it's a cheap sign of appreciation. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do it... I'm saying that we should mean it when and if we say it. For me personally, if someone "gratz's" me it means only as much, as the relationship I already had with that player. I think it's more important to be honest, than to be fake. For example, I will be the first one to make a massive sarcastic and public show of how excited I am, when Arya announces a level or an xp goal. Is Arya hurt, no, we are mates... Arya knows this instinctively... Arya and I talk crap in private all the time - we have a friendly relationship - and that's the value not the gratz. I don't need to demonstrate how much of a "nice person" I am publicly. I'd rather be honest before nice, and nice about being honest. Do I care when Arya gets a level? Keeping it real, Not really - I am pleased he is happy because he's a friend, yes. That's the point. In the past I have valued more "tells" of "gratz" than gossips. Tells have been more personal.

This is not just a problem today in sloth, but in western culture as a whole. For 100 people to offer you a cheap gratz there will be 1 to actually take self responsibility. And so it is with Etiquette it's not meant to be a set of rules, but guidelines to play with to build a more positive environment.