Not giving him a thing. I only give to disinterested players, usually I just buff / CR low levels unless they are fun and friendly.
Just the same when I'm low level or new to a game. I don't beg but usually end up with cool gifts because I'm friendly, fun and I like to do jokes and create bonds with people.
Hopefully they shouldn't have to beg, because that whole merchants and money thing, thats just for immersion, right? I mean it doesnt have any real value.....its a game -thing, you know, because you can get what you need just from doing stuff in game-and at the right level.
I would tell them, that.
Are they roleplaying?
If they are: ignore/help or not in a RP way depending on if they interact with me.
If not: Tell them it's unacceptable to beg if they ask me directly.. don't be lazy and go get some levels and grind some dosh.
If I honestly think they are true newbies to the game I will try and walk them through some basics and if possible craft some low level gear for them to get started with. Getting that first set of gear, bags and a serviceable weapon can be brutally painful right at first with no resources. I may even give a very small amount of cash to pay for the first couple levels of spells as they are usually very cheap as well.
If the character is already equipped with basic starting gear and they are begging instead of trying to get their own resources I will just ignore them. At most I will give them a job to go farm something in the newbie area for me, if they are not willing then neither am I.
Players have been begging for gold as long as MMORPGs have been around. I kind of look at them like any other type of player, its just another part of the commmunity. It doesnt offend me, hell sometimes they are funny. Text on screen as a rule doesnt trigger me like some. I have never given anything to them, but i dont generaly ignore them either unless I am getting whisper spammed. Also, when adding to the ignore list, I do not feel the need to make a channel announcement about doing so.
I give them 100,000 copper and come back an hour later to see if they are still there ready to give it back.
Kilsin said:Scenario - You see a low-level player begging for money in a newbie zone, what do you do? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters
First I would try to determine if he really needed help or if he was just a moocher. If he really needed help, I would try to help him. First by grouping with him and helping him to kill some mobs for cash. I might donate some as well.
I tell him/her that there are many mobs nearby that are just *dying* to provide some coins or items to sell.
Begging bothers me. I will never give a beggar anything I don't want to encourage the practice.
But I will be quite polite - it may be a brand new player that genuinely doesn't realize that most players don't appreciate total strangers asking for hand-outs. Small chance of this but not zero.
I tell the player to take off all of their gear and to dance for me in the most populated area. We all call that person a dirty pleb, plat whore, a fugly noob, and many other demeaning names. Then we proceed with the classic wishing cancer upon them, all of the sexual relations you and everyone else is having with their mother, and how they are still virgins who live in their mothers basement. After this I open trade and give them 5 silver and tell them, "Here, keep the change and go clean yourself up you filthy ****".
I think in this scenario everyone wins.
If the person is just asking for Coin, I just ignore them. If the person asks for a Buff that I can cast and I'm not in a super rush then I have no problem casting it for them.
That said... I have been known to watch random low level players play and if they seem like they are really new and figuring things out, I've gone up and given them a few Plat to help get them started. But these are not players who have actually asked for anything.
When I have gold to spare, I like going to lowbie zones and just handing out goodies - be it coin, bags, whatever. I'll give to folks who ask when I can and don't really concern myself with the whole "you should EARN it!" stuff. If I have more than I need, why not spread the wealth and enjoyment around?
Playing a Wizard in EQ I found regents needed for some of my spells good in this case. I'm speaking specifically about Bat Wings for levitation here. I would give them a quest "I'll give you X (whatever the price was) if you collect me a stack of Bat Wings. And I'll take all you can collect so if you collect more tomorrow send me a tell"
I paid way too much for bat wings this way, but it saved me from running arround chasing bats, and or the time it took to dumpster dive for them. And solved their problem for them without giving hand outs. I could pop into Rath Mountians and drop a hill giant and make that back in no time.
A LOT of good came out of this. I met new friends, future guild members. All these players leveled up (many passed me) and I had free Rez's and Crack whenever I needed it. From a value stand point I was payed back easy 10 fold.
THEN. Sony made levetation regent free and put unlimited bat wings on some merchants. "QOL improvements" at the cost of player interaction.
@zorkon I like the idea of giving them a quest to do lol.
If they are really good beggers...then I will give them some. And by good I mean they have some sort of rp element to it. If they are annyoing and spammy I will ignore them. If I get rich...which I never do...but if I do...then I usually don't mind giving them gold. So I guess it depends on the situation I am in with gold at the time.