+++ Being New Isn't So Bad After All +++
Day 439, 14:41
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Published in USA 
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by
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by LennyA
Please vote this up to the Top Rated articles so all citizens are aware of this!
Today, I logged on to see I had one new message. I checked my inbox, and read this message from a new citizen Ashley Tyler. Her citizen Profile can be found here.
"Hello,
I've Started to play this game today because my girl friends told me about it.
It all seems very cute. But all new citizens start with a very low pocket money.
Can you please help me with a donation of pocket money, please?
Sorry to bother you, fellow citizen.
Many thanks for you time. Great Game to you.
Kisses,
Ashley Tyler"
She really sounds so innocent and its hard not to help, right? Well, that's how I felt at first. "How interesting it is she picked me to message!" I had thought. "I must seem like a really experienced and intelligent player!" Of course, I was flattered as well.
So, what else can I do but donate a few bucks to help a newbie, right? So I went to her profile page, and hit the donate button. But first, I out of pure curiosity clicked the 'All donations' button.
Lo and behold, she has FOUR pages of donations! Now I'm thinking something completely different. More along the lines of "This isn't right" and "This doesn't seem fair". I opened up calculator. At this time, she had received a total of $467 and 1Gold, as well as lots of items, in donations- with as much as $163 from one person! I hopped on IRC, and asked if anyone else had gotten a message from her. Quite a few answered "Yes".
Now, I have nothing against helping new players, and I don't care if they message a few asking for help or some money to get started. But, when you mass PM the entire country and make more money in donations in a day, than I, a citizen of 2 months, makes in a month working, it becomes wrong, and an exploit.
And well, it works folks. Take a look here if you don't believe me. We all feel like we want to help new players. But we also feel like we need to make sure more new players stay. Especially this one, since she seems so genuinely interested in the game. And does the fact that she's a girl affect people's feelings about helping her? What about her politeness? It all contributes to us wanting to help her, and increases the amount of people who will listen, and actually donate. She also got 400 friends out of the deal. A message from those who can't donate, but would like to let her know we want to help even though we can't supply her with money. Because, we don't want to say "no" either, for fear of coming off as bad people. Its all psychology.
All of her qualities, female, innocent, flattering, interested, young, polite...They all contribute to our feelings of wanting to help her. And it all seems to perfect. At the risk of coming off as an ass, she might not even be a girl. And if she is, she's one hell of a whore. But no matter what, its still wrong.
Just days after articles pop up exclaiming the lack of jobs for new players, and preaching how we should help make the game more interesting for new players, it's starting to seem like being new just isn't so bad after all.
UPDATE: Since I created this article, she has received an additional $216. That brings the grand total of money received through donations to - *Drumroll* - a whopping 683USD!!
UPDATE #2: On day 440, at 21:23 game time, she has now accumulated over 1,000 USD. I'd recommend that you STOP DONATING.
Thanks for reading,
LennyA
(As always, please vote and subscribe!)
Today, I logged on to see I had one new message. I checked my inbox, and read this message from a new citizen Ashley Tyler. Her citizen Profile can be found here.
"Hello,
I've Started to play this game today because my girl friends told me about it.
It all seems very cute. But all new citizens start with a very low pocket money.
Can you please help me with a donation of pocket money, please?
Sorry to bother you, fellow citizen.
Many thanks for you time. Great Game to you.
Kisses,
Ashley Tyler"
She really sounds so innocent and its hard not to help, right? Well, that's how I felt at first. "How interesting it is she picked me to message!" I had thought. "I must seem like a really experienced and intelligent player!" Of course, I was flattered as well.
So, what else can I do but donate a few bucks to help a newbie, right? So I went to her profile page, and hit the donate button. But first, I out of pure curiosity clicked the 'All donations' button.
Lo and behold, she has FOUR pages of donations! Now I'm thinking something completely different. More along the lines of "This isn't right" and "This doesn't seem fair". I opened up calculator. At this time, she had received a total of $467 and 1Gold, as well as lots of items, in donations- with as much as $163 from one person! I hopped on IRC, and asked if anyone else had gotten a message from her. Quite a few answered "Yes".
Now, I have nothing against helping new players, and I don't care if they message a few asking for help or some money to get started. But, when you mass PM the entire country and make more money in donations in a day, than I, a citizen of 2 months, makes in a month working, it becomes wrong, and an exploit.
