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Defending the greedy goblin

Tipa of West Karana just called out Gevlon, the Greedy Goblin, saying:

he has a huge fanbase of rabid World of Warcraft followers, even though he is a psychotic sociopath

...and...

[his] greed and arrogance is the heart of the cancer that kills WoW’s community ... the world needs fewer joysuckers, not more.

If Gevlon was offering his guidance on cold, dispassionate economics and sociology as an EVE Online character, rather than a goblin, I don’t think he would be reviled by his blogging peers in such the same way. WoW is very much a social game.

Gevlon’s Greedy Goblin blog is one of the few WoW-centric blogs I have posted on my blogroll, and it’s one of the first I check in the WoW section of my feed reader. I wouldn’t call myself a rabid follower, but I can get behind his goblinish way of playing. I enjoy playing the auction house and mocking what Gevlon calls the M&Smorons and slackers – even though if he looked over my gear and achievements, I’m sure I’d be labelled M&S without a second thought.

Now, don’t get me wrong: he is psychotic, and perhaps a little too fond of Ayn Rand for his own good, but I think the WoW blogging community (and certainly the WoW-playing community) is large enough to suffer a little egocentric greed.

I first started reading Gevlon’s blog for help making money. I was sick of farming elementals and repeating dailies to generate income, and he has lots of good tips for playing the auction house. When you get into it, the AH is a mini-game in itself. And once you’re playing the AH at Gevlon’s level of industry, you can be controlling aspects of a whole server’s economy. In a way, it can be like PvPing your own faction. There’s something very satisfying about being self-sufficient amongst the sea of the larger WoW community. And if you can game that community for fun and profit – well, why not?

Maybe there’s a bit of goblin blood in me, too.

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