Morning in Vana'diel: Show a Little Respect.

Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! Today, Ring considers if he is just a massive dick head... don't answer that question!

Now you might be asking yourself why I included that picture above. And it is to prove an example of something. The picture above shows someone trying to be a decent player. They have the right ideas. The have the Walahra Turban for a little haste, and they have some Accuracy and Attack and some other things that all look like a good idea on paper. The problem, and most of you already know this, is that they don't really have enough of anything to be very effective. The problem is not what this person could be doing better, it is how to deal with this person. Does one approach them with a helping hand, making suggestions as to how they could improve their gear selection? Do you deride their bad decisions, mocking their lack of knowledge? Do you ignore them and just hope they go away?

I know what we should do, and that is try to provide a helping hand. Even if that helping hand is pushed away, you can still determine the mentality of someone and then make decisions for yourself as to if it is a person you want to even be around, have in your LS, or even party with. I choose the example above because none of the equipment decisions are necessarily wrong, but they are not very good. There are a lot of improvements that could be made, obviously, but they have not done anything that makes you pull your hair out. This could be this person's first job, or it could be an unimportant job to them, something to use in Campaign for example. It could be that they are very poor and don't have the gil to spend on better gear. In the end it looks like this person could use a helping hand, not just in gearing but on other aspects like how to make gil, what in-game events they can do to improve their gear, and maybe how to best earn merits for that job.

Far too often we find ourselves falling into ruts of derision and cruelty when it comes to less knowledgeable players. I am guilty just as much as the next person. Hopefully we can try to be a little more kind and helpful to other people. One of the best parts of the game, thinking back, was when I didn't know anything about the game. When there was a lot of learning and exploration. Everyone has made poor gear decisions because they did not know what was best at the time. Everyone has had some of their assumptions blown out of the water by someone else. I think someone that is willing to learn should be given some leeway to learn, and we should all show a little more respect to each other.

How do you treat other players? Are they enemies trying to steal your treasures? Are they people you don't care about? Are they young padawans just waiting for your training? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!