And well, it works folks. Take a look here if you don't believe me. We all feel like we want to help new players. But we also feel like we need to make sure more new players stay. Especially this one, since she seems so genuinely interested in the game. And does the fact that she's a girl affect people's feelings about helping her? What about her politeness? It all contributes to us wanting to help her, and increases the amount of people who will listen, and actually donate. She also got 400 friends out of the deal. A message from those who can't donate, but would like to let her know we want to help even though we can't supply her with money. Because, we don't want to say "no" either, for fear of coming off as bad people. Its all psychology.
All of her qualities, female, innocent, flattering, interested, young, polite...They all contribute to our feelings of wanting to help her. And it all seems to perfect. At the risk of coming off as an ass, she might not even be a girl. And if she is, she's one hell of a whore. But no matter what, its still wrong.
Just days after articles pop up exclaiming the lack of jobs for new players, and preaching how we should help make the game more interesting for new players, it's starting to seem like being new just isn't so bad after all.
UPDATE: Since I created this article, she has received an additional $216. That brings the grand total of money received through donations to - *Drumroll* - a whopping 683USD!!
UPDATE #2: On day 440, at 21:23 game time, she has now accumulated over 1,000 USD. I'd recommend that you STOP DONATING.
Thanks for reading,
LennyA
(As always, please vote and subscribe!)
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Comments
it's not really an exploit but smart thinking. I think it's very smart of her. She actually never said she was low on pocket money.
ahh what newbies will do these days >_>
also... she says she started playing today.... check how long she's been around
I know, but just because you can do it, and it works, doesn't make it right. I'm sure there's alot of women who are angered by other women who try and use their sex appeal to their advantage. It's also bad for us guys, who are the ones being taken advantage of(Although sometimes, it's worth it).
@Sam: She started today, what are you talking about?
even the president donated...
I am sorry to say this but I don't see anything wrong with this. It may not be right but it's not wrong either.It's not like this is a scam or something. And you can see all the info about her freely. If she asked to borrow money then we would have a completely different scenario.
And if,we(guys), are stupid enough to fall for this, it's our own fault.
Well Lenny, I doubt that 'she' is actually a woman or girl. So if boys/men fall for this 'sex appeal' I have to laugh. I think its a gray area. I can't outright say its e prostitution-ey but it certainly is close enough. That's his (Ashley Taylor) business ROFL.
so... you're mad at HER because YOU are a male chauvinist sap?
If "she" is not girl then, it's one heck of a gay guy. Look at the shouts posted by "her". Which makes it even worse for all the guys who donated (including the president).
@Big Horn Co-op: What? I didn't even donate, and I don't plan on it. Why should I give her money I've worked for weeks to get, and she's made more than I make in a month on her first day. It may be 'clever' but that doesn't make it right.
you are a friend of JaMat, who stole money from US. You think that's not wrong?
@Gilroy: I friended him when I was his Sergeant in the NG, BEFORE he left and stole money. I'm just too lazy to remove him and see no reason to. That's also a pretty stupid and unrelated point to bring up. Comparing apples and oranges, man.
After the comment above I don't really need to argue anymore.
Why? Yes what he did was wrong, but its not like I still talk to JaMat...You think I get together with him and plot his next scheme? Uh-huh...right...
I must not be experienced or wealthy enough because I never got a pm!
"If "she" is not girl then, it's one heck of a gay guy. Look at the shouts posted by "her". Which makes it even worse for all the guys who donated (including the president)."
Gilroy- I'm a bona fide woman and my shouts are not overtly 'girly' that sounds like acting to me. One hell of a gay guy? Most heterosexual guys in this game are quite aware of the appeal of a girl and what girls are like. DUH. It doesn't take a gay guy to know how to bait a hetero man.
Social enginery. Everyone has weak points.
Dang I gave her $10. O well that is pocket change.
I have a funny feeling that Daphne Lilac didn't look at the shout.
Me, I hate handouts because I have pride in my abilities to work towards a goal. It just feels like I didn't do anything to deserve it, If I can't get it myself then I don't need it, that's my motto.
LMAO ePanHandling, If you fell for it its your fault ;p
@ changewillcome
Thank god I didn't donate $500 then 😛
Probably the most common n00b technique on any multiplayer game, and one reason why some players start mistrusting any n00b that asks for anything.
I'm a noob here and even I realized that she was some kind of scammer or bot. I'm still at it, though, trying to do work into the game the hard way.
Haha, I just plain say no to people. I must be an ass!
haha (s)he has gotten like 190+ dollars SINCE the article was written. too funny
In my defense (although I didn't think i'd need to) I normally will donate money to anyone that ask for it. Especially if they are new and need some help starting out.
