05-12-2003, 09:18 PM
In fear of losing Lurker respect (which I consider valuble) I offer the following narrative:
I sold legitimate items on Ebay for about three months, and made $1,700. I split this money with my good friend (let's call him "Bob"...since that's actually his name) who helped me MF all the stuff.
The hacking/duping issue stings a little harder for us, I think, because we went from doing something that was possibly immoral to belonging by association to a group that will obviously be condemned to hell.
A little history:
Bob is kind of a jerk. He is scorchingly competitive, opinionated, crude to the point of embarrassment, and as influencial as a tv evangelist. He's also one of my best friends, and an almost constant D2 playing partner. When this game was released, like Starcraft before it, we spent obscene globs of time in our respective homes glued to our monitors in shared addiction. It was a good time, although our estranged girlfriends wholeheartedly disagree. The devil didn't make me do it, the devil and Bob did.
When he sent me the first screenshots from his d2 classic MF Barb, surrounded in a3 hell by dozens of then prized yellows, I wondered why anyone would spend time "finding" items. Why not just do the quests? What a waste of time.
Then I discovered tweaking. Soon after I was on the ladder. Out of thousands upon thousands of players, in hardcore no less, there was my name, for all to see. A payoff hardly worth the 30 hours a week I was sinking into playing, but a payoff nonetheless. Remember signing on and joining one of maybe 3 hell games? Yeah, me too.
My ego and I digress...
So, expansion comes out, yada yada yada, we play and play, like everyone else. I get into playing only variants, and forget about the stupid, firewall sorceress-infested ladder. Then, I lose my favorite paladin to some cruel bastard with a Druid helm bug up his sleeve and that's it, man, I am done. Diablo is for losers, and I was playing too much anyway. Forget that.
By then, checking the lounge & Dii.net are habits, because of the decent writing, I continue to peruse throughout my months of D2 abstinence... until one day I read about the Anderson brothers. Wow. Getting paid to play video games... can you imagine? Short of playtesting, that seems about as close as one can get to slacker heaven. Deep down I still love playing D, and I could really use the extra money. Bob and I talk it over, and our chips are in.
So we begin, and right off the bat it's not what we think. First off, we aren't the only people who read about the Andersons. Ebay is kind of swamped, and competition is fierce. Second, every shred of fun is stripped from the game, as we spend about 6 hours a day killing Mephisto and the Council, and Mehpsito and the Council, and over and over and over and over and over. Then - 1 hour in photoshop, a half hour on ebay and - someone bids! Dude look at that! Free money! That armor we found is selling for ...er... 5... wait... going up ...um... hmm. 5 Dollars and 25 cents. Ok, 5.25 divided by two, divided by six... that comes to... 43 cents an hour.
Sometimes we made a little more than that. A little.
And so it went for 3 not-exactly-funfilled months. I'd like to mention that our customers, every one, were usually ecstactic, at the very least happy, to get their things. Also, it was always strange for me. Every time I'd meet with someone and do our socially pleasant, if immoral, transaction I felt like some kind of drug dealer. I never got over that weird feeling, and squirmed a little despite the exclamations of joy I would get everytime I dropped the buyer's little prize by the stash. The ethics of selling marajuana is, I suppose, along the same lines in a way.
Then one seller joined our ranks. His screename was HackDupe. What an ---hole. Believe me when I say that its not that he took our piddly lumps of paypal plunder away - its that we suddenly belonged to a group of (what was for me, without a doubt) a group of straight-up criminals.
It like this: the way I see it, there are decent arguments for and against playing poker for money. Once someone starts printing their own aces, however, it becomes evil - hands down. Honestly I don't see how "prosperous" dupers live with themselves... if the guilt I feel from my involvement is any indication, these revolting scabs will have to be suicidal at some point.
Thanks for hearing me out - please don't judge too harshly... I quit 2 years ago, and I've no plans of going back.
