Expounding on the Subject of Me4t Begz0rs

My anger is expressing itself in new and unusual ways. Take Warcraft for example. The moment another player begs for money, my pulse rate rises. I see red. I clack back a terse reply, usually just, "no." But sometimes, sometimes, they *really* piss me off and I've got to let them have it.

If you're not familiar with the game, here's how it works: everybody starts the same, with nothing. You have many opportunities to obtain money. You can kill humanoids, you can sell items on the Auction House, or you can sell items to vendors. Need some silver? Kill some harpies. It's not rocket science.

So last night a level 15 hunter is begging for silver to repair his weapon. First of all, hunters have pets that can attack for them or they usually have a ranged weapon. Secondly, he can fight a level 7 harpy, unarmed, and get his money quick enough. So when I suggested, politely, that he do just that, he replied, "Yeah? And what level are you?" Only he spelled all the words wrong. I told him I was level 11 and that I haven't had any trouble. That shut him up.

Frelling ridiculous. Later I was standing around and a warlock ran up and asked me if I was rich. When I said no, he wanted to know how I could afford the enchant I had on my weapon. What am I supposed to say? If I say yes, in the next breath he'll ask me for money, so what's the point? I'm not giving it. I earned it just like he's got to earn it.

Then I feel uncharitable, but that doesn't last long. I let a member of my guild borrow five gold and I'm never going to see that money again. He borrowed the money to learn a skill he dropped a week later because he was bored.

I think this touches on a deeper problem -- in the game, in life. I cannot stand when people think they deserve something just because you have it and they don't. I've been plenty jealous, but I'm not going to beg someone to give me something I didn't earn. In the game especially, there's no famine or drought or layoffs. There's no outside factors except how you choose to play a character. I want to shout, "Get a job!" simultaneously aware of what that says about me.

But that's it. I'm tired of people begging. Asking is one thing, understanding the mechanics of a *loan* another. "You've got too much anyway, I don't have to pay you back..." Screw it. Money in the game represents the amount of time I've invested in a character. How irresponsible does a player have to be not to have any concept of that? What kind of world are they living in, where that's ok?