What is up with these people...

[Bob the Beholder]

So, after my long... LONG... years of avoiding battle.net, one of my friends convinced me that the spammers and lag and random PKers have subsided since my last hour or so attempt at playing.

The result: SeekerDrone on USEast. Woo.

But, anyway, I've just been screwing around, building up a couple of characters for a while. And I've finally got a paladin--Bindego--into Nightmare.

Now, the first of the crazy people would be the ones I saw early in my characters' careers. You know, the level 84 character who comes in, asks you to come to town, drops a bunch of uber equipment, and demands a trade. Trading uber equipment with a level 11 paladin? What the hell?

Now if the name of the game were 'Mule Trading' or some such, then, yeah, it would make sense. But these are games that I make myself, which generally have names like, "Fuuuu," or "Goober."

The second type of crazy person would be when I've gotten up to a high enough level that I've pretty much got the run of normal. So, I'm up in Harrogath or something, and a level 4 character comes and startings spamming things like, "rush plz," "give itamz," or "needt wp."

Okaaay... This may come from all that crazy 'single player' stuff... but why don't people play the games themselves? I'm not too fond of slogging through Acts 1-3 for the 150th time myself, but at least I don't just latch on to larger characters and hang out there, picking up his/her leavings, like some sort of creepy little suckerfish.

The third type of crazy person would be a high level dude I just met a few minutes ago. He came into my game where I was doing the Act I NM quests, found me and proceeded to slaughter every monster in a 3-Act radius, then asked me to come to town, opened up the trade screen, put all of his equipment in there--most of which was probably obtained illegally--said, "bin... dego tish waht u need," then closed the trade window.

Uhhh... 'kay. For one, the dude was a hammerdin. I am not a hammerdin. The equipment of a hammerdin and... any other paladin in existence should be a bit different.

Of course, he then proceeded to ask me what my ranking was, going about how I 'mus be nuub' that I didn't know that non-ladder characters had rankings. He said that you put in some funky code with your account name and password and it'll tell you your rank.

Okay. I don't know much about all of this crazy multi-player stuff, but I've never been told about a non-ladder ranking. Especially one where to find out what your rank is you have to put in your password. For all I know he was telling the truth, but I'm not about to be typing my password into anything but the 'log into b.net' box when strangers are around.

Well, I guess I do have a fourth type of crazy person, although I've only seen two. This would be the 'inept PK' type. This is the guy who comes in, hostiles me, can't seem to find me--even after I tp up to town--and then leaves... only to come back a few minutes later and repeat the whole thing. The last guy was in the same game as the crazy rank person. He left and came back something like 4 times.

Well... I've suddenly run out of rambling power. I guess that means this topic is done.

[aaa]

You know, the level 84 character who comes in, asks you to come to town, drops a bunch of uber equipment, and demands a trade.  Trading uber equipment with a level 11 paladin?  What the hell?

EVERYONE in public bnet twinks the s*** out of their characters, so thus there ARE level 11's running around with unique elites and high lvl runes and such, so everyone just assumes everyone else does this so they join whatever games there are to see if they can find (random item) for their (random build).

So, I'm up in Harrogath or something, and a level 4 character comes and startings spamming things like, "rush plz," "give itamz," or "needt wp."

Leeches, they try to piggyback off of the first type of lameo, and most of them succeed assuming they find the first type of lameo. One and the same actually "Me rush you, you rush me". People are very lazy, you might have noticed that only about 1% actually bother going through the beginning/middle of act 3, its just easier to get someone to give you Travincalwp, kill the council, and have them give you Durance2wp.

The third type of crazy person would be a high level dude I just met a few minutes ago.  He came into my game where I was doing the Act I NM quests, found me and proceeded to slaughter every monster in a 3-Act radius, then asked me to come to town, opened up the trade screen, put all of his equipment in there--most of which was probably obtained illegally--said, "bin... dego tish waht u need," then closed the trade window. 

Jerk-class. They are better (at killing) than you, they know they are better than you, and they make sure YOU know that they are better than you. Its how they get their jollies.

Of course, he then proceeded to ask me what my ranking was, going about how I 'mus be nuub' that I didn't know that non-ladder characters had rankings.  He said that you put in some funky code with your account name and password and it'll tell you your rank. 

Super-jerk class. The "funky code" of which you speak probably is a whisper to his friend/bot that collects you name-pass which he then uses to open your acount and loot your char/hack get you banned. There are no non-ladder ranks, hence NON-ladder. They goad you into thinking your stupid or whatever so you give in, or they pique your curiosity so that you WANT to know what your rank is.
Don't ever type your password into anything but the log in window, good boy.

