A word about "rep-stealing"...

[Dan_OB]

When I set out to level I usually go to a quiet server and find enemies that fit my needs, looking for enemies that will give good rep but don't require me to gulp down tonics. I'm also very systematic, planing my attacks for maximum rep. When someone jumps in and attacks the enemy I am fighting they are undermining my enjoyment of the game, hindering my progress and wasting my time. So arguments about the existence of rep stealing have little meaning, because people who do this are taking something of value.

The least these people can do is talk to the person who was first fighting the enemy, then maybe something can be worked out that is good for everyone.

That said, there is no reason to be belligerent or insulting over this. Exp[lain politely what the problem is and if that doesn't work just move on.

[Robmac7777]

I see lots of strong opinions, for and against. I don't see any clear right or wrong way to handle this except as stated, try to get a quiet server, if bugged then you hop servers. I like to be able to go to a busy server, and join in without being harassed, or have the option of a quiet server.

Try to be understanding of players that don't follow the "unwritten" rules regarding rep stealing. If we turn them away from the game, then what have we accomplished? In no way does POTCO reference the way of the Jedi, but try to keep that in mind. Walk the higher path.
IMHO,

Rob

[blaster54]

This is like so true

[Swash]

There is no rep stealing. Every enemy was placed in the game for everyone to enjoy. If you were in tormenta killing a seabeard and I went up to the seabeard and defeated it and you told me I was rep stealing then I would tell you to get over it and stop whining because it's not your enemy. YOU DO NOT OWN THE GAME OR THE ENEMIES.

[ex8404]

Originally Posted by Swash

There is no rep stealing. Every enemy was placed in the game for everyone to enjoy. If you were in tormenta killing a seabeard and I went up to the seabeard and defeated it and you told me I was rep stealing then I would tell you to get over it and stop whining because it's not your enemy. YOU DO NOT OWN THE GAME OR THE ENEMIES.

OK. Then you have provided me with an example of what I have been saying. Rep Stealing isn't about stealing. It is about behavior. And bad behavior is bad behavior.

Let me ask this. If I were in Tormenta slugging it out with a Seabeard, what possible reason would you have to come and "defeat it?" What is wrong with all the OTHER Seabeards? Why mine?

Here is what goes through my mind when some guy does this to me:

• Too lazy to get the Seabeard next to mine.
• Too weak to get his own Seabeard.
• Too needy to play without being noticed, even for being a pratt.
• Too rude to say "Hi" or "Want to crew up?" or anything other than "Heal Me!"
• Might be unaware that it is just bad manners.
• Might be aware that it IS just bad manners but doesn't care.

Anyway, I usually just go elsewhere. Life is too short to deal with the ill-mannered.

I

[Dan_OB]

Originally Posted by ex8404

OK. Then you have provided me with an example of what I have been saying. Rep Stealing isn't about stealing. It is about behavior. And bad behavior is bad behavior.

Let me ask this. If I were in Tormenta slugging it out with a Seabeard, what possible reason would you have to come and "defeat it?" What is wrong with all the OTHER Seabeards? Why mine?

Here is what goes through my mind when some guy does this to me:

• Too lazy to get the Seabeard next to mine.
• Too weak to get his own Seabeard.
• Too needy to play without being noticed, even for being a pratt.
• Too rude to say "Hi" or "Want to crew up?" or anything other than "Heal Me!"
• Might be unaware that it is just bad manners.
• Might be aware that it IS just bad manners but doesn't care.

Anyway, I usually just go elsewhere. Life is too short to deal with the ill-mannered.

I

Well said. I think your list pretty much covers the possibilities. The good news is that a vast majority of players are considerate and respectful enough to give other players enough space to play the game and don't force themselves on others (which annoys me at least as much as any loss rep) and have the good sense to ask someone if they want to team up. Which shows that they might be someone who would be fun to team up with. People who just impose themselves on you without even a howdy-do are probably going to be a general pain to deal with and best avoided.

[MacIronhawk]

Originally Posted by ex8404

OK. Then you have provided me with an example of what I have been saying. Rep Stealing isn't about stealing. It is about behavior. And bad behavior is bad behavior.

If it's behavior why isn't it called "bad rep behaviorers"?

What's the big deal of going up to the same enemy and attacking that enemy when there's no other enemies near by because this person killed them all?

Wait, let's stop for a second. Think about the enemies for a second. How do they feel about having people fight over them? If I were the enemy I'd run away when the two are arguing! Wee.

[Sven Osymthe]

What's the big deal of going up to the same enemy and attacking that enemy when there's no other enemies near by because this person killed them all?

The big deal is that that is rarely the case, and if it is, asking is the considerate thing to do. If the other person is there killing all of the enemies, and are in the middle of killing another one, a simple, "Mind if I fight with you?", or something along those lines isn't too difficult.

For the most part though, the situation is as ex8404 stated in his post. And as others have stated, almost every single time this occurs, there is an enemy of the exact same type a few steps away.


But still, informing the other player that you don't want them to reduce your rep, or teleporting away is what should be done.

[MacIronhawk]

Ok, I understand now, however, why aren't some of you trying to handle the situation? I haven't read the entire thread, but from the way it looks, no one has even said, "And when I try to say, hey wanna join my crew, they ignore me."

I've had people come fight "my enemies" and all I do is say, "Hey, wanna join my crew for more rep?" And the person will usually say sure. Sometimes they even ask if they can bring a friend, and I'm fine with that. I love crews. I'm not sure if some of you like that, but if you're rep is being "stolen" it's up to you to stop it. And in the nicest possible way.

