Was I clearly joking?

[zakalw3]

No offense, but did this really require its own thread?

[Naberrie]

No offense, but did this really require its own thread?

It's a nice change of pace from all the "lockouts are ruining my life" threads.

[Trell]

Were you clearly joking? No, you weren't clear. It definitely didn't help that you started out calling the party weak and thinking you were better than them in some way.

I believe the BLM's lash out was the anger of his deaths, the jokes being seen as attacks to him and his skill, and the thank you comment the tip of his boiling point. The way you asked for a thank you was worded like a demand for a thank you, which is poor reason to thank someone. Without that comment, I bet he would've just left silently.



You can still be called an elitist even if you're not geared like one. Attitude plays the major factor as I would base "Elitism" on a person's skill and humility. Saying you deserved a thank you was the lack of humility, therefore based on the events that you transcribed, I would have also assumed you were being an elitist.

The server you play on only plays a small part of being an elitist. He ultimately was generalizing your server based on your actions and any other Goblinite players he may have come across. For example, say he's met you and one other person that were being elitists. Well to him, that's 100% of the people he met from Goblin that he considers an elitist and therefore generalizes the whole server as elitists.

In the future, I would ask if you could pay more attention to your first impressions and be less of a joker to players you've never met. Not everyone is going to laugh, and some will only laugh to call you a *bleep* off screen.

Your explanations for the BLM's behavior make sense but don't justify it. When playing MMOs, you have to be mature enough to realize that it is hard to convey certain ideas in text. You have to give people the benefit of the doubt and adjust your reactions accordingly. I think the onus is on the person interpreting a comment to make the effort to understand it before (over)reacting.

Policing everything you say to make it obvious that your joking can make for a pretty stale social experience. Some of the best funniest moments you can have in MMOs are when people bond together through humor conveyed in all kinds of ways, including irony/sarcasm.

I agree that the BLM probably reacted out of frustration, which is akin to human nature - but - he could easily just have asked: "are you being serious?" instead of uttering some nonsensical generalities about Goblin players. Then the onus would have been on the OP to clarify things. Events would have likely unfolded differently.