This would be the 'inept PK' type.  This is the guy who comes in, hostiles me, can't seem to find me--even after I tp up to town--and then leaves... only to come back a few minutes later and repeat the whole thing.  The last guy was in the same game as the crazy rank person.  He left and came back something like 4 times. 

Moron-class, ignore as best you can, or make a new/private game.


Survival guide for those who insist on playing on public B.net (i.e. non-lurker friendly)
Find someone who isn't a total outright jerk, ignore how much they twink, ignore how much they abuse the system. You may want to leave "heavy rushers" off of your list depending on what difficulty/act you are in. When/If you find a person like this make friends, get they on your friends list so you can find them again next time you play.
Grarrrg plays on public, Grarrrg puts up with a lot of stuff. Grarrrg also doesn't play that much or at regular times. Currently re-hooked on Heroes of Might and Magic 3 for about the thousanth time.

[Munkay]

Maybe I just have a thicker skin than some lurkers, but I've never viewed closed battle.net public games as the vast wasteland everyone posts about. Now I'm pretty sure I've earned the chops to say that. I've been an avid player since the beta, and always played USeast.

I have some real life friends I play with, as well as loungers Spiderdrake and Luke. I've made quite a few friends through pubby games, including Sam [Drust, Menestyr], who is responsible for inviting me to check out the lurkerlounge community.

There are spammers, which either leave the game within 10 seconds, or can easily be squelched. The pk'ers are pretty easily avoided. [Note: I played for hours every day for the first two years straight, and I've still never been unintentionally PK'd (If I don't have exp I am willing to take the challenge and see how I fare).]

Not everyone twinks their characters, though I agree most do.

The dupe/hack argument has been beaten to death, and I am in no way trying to revive any argument about it, nor support any of it. But I do want to say that high end items are not that impossible to get (speaking from personal experience). This summer I started from scratch with my best friend, within 2 weeks we had most exceptional uniques, and were trading for elite uniques. With these we started doing baal runs. From there it turned into solo baal runs. Within a 2 months we had numerous 80+ chars, and a ladder druid (we quit at level 91), and were using very high end elite uniques.

Yes, we traded. Did we probably trade in dupes? It's entirely possible. But its also entirely possible to get to that point quickly with some dedication, and that goal in mind. I've spent plenty of time playing no twink chars, dabbled in hardcore, etc. I've never felt limited by public games.

Public games are just that; Public. As much as we'd like to force our morality on them, or at least some form of morality, its not right. Different strokes for different folks. If you want a good community for games, there is still an active basin presence online. There are still loungers floating around who play.

I'm not putting down what you've said, if anything I mean to agree with it. But its just the nature of the beast. It is what it is. I'm just wondering why we spend so much time discussing it or worrying about it. If you don't like it, you really don't need to play it, the tools for a fun time 'non public' are around.

Cheers,

Munk

[Taem]

Maybe I just have a thicker skin than some lurkers, but I've never viewed closed battle.net public games as the vast wasteland everyone posts about.  Now I'm pretty sure I've earned the chops to say that.  I've been an avid player since the beta, and always played USeast.

I have some real life friends I play with, as well as loungers Spiderdrake and Luke.  I've made quite a few friends through pubby games, including Sam [Drust, Menestyr], who is responsible for inviting me to check out the lurkerlounge community.

There are spammers, which either leave the game within 10 seconds, or can easily be squelched.  The pk'ers are pretty easily avoided.  [Note:  I played for hours every day for the first two years straight, and I've still never been unintentionally PK'd (If I don't have exp I am willing to take the challenge and see how I fare).]

Not everyone twinks their characters, though I agree most do.

The dupe/hack argument has been beaten to death, and I am in no way trying to revive any argument about it, nor support any of it.  But I do want to say that high end items are not that impossible to get (speaking from personal experience).  This summer I started from scratch with my best friend, within 2 weeks we had most exceptional uniques, and were trading for elite uniques.  With these we started doing baal runs.  From there it turned into solo baal runs.  Within a 2 months we had numerous 80+ chars, and a ladder druid (we quit at level 91), and were using very high end elite uniques.

Yes, we traded.  Did we probably trade in dupes?  It's entirely possible.  But its also entirely possible to get to that point quickly with some dedication, and that goal in mind.  I've spent plenty of time playing no twink chars, dabbled in hardcore, etc.  I've never felt limited by public games.