😁 Justinious
I wouldn't be surprised if "she" was simply someone's multi and donated to all the money received to that person's main account 😃
oh hey lets help the girl posting a sexy avatar on her profile, she must be a helpless in damsel in distress ....lets give her all the money she needs...lol. lets create a new term for people like her...eHookers
Hmmm...I like eWhores better. 😛
Hah I got that. I just ignored that.
Wise choice...
It would be nice if she mass PMed "Thanks" to everybody.
I hate this chick for the same reason I hate celebrities like Paris Hilton. They didn't earn their money, they just used their status or position to weasel it out of other people.
I also received the message.
However, all i gave her is the link to Joe's article xD
I'm considering starting up a new account with an avatar of my breasts in a wet pink tank top. I need money hee hee kisses XOXO 🙂
Not illegal, but definitely not kosher. I'm an honest guy, new to the game and not big into many MMORPG things, usually. But eRep seems like an interesting experiment of an online community, and I've taken an interest. I at least know that we're running on kind of a "reputation economy"; fair play should be valued, not bot/spamming/camming your way ahead. This Ashley person (did she get that pic from Maxim?) certainly isn't credible here, and lets see what she does with her riches (i wouldn't doubt she could be a multi).
That said, it is hard starting out. The game's first few rounds are not very interesting when nothing is available to you beside working and training (and you can't afford to spend actual RL €s to unlock the other features for an online game). So I don't know. If she's legit, she behaved slightly unethically but with a certain ingenuity. If she's not, well, some jerk got rich with a porny lady-pic.
The Lord says, "He that labors not, shall not eat."
The eLord says, "She that hath a nice rack, shall become awash in special favors."
I got a PM from "Ashley" too. I looked at it the same way that I look at those scam emails from the Nigerian prime minister. Or panhandlers on the corner of a busy city street. Hit the delete button and walk on by. Sorry some of you got taken, but please don't let this incident turn you off to helping actual newbies who deserve a little boost.
Tink *~*~*
Studies have been done on how much money panhandlers collect in a day. When a panhandler looks pathetic enough and has a good location, he/she can make up $10/hr! At that rate, why even get a job? It sure beats getting a job at MacDonald's: same level of humiliation, but no uniform, no boss, and better pay. I have heard of panhandlers not actually being homeless because they are given enough money to pay rent. However, that was something like 12 years ago in much better economic times.
As for sex appeal helping to illicit charity from all you lonely guys... Raise your hand if you voted for Benn Dover because he used a female avatar. Any how, gender issues aside, when I checked her profile she had 329 people on her Friends list. Anyone who will put forth the kind of effort to PM over 300 people on his/her first day just to ask for pocket change has the potential to go far in ePolitics. She just needs to get involved in the forums, play to the right level, and I foresee her getting into Congress. And in over a month's time, who knows, maybe President.
Ugh! She's ugly...
hope that's not her pic. :-&
PS. i need some money too ! 😁
LOL...people don't dress like that in Alaska! Anyway, "she" didn't rob anyone...people voluntarily responded to her requests, so she was creative. If it works, y not? I just hope she'll return the good will and help others too 😮).
wait, how can you have sex appeal in a text game? well, there is a wellness profile that has some curves.... mmmmmm.... feiminine like profile ... aaghhhh *drool*
i had immoral thoughts about that female wellness shape, and so donated .01 CAD even without the pm
Actually the female wellness meter /fails..I noticed that the other day. It is one homely shape of a woman. ugh. As a REAL woman I remember thinking "wow they could of done a better job with that what's up with that elongated torso?".
And Video Jack: My whole point is that this is *highly likely to be a multi account-I don't need that for a congressman. No thanks. And highly unlikely to be an actual female.
I'm not saying this is an outright e-crime. It is unethical though. Technically btw an authentic newb wouldn't even KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THE MONEY. Buy a few more Q4 food? A house? Idk.
Im pretty sure shes raking more in RL with her blog than in eRep...thats just good marketing, she/he saw an opportunity and it paid!
Btw: as a return favor to LennyA (who spammed every single news article known to man yesterday with the link to this article)
Read my interviews people, I interviewed UncleSam and Justinious. Even asked them what they thought of this lol:
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/interview-with-justinious-for-the-presidential-election-729725/1/20
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/i-m-back-interviews-with-the-presidential-candidates-part-one-unclesam-729714/1/20
It's a shame that the link 'she' has posted in her shouts is basically softcore porn. Celeb Videos? Come on. This is spam.
A shame frontlinegeneral? It's just further proof she's a male. LOL.