Seeing people's reaction to this unfortunate event, I came to the conclusion that I have to express my opinion, due to this avalanche of bad vibes and subjective judgements.
I don't feel the need to justify my action (or better said - lack of action). I just want to make this clear from my point of view, for further references.
I play this game since 2005. From the summer of 2009, up until a bit more than 1 month ago, I had a long break. At first I disliked the removing of the peds from loot, then I hated introduction of L items and the final blow was the fact that MA changed topograhpy of Calypso... Knowing that I've lost forever the old rig and all the places I have known by heart, sickened me up to the point when I decided I have to stop playing. And I was not the only who felt that way.
But as I logged in about a month ago, to look around a bit, I discovered a lot of features that made my eyebrow lift a bit. The game was blossoming, graphics wise and content wise, I love the iron challenges, missions, reward system, the fact that now when you 'fail shot' you don't lose ammo, the autoclicker tool, flying ships, tiering UL's, plus a shitload of other awesome features that MA introduced to make the game more appealing. And it did... Because I started playing again.
But as this happened, I found myself in a totally new environment, different than the one I've left behind, so I had to test things...personally. That's why I've bought a lot of weapons and armors lately. I'm not a reseller, never was. I just calculate what would fit my play style, buy it, test it and sell it if I wanna test something else, because I don't have the peds to have (for ex.) Igni L1000 + LC100 Frontier + CAP-10 Smuggler + + +... all at once. I had to get one, test, sell if I think it wasn't what I was looking for...and so on.
And within this process, I also purchased a full Vigi F SGA, to test on tin cans. It's a very good armor - only downside being that it's bad on small drones. It is great for big bots, but awful on small bots. So as I rarely hunt big bots, I had to sell it. Little that I knew it will come to this 'problem'....
So I've set the whole armor in auc, plus a fap, Adapted vivo t15, the one that Pitt bought.
The armor was set on 1 ped disregarding tt value. Meaning minus 20, 30...whatever, on each part. Auctions were set on 7 days, and it ended yesterday, about 20:00 MA time.
To set things straight, I would like to add that all parts sold overpriced. For example, harness is mu 300, but sold for 900. And so on... Including the thigh, which sold for +10183.
Talking about this auctioned item, I still fail to understand where is my mistake. Or better said, what did I do, or haven't done, but should have?!....
I'm just a wo... (ok, I will refer to myself as 'someone', because I've noticed the tendency of being called a 'man' instead of 'woman', even if I've also posted my RL pic here... I find this funny, but not disturbing...I guess men can hardly believe that women play PE), so... I'm just someone who had set some items in auction on bidding, items sold and received peds when auction ended. That's all!
I am aware of the morality issue brought here, but I have my own reasons, which I would like to explain here, so maybe we will all be more careful when we're doing something.
I have done the exact same thing as he did! Yes, you heard it right. It was in 2006, I had placed a bid on a Foxtrot, and lost a lot (considering money in those years). Back then there wasn't even this feature that allows us to search for someone and send friend request, so I couldn't even find the person and ask for my money back.
The only entity where I went for help was MA. I thought the creators of the game will help me somehow and repair a mistake that I've made. So I explained my situation in a consistent support ticket, and the answer had only had 6 words: 'No. We can not do that.'
So I understood back then, that our actions belong to us. We are fully responsible for what we do. Each and every mistake we do, is our own. We cannot make mistakes and expect it will all be straightened up again.
I was trained and educated by this game, that within this virtual universe all that we decide is our own responsibility.
And believe me, it wasn't the only mistake I made. I've done a lot of bad choices and wrong economical moves along the way...besides wrong clicks in auction. And for each and every single one of them, the full economical loss belong to me.
So I swallowed my pride, moved on, lost by wrong clicks, lost by loss of MU, lost by trusting some wrong people, lost by not having inspiration about what's gonna come next, and never thought I should ask someone for help (financial help, to restore peds I've lost during my bad decision), as long as even the game creators meant it this way....
Their response 'No. We can not do that.' felt more like 'Hey! Put your shit together, missy. This ain't a fairy tale. What you do is up to you.'
Of course there were times when I won. I haven't only lost. I would be a hypocrite to say that. I won't do a calculation about how many times I've lost or won, because I would only make myself sad again, but my point is - every time I won and every time I lost, it was me. I took full credit when made a good decision and full responsibility when I made a bad one.
Of course I've met beautiful people. But you know what? Even though I was in very nice Soc's back then (Delta Force, Mysterium, BAHQ, M2S) and met very nice and kind people, the support was only moral... and that's how it should be. We all helped eachother with advices, information, we joked, laughed, hunted together etc... you name it.... but when it came to someone making a mistake, or taking a bad decision, he/she was on their own. No one gave free peds to restore balance between right or wrong, as everyone understood we are all responsible of our actions. When someone got scammed, the reactions were 'Ouch!', 'OMG!', 'Who is he/she?', 'How did it happen?' etc... It was all sincere, the support was there, but only on spiritual side. On economical side, the loss belong the the person who was scammed, who clicked wrong, who took a bad decision etc....
