LOTRO, life, and life eternal
Finally, the non-disclosure agreement has been lifted, and I can tell you that I am in the beta program for Lord of the Rings Online. Yes, I'm a geek, and I admit it. Bear with me a minute here, while I meander on...
I am, by profession, a tinker. This means I make jewelry for other players. If I do it well, it's pretty rare elite purple jewelery. Some of this jewelry I sell on the auctions and make money. A good bit more of this jewelry I give away. I like helping people. I give away jewelry routinely to low-level characters who don't know what they're doing. I help them with quests, advice, money and anything else they happen to need. They appreciate it, I enjoy it, I figure we're even.
Jewelers, however, are like noses. Everyone has one. The competition is very stiff, and the accumulation of appropriate resources is the crux of that. Most jewelers try to sell their wares for as much as they can get away with. They are very tightfisted, and not very nice in their trying to get things.
Yesterday, I noticed a guy on the chat channel offer a large amount of hard to get jeweler resources "free to a good home." I figured hey, it was worth a try and sent a mildly witty reply about being able to provide a good home where they would be beaten soundly and made into purple jewelry for lovely ladies. About ten seconds later, apparently having been inundated with messages, he sent another message saying "Okay, okay, it's found a home already!" And then he gave it to me.
I had taken the time to reply amusingly, not quickly. However, neither would have made the difference for this guy. What did, however, was the fact that he remembered me. He said I had helped him when he was new, and had given him nice jewelry, and had chatted with him and been friendly. Honestly, his name seemed vaguely familiar, but since he was a level 50, it could as easily have been from him saying things in chat before. I didn't remember him, but he certainly remembered me. So we got to chatting, and he then mailed me 100 gold. Now... 100 gold is a LOT. A stack of 100 gold is like a million dollars. (I said I would not tell how he got it, but he got it legitimately, and was just sharing because he could not use all he had.) So now I am rich, and am giving it away to others.
Now I was telling this to another "friend" in game, and we got to discussing the idea of "pay-it-forward". He said what a shame it is real life doesn't work that way as well as LOTRO does. I almost said something about how I try to do the same in real life, but I have yet to have someone mail me a million dollars.
And then I realized.
I'm not doing a pay-it-forward in hopes of getting a million dollars at all. I mean, sure, a million dollars is great and all. But I'm not being nice to people in hopes they'll be nice to me back. A million dollars is nothing on the riches stored up in heaven. I'm not paying it forward in hopes of reaping an earthy reward at all. My million dollars is saved for after the earthly beta test.
I am, by profession, a tinker. This means I make jewelry for other players. If I do it well, it's pretty rare elite purple jewelery. Some of this jewelry I sell on the auctions and make money. A good bit more of this jewelry I give away. I like helping people. I give away jewelry routinely to low-level characters who don't know what they're doing. I help them with quests, advice, money and anything else they happen to need. They appreciate it, I enjoy it, I figure we're even.
Jewelers, however, are like noses. Everyone has one. The competition is very stiff, and the accumulation of appropriate resources is the crux of that. Most jewelers try to sell their wares for as much as they can get away with. They are very tightfisted, and not very nice in their trying to get things.
Yesterday, I noticed a guy on the chat channel offer a large amount of hard to get jeweler resources "free to a good home." I figured hey, it was worth a try and sent a mildly witty reply about being able to provide a good home where they would be beaten soundly and made into purple jewelry for lovely ladies. About ten seconds later, apparently having been inundated with messages, he sent another message saying "Okay, okay, it's found a home already!" And then he gave it to me.
I had taken the time to reply amusingly, not quickly. However, neither would have made the difference for this guy. What did, however, was the fact that he remembered me. He said I had helped him when he was new, and had given him nice jewelry, and had chatted with him and been friendly. Honestly, his name seemed vaguely familiar, but since he was a level 50, it could as easily have been from him saying things in chat before. I didn't remember him, but he certainly remembered me. So we got to chatting, and he then mailed me 100 gold. Now... 100 gold is a LOT. A stack of 100 gold is like a million dollars. (I said I would not tell how he got it, but he got it legitimately, and was just sharing because he could not use all he had.) So now I am rich, and am giving it away to others.
Now I was telling this to another "friend" in game, and we got to discussing the idea of "pay-it-forward". He said what a shame it is real life doesn't work that way as well as LOTRO does. I almost said something about how I try to do the same in real life, but I have yet to have someone mail me a million dollars.
And then I realized.
I'm not doing a pay-it-forward in hopes of getting a million dollars at all. I mean, sure, a million dollars is great and all. But I'm not being nice to people in hopes they'll be nice to me back. A million dollars is nothing on the riches stored up in heaven. I'm not paying it forward in hopes of reaping an earthy reward at all. My million dollars is saved for after the earthly beta test.
posted by Eltinwe | 10:10 PM
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