Constant lurker,
Swarmalicious
I sold legitimate items on Ebay for about three months, and made $1,700. I split this money with my good friend (let's call him "Bob"...since that's actually his name) who helped me MF all the stuff.
The hacking/duping issue stings a little harder for us, I think, because we went from doing something that was possibly immoral to belonging by association to a group that will obviously be condemned to hell.
A little history:
Bob is kind of a jerk. He is scorchingly competitive, opinionated, crude to the point of embarrassment, and as influencial as a tv evangelist. He's also one of my best friends, and an almost constant D2 playing partner. When this game was released, like Starcraft before it, we spent obscene globs of time in our respective homes glued to our monitors in shared addiction. It was a good time, although our estranged girlfriends wholeheartedly disagree. The devil didn't make me do it, the devil and Bob did.
When he sent me the first screenshots from his d2 classic MF Barb, surrounded in a3 hell by dozens of then prized yellows, I wondered why anyone would spend time "finding" items. Why not just do the quests? What a waste of time.
Then I discovered tweaking. Soon after I was on the ladder. Out of thousands upon thousands of players, in hardcore no less, there was my name, for all to see. A payoff hardly worth the 30 hours a week I was sinking into playing, but a payoff nonetheless. Remember signing on and joining one of maybe 3 hell games? Yeah, me too.
My ego and I digress...
So, expansion comes out, yada yada yada, we play and play, like everyone else. I get into playing only variants, and forget about the stupid, firewall sorceress-infested ladder. Then, I lose my favorite paladin to some cruel bastard with a Druid helm bug up his sleeve and that's it, man, I am done. Diablo is for losers, and I was playing too much anyway. Forget that.
By then, checking the lounge & Dii.net are habits, because of the decent writing, I continue to peruse throughout my months of D2 abstinence... until one day I read about the Anderson brothers. Wow. Getting paid to play video games... can you imagine? Short of playtesting, that seems about as close as one can get to slacker heaven. Deep down I still love playing D, and I could really use the extra money. Bob and I talk it over, and our chips are in.
So we begin, and right off the bat it's not what we think. First off, we aren't the only people who read about the Andersons. Ebay is kind of swamped, and competition is fierce. Second, every shred of fun is stripped from the game, as we spend about 6 hours a day killing Mephisto and the Council, and Mehpsito and the Council, and over and over and over and over and over. Then - 1 hour in photoshop, a half hour on ebay and - someone bids! Dude look at that! Free money! That armor we found is selling for ...er... 5... wait... going up ...um... hmm. 5 Dollars and 25 cents. Ok, 5.25 divided by two, divided by six... that comes to... 43 cents an hour.
Sometimes we made a little more than that. A little.
And so it went for 3 not-exactly-funfilled months. I'd like to mention that our customers, every one, were usually ecstactic, at the very least happy, to get their things. Also, it was always strange for me. Every time I'd meet with someone and do our socially pleasant, if immoral, transaction I felt like some kind of drug dealer. I never got over that weird feeling, and squirmed a little despite the exclamations of joy I would get everytime I dropped the buyer's little prize by the stash. The ethics of selling marajuana is, I suppose, along the same lines in a way.
Then one seller joined our ranks. His screename was HackDupe. What an ---hole. Believe me when I say that its not that he took our piddly lumps of paypal plunder away - its that we suddenly belonged to a group of (what was for me, without a doubt) a group of straight-up criminals.
It like this: the way I see it, there are decent arguments for and against playing poker for money. Once someone starts printing their own aces, however, it becomes evil - hands down. Honestly I don't see how "prosperous" dupers live with themselves... if the guilt I feel from my involvement is any indication, these revolting scabs will have to be suicidal at some point.
Thanks for hearing me out - please don't judge too harshly... I quit 2 years ago, and I've no plans of going back.
Constant lurker,
Swarmalicious
*Swarmalicious - USeast Hardcore
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men." - W Wonka
The Flying Booyaka and The Legend of Bonesnap
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men." - W Wonka
The Flying Booyaka and The Legend of Bonesnap