Public games are just that; Public.  As much as we'd like to force our morality on them, or at least some form of morality, its not right.  Different strokes for different folks.  If you want a good community for games, there is still an active basin presence online.  There are still loungers floating around who play.

I'm not putting down what you've said, if anything I mean to agree with it.  But its just the nature of the beast.  It is what it is.  I'm just wondering why we spend so much time discussing it or worrying about it.  If you don't like it, you really don't need to play it, the tools for a fun time 'non public' are around.

Cheers,

Munk
[right][snapback]62517[/snapback][/right]

I agree completely. At least in Ladder Hardcore (on USWest), sure there are people with bad attitudes, nice people, and people who just don't give a *bleep*, but people like the first poster is describing are uncommon. Players leave softcore to hard usually after a long time of experience, or they learn quickly after dying many times. This makes PK'ers quick and very able to kill you in the blink of an eye - no waiting for him to find you... And little kids asking to be rushed is not as common. Seeing a character below 10 in Act 5 Normal is also pretty uncommon. People in hardcore play the game differently I guess, and on the ladder, to my knowledge there are no dupes this season on hardcore (although I haven’t been playing for awhile).

[Munkay]

People in hardcore play the game differently I guess, and on the ladder, to my knowledge there are no dupes this season on hardcore (although I haven’t been playing for awhile).[right][snapback]62642[/snapback][/right]

The only dupe I encountered or heard about in Softcore USEast was a Ber Rune. We found out the hard way, by trading some legit items for it. Sure enough a week later it was swallowed.

I just laughed. Like I said its the nature of the beast. Like buying a used car, sometimes you just buy a lemon. :D

Cheers,

Munk

[Griselda]

The only dupe I encountered or heard about in Softcore USEast was a Ber Rune.  We found out the hard way, by trading some legit items for it.  Sure enough a week later it was swallowed.

I just laughed.  Like I said its the nature of the beast.  Like buying a used car, sometimes you just buy a lemon.  :D

Cheers,

Munk
[right][snapback]62666[/snapback][/right]

Well, if you're trading legit items for dupes, the dupers get value for their actions, and are more likely to continue doing so. :(

[Munkay]

Well, if you're trading legit items for dupes, the dupers get value for their actions, and are more likely to continue doing so. :(
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In my long tenure of online play, the Ber rune is the first item I've ever known to be duped (and the first item I've ever had that got 'swallowed'). I am in no way trying to defend cheating/hacking or duping. My point is merely 'in my experience, there are a lot more legit items and players out there than I think loungers give credit.'

I was merely trying to make the point that not all of closed battle.net is corrupt. Sure there are bad people running around who mess things up occaisionally. The same is true in real life. But in the same way we do not hide in our homes out of fear of supporting these bad people, perhaps we shouldn't hide from closed battle.net. Its been my experience that a lot more good people exist out there than I often see accredited in peoples opinions on the lounge.

I repeat, I am not supporting hacking or duping in any way, nor trying to make a defense for it. I feel just as strongly that it can ruin a game. But I do not feel my trading habits have shown to actively support duping (the Ber rune is the first and only dupe I've run across), nor do I think that anyone who has a windforce must necissarily have duped it.

I hope I do not offend you Griselda or anyone on the lounge, and if any of this post comes off sounding in opposition with you, or sounding in support of duping, please accept my humble apologies and edit the post as you see fit. Its 8 am here and I just finished a term paper on Aristotle at 5 am. Its entirely possible my brain is not functioning too well at this point.

Cheers,

Munk

[Fragbait]

I am in no way trying to defend cheating/hacking or duping [...]

I repeat, I am not supporting hacking or duping in any way, nor trying to make a defense for it [...]

if any of this post comes off [...] sounding in support of duping, please accept my humble apologies and edit the post as you see fit. [...]
[right][snapback]62710[/snapback][/right]

Hi Munkay,

Just wanted to throw in that you made your point utterly clear...
:w00t:

Greetings, Fragbait

[Munkay]

Well it was early in the morning, and I was walking on eggshells picking a point about duping/hacking with a forum moderator :P

Better to rest on the side of clarity than find myself cold, homeless and banned from the lounge!

Cheers,

Munk

Edit: And bettar to uze grammar good!~

[Archon_Wing]

In my long tenure of online play, the Ber rune is the first item I've ever known to be duped (and the first item I've ever had that got 'swallowed').  I am in no way trying to defend cheating/hacking or duping.  My point is merely 'in my experience, there are a lot more legit items and players out there than I think loungers give credit.'

I was merely trying to make the point that not all of closed battle.net is corrupt.  Sure there are bad people running around who mess things up occaisionally.  The same is true in real life.  But in the same way we do not hide in our homes out of fear of supporting these bad people, perhaps we shouldn't hide from closed battle.net.  Its been my experience that a lot more good people exist out there than I often see accredited in peoples opinions on the lounge.

I repeat, I am not supporting hacking or duping in any way, nor trying to make a defense for it.  I feel just as strongly that it can ruin a game.  But I do not feel my trading habits have shown to actively support duping (the Ber rune is the first and only dupe I've run across), nor do I think that anyone who has a windforce must necissarily have duped it.

I hope I do not offend you Griselda or anyone on the lounge, and if any of this post comes off sounding in opposition with you, or sounding in support of duping, please accept my humble apologies and edit the post as you see fit.  Its 8 am here and I just finished a term paper on Aristotle at 5 am.  Its entirely possible my brain is not functioning too well at this point.

Cheers,

Munk
[right][snapback]62710[/snapback][/right]

There is no way to tell if something is tainted or not. However, I do not think it is worth not trading just because of that possbility. If I were to not play with someone because they could be a hacker I would not be interacting very much at all.

The best way is to simply avoid items that are known to be frequently duped. Anything beyond that is an unresonable expectation.

You cannot assume that everyone is bad just because some of them are. Certainly hacks are really common on the d2 side of battle.net but there are people who play the game because it is... a game. Not a racing contest to be the ub3r l33t.

I think people who cheat will always cheat. There will always be people of their ilk willing to trade the ub3r stuff, and I'd argue that they're less likely to handle stuff gotten through legit means because it is not "l33t" enough for them.

[Griselda]

I knew that I was treading in dangerous territory by posting this, but please don't feel that you have to be that nervous to state your opinion here. I believe that it's the large number of average people who don't support cheating but still trade items that create the "economy" that encourages duping to exist. So, I don't trade, but I will take items from friends (if I know where they got it) or give items away. I also realize that I'm not likely to get the majority of players to agree with me here, although I wish that weren't the case.

While I don't hide in my house in fear of "bad people", if someone who I didn't know came to my door right now and offered to sell me a car stereo, I wouldn't buy it. We all know it would probably be stolen. On the other hand, if my car stereo broke, and a friend offered me an extra one that they had, I would happily accept their offer. You can see the distinction, can't you? That's how I look at trading. In my ideal version of Diablo, that's how things would go.

No, I won't ban you for disagreeing with me. That's not what I'm about.

[Fragbait]

While I don't hide in my house in fear of "bad people", if someone who I didn't know came to my door right now and offered to sell me a car stereo, I wouldn't buy it.  We all know it would probably be stolen.  On the other hand, if my car stereo broke, and a friend offered me an extra one that they had, I would happily accept their offer.  You can see the distinction, can't you?  That's how I look at trading.
[right][snapback]62776[/snapback][/right]

Hi Griselda!
Your reply puzzles me a bit, especially the part about the probability of something being stolen. My question(s) is(are):
Have you ever used eBay? Ever been to a jumble sale / garage sale? Have you ever bought something abroad, when you really couldn't retrace the route the product covered? Have you been to a bazaar sometime?

My point is: Buying / accepting something only if it's 100% clear it isn't stolen is desirable. In reality, though, chances are that you cannot be sure. The great deal on your new MP3-player on ebay - maybe just stolen.
Of course it's infamous to accept something if you genuinely believe it to be duped or stolen, but if you can say for yourself wholeheartedly that you believe an item to be legit, and you haven't heard of it being a common dupe or stolen from somebody, then why should you not accept it?

Greetings, Fragbait

[Archon_Wing]

I knew that I was treading in dangerous territory by posting this, but please don't feel that you have to be that nervous to state your opinion here.  I believe that it's the large number of average people who don't support cheating but still trade items that create the "economy" that encourages duping to exist.  So, I don't trade, but I will take items from friends (if I know where they got it) or give items away.  I also realize that I'm not likely to get the majority of players to agree with me here, although I wish that weren't the case.

While I don't hide in my house in fear of "bad people", if someone who I didn't know came to my door right now and offered to sell me a car stereo, I wouldn't buy it.  We all know it would probably be stolen.  On the other hand, if my car stereo broke, and a friend offered me an extra one that they had, I would happily accept their offer.  You can see the distinction, can't you?  That's how I look at trading.  In my ideal version of Diablo, that's how things would go.

No, I won't ban you for disagreeing with me.  That's not what I'm about.
[right][snapback]62776[/snapback][/right]

The best analogy for this for most trading is buying something from a market. You definitely want some gurantee of legitmacy. You're not going to buy stuff from the side alleys, so you should stay away things that are obviously bad. Your stereo example is similar to those shady folks hiding in those alleys.

The economy is not created for the cheaters, it is created for the players. The cheaters are simply the underground corrupt part of the economy. I say just because there are black market operations does not mean you should be afraid to do buisness in the light.

I think it's not worth the worry. Cheaters will always exist, because they have nothing better to do. (Well, scams of ebay, but whatever) I mean I could party up with a person and do quests. The person might be cheating, and by helping this person out, I'm just helping out his cheating efforts. That's bad of course. But I wouldn't avoid partying completely because that would just suck. I think that you should not let cheaters detract from your gaming experience. I don't play with known cheaters though, even if I know them personally.

But when I played Diablo 2, I wouldn't trade either but for a diffrent reason. it's hard to get some people to articulate anything. :D

[Griselda]

It's not that I avoid anything that could possibly be stolen. What I avoid are things that I perceive as likely to be stolen. Mp3 player on ebay? Probably not. But, I have bought things from ebay in the past. I do generally look carefully at the description and check out the seller before I bid. Not because I'm that terrified of thieves, but because I don't want the hassle of buying from a deadbeat, for a variety of reasons (including, but not limited to, stolen items). On battle.net, I don't have the possibility of checking out the seller. There's less information for me to use to make that decision. I've also never been super focused on items. I had a no-stat and skill amazon, and she was fun to play but I eventually lost interest in the character because she was so item-needy. That's not my favorite way to play.

I suspect that where we won't come to a consensus is the likelihood that a random item in a trading channel will be duped. I perceive it as being very likely, and some of you clearly do not.

What does bother me, which is why I replied, is when people have a "ho hum" attitude about items that disappear. You bought a dupe! Be angry! Look more closely at potential deals! Otherwise, you're just perpetuating the system.

But, I realize that my point of view is the minority. So, take that how you will.

[Munkay]

What does bother me, which is why I replied, is when people have a "ho hum" attitude about items that disappear.  You bought a dupe!  Be angry!  Look more closely at potential deals!  Otherwise, you're just perpetuating the system.

I defend the 'ho-hum' attitude with your own words earlier in the post:

I don't have the possibility of checking out the seller.  There's less information for me to use to make that decision.  I've also never been super focused on items.

It's nearly impossible on battle.net to track people you have traded with. Gaining items aren't the focus of my gamestyle either, I play because I am one of those sick individuals that finds pleasure in hours of meaningless clicking :) .

The 'ho hum' attitude to losing the Ber rune stems from the belief that I'm investing time in Diablo II for the fun of it. As Archon_Wing said

I think that you should not let cheaters detract from your gaming experience. I don't play with known cheaters though, even if I know them personally.

This is exactly what I try to do. Do the best I can to avoid cheats, but keep a frame of mind about it that reminds me that it is only a game. Despite best efforts it can happen. I could react by getting angry and try to rectify my losses, but where could I turn to do that? It would end in stewing over a video game. It just isn't worth getting up and arms about it.

Cheers,

Munk

[Archon_Wing]

The 'ho hum' attitude to losing the Ber rune stems from the belief that I'm investing time in Diablo II for the fun of it.  As Fraigbait said
....
[right][snapback]62804[/snapback][/right]

Hey get your sources right. :D You know, I'm not as reliable as a source as Fraigbait.

[Munkay]

Hey get your sources right. :D You know, I'm not as reliable as a source as Fraigbait.
[right][snapback]62861[/snapback][/right]

Sorry about that! :)

[Archon_Wing]

From my experience I would rank the battle.net communities as such.

Diablo 2 > Starcraft > Warcraft III.
You can't really expect that much when you realize who comprises most of the community.

Diablo 2 has the most cheaters and idiots, but there are also an equal proportion of decent minded players. Also many cheaters now use automated bots to play for them, so there are less idiots to deal with. I would like to note though, some of the most generous and well-mannered people came from Diablo 2. You take the good in with the bad. Considering Diablo 2 is the largest of the battle.net populace, you have to expect these extremes. D2 would have an even better community had it not been so easy to cheat and "cheese" Eventually you will be able to gather up enough friends to play your own private games. I think it would be nice if you were patient enough to hold on and use the squelch button. Also, these idiots are easy to insult, as most of them seem to have self-esteem issues. :) It's fun :D

Now honestly, I've quit Diablo 2 because I've seen the "community spirit" dwindle away, but it was more out of being tired of the game than anything else.

If you really want to see what's bad, go see Warcraft III on battle.net. -_-

But then, I'm also the type to find some fun with people trying to Pk me (not drop/trigger hacking, of course) , so this may be somewhat skewed. :o

[Occhidiangela]

So, after my long... LONG... years of avoiding battle.net, one of my friends convinced me that the spammers and lag and random PKers have subsided since my last hour or so attempt at playing. 

The result:  SeekerDrone on USEast.  Woo. 

But, anyway, I've just been screwing around, building up a couple of characters for a while.  And I've finally got a paladin--Bindego--into Nightmare. 

Now, the first of the crazy people would be the ones I saw early in my characters' careers.  You know, the level 84 character who comes in, asks you to come to town, drops a bunch of uber equipment, and demands a trade.  Trading uber equipment with a level 11 paladin?  What the hell? 

Now if the name of the game were 'Mule Trading' or some such, then, yeah, it would make sense.  But these are games that I make myself, which generally have names like, "Fuuuu,"  or "Goober."

The second type of crazy person would be when I've gotten up to a high enough level that I've pretty much got the run of normal.  So, I'm up in Harrogath or something, and a level 4 character comes and startings spamming things like, "rush plz," "give itamz," or "needt wp."

Okaaay...  This may come from all that crazy 'single player' stuff... but why don't people play the games themselves?  I'm not too fond of slogging through Acts 1-3 for the 150th time myself, but at least I don't just latch on to larger characters and hang out there, picking up his/her leavings, like some sort of creepy little suckerfish. 

The third type of crazy person would be a high level dude I just met a few minutes ago.  He came into my game where I was doing the Act I NM quests, found me and proceeded to slaughter every monster in a 3-Act radius, then asked me to come to town, opened up the trade screen, put all of his equipment in there--most of which was probably obtained illegally--said, "bin... dego tish waht u need," then closed the trade window. 

Uhhh... 'kay.  For one, the dude was a hammerdin.  I am not a hammerdin.  The equipment of a hammerdin and... any other paladin in existence should be a bit different.

Of course, he then proceeded to ask me what my ranking was, going about how I 'mus be nuub' that I didn't know that non-ladder characters had rankings.  He said that you put in some funky code with your account name and password and it'll tell you your rank. 

Okay.  I don't know much about all of this crazy multi-player stuff, but I've never been told about a non-ladder ranking.  Especially one where to find out what your rank is you have to put in your password.  For all I know he was telling the truth, but I'm not about to be typing my password into anything but the 'log into b.net' box when strangers are around.

Well, I guess I do have a fourth type of crazy person, although I've only seen two.  This would be the 'inept PK' type.  This is the guy who comes in, hostiles me, can't seem to find me--even after I tp up to town--and then leaves... only to come back a few minutes later and repeat the whole thing.  The last guy was in the same game as the crazy rank person.  He left and came back something like 4 times. 

Well... I've suddenly run out of rambling power.  I guess that means this topic is done.
[right][snapback]62497[/snapback][/right]

How to deal with idiots.

1. Squelch button.
2. Play in a different act.
3. Be nice when you can, it can sometimes diffuse idiotness.
4. Now and again realize that the game you entered is filled with "wug" idiots and is not the party you will enjoy.
5. Now and again, tease them. It is funny how often I typed in teasing remarks when I played on the HC West quite a bit, and how many LOL and grins I got from the other folks in the game who also did not care for the idiot factor.
6. Find friends, play with them. Make a friend, play with him or her.

Play basketball, outdoors, now and again. No bnet sillies there. :)

Occhi

[Occhidiangela]

From my experience I would rank the battle.net communities as such.

Diablo 2 > Starcraft > Warcraft III.


But then, I'm also the type to find some fun with people trying to Pk me (not drop/trigger hacking, of course) , so this may be somewhat skewed. :o
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I would tend to agree with the community assessment, but the SC and WCIII games are by their nature PvP, so I am not surprised to see a bit more aggressiveness on line than in Diablo II.

As to drop/scroll/trigger hacking: It happened to me often enough, about half a dozen times when I was concentrating on a monster and before the (CLIENT SIDE???) TP timer, that I stopped playing HC. I don't mind watching my back, I do mind that the cheats were not fixed.