Redeem your 
Dear Ms. Nettie,
Well, you saw my subject line and I’m pretty sure your saying, “here we go again!” The battle continues over leagues vs. no leagues.
I don’t want to go too far into this, I’m not writing to start arguments, or flood your e-mail with letters about this league or that, I simply want to make a statement… to be heard once and for all!
I belong to a wonderful league, we are friendly, inviting, and yes, a little off the wall sometimes! We laugh, we joke, and we carry on like a group of weirdoes high on life! We have never asked a person to leave a room to accommodate our league, and always invite people to stay and chat and have fun with us (although on some of our crazier tours, I swear I see some people backing out very slowly, then making a run for the nearest exit. I can’t say I blame them Nettie, if I didn’t know those in my league any better, they would scare me too!)!
When we enter a room and someone says, “oh no its a league, we can’t chat, we can’t play, we can’t…” I feel like asking why? We are simply a group of friends who came to play a game and have fun! We don’t say to you, “oh no, it’s a group of friends! I guess we can’t play here!”
We are human Nettie! A league is no different than a group of friends meeting in a game room to play and chat. The only difference is, we play competitively, one of us wears a scary badge that looks like a Wal-Mart smiley, and the host talks in caps (I know this annoys some people, and I understand, I am a host, and I hate using caps myself!)
Now don’t get me wrong, Nettie… I know there are some leagues out there that aren’t the nicest, or the most welcoming. I simply invite people to give us a chance! Don’t judge all leagues because you have had a bad experience with one! Some of us really do want to get to know you, whether you want to join a league or not!
Happiest of days to all!
Sincerely,
In Defense of Leagues
| Dear In Defense of Leagues,
Thank you so much for your very level-headed letter. I like how you compare your league to a group of friends who enjoy playing competitively. I think you hit the nail on the head, and I hope that in the spirit of the season that perhaps a few readers will open their minds a little to leagues and recognize that many of them really do go out of their way to avoid conflict with other players. |
Hi, Ms. Netiquette:
At last! Now I know why you are being so dogmatic on this point! You are right, of course, games are inherently competitive. So, if someone uses a ringer at a competitive event you have to call them a cheater.
I think, though, that that really does only address one kind of Pogo member. I am a lawyer (I know, I know – but please remember it’s only 99% of the country’s lawyers that give the rest of us a bad name!), but I’m also a trained mediator. So, let me see if I can help. I actually come to Pogo to relax and have fun. You are the BEST for that! I think that probably a large percentage of your members are in that category. We are not playing the games to compete, we are playing them purely for enjoyment.
While I don’t see myself ever asking someone to obtain a Badge for me, I can understand that seeing a nice banner with “Complete” on it gives some members pleasure. If, for whatever reason, they are not going to get one of those Badges done themselves, why should we deny them that pleasure? Let’s call those members “collectors,” not “competitors.” I doubt very strongly that those members would call themselves competitors, because that’s not why they come to Pogo.
So, let’s lay it to rest and just glory in the diversity of human- and Pogo-kind!
Room for All
| Dear Room for All,
I received quite the boat load of letters regarding this in the past week, and I really felt yours did the best job of recognizing both sides of the issue and coming to a nice conclusion. I imagine you are an astounding mediator! Most of the letters were from people who did not feel that having others do Badges for them was an action worthy of the “cheater” moniker. There were some who felt that it’s a form of cheating. Most of the letters felt that calling the two groups “competitors” and “collectors” was a fair way to handle it, and I agree. There are so many reasons people collect Badges, and so many reasons why some folks can’t get certain Badges in certain games, that it does seem unnecessarily harsh to apply such a negative term to it. I do apologize for ruffling the feathers of so many folks, and I admit I was too harsh with that term. I am sorry. |
Dear Ms Nettie,
Not to beat the dead horse, but there is one point that you haven’t mentioned in regards to this that I think deserves a mention. Unless you are letting someone you know and trust implicitly (a family member or close friend) do a Badge for you, you are also presumably having to give your password out to someone in order for them to use your account and do the badge for you.
This can be dangerous if you trust any old person who offers to do badges for others. They could misuse your account while they are in there. I’m sure the vast majority of Pogo players are honest and would never do something untoward while in someone else’s account, but it only takes one.
While someone is in your account, they have access to all your tokens, gems, and so forth. Furthermore, they can look at your account information and access personal information. If you have a stored credit card, that could be extra big trouble.
I don’t think it’s worth the safety risk just to collect a Badge. Please let people know that if they do choose to go this route, they should be very careful because they are not just inviting someone in to do a Badge for them, they are in effect turning over the keys to the kingdom and letting them have access to their entire account. That’s not something that should be taken lightly.
Just sign me,
A Cautious Pogo Player
| Dear Cautious Pogo Player,
Thank you so much for your letter. Other letter writers did mention the risk involved in this, and I neglected to address it, so I’m glad you took the time to write about this particular issue. One note about your credit card information – it’s not really at risk. In fact, I urge anyone and everyone to try to get their own credit card information from their own account. It’s pretty well protected. That said, your other points are well taken. If you give your password to a stranger who promises to do your Badges, you really do run the risk of losing your account, at least in the short term. And you are correct, whomever has access to your account also has access to all your Gems, all of your tokens, your rates, rankings, profile, guestbook, and much more. Furthermore, if you store your credit card information to purchase Gems, he or she can make multiple purchases using your account. So, let your letter serve as a serious warning to anyone tempted to share their password with anyone! Unless you really trust that person, I’d advise against it! |