So you see?!...my lack of action in this matter only means I learned how to be like that. I've been through a lot of shit, noticed that I stand for myself when it hits the fan, took it all in my face when it did, so now I'm the innocent bystander. Because in the end it all comes to:
-his wrong click - his loss
-my wrong click - my loss
It's as simple as that. I've been there, felt that, can relate with that feeling, but I couldn't look in the mirror knowing that I was the one who payed the price each time I made mistakes and then I still was the one who payed the price when other ppl made mistakes too. No, sir! I would only be incredibly stupid. Kind, but stupid. And as kindness is always misinterpreted with stupidity, I'm not the one who decide to start changing this perception.
Because in the end, after I have done dozens of mistakes from which other people took advantage, if I would play it nicely for the first time when it happens to me, I would only be extremely dumb, not wise. I know the moral behind it, but where was the moral behind every mistake I've made? I didn't even posted things, or asked for help. As I said, the only time I asked help was to MA and you know the answer. So why bother with expecting people to act how I would like them to act... I learned to expect more from myself, not from others... I learned to be more careful, to double, or even triple check what I click on, thus losing less. My mistakes made me lose less over time. So I guess I'm a good eco bitch, because I lose less and less, after being so dumb at the beginning...
Long story short, as I also told Squal yesterday in our conversation in PM (before he removed me from f/l today... action which I understand and I don't blame him), it's not about the money, it's about the principles....
Last night, I was in Icarus, Boreas, PA, Nea's and newb rig giving peds and items to newcommers. I know how hard is at beginning, I never felt more than a newb myself and I'd rather spread the peds to people who's hearts simply explode of happiness than to train a person who made a mistake, that mistakes can be fixed - No! They can't! So pay more attention!
I gave peds to more than 50 people, made about 25-30 new friends, as a lot of them wanted to add me, bought sweat for 10 ped/1k, spent a lot of peds on this process and I will repeat it today.... Since I started playing again 1 month ago, there wasn't a day when I didn't spend some time in sweatters places. The help I provide is info and knowledge - from the little I know, I understood that sharing info with newcommers means a lot more than protecting who is not even careful with his own actions.
Making dozens of people happy is much more refreshing than knowing I would feed one man's impression that mistakes can be fixed. A newcommer with a free gun and 50 ped for ammo is a person won to the game. A clumsy person who gets his peds restored after clicking wrong, is a person who won't understand that his actions have reactions.
And talking about that, MA even made it a 3 step process. In order to place a bid, you need to:
1) Set amount of peds by clicking on the lill' arrows;
2) Press 'bid';
3) Press 'confirm' when the lill' window pops up telling you the amount you are going to place as bid.
So to do all those 3 steps in a row without noticing what the hell you are doing, means a lot of things and I don't wanna start judging other people's judgment...or lack of it...
For example, if I want to bid on a Mann Mph and instead of 1 ped I place 100k peds because I'm stupid, clumsy, tired, drunk...whatever...it is my fault, not the sellers fault, as long as the seller didn't intended that.
Besides that, what no one knows, is that on the thigh in matter he bidded 10k twice, overbidding himself. He bidded 10k, then in the same minute, another 10k. Maybe he realised what he did and wanted to 'remove' bid... I mean, c'mon... Mistake over mistake and I should be the one to 'repair' it, so that he can mistake some more? He needs to learn (if he does...) just like I did my lessons... I don't play God here, deciding what's wrong and what's right. I simply follow the rules and obey them when they are advantaging me, as much as I obey them when they are disadvantaging me.
I feel like I've said too much and yet it looks like I've said to little... Who wants to understand this, ok... who don't want to understand, still ok. If good rep means being dumb, then I don't want it, simply because I wouldn't want to please others by fooling myself. I only did what I've done to myself too in this game since I play it - left the full responsibility on his shoulders, as I had my responsibilities on my own shoulders. I'm not the one who disobeys the rules (even the unspoken rules), but the one who obeys then literally. So all I can say is that I'm sorry for his loss, but I'm simply paying forward the same price I had to pay (and that all of us had to pay) over the course of our time spent here.
I wouldn't want to end my first and only comment here (as I will not enter polemics with anyone...was just an explanation of my actions) without referring a bit to what Rechinu have posted as being our conversation.
I guess that if someone translated that, you all know how it went. I just wanted to add that he didn't posted it entirely, so I think I should post the beginning too, so that people can understand (if they didn't knew yet) what type of person he is. This is the beginning of that conversation:
<removed>
So as you notice, he was sort of congratulating me for the price I got, kind of like 'Hey, congratz! Cool price!' and then he smiled.... That's the talk any romanian has when he wants to say gz to someone.
I mean, I can understand him in a way... Meaning that I feel compassion about someone who's IQ only has two digits and who acts like a street corner hustler trying to score big on small time deals. I don't feel bad about him, or accuse of something. I just wanted (for the record) to post the complete conversation, so that people know who they are dealing with.
Hoping I've made myself clear about this matter, I end this comment by reminding you all that your actions are your own, weather you win or lose. Now if you'll excuse me, Boreas, Icarus and newb rig awaits me... Newbs with extra peds, guns and info about the game are a big asset to the game - a bigger one than someone who deliberately follows a 3 step clicking process in a wrong manner, then expects refunds.
Best regards,
Madalina.
Over & out!
I would like to say that from my years of playing this game I have seen this happen on many occassions, and I have never ever seen a good result from this unless it was a small enough accident.
