On the philosophical musing of looting a peasant shack

Forum for discussing in game politics, village relations and matters of justice.

On the philosophical musing of looting a peasant shack

Postby Rexz » Fri Nov 29, 2019 1:22 pm

To Preface, you know sometimes when you're looting a massive village, and you start to recognize some patterns within that village? Things such as the level of qualities these people capped at before they quit the game, moved somewhere, or got raided by some assburglars, etc. Or maybe the sheer effort they put into their massive empire that is now a colossal ruin to behold. Or the specific kind of things they were into such as mural or map art. Or the way they organize themselves and their belongings... you know all the regular spiels.

Anyway, something I've been really fixated on for some reason, is the idea of someone - or perhaps a subsection of the villagers - who are total peasants. These are like the underlings, the newcomers, the newbies, the slave/labor alts, maybe even actual labor farmers, who we can consider the lower class people of the village. You can call them whatever you like; slaves, peasants, sprucecaps, newbies, rookies, alts, pledges, the list goes on...

I dunno why I fixate on this idea so much, maybe it's because I'm new to the game and I consider myself to be as such, and can emphasize the potential harsh life that we low-lifers might go through on a daily basis. Doing the most rudimentary things to get better, collecting bugs and flowers, catching fishes and small games, sometimes even pick up a nice rare curio or two, or maybe even something sweet from a rare natural resource node!

Anywho, when you go through people's belongings enough, left behind in a weathered ruin of time, you begin to pick up on this pattern that perhaps whoever house you are in is that of a sprucecap's. They have really crappy gears, they don't even sleep on a bed (just some shoddy mat on the ground), there are incomplete low lvl fishing poles, buckets, wicker picker baskets, assortment of junks and low q forageables, ... if you're lower level and/or new like me you can maybe even use some of these things!

Example of a cute peasant shack that I found <3
Image


Being that I empathized with these kinda players, feeling of remorse and guilt sometimes set in when I go through their stuff and take things. "Maybe they will log back in at some point and can use these things", "maybe these guys were raided and now I'm just adding more to the injury...", "maybe this is kinda petty and these things I can easily find better elsewhere and not worth my time". All these thoughts go through my head whenever I raid a peasant shack, ESPECIALLY when you can clearly see that there is some poor soul still sleeping on the ground in that decomposing wreckage of a shack... it's like taking candies from a baby.

As you progress into the game a bit more, you still hold onto some of these feelings. You are now a bit more experienced now; you're no longer naked, you have some plants grown, some primitive processes developed, you're starting to do some bloody stupid credo quests... but you're still a bit inept, you're no longer a seedling, but you're still a sapling with an unwieldy frame that can collapse at the mercy of any force stronger than a badger. During this time, you might still feel bad looting a fellow noobie stranger. After all, your reminiscence of your fledgling past is still very fresh in your mind...

If I can interject with my own opinion that once you no longer constantly feel bad about these things, that you can consider yourself more of an experienced player. Well, today, it happened to me.

Being experienced isn't just about having the best stuff, but also having an understanding that life in the cruel harsh wilderness isn't fair. You need to be safe within your own claim, with walls up to protect you, and territory to mark the scents of those who wronged you. You need to have food and water to operate, housing to store your stuff, and the tools that are the means to make your stuff better so that you can defend yourself and be more efficient with being a stronger, more capable player. Failing to simply fill your presence or authority and you will sooner or later be left with a dead settlement, and an open door which opportunists will take their chance with the odds at their side. You need participate in politics; form relationships and alliances, have neighbors and friends you can rally at your side when you need them.

