Doctor Archive
Thread: On the word tip and its misuse
Cutting-and-pasting this from a post I made on the Corbantis forum concerning our favorite topic - payment for services - and why the "/tip" command is causing problems. This semantic dance is really starting to annoy me; I post this in the hopes that other docs and medics will find it of some use in debating the cheapskates.
On the subject of the word "tip" and its use in SWG
I'm really farking sick of this topic.
(1) SWG is NOT REAL LIFE
(2) In real life, a tip is an optional extra payment added on to the preexisting cost of a good or service (or combination of the two.)
(3) SWG IS NOT REAL LIFE
(4) In SWG, "/tip" is a game mechanic used to transfer credits from player to player in an unsecure, adn therefore easier, manner,as opposed tothe use of a secure trade screen, which takes more time. THAT'S FARKING IT!!!! Therearenomoral orethological connotationsto the devs using thenomenclature "tip" for this command other than it's easy to remember, short, and people generally understand what it does.
So please stop making this a"should medics be tipped" issue. The issue is should medics be PAID. The fact thatpaymentcan occur in-game via a mechanism that shares a name with a real-worldtype of payment that has a different connotation entirely IS ABSOLUTELY IRRELEVANT to that question.
Let me rephrase all you "tip"-centric peoples' arguments using another game mechanic using a real-life word with certain connotations as well:
"In real life, the word 'tell' is usually has a negative sense; as in someone is demanding something of me, or asserting their intellectual superiority in some way. Therefore, I consider it an insult when people send me /tells in game, and I immediately put them on my ignore list."
Do you see how incredibly idiotic that is? It doesn't matter whether the technical command used in the game is /say, or /tell, or /dictate, or /browbeat, or /imposeintellectualideasupon, IT ALL MEANS THE SAME THING -- communication between players. In this case, /tell is used to distinguish a private player-to-player message between two characters from the more general /say, which broadcasts the message to the character's immediate area.
So [guy whose post I was responding to originally], for the first time in recent memory, I have to totally and utterly disagree with your post. The tip issueIS a matter of semantics, and it's obscuring the real issue of "should you pay your medic." Or your scout, or your entertainer, or some guy who caps an NPC that's about to kill you.
/rant off.
Cutting-and-pasting this from a post I made on the Corbantis forum concerning our favorite topic - payment for services - and why the "/tip" command is causing problems. This semantic dance is really starting to annoy me; I post this in the hopes that other docs and medics will find it of some use in debating the cheapskates. (Also posted in the Doctor forum. Sorry for the spam.)
On the subject of the word "tip" and its use in SWG
I'm really farking sick of this topic.
(1) SWG is NOT REAL LIFE
(2) In real life, a tip is an optional extra payment added on to the preexisting cost of a good or service (or combination of the two.)
(3) SWG IS NOT REAL LIFE
(4) In SWG, "/tip" is a game mechanic used to transfer credits from player to player in an unsecure, adn therefore easier, manner,as opposed tothe use of a secure trade screen, which takes more time. THAT'S FARKING IT!!!! Therearenomoral orethological connotationsto the devs using thenomenclature "tip" for this command other than it's easy to remember, short, and people generally understand what it does.
So please stop making this a"should medics be tipped" issue. The issue is should medics be PAID. The fact thatpaymentcan occur in-game via a mechanism that shares a name with a real-worldtype of payment that has a different connotation entirely IS ABSOLUTELY IRRELEVANT to that question.
Let me rephrase all you "tip"-centric peoples' arguments using another game mechanic using a real-life word with certain connotations as well:
"In real life, the word 'tell' is usually has a negative sense; as in someone is demanding something of me, or asserting their intellectual superiority in some way. Therefore, I consider it an insult when people send me /tells in game, and I immediately put them on my ignore list."
Do you see how incredibly idiotic that is? It doesn't matter whether the technical command used in the game is /say, or /tell, or /dictate, or /browbeat, or /imposeintellectualideasupon, IT ALL MEANS THE SAME THING -- communication between players. In this case, /tell is used to distinguish a private player-to-player message between two characters from the more general /say, which broadcasts the message to the character's immediate area.
So [guy whose post I was responding to originally], for the first time in recent memory, I have to totally and utterly disagree with your post. The tip issueIS a matter of semantics, and it's obscuring the real issue of "should you pay your medic." Or your scout, or your entertainer, or some guy who caps an NPC that's about to kill you.
/rant off.
-T
As has been said many times, your weaponsmith, architect, armorsmith, chef, droid engineer, etc, etc, etc, all get xp for the product they make. Does that mean you don't have to pay them for it?
Hmm, duh.
"As has been said many times, your weaponsmith, architect, armorsmith, chef, droid engineer, etc, etc, etc, all get xp for the product they make. Does that mean you don't have to pay them for it?"
I love it. Good point. I'm not paying for any more armor or weapons, because the crafter is getting exp off of them. 
While rather basic, I guess we read different instruction manuals (and obviously have different ethics.) I seem to remember it clearly stating that medics, as well as entertainers, relied primary upon the good-will of players for money, or by picking up a 2nd profession.
If you don't get /tipped (or /paid!), simply add him to your ignore list, and don't heal him again if that's how you feel...
As long as we're playing around with definitions... I believe the word "tip" came from T.I.P.S.payments. - To Insure Proper Service.
For faster/better service, you could tip someone *before* they provided a good/service as an encouragement for them to do a better-than-average job. Basically it was a bribe with a better connotation. Later on, it became customary to tip people *after* they provided the service and it became more of a reward for good service than for a way to encourage it. In either case, this was *in addition to* any amount that you normally would have been charged.
I get tipped for healing people about 1 in 25. And even then it is rarely enough to cover the amount of meds I went through to patch them up. I don't think relying on players who are safely anonymous behind their avatars to tip us will ever work. Hopefully the devs can come up with a better way.
<shrug>
Two things.
1) American culture is such that in many things, tips are considered all but mandatory.
2) Does it really matter, as you say, it's just semantics.