Originally Posted by Miriamele (Post 268263) iterated prisoner's dilemma.

Originally Posted by Hessah (Post 268246) I've always believed that there's a fine line between "being nice" and "being used"... I suppose the difference is how appreciative the receiver is. If that guy who u enhanced a bow for turned around and said "OMG You're a life saver!! I'll pay you back someday, I just don't have enough money, but THANK YOU" it'll make u feel a bit better... but he sounds like he's there to scam so I doubt he even said a Thank You? There's nothing wrong with being "too nice", you just have to find the right people to be nice to!

The community, obviously, really doesn't give a "flying f**k" about ANYONE other than those that can support them (higher leveled/popular players, friends, guildies, irl buddies). And it makes sense if you think about it. Why would you care about someone that you don't even know?

Then where do all the nice people come from? The nice people are the ones that know how to be friendly, but not to overstep the boundaries of being too "friendly." For example, there's players that give away freebies, and there's players that help others with quests. If I had been shown kindness by the both types of players, I would remember the quest helper more than the freebie giver. Being nice doesn't mean you have to give away all your stuff - it just means that you have to spend a little time caring about others. When you say you give away "free sh*t for the community," it might seem like that to you, but the community probably wouldn't care less. The only people who would notice are those you gave away items to and those you didn't (who are probably left with a sour mood). If you gave away help, those that received help would notice you and those who didn't receive help would mark you down as a friendly player and look for chances to interact. It's cool to give away free items to those that need it, and I myself would be overjoyed if that happened to me, but the truth is that the community as a whole probably won't remember the fact that you gave weapons to a few people.

As for the problem you described, I don't think you're being too nice, you're being way too gullible as you said. It wouldn't have been nice to demand the money from that player, but it wouldn't be exactly beneficial to hand over a +9 weapon and expect the player to give money voluntarily ...
I'm not saying that you should not trust anyone, I guess it's just common sense to first find out more about a person before doing so much for them. But I suppose I don't need to tell you this as you already learnt a a very harsh lesson =T I also hope you meet better people, as I don't think this is 100% your fault. Honest players should know better than this.

It's ironic I'm writing a few paragraphs on a topic I probably haven't experienced irl, but it doesn't hurt to try to understand I guess.
You certainly got the rough end ...

>edit
Just reread my paragraph.
I need to pay more attention in English class e__e

Originally Posted by Silent Wizard (Post 268719) Worth repeating, My game motto has been: "Being nice to everyone you meet." There are givers, there are takers, and there are sharers.