Rudeness redux

I encountered a rude bum-type today, as I was in the midst of working on my land. First this character said hello about six times and started to get upset that I was replying quickly enough- hey, I'm working here! Sorry! Then, Mister Charm-School asked me to give him money, and when my politer refusals didn't sink in, and I finally cracked that I was NOT an ATM, he tried to attack me.

I thank the Lindens for "eject and ban".

Now, if only there was land zoning for mainland parcels, I'd be thrilled. Rudeness has reached a new low with these huge flashing/rotating disruptive billboards. Shame on people who use such sleazy tactics to make a few $L off people who just want to enjoy their Second Life. Land extortion is as disgusting a behavior as griefing.

don't forget that SL is advertised everywhere as this great money making opportunity. SL has gotten a lot of press lately.. hitting the front page on yahoo, etc. So a lot of people hear the buzz and come check it out. Orientation island is FULL of people who never talk. I remember that the only "thing" that talked to me, was some stupid parrot that wouldn't shut up.

But it's also quite possible that this person was a newly rolled alt.. of someone who'd had a rotten day, was trying to hide from their "friends", and just wanted to sit and think. rolled up a disposable alt and went for a swing. Down in the dumps happens a lot, especially in an "IRC-based" world like second Life, where the GNP is measured not in lindens, but in drama.

This is more true than most people realize. As new as I am, I already had one experience with a,,, shall we say, dejected soul. I tried offering comforting words but it just seemed that it wasn't enough. But thats another story!!!

off-topic, I had an amusing encounter the other day where the other person thought for like a full minute that they were talking with someone off in the distance because they didn't notice me standing right behind them. hee hee

No clue what this person's problem was...

Keep in mind it's not always deliberately/intentionally rude behavior...
think of drivers yakkin on their cell phones. They're only slightly aware of the other drivers around them.

If I have a shoulder surfer or I'm talking on the phone I find it very difficult to carry on conversations in-world (any world really).

Maybe your nearly silent stalker was just really distracted by something non-SL.

I'm really surprised at all the excuses made in this thread for such rude behaviour.

This was an alt, they admitted it themselves. They strolled onto someones land, (they knew this, this wasn't a newbie) and acted like a total asshat to a incredibly polite and welcoming owner.

Eject and Ban.

Mine was pretty minor, i think... just simply an obnoxious child who had snuck onto the main grid, but that's just my opinion.

Mine pales in comparison to Daisy's. Mine was merely obnoxious and vitriolic. At least she didn't try to shoot at us.

The more i read these postings, the more i think that maybe yours, mine, Daisy's... maybe many others too, are in fact children thinking that we are NPC's. I do recall back in May, while working at my first job, some griefers came in to shoot up the place. My partner (who also worked there) spoke to them.

The Griefers had a hard time grasping that we were not NPC's, but in fact were other players. They did their griefer thing anyways; my partner was never able to convince them.... except for one. He IM'd me (because I was standing next to my partner) and asked if it was true that we were not NPC's. He did not join in with the others to attack the staff and customers. Although he did leave with them. I think the other posters here might be on to something. While some jerks don't care who they hurt, just maybe some of these new players don't quite realize that we aren't NPC's.

In the case of the aforementioned reluctant griefer (lol... sounds like a Perry Mason book! "The Case of the Reluctant Griefer" I eventually talked him into giving up griefing and to enter Teazers Univ, and we became friends. He's become quite a good jewelry maker and has a successful business now.

to Io:
If we had responded with Eject/Ban instead of trying to hold a discourse, he'ld probably still be griefing today. I would assert that the same is true of a simply rude person (as opposed to a griefer). They might not understand that they are dealing with other people and not just an NPC, or they might not be able to communicate. For example, Io, if i ask you "Entschuldigung sie bitte, aber ich spreche kein Englisch. Wo hast du, dein haar gekauft?" Would you know how to respond? (appologies to any German speakers if i got anything wrong, it's been 20+ years since I left Germany, and don't speak the language much anymore)

There's nothing I don't know about etiquette, Carolyn. [wipes nose on sleeve]

I don't think it's children thinking they're NPCs - I think they know full well they are players. I think they're just poorly brought up brats who think that just because they're young they have a right to demand things from you.

