ganking
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An uneasy truce
Who knew all it would take for the Horde and the Alliance to stop fighting was the Burning Crusade? (Aside from all the lore, that is.) My home server, Magtheridon, is usually a hotbed of PVP action, with Horde generally coming out the losers. But with everyone piling into the Outlands, both sides have come to an understanding that ganking is just going to make everyone's day a little longer. So we get surreal moments like me and a shaman, surrounded by fifteen alliance, summoning our Ramparts group with no interference, and Horde and Alliance waiting patiently in line for spawns and helping each other take turns killing the mobs at the Forge Camps. Sure, there are a couple of people ganking, and others who AOE without thinking and end up as a small, mage-shaped spot on the ground, but all in all it's been an amazingly peaceful day in Hellfire Peninsula. How's the ganking on your server?
WoW Moviewatch: Fishing for Noobs
The hunters in this video use a rather... inventive way of ganking low-level players. Consider the movie a public service announcement -- be careful what you attack, as it may bite back in nasty ways!
"Does Your Mom Play WoW?"
My mom certainly doesn't play any videogames at all, but apparently Malevivs from Eonar showed the game to his mother and got her hooked on it. And apparently other players have had the same experience. Wives, in-laws, kids-- seems like anyone who sees someone playing this game has to pick it up, try it themselves, and be amazed. WoW isn't just addictive-- apparently it's contagious, too.Or maybe not. Personally, I haven't had any luck at all recruiting anyone to play the game with me. I haven't lived at home for a while, so the closest thing I have to an onlooker is my roommate, and he hasn't shown the slightest interest in it. Even a good friend of mine who really loves videogames (we play Mario Kart DS over the net all the time) hasn't given in, especially after hearing about my many nights spent slaving away to hit 60 more than once..So is it me, or my family and friends? Have you recruited a family or friend to play just by showing them the game? Then again, I'm not sure I'd want my mom to play at all-- not just because it would be really embarassing to be ganked by her, but c'mon, man-- she's my mom! She doesn't own n00bs, she bakes them cookies!
Breakfast Topic: Acts of cruelty
In stark contrast to yesterday's wonderful tales of altruism, today we're looking at the flipside -- unwarranted cruelty. Have you ever ganked someone just because you could? Pulled a quest mob knowing that those nearby would have to wait another 15 minutes for it to respawn? Given a newbie purposefully bad directions? Summoned people to their death?There are quite a few nasty tricks you can play on others in WoW, whether they deserve it or not. I like to think I'm a nice person, but I've done my share of "run in, get the named quest mob before anyone else can, run out" -- sometimes it's an easy way to finish a quest, as everyone nearby will fall on the mob in hope it becomes theirs. On the other hand, the excuse "everyone else is doing it" doesn't hold much weight amongst grown adults. What are your tales of cruelty and horror towards other WoW players? What's the worst trick you've fallen victim of?
Virtual crucifixion punishes bad behaviour online
Punishment in virtual worlds is always a tricky topic; warning or banning players is all very well, but doesn't always get the message across. Second Life's virtual corn field gives naughty players the gift of boredom, but MMO Roma Victor has gone one further.A player convicted of ganking in this MMO, which aims for historical accuracy, will undergo the standard Roman punishment of crucifixion--he will be hung from a cross for a week in-game. The penalty also carries with it a ban. Hopefully this will dissuade other players from following suit--the public nature of the punishment serves to highlight the crime. If making an example of miscreants works well, perhaps other online games will try the idea.
PVPers Beware: Gank Day
Rogues on a PVP server near you are planning on causing a little mischief on March the 22nd, which has been proclaimed "Gank Day" - so if you're on a PVP server, you may do well to look up the schedule and know what areas to avoid. To those who responded negatively to the idea, forum moderator Coreiel reminds us all that ganking is part of life on a PVP server. But is this a little harmless fun for the rogues out there, or just misery for the rest of us?
Breakfast Topic: To gank or not to gank?
Call me a carebear if you like, but I've long since tired of being ganked, and as a result I've spent most of my levelling time on a PvE server. I've recently gone back to my PvP server characters, and I've suddenly found a complete lack of ganking going on.The change that prompted me to abandon the characters in the first place was the introduction of the honor system, which seemed to worsen the experiences. Whether due to the Battlegrounds or the lack of bloodlust on this old server, however, it all seems much nicer now--or perhaps I'm just more clued up as to where to go and how to avoid the Alliance.As players level on PvP servers, I've often heard that they'll gank lower levels in "revenge" for their own experiences, continuing the vicious cycle. Sometimes ganking goes above and beyond reason, though. What's your opinion on ganking? Is it still as much a problem as it ever was?
