Goldmaking Ethics – Responsibility to Other Players
The GoldMaking Ethics is a series of Warcraft Opinion Articles documenting responses to ethical questions posed on Twitter on 8 May 2018.
Tweets are presented out of context, and you can click them to read the rest of the conversation. You are always welcome to chat with me on twitter where my name is @thegoldqueen and you can find Gold Dragon here also @Dragonbearjoe
We have 9 articles for you to read, culminating in a TGQ Long Read with my own opinions. Today we talk about our responsibility to be kind to other players on the server, or the lack of that responsibility.
All stories were gathered in a judgement-free atmosphere. I understand if you disagree with other people or get upset by it, but during the Ethics Questions, we are examining responses in a detached scientific manner.
World of Warcraft is a multiplayer game. The other characters are played by real people. We talked on twitter about our responsibility to treat them well and our ethics about interacting with other players.
Is Gold Making helpful to other players on the server?
Ethics:
Does making gold help other players or not?What if you are farming and selling ore?
What if you are just buying things on AH and reselling higher?
— The Gold Queen 💛 (@thegoldqueen) May 8, 2018
Put on your Big Boy Pants
OG Dragon says gold making feels really good.
Here is the macro I use to respond to gold-begs: / Your mama is not in this channel to hear you whine for a handout, son. Time to pull up your big boy pants and make your own gold! It feels really good.
🔥— O.G. Dragon (@OGdragonDotCom) May 9, 2018
Education is Giving
Darkshore Capital chats about learning lessons and how helpful this can be.
All makes sense and I have no problem at all with that attitude. I know my hope that learning a lesson in a game might save someone when its 'real' is somewhat far fetched, but hey you never know.
— Darkshore Capital (@DarkshoreCap) May 9, 2018
Undercutting is fair.
I believe that undercutting your friend is honourable. Whitelisting, or refusing to undercut is an insult to their ability to make gold. CatGoesWoof agrees and would not hold back against any friend, even their life partner. Competition makes you work harder.
My OH is a much better goldmaker than me. We wouldn't dream of 'holding back' in competing, in markets, pricing or life in general. If I undercut him he'd laugh, congratulate me & work harder. Ultimately we're on the same side, it's win-win.
— CatGoesWoof (@Kittycowe) May 8, 2018
Sound Bite
Odin Omen and Mara even have a sound bite to listen to on the subject of ethics
Found it! Gosh, this is pretty old now. Great how ya'll helped out that other Warcraft guild. Hope this helps. https://t.co/zP91hPbdV1
— Odin Omen (@Odin_Omen) May 8, 2018
How much do you give your fellow player?
Do you give them what they ask for, or what they need? Jonathan wants to know!
@thegoldqueen Ethics question: Someone asks the value of an item. Do you quote the value your addon gives? Do you add personal knowledge? That it doesn't sell frequently, or varies widely in price? A reason it may be worth WAY MORE than what you see on the AH? (ex:Breed of Pet)
— Jonathan Andrist (@rwfrk) May 8, 2018
Love the competitive game in the Auction House
Studen loves the back and forth of auction house pvp.
i might be strange, but i actually LOVE the competition during undercutting, i dont mind my friends and viewers undercutting me, that's apart of the game. so i do my best to undercut them, and they do the same too me!
— Studen Albatroz (@StudenAlbatroz) May 8, 2018
Amanda is the same
Yep, I've undercut my friend… she undercuts me. We undercut together. We farm together. We both want gold. We both call each other bitches about it. We both laugh when someone tries to undercut us. We both laugh when we undercut someone else. We are friends.
— Amanda Thomas (@sanquisdragon) May 8, 2018
Side Question
A wild question appears from wild (via Rhalliord)! Which character should they post on the auction house with? Does it matter? I think it does and talk about this a lot in my memebers-only guide. You can get access to this by becoming a monthly patreon donor.
@thegoldqueen all your questions today have me thinking.. am I more likely to be successful selling stuff on the AH as a level one bank toon? Or a level 110 ? Do people check the level of people before buying ? If you see a level one selling a rare mount do you get suspicious?
— Rhalliord the crazy cat man (@LouplaysWoW) May 8, 2018
Education Education Education
Sivation sells item on the Auction House that could be bought cheaper elsewhere, and is content that his sales help people to learn. Then he references a sales technique that I first described back in 2010! Drive up the perceived item value, so that your normal priced item appears cheap.