There are many of these in many other mmos - the most recent I was in was the same. Hang out in any major town and there will always be someone asking if you can give them 1 gold. I usually tell them to go out and kill something. And if we have a new guild member who keeps asking for "cakewalks" and handouts - we inevitably find out they are young teenagers. Sometimes adults - but those are the really sad cases. Or maybe they're all equally sad... hah.

Stephanie, this was an ALT not a newbie, not a non-english speaker, they did not attempt to communicate other than to state that they weren't new in response to her talking, they understood full well what she was saying. Now, it is true that if you fight back against griefers and jerks they may come back to bother you again. On the other hand, this is holding other people hostage to a threat, and I resent that very much, it is pure bully behavior to hold that over a person's head.

Look, I do my best to help newbies, I understand fully that they can be confused and don't understand SL, I'm quite tolerant. I've criticized others who are rude to newbies and expect them to know everything, like which land is private and which is public or won't even say hello. But an alt acting like a jerk on my land? Forget it. And I think it's unfair to ask that residents become social workers to reform would-be greifers in their spare time, either, heh. I mean, that isn't what most of us came here for, even if we want to be helpful. Which, in fact, this person was doing, she was the model citizen, polite, welcoming, nice, no banlines.... that is what is pissing me off, I guess.

Francesca,,, you're a riot!!!!! LOL

Those types crack me up...

NEWBIE- "I need gold! I need l33t weapons and armor! I need u 2 power level me! I neeed... I neeeeeed..."

ME- "What you NEED... is to PLAY the damned game."

NEWBIE- "But... but... I NneeEEEEeeeeEEEEeed..."

ME- "Oh sorry, I though you meant 'want'. Okay, how will you be paying for all this hard earned stuff you want from me?"

NEWBIE- "ILL b ur freind!"

ME- "Well dang, why didn't you say so! So... you just sit there and smile at me fondly while I PLAY your game for you, m'kay?"

NEWBIE- "c00l! can I AFK? my show is on..."

ME- "Heck why not... If I'm playing your game for you... what the hell do I need YOU around for? Auto-follow me and I'll take care of the rest. If you have time when you get back, drop me a "thank you" and we'll call it even, m'kay?"

NEWBIE- "DUDE! u r0x0rs!"

ME- (wander off to get a drink... dawdle back) "You there?"

NEWBIE- silence

ME- (( Exxceelllent. Let's see... where's the nearest area of certain death I can drag and dump this deadweight? Hmmm... ))

Ha! I love it. I used to do this very same thing when I was an avid DIKU MUD player. I had a very odd but powerful Mage/Warrior second class type and was a member of a guild that did help newbies. However, idiots like THAT did get extra special treatment from me. If they went AFK on me or didn't respond within a minute of asking if they were alright? I could summon anywhere in game a goblin or a timberwolf, cast sleep on the newb and then cast visitation to immediately jump out of the room. The creature would have their way with the hapless idiot. I did this so many times that it was not at all surprising. Over the gossip channel went something like this on an all too regular basis:

On Gossip, Rank Newb Shouts: "WTF?! I died? Help, someone do me a corpse retrieval!"
On Gossip, Some Concerned citizen shouts: "How did you die?"
On Gossip, Rank Newb Shouts: "I dunno, it was this wizard guy, said he was going to help me! I am going to tear him a new one!"
On Gossip, Another concerned citizen shouts: "Did you afk or fall asleep when this wizard helped you?"
On Gossip, Rank Newb Shouts: "Uh - yeah. Why, is that bad?"
On Gossip, yet another concerned citizen shouts: "Did you fall asleep on Vaross?"
On Gossip, Rank Newb Shouts: "Yes....but why did I die?"
On Gossip, Concerned citizen shouts: "Never fall asleep on a Wizard, it's damn disrespectful. And if it was Vaross that did it to you? Heh - that guy's a trickster."
On Gossip, Vaross (one of my alternate egos over the years) shouts : "Got yourself killed eh? Well, I know you have gold now. Slip me some pieces and I will teleport you to your corpse..."
On Gossip Concerned citizen shouts: "Rank Newb, careful....he'll do exactly what you ask, but he always twists it somehow. In fact, don't do it! LOL"