Alas, I have deviated a bit from my gloat on my newfound view toward the more experienced path. Just today I was looting from a mega stronghold north of my humble stead, one so massive (several map tiles squared) and abundant in spoils that I have been looting from it for well over a week. Just when I was about to pull another load of goodies out of the main area, I decided to take a peak at some of the broken shacks on the perimeter of this deserted empire. Here you can see the patterns of peasantry emerged. Small lots of land, with enough room for a hut and a small yard for few crops, racks/tubs, 3-4 chicken huts. These guys living here must have been either forager or labor alts/newbies. In spite of that, I rummaged through the modest parcels, finding many foraged junks and low level equipment. The pity sets in. I swallowed my pride; the sacking continues. Going through each lot I get a little bit less hopeful and depressed. And then just when I almost closed a cupboard to go to the next, I froze. I had to do a double take at first because I couldn't believe it...

Image


This part of a credo quest has been with me for almost two weeks. I have been neglecting to scour the beach for it because my home is in a landlocked zone, it would take me well over an hour or three to get to the coast and find a Bladderwrack based on other people's experiences. Some have proclaimed that they immediately restart the quest whenever they have to find one of those... and here it is, in some poor peasant's shack. HUZZAH, the nooby empathy has been all but washed away, just like this Bladderwrack that made it into shore only to be swiped away by some fledgling who decided to stash it in their cupboard for whatever season... maybe they couldn't even study it cuz they have an underdeveloped sprucecap skull and not enough INT. Whatever the case, looting a peasant shack has not been a waste of my time after all, 10/10, would do it again.

When you are experienced past the level of basic gameplay and to the level where you can be critical of game mechanics and the woes of game design (especially that of this game that is limited by just two developers), you will have more things to worry about, more so than the poor sod that you're looting from. Things like damning quests, rare items to discover and secure, traveling vast distance and to foreign places, running into strangers who may or may not bad manner you at least, and those who will murder you and take all your stuff at worst, some of the worst being that they take your keys and find out where you live... or leave you at the starting zone should you unfortunately reconcile the deposition of the path of rage, and be confronted with a life anew once more. These are the challenges that will eventually mask the empathy of every fledgling sprucecaps who wishes to advance further and mark their place in the world of Haven and Hearth.

What I have just posed in my philosophical case is just a fraction of the experiences one may find themselves musing about in the deep, vast, and rich land of this game. But just as anything that is as complex as human emotions and psychosociological nature of MMORPGs like that of H&H, I must now lay my case to rest before the superfluity of it all spoils the essence of my own musing.

TLDR: Looting from noob shacks is ok cuz there is always a chance that something you find in there to be of good use to you!

TLDRITLDR: Open de cupboards

PS. for some reason I find some of the theme in this topic to be fitting with what one of our resident moderator, MagicManICT, posted in one of the philosophical debate threads.
viewtopic.php?f=40&t=66732&start=27
MagicManICT wrote:...from the Gospel of Thomas: Jesus said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All." - http://gnosis.org/naghamm/gthlamb.html
User avatar
Rexz
 
Posts: 101
Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2019 9:46 am

Re: On the philosophical musing of looting a peasant shack

Postby vatas » Fri Nov 29, 2019 2:13 pm

Reminds me of a story I've been told by someone who looted a pearl from shack everybody else in their group disregarded as waste of time and found a pearl. Same group found Troll Hide in another shack and turned it inside and out in case Troll's Skull was also hidden in there somewhere (this was before Troll Belts so Troll Hide was kind of useless unless it was of ridiculous quality.)
The most actively maintained Haven and Hearth Wiki (Not guaranteed to be up-to-date with all w14 changes.)

Basic Claim Safety (And what you’re doing wrong) (I recommend you read it in it's entirety, but TL:;DR: Build a Palisade.)

Combat Guide (Overview, PVE, PVP) (Tells you how to try and escape, and make it less likely to die when caught.)
User avatar
vatas
 
Posts: 4507
Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2013 8:34 am
Location: Suomi Finland Perkele

Re: On the philosophical musing of looting a peasant shack

Postby TheOriginalFive » Fri Nov 29, 2019 2:47 pm

This is partly why I sometimes go for abandoned cities rather than lonely homesteads when scavenging.
User avatar
TheOriginalFive
 
Posts: 215
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2