Some people are just too shy over the internet, and being friendly can help them overcome that.

I do understand there will always be the rude people that just go there to annoy you, but I've rarely experienced these people.

[Sven Osymthe]

That slowly became the point of the thread, or at least how it looks to me now. Originally we were posting about how we felt towards rep stealing, as in, how it effects the player who is a "victim" of it. Later on people started posting suggestions to avoid it - but kept up the discussion that it isn't "okay" to "rep steal", and asking the player if you may help him/her is the better solution, rather than just jumping in.

But I am sure it's safe to assume, everyone agrees that it is better to be kind to the other player, rather than rude. Asking the player to join your crew, asking them to stop, or even teleporting away.

[Jason Bilgemart]

I dont have a problem with sharing rep, there are many enemies out there to attack. Now just because I dont have a problem with sharing rep doesnt mean i would ever take it from someone else.

[CarribeanThunder]

Originally Posted by Swash

There is no rep stealing. Every enemy was placed in the game for everyone to enjoy. If you were in tormenta killing a seabeard and I went up to the seabeard and defeated it and you told me I was rep stealing then I would tell you to get over it and stop whining because it's not your enemy. YOU DO NOT OWN THE GAME OR THE ENEMIES.

This whole thread is about rep stealing, so if you don't mind having rep being stolen from, you don't have much need to post here

Originally Posted by ex8404

OK. Then you have provided me with an example of what I have been saying. Rep Stealing isn't about stealing. It is about behavior. And bad behavior is bad behavior.

Let me ask this. If I were in Tormenta slugging it out with a Seabeard, what possible reason would you have to come and "defeat it?" What is wrong with all the OTHER Seabeards? Why mine?

Here is what goes through my mind when some guy does this to me:

• Too lazy to get the Seabeard next to mine.
• Too weak to get his own Seabeard.
• Too needy to play without being noticed, even for being a pratt.
• Too rude to say "Hi" or "Want to crew up?" or anything other than "Heal Me!"
• Might be unaware that it is just bad manners.
• Might be aware that it IS just bad manners but doesn't care.

Anyway, I usually just go elsewhere. Life is too short to deal with the ill-mannered.

I

Do not forget:
[*]Is attacking the Seabeard being attacked on purpose, and just wants to ruin your fun.

Originally Posted by Jason Bilgemart

I dont have a problem with sharing rep, there are many enemies out there to attack.

And then there are people like Jason. Some people don't mind sharing reputation points. However, the majority of players don't like their rep being stolen ( Myself included ), and a lot of people ( Including some who don't like their rep being stolen ) tend to steal from players who want their rep in one piece thinking that said players don't mind. I've witnessed someone steal another person's rep, second person say stop, first person do it again, first person fight their own enemy, second person steal from first person, and first person say stop. The one thing that went through my mind was "Well, if you don't want your rep being stolen, why'd you steal from the second guy in the first place?"

Understand, that there are people who are generous and caring, while there are people who are the complete opposite.

[StellaInTheSky]

I personally enjoy going to a busier server and going to Tormenta to crew up and fight. I was on Abassa one night with a nice, friendly, fun crew and we were in the area with Kelpbrains and Brinescums. This one girl refused to crew with us, even after pretty much everyone asked her, and went about her business with the guys in the Spineskull room. We soon moved to the Seabeard/Molusk room and she followed us, but kept complaining about us rep stealing even though she was the one running into the middle of our fights.
I pointed out what I thought was exceedingly obvious: if you're on Abassa, you are not the only person on the server. I said she was more than welcome to crew with us as well. I wasn't sure what she was getting at (I also checked and she was not on SpeedChat) and I wasn't sure why she thought we were the ones doing any sort of stealing. We just all ignored her and after a point she ran to somewhere else and stopped telling us we were stealing.

Long story short (argh, too late!): I feel that if you are on a busy server you should expect at least one person to be running up to your enemies and should either crew/offer to crew and deal with it, or teleport. If you are on a quiet server, I find rep stealing to be a totally different story as I've experienced many times over that one random person running into your fights tends to be the person that refuses to crew and always follows you to another area.

I've learned mostly to ignore the people and either teleport or find something else to fight if they aren't willing to join me. But then again, I was also raised to have manners and it's painfully obvious that many people in the game were not. Thankfully most of these people we will never have to deal with outside of the game.

[Angel Seafish]

I second that Jason.

[ex8404]

I have had two recent experiences with "rep stealing." I was on the back beach on the test "A" server. There was a pirate there who was, I think, level 37. I am level 41 right now. Well, everything I attacked, he attacked. I don't mind if it's Darkhart. There is plenty of him to go around. But he did it on EVERYTHING I hit. He even followed me to the crab beach and attacked those too. I asked him to stop and he said he never would because "you said what you said." What I said was, "Please stop following me. You can get your own enemies."

He just kept following me wherever I went. I finally had to tell him that I was sending in some screenshots and filing a complaint on him. He left after that. If Test wasn't so small, I would have left the server...

The next day on test, same place. Two or three pirates came up at different times and, without fail, each asked a simple question. "Mind if I join you?" Well 100 times out of 100, the answer to that question is, "Not a bit. The more the merrier."

So anyway, it takes all types I guess. I just prefer the polite ones and try to act the same way myself.