Newbies, bless their hearts can be an excellent resource, if nothing else than the cheapest form of entertainment available. And when they grow out of their noobishness, and you know how to roll with a good prank that may come back your way as a result of seeking that entertainment; you will have a friend and hopefully and all right person to introduce to your circle of buddies. And no worries, I do not pick on newbies alone - I treat everyone with the same, healthy level of "disrespect". ;>

A guy walks into a Doctors Office, he bends his hand Backwards, and says "Doctor, it hurts when i do this." The Doctor responds "Stop doing that."

I say hello to people as they Pass me, Or if they are Hanging about, But if they Choose not to answer i'm not going to keep pressing them. If they are TRYING to be rude, then i'm just giving them the attention they want, If not, they will talk to me in their own good time. either way i'm not going to get my Panties in a Knot over it.

"The best thing about Hitting your head against a wall is, It feels SO good when you Stop"

Angel.

*laughs riotously at Gentle's post*

My brother did the same thing to some poor sucker in Everquest who thought he'd beg...

Him and a friend were apporached by a beggar looking for some quick cash in this zone called the Plane of Knowledge, a feature of which is an elevator that takes the player up about 500-600m up into the air, and maybe even higher. It's SO high that a fall from the top with the elevator at the bottom results in being hit for 20,000 points of damage. Since top players have only managed in the neighborhood of 15-18K, it means instant death.

Well, brother and friend load up the player with about a hundred platinum pieces... all in COPPER (the ranking being copper, silver, gold, platinum, each worth 10 of the next lower step). Now, since 30 coins is equal to a pound of weight, and for every pound over your weight limit, your movement rate drops, imagine what about 10,000 copper coins will do to a player. It pretty much stops them dead in their tracks. Actually, at one point, it DID. Now, though, it only reduces their mobility to a slow crawl.

So anyway, before they load him up, they get him to form a 'group' (party of up to 6 players). Well, one ability a particular class has is the ability to summon a player if they're in the same zone and in the group....


So, the chain of events is as follows:

- Brother loads up Rank N00b with 10K copper coins while Friend beats feet to the top of the tower and sends the elevator back.
- Brother waits for elevator to come down as Friend positions himself JUST right.
- Upon Brother's cue, Friend summons Rank N00b who's struggling with their weight right over the elevator shaft.
- Rank N00b buys farm at the end of '20K Swan Dive'.
- Rank N00b bitches out Brother and Friend who are rolling on the floor laughing.

I wasn't pressing her, Angel. I was busy and not particularly inclined to chat. She went past me; I said hello and she didn't reply. End of story. Except she came back! I saw she she was new and welcomed her to SL. She didn't respond. I went a little way off and started editing something else. End of story. Except she then chose that moment to reply - and in a way that invited comment. If she didn't want to talk she could have kept quiet. Or she could have just smiled or said thanks.

I had no idea this thread would excite such interest.

...uh but the OP didn't say (in her account, anyway) that she had identified herself as the owner of the land, swing, et cetera. So the interloper wouldn't automatically know that they were in a "hospitality" situation.

Also; the OP is clearly an articulate person. This is not the only type of human: there's a very special kind of vanity in the articulate who can only communicate with other chatterboxes. Very possibly, the interloper is subejct to heinous lag, and/or isn't the world's most natural talker. I always try to remember that in SL, you might wind up banning Stephen Hawking's avatar from your parcel because the guy types with a stick in his teeth, and would fail your articulate person's criteria for being quick enough to be polite...

...which would be a major bummer!

