Twinking, HC, SC...my thoughts

[jdirks]

I think one has to be very careful about the word "cheating"

People throw it around a lot: "twinking is cheating, eth is cheating, aura flashing is cheating"

Now the Lounge is a place where cheats are banned

I think one should only use that particular word if you feel so strongly that you want the person banned for what they are doing

The word cheesy is very apt if you find these play methods annoying but not outright worthy of an instant ban, imo

I think it helps the people who use hacks a very great deal if we legit players throw the cheat word at each other. "Everyone cheats" is one of their favourite arguments and is a justification in the minds of many cheats

It also is brutal on the new player who has innocently moved items from one character to another to discover they're a cheat in the minds of some other people

I don't think people here have the same mental category for people who twink and people who drophack. So let's expand our vocabulary to use the proper words for what we want to describe  B)

sorry to quote your entire post, but I felt it to be a very fine post, and the thoughts presented were IMO 100% on target.

As I stated in my opening, I myself do not consider twinking to be cheating. Not at all, though there re those who disagree.

Ex, my 42 lvl Barb runs across a very nice 3-socket shield with some skill adds for a Pally. Perhaps (with abit of luck) even an add to Smite skills. If this Barb then mules that shield to my Pally, and my Pally mules to the Barb some chipped gems for use in cubing some magic item or other, how is this any different from buying an item from a merchant and exchanging gold for it?

Yes, there are groups who play by stricter codes, 'living off the land' for ex, where use of merchants is banned. IF you are playing a character with one of those groups, THEN I'd clearly call twinking as cheating vs cheesy. IF, the characters involved in the 'twink' (?) exchange items regardless of value, but said exchange provides some degree of benefit to each, THEN I'd refrain from even calling it twinking. More of a trade. Simply one done by one player and 2 characters, vs 2 players and 2 characters. Finally, IF the 'twink' is consistently one-way, THEN I'd call it cheesey. But thats me. :D