Win a free GPS from Gadling!
Posts with tag beggars

Breakfast Topic: Do you give to beggars?


My favorite beggar plea is when they ask for "spare" cash. Like there is the concept of extra change jingling in your pocket in-game. My usual answer to any beggar is "Of course not", but when I'm feeling verbose I'll give advice as to where a good place to quest is for his or her level.

The Spousal Unit has been known to happily say that he will give the beggar 10 gold. All the beggar has to do is meet him in front of the bank in 10 minutes. Then 9 minutes later, he logs off. The tenacious ones will actually add him to their Friends List and bug him the next time he's on. He is willing to string them along as long as they are willing to keep trying.

Just like Gold Sellers are only around because people are willing to buy, beggars only keep begging because people are willing to give them money.

Yesterday I asked why beggars beg. Today I want to know, do you give to beggars? If not, what do you say when you turn them down?

Breakfast Topic: Why do beggars beg?


Lately, my bank alt has been encountering beggars in Orgrimmar. This confuses me because there has never been a better time to make money at any level. Sure, level 70s can do their Daily Quests and easily make 100 gold in less than an hour. But even lowbies can get in on the action.

If you can herb, Swiftthistle brings a nice price on the AH. Is mining your thing? Copper bars and low end gems are snapped up on the AH by people leveling up Jewelcrafting, Engineering and Blacksmithing. Do you just kill humanoids? Well then, Wool Cloth has always been profitable for bringing up First Aid, Tailoring and factions in the major cities.

Though, honestly, going out and questing for half an hour at any level will get you enough money to buy supplies and pay for repair bills. So I just don't get it. Isn't playing the game more interesting than standing around asking for other people's money?

I am really baffled here. Do you beg and if so, why? If not, why do you think people beg?

Charity for beggars, or lack thereof

I like to think that maybe it's because I'm special (but it probably happens to everyone who has a 70)-- periodically ingame, I'll get tells from lowbies, asking either for mount money, or to run them through an instance. I've made it a habit to laugh and politely decline (this is not a hard game, and they can play it themselves). But this post on Livejournal made me reconsider the question of why I should or shouldn't help beggars.

Fordarkness tells the story of his mother selling some furniture that she was asking $500 for $25 to help out a couple who'd been going through some rough times, and he says that it seems like a good idea to help beggars out when you believe they genuinely need it. I've never begged for money or powerleveling (although I have begged same-level guildies to tank or heal an instance for me, I'll readily admit), but, like Fordarkness, I have been gifted money by friends who saw how close I was to my first mount.

Of course, guildies are a different situation-- I'll give them anything they need, because I figure you might as well show loyalty to someone besides yourself. As for beggars, though, I've never helped them, and unless they take an effort to show my why they actually need what they're asking for, I'll keep it that way. Have you ever felt the need to make a lowbie's day and gift them that mount money or run them through that instance? Or does a tell from someone you don't know asking for something automatically add them to your ignore list?

Update: Right after I finished writing this article, reader Preacherman23 sent us this elegant solution: one player puts 50g in the trade window of a beggar... and then just goes afk for an hour or so.


