Quote Originally Posted by Fat Tire View Post
That is not what I said. I said cheating in its many forms has made numbers irrelevant no matter who views them outside of the individual player even then the individual is deluding themselves. That bold statement is just wow, you must be trolling. The system is rigged anyone and I mean anyone can reach any rating they wish to achieve with just a little bit of money. We dont know if shodo didnt cheat, we dont know if you didnt cheat, we dont know if anyone doesnt cheat. I have admitted that I have traded, krush traded and many of the people who see high rated players as gods(seriously wtf)....cheated outright or in some form. Number of high profile players got banned for doing pilot sells, most of them just leveled again or bought accounts and started right back up again only this time more careful. Why would the masses look at a 2.2k or any rating as a god when most likely it was gained illegitimately, lol. This has been going on since S1, it is not a new thing.
Again, you say cheating has made numbers irrelevant, i'm saying that numbers have always been irrelevant due to the stupidity of many wow players. I am not arguing that it's completely retarded that players look up against other players who have 'high numbers/achievements'. It might be just in Europe, but if you join a bg in T2 gear you get very often comments like 'wow sick gear' ... a good portion of the players treats you like a king all in a sudden. The same is true for pve. If you join a pug / random hc in full BiS gear or with a fancy title, you get exactly the same. Again I completely agree that such behaviour is utterly stupid, but it's wide spread. It's stupid behaviour regardless from the cheating/boosts. Even if this was a cheat free game and the ladders would reflect actual skill, it would still be stupid behaviour to be in shock and awe when you see someone with high rating/fancy titles.

As to explain that behaviour, I think you need social science experts for that. It's not something that only happens in wow, you see that everywhere online and in the real world. Greedyglobin was a blog covering this topic (he now moved to EVE online) and referred to those people as M & S, morons & slackers. Well I'm not gonna worry about why they exists or what their motivations are, I'll just take as much advantage of them as I possibly can. If x wants a boost and offers a reward that I value, he is more than welcome.

Note: it might be that I'm wording my PoV wrong in English, but I agree with you completely, but just go a step further.