It’s also effectively a “Doesn’t use @wowhead surcharge as well”! Charge as much as the market will bear.
I’ve done things like deliberately pricing an item insanely high for a while & then drop the price right down to catch those who blindly trust addons as well.— Sivation (@Sivation) May 8, 2018
Profit is Profit
It’s that simple, says Pointygnome
I don't have a set margin compensation-wise but any kinds of profit you can get = profit. You're providing easy-access to items people would otherwise have to look for on WoWhead, head to vendor and buy the item(s). Everybody wins.
— David (@Pointygnome) May 8, 2018
Work deserves rewards
Tiapriestess thinks they deserve a decent return on their work. I agree.
If I'm making the effort for myself, I expect a chance at the returns on those efforts. If on the other hand, I'm more or less leeching off others due to laziness or inability to fully contribute, I'll try to share in the opportunities/items.
— Tiapriestess (@Tiapriestess) May 8, 2018
What About The Small Items?
Persephonae reminds us not to forget our roots. Remember when you needed that cheap item, but eveything in the auction house was overpriced? A balance of prices is the answer.
i personally make sure i post all my lowlvl mats even if my breakpoint for goldmaking is say 300g. that malachite is gonna go up too cause i know how good it feels to need something little and feel relieved when i go to the AH and actually find it, I like to make people feel good
— Persephonæ (@PersephonaeofZJ) May 8, 2018
Education
Manech is here to help teach! We have a responsibility to help pass on our information and experience. I agree, that’s why I write the website!
Created a gold making channel in Discord linking multiple videos, links to experts like you.
Also my pinned tweet for everyone on here who asked how I make gold via order halls.— Manech (@MichaelJPetty) May 8, 2018
Just Gift
Jagerfish gives gifts to their friends. aw
It's still pretty selfish but a friend of mine came back to the game after a long break and I bought a Vial of the Sands so I could ferry him around until he could fly properly.
— Jagerfish (@NigelTheLondon) May 8, 2018
But Beware
Rain would raise the alarm if there was something that could harm others.
Everyone is ultimately responsible for their own choices. But if I knew a practice put ppl at risk, I would raise the alarm. Because I care and I don't want to see ppl get hurt
— 🌧️Rain🌧️ (@rainspirit11) May 8, 2018
Should this be a question?
I have a moral obligation to be a good girl, says Runesael. Don’t worry, Runesael, I try!
Why can't people just be honest and do things the right way the first time? Holy shit, why is this even a question?
If you're a teacher you absolutely have a moral obligation to show people the right way and the moral way to do the thing you do.
Don't abuse power.
— Rune de la Peña Johansson (@Runesael) May 8, 2018
Karma’s gonna get ya
FlameFlash references something dear to my heart: Golden Manners for a Golden Reputation. A good reputation can’t be bought.
Ethics are connected to your reputation. People aren't stupid and slowly you'll find yourself blacklisted in both game and life.
— FlameFlash (@flameflash) May 8, 2018
Things got Meta
What if you are treating other players well, but try to force other players to be ethical. Is that ethical?
This gets ethical where we force our player behaviour upon others to some degree. We determine prices on the auction house and dictate how much people have to earn in order to purchase x.
— Brunold, a gnome mage pondering real life (@TobiasTegge) May 9, 2018
Interesting. If you are a "high moral" person but try to enforce high morals, are you just as bad as an immoral player??
Opinions welcome https://t.co/IrA9TZqD6F
— The Gold Queen 💛 (@thegoldqueen) May 9, 2018
Over to you
How do you treat the other players on your server? Are they fair game or potential family?
About the Author
Warcraft’s longest running Gold Making blog, The Gold Queen is written by Alyzande since 2010. Working on her 14th level 110, she has 9 years expertise in making gold, 19,000+ achievements, 1593 days played, over 39 million gold earned, and now playing World of Warcraft Legion live on www.twitch.tv/thegoldqueen The Gold Queen blog teaches you how to make gold playing Warcraft using ethical trading, auction house flipping, crafting, reselling, snatch lists, and farming gold making. Want more updates on Warcraft Battle for Azeroth? Support my Patreon for exclusive pre-release Gold Guides