RESOURCES

Blizzard Events
BlizzCon (190)
Worldwide Invitational (106)
Class Columns
(Druid) Shifting Perspectives (47)
(Hunter) Big Red Kitty (37)
(Hunter) Scattered Shots (21)
(Mage) Arcane Brilliance (43)
(Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It (51)
(Priest) Spiritual Guidance (26)
(Rogue) Encrypted Text (33)
(Shaman) Totem Talk (51)
(Warlock) Blood Pact (31)
(Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors (55)
Gameplay
(Arena PvP) Blood Sport (27)
(BG PvP) The Art of War(craft) (25)
(Casual) WoW, Casually (21)
(Guild Leadership) Officers' Quarters (63)
(Professions) Insider Trader (63)
(Raid Healing) Raid Rx (20)
(Raiding) Raiding 101 (2)
(Raiding) Ready Check (27)
(Roleplaying) All the World's a Stage (44)
Hybrid Theory (20)
New Players' Guide (3)
Tank Talk (6)
AddOns and UI
AddOn Spotlight (89)
Macro Anatomy (14)
Reader UI of the Week (27)
Reader WoWspace of the week (31)
The Creamy GUI Center (14)
Lore and Stories
Around Azeroth (525)
Ask A Lore Nerd (9)
Barrens Chat (9)
Know your Lore (58)
Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn (14)
WoW Moviewatch (518)
Features
15 Minutes of Fame (26)
About the Bloggers (28)
Ask WoW Insider (63)
Azeroth Security Advisor (4)
Breakfast topics (728)
Build Shop (35)
Forum Post of the Day (24)
Gamers on the Street (25)
Guildwatch (82)
He Said She Said (5)
Illusionary Tactics (3)
It came from the Blog (29)
Phat Loot Phriday (92)
The Colosseum (0)
Two Bosses Enter (61)
Well Fed Buff (27)
World of WarCrafts (26)
WoW Crossword (1)
WoW Insider Show (68)
WoW Rookie (41)
[1.Local] (13)
Classes
Death Knight (100)
Druid (320)
Hunter (290)
Mage (182)
Paladin (307)
Priest (256)
Rogue (181)
Shaman (286)
Warlock (198)
Warrior (219)
News
Account Security (25)
AddOns (256)
Analysis / Opinion (3178)
Blizzard (1673)
Bugs (220)
Burning Crusade (378)
Contests (232)
Economy (198)
Events (467)
Expansions (639)
Fan stuff (921)
Features (676)
Forums (289)
Guilds (506)
Hardware (45)
Humor (809)
Interviews (166)
Lore (315)
Mounts (143)
News items (1612)
NPCs (213)
Odds and ends (1724)
Patches (1153)
Podcasting (78)
Ranking (56)
Realm News (298)
Realm Status (247)
RP (177)
Rumors (68)
Virtual selves (685)
WoW Insider Business (306)
WoW Social Conventions (156)
WoW TCG (57)
Wrath of the Lich King (426)
Strategy
Alts (118)
Arena (260)
Battlegrounds (158)
Bosses (362)
Buffs (130)
Cheats (74)
Classes (327)
Enchants (37)
Factions (166)
Guides (407)
How-tos (415)
Instances (685)
Items (884)
Leveling (304)
Making money (194)
PvP (782)
Quests (384)
Raiding (777)
Talents (153)
Tips (588)
Tricks (233)
Walkthroughs (93)
Media
Comics (80)
Fan art (49)
Galleries (195)
Machinima (604)
Podcasts (52)
Polls (67)
Screenshots (675)
Races
Alliance (119)
Draenei (66)
Dwarves (21)
Gnomes (47)
Human (21)
Night Elves (48)
Horde (120)
Blood Elves (72)
Orcs (29)
Tauren (51)
Trolls (27)
Undead (27)
Professions
Alchemy (80)
Blacksmithing (63)
Cooking (76)
Enchanting (77)
Engineering (112)
First Aid (19)
Fishing (63)
Herbalism (51)
Inscription (14)
Jewelcrafting (87)
Leatherworking (66)
Mining (50)
Skinning (31)
Tailoring (71)
Retired
Pimp My Profile (1)
(Engineering) Hoof and Horn Research and Development (17)
Azeroth Interrupted (24)
Back In The Day (3)
World Wide WoW (8)
/silly (14)

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Powered by Blogsmith

    Featured Galleries

    Scarlet Crusade Tabard T-shirt
    Reader UI of the Week 6/29/08
    Worldwide Invitational goodie bag
    WWI08 Costume and Dance Contest
    Worldwide Invitational 2008
    World of WarCrafts: Midsummer magnet
    June 2008 splash screen speculation
    Blizzard splash screen speculation
    Midsummer Fire Festival

     

    Most Commented On (30 days)

    Recent Comments

    Weblogs, Inc. Network

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: