When do you Help?

I was writing something boring about my Tengu exploits and deleted it because it was dull as all hell. Now I have a more interesting boring topic.

Thankfully, chatrooms as always, provided me with content to ponder.

Today I wonder: When do you help someone?

Eve is a game that is better played with other people. Few truly argue that point. Many people may want to play alone. Many people may enjoy playing alone. Many people may play alone successfully. However, the game shines in multiplayer formats.

For all of the trolling and the calling people out the game is incredibly newbie friendly as a player base. Help chat rooms are full of questions. Entire corporations are dedicated to teaching people to play Eve. It is not a fast game and getting people through the rough parts at the front may give you the resources that you need later.

So, eventually you help people. Often it is in gifts of isk. I have seen gifts of ISK make a players day and I have seen gifts of ISK turn new players into raging egotistical tyrants who wasted isk with abandon and gloated at their peers who had not received the random isk lottery.

I've taken a few people under my short, ignorant wing and helped out in small ways. I've given +3 implants at LP store ISK cost to a few. I've given away a retriever to another. I'm pretty sure that is about it. I don't think I'm an amazing badass who needs to teach a flock.

So far, the first person I gave implants to has pretty much stopped communicating with me. I don't know if he was still playing but he is. However, he always had an antipirate bent and when he started PvPing associating with me was not so interesting anymore. People come and go. Friendship, even internet spaceship kind takes two sides. I'm not going to chase after people begging them to pay attention to me.

The second may or may not be playing still. He was thinking of quitting after his third or so month. I helped him find a corp and get set up but what to do, people have their own lives.

The third, I'm currently chatting with. I may run some missions with him soon, we will see.

I don't have much to offer, I know that. I try to be friendly and do what I can where I can.

This is my small list of immediate, reach out and touch someone, help.

Today, I watched someone learn that their giant secure containers need to be anchored. They had the container and the anchor skill. They deployed the containers, mined into them, and came back to find them gone. They did not physically anchor the container.

It is a mistake that I can see happening. I think not enough thought went into the process. However, he did plug in the skill. He was on the right track. I was in a goodish mood, if sleepy and debated helping. Then he got a bit ranty about the situation. My urge to alleviate his finical loss lessened. Then he ranted some more and it vanished. Someone else wound up giving him the replacement isk. I kept mine tight in my wallet and debated the situation.

Should I have helped? Should I have not? There is no moral obligation in it. I've never seen the guy before. Yet the ranting...

I don't know. Keeping new players in game is important. If I was one to impose things on people it'd be a task I'd impose on others. But, I am not. Its just something that interests me.

Yet... when to help... its such a fluid question.

And then... am I even in the position to have an in depth opinion of this?