I've noticed a rash of this behaviour lately, and I an of the mind that most are alts.

absolutely spot on the button! after the initial "zOMG" (not quite sure what the 'z' is ) I was stunned and delighted by the utter freedom (and temptation) to just 'talk' to people. Things I for one wouldn't have the guts to do in RL!
I get bumped into sometimes and more often than not get a 'sorry'. Just last night someone repeatedly walked into me and pushed me but they just went away again, sliding on that learning curve

This place is just the biz. I'm addicted. When I die, I want to go to Second Life!

Edit: oops, sorry, didn't realise there were more pages of this - gonna back-read right now!

Well thank you for that. Talk about damning with faint praise. But articulate does not necessarily equate with loquacious or gregarious you know. I actually have to force myself to chat to people I don't know. Oh, and BTW, I have cerebral palsy in RL but I manage to type quite quickly with one finger. Articulate does not necessarily equate with dexterous either.

I did not consider this person an interloper - I don't think in those terms. And the person did eventually respond - it was the nature of that response I found so rude, not the length of time it took her to reply. I don't think anyone expects an instant response for a variety of reasons. And I'm not sure that lag affects chat.

I find "there's a very special kind of vanity" in those who assume that only they have thought the matter through. Other people have suggested reasons for this person acting as she did, but they have done it without resorting to insult. Interesting that you should show such concern for the feelings of this person, who, in all probability has no idea she's under discussion, and none at all for me. From the content of your post it would appear that you have already decided that I am arrogant, over-confident, extrovert, thick-skinned, thoughtless, and lacking in any degree of empathy. I am so completely the antithesis of all those things that it's almost laughable.

Oh, and you might have noticed that in addition to being articulate, my post contained a degree of humour. Perhaps you should read it again in the light of that and engage your own sense of humour.

What I find most annoying about your post is that you refer to me as the OP as if I had abandoned the thread when clearly I am still active in it. This would not matter in the ordinary way of things, but you could at least have addressed me directly if you were going to take me to task for what you perceive as my shortcomings.

rofl.









Original post: I get that all the time. Mainly if im in my shop adding new items- out of courtesy I usually say hello to people who come in,most just walk on by..

It`s kind of disrespctful- I mean, after all, theyre in my store. regardless of if theyre spending L or not. Im sure you felt the same as the individual was on your property and using the items.

Makes me want to just stop initiating a friendly hello with strangers but I guess its worth being ignored for the one who will appreciate your hello and not think you the snob.

Now, how would I have known you required that particular nicety? Where do you lay this out as a demand? The answer, very plainly, is: nowhere. Nor do you (since you don't address my simple question) make it plain to visitors that you own your land.

I see the same game being played, in the thread, as in the incident you describe: you are a protocol spider. You lay out a web of invisible complexities, which anyone who engages with you will naturally trip over, thereby giving you the excuse to stand in judgement on them for transgressions they HAD NO WAY OF KNOWING THEY WERE MAKING. This is an important head-game for you, otherwise you would not have transgressed one of MY rules by IMing me in-world without asking if I was busy, as a preamble: a sin which I'm sure you would agree is rife amongst the very newbies you feel are worthy of criticism.

So, aside from being a protocol spider, you're also a rank hypocrite. Nice going.

It's common courtesy - something in which you clearly are deficient.

I have no interest in engaging further with you.

To everyone else: thanks for your responses. I shall not be returning to this particular discussion.

It's common courtesy - something in which you clearly are deficient.

And how would I have been able to determine whether or not you were busy in-world without IMing you? I did not intend to engage you in conversation as you are well aware. I simply told you I found your post arrogant and hurtful and directed you to the forum.

I have no interest in engaging further with you.

To everyone else: thanks for your responses. I shall not be returning to this particular discussion.

I make no demands. Common courtesy demands it.



What arrant nonsense.



Are you sure you haven't mixed up your pronouns?



And how on earth could I have found out you were busy without IMing you? You did not have busy set. I merely told you that I found your post arrogant and hurtful and directed you to my response in the forum. I did not wish to chat with you.



No - I think that's you - scoring points under the guise of occupying the moral high ground. I've noticed it in some of your other posts.

To everyone else: thank you for the responses. I think I've had enough of this particular thread - but do talk amongst yourselves