Player Entitlement

I'm not normally a fan of Ashton Kutcher.  I put up with him in "That 70's Show" for the laughs.  Oh, the laughs.  I came across this article today and it got me thinking about entitlement and players.

Think about it.  How many times have you seen a player complain that you "took their mob" or "stole a piece of gear"?

I was east of Drybone the other day farming some aldgoat leather, making my circles to kill as many mobs as possible in a short amount of time with a dragoon.  For those of you keeping track at home, that's a lot of mobs and a lot of leather.  I hit the jump button on my mouse to grab the next one when a player runs past me:

Player> Asshole

I didn't think anything of it.  I thought it was a mistell, or he was talking to a friend.  I kill a few more billies when I get a tell:

Player> Your such an asshole

I'm not sure what I did, I sure as hell don't know the player, so I respond in the only way I know how:

Me> *You're
Player> F***ing prick
Me> I've been known to go by that title... 
Player> your dumb
Me> You're

I know, trolling the person calling me an asshole isn't the best way to diffuse a situation, and it definitely won't help me find out why he's insulting me very quickly.  It is, however, more fun.

Player> Stop stealing all my mobs
Me> Stealing... your mobs?
Player> Yeah, I've been farming this spot longer then you have
Me> *than
Me> I'm so sorry.  I'm so, so sorry.  I didn't realize this was your farm!  It should have a tag on the map that says "Player's Farm"
Player> Wut?  Your dumb
Me> *You're

I don't mind if you send me tell and ask if we can split up an area for farming.  There are usually plenty of mobs to go around for a couple of people to farm an area.  If you call me an asshole though, I'll be an even bigger asshole than you thought I was.  I spent the next twenty minutes killing things even faster.  I even went out of my way to tag the billies and nannies he was after just so he couldn't get any mats.  A little kindness can go a long way.  When you approach someone in hostility though, don't expect any kindness in return.  Has that ever worked in real life?  Of course not, and it can only get worse behind the anonymity of a game.  He eventually logged out and by that point I had so much leather I started to give some way.  It was ridiculous.

Remember, nothing in the game is yours.  Nothing belongs to you.  If you lose out on tagging monsters, too bad, you were slower than the other guy.  Better luck next time.  If you roll on a piece of gear and lose out to the spoony bard, too bad.  The bard won the piece you badly need, the piece you've run this dungeon 10 times for.  It sucks, but you're not entitled to that piece.  Get over it and run that dungeon again.