What's the deal with all the "Donating" for ports?

ribaldron · #1 05-20-2010, 04:11 PM

Seriously... have we matured a bit since live past asking people to *pay* for their port?

Honestly, if you're *expecting* a payment from someone, in any form, and will not procure your services without what you call a donation, what's the point?

I watched a conversation unfold today where a cleric was paid 200pp for a rez, and denied a player IN HIS OWN GUILD who was next to their corpse because he did not have 50pp to donate for the rez. A little argument ensued, needless to say, he didn't get the rez.

Seems to me that if you claim you're accepting donations, extra credit should possibly carry over to those who are less fortunate.

Anyway, genuinely interested in everyone's mentality on the matter, as I'm not afraid to simply tell a person, "Hey, if you can afford it, I want some money for my time." I could be out grinding instead.

I'd also like to take this time to write that I'm not cheap, I may not have a ton of cash yet, but I also haven't requested any ports / rez / etc.. just see the "Donations" thing a lot, and the above situation really kind of bothered me. I'm not insinuating that the community is all like that in any way.

km2783 · #2 05-20-2010, 04:35 PM

My guess is people say donate because it sounds more polite and they don't have a set "value" in mind. They're willing to take any amount of compensation for their time. Those with money throw out numbers when saying they are donating to entice the porter/rezzer, those of us that are new to the server and broke beg for a pity port or say we're donating to hide the meager amount of pp we're about to throw into the trade window [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Akame · #3 05-20-2010, 04:40 PM

Porting for donations. <--- Unspecified amount of coin but requesting paid services
Porting for XPlat. <-- Specified rates taxi (surprised I haven't seen any of those about).
Porting, donations accepted but not required. <---- Newbie friendly taxi.

Frankly it sounds like that cleric was soggy from the failboat he got off of.

Tallenn · #4 05-20-2010, 04:49 PM

I think you'll find that the attitude you are describing is the exception rather than the rule. MOST people that claim to be porting for donations (don't know about rezzing), mean exactly that: pay what you feel is a fair price. If you can't afford anything, or simply choose not to pay, you will still get ported. I personally don't look at it as a means of making plat, but more as something to do while I am hanging around town or just time-wasting, and maybe picking up some extra cash while I'm at it.

The other side of that is that when I'm offering ports for donations is the only time I will port. In other words, I have put aside that time to help folks get around the world of Norrath. Outside of that time is my time to gain experience and farm cash. When I'm doing those activities, I generally will not port anyone anywhere, though I sometimes make exceptions for guildies, and I usually offer to help the guild when it is mobilizing for a raid. What I don't make exceptions for is random people offering what they feel are large amounts of plat (usually like 50-80pp) to basically stop my experiencing time in order to taxi them around. I have yet to see someone offer truly large amounts for a port, so not sure what I'd say to that.

guineapig · #5 05-20-2010, 04:52 PM

I get tells for ports, I say sure.
I port to them, they tend to just hand me X, then I port them.
If they don't hand me anything it doesn't matter because they didn't offer and I didn't ask. However, the only time this has happened to me was when people were on corpse runs.

I never advertise ports but I also never turn them down (unless I'm in a group and they are waiting on me). I never ask for money either (obviously) but considering how little I actually get to play I take the donation because it's often my only source of platinum during an average day.

On the rare occasion that I can't be bothered I /role.

ShadowWulf · #6 05-20-2010, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akame [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Porting, donations accepted but not required. <---- Newbie friendly taxi.
.

Thats how I advertise on my shammy when i spend free time in Oasis and EC on my troll, Cuddles, buffing people. (Those in the area usually know me). For that matter I often just stop and sow, buff and heal people for no toher reason than I can! Sure im ruinning to a vendor, no big deal and it only takes a few seconds to buff a lv 1 in the noob areas to hell and back again, and makes their day better.

The flip side is people who do donate tend to donate VERY generously! Thanks guys! Makes getting groups easier also when people recognize you as a helpful player.

Rania · #7 05-20-2010, 07:37 PM

I completely agree with Ribaldron. I will always say "paying xPP for port from blah blah to blah blah" I figure "donating" makes it less probable I will get the port I want!

I think some poeple use the "Porting for donations" incorrectly. I have also heard of poeple saying this then refusing the port for less than a specific fee. Be honest. If you want donations, accept the fact that you may get 1CP! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I am a cleric so in terms of rezzes ... if I am in a zone and standing there doing nothing (lfg) rezzes are free. If I am in a group and could be using my mana to continue to xp for my group then I'll accept donations. If you want me to travel to the butt end of the world to rez your L10 corpse, it is gonna cost you!

Omnimorph · #8 05-20-2010, 07:39 PM

Let's face it, the reason people say donations is because they want you to pay as much as possible [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] if they say porting for 10p people will pay 10p, where as someone else might pay 50p if you don't specify.

It's very similar to tipping waiters in restaurants, etiquette seems to say that 10% or w/e is the correct amount.

Refusing to do something when you're claiming you're doing it for donations is a pretty poor show though.

Nedala · #9 05-20-2010, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omnimorph [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Let's face it, the reason people say donations is because they want you to pay as much as possible [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] if they say porting for 10p people will pay 10p, where as someone else might pay 50p if you don't specify.

It's very similar to tipping waiters in restaurants, etiquette seems to say that 10% or w/e is the correct amount.

Refusing to do something when you're claiming you're doing it for donations is a pretty poor show though.

I dont agree with that, when i offer ports for donations i do so because i dont want to force lowbies to pay me, lets say 30p.

I would say its more this way: People who offer donations for a port say donations because they dont wanna pay much and if they would offer 10p for a port it would minimize their chance.

ribaldron · #10 05-20-2010, 07:52 PM

A lot of what's been said made sense.

Just want to reiterate that I also feel as if mr. Cleric was the exception, but others have reported similar behavior.

I can now see what saying "Porting for Donations" makes sense, at least, in the way that you're saying it.

You're porting, and accepting donations, but without saying it like that, because then nobody would ever pay anything. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]