Project 1999 - A story of strength and resolve

I had an interesting exchange today with a fellow I met about 2-3 weeks ago, but first let me properly dress the meatloaf before I begin.

2-3 weeks ago, I logged in on my druid and seen the /ooc chat was running pretty actively. I quickly figured out why.

Apparently, a guy had drop bagged his items, and they were picked up by someone. The guy was distraught and angry, and had vented in /ooc which lead to lots of insults being hurled at him.

He said he felt like quitting, and that he was upset that someone would steal his stuff. Sure, I found him a bit naive, and he picked the worst avenue to vent that being the /ooc channel.

I generally view such claims as suspicious, but in this situation for some reason I felt the guy really was just naive and I also felt he just made a noob mistake. He did nothing that deserved the belligerent assault the zone put on him in my eyes. I defended him slightly in /ooc, and I then sent him a tell asking him how much he lost.

The fellow told me he lost his SCHWs, along with some other minor items but it was all he had. He was wanting to xfer the items to his monk or to a shaman I don't even remember the details exactly, but it amounted to maybe 3k.

I decided to give the guy 3k, and told him so. I also told him to simply look for me ingame, or some high lvl players with guild tags like AM, AW, AG, any one of the bigger guilds would be safe players to ask to xfer items anytime.

He was extremely happy, and shocked I was giving him 3k. I assured him it was nothing and that he just needed to be more careful with his stuff. We chatted for a few mins, then he went back to his alt he wanted to play and that was that.

Today, I got a tell from a vaguely familiar name, and it was that guy. He sent me a tell saying first he wanted to thank me for helping him out. He said he wished more people were on the server like me (that made me feel good I admit!) and we chatted for a minute.

That being said, he wanted to repay me back. He wanted to give me the plats he had, as well as all his items. I asked him why, and that maybe he ought to just hold onto his things if he wanted to take a break... he said no. He told me his son asked him to spend more time with him yesterday, and that the game was simply taking up too much time! He told me he LOVED the game, but it got to him when his son told him that.

He had to make a decision, and he decided that he was quitting the game for his son. This actually made me feel a bit emotional I must admit. I told him that he was doing the right thing, the game was an illness and that I felt he showed great strength in doing what he was doing.

I took all his items, and his plats he offered up and wished him well IRL. He responded the same with great enthusiasm as he told me he had to clean up the house and do other things. Without him saying it, I understood such things were not going to get done had he still been logged in to the game.

Anyway, thought I'd share that story. Not for what I did, but for what this man did. he is really a man of substance and virtue and his son should be proud he has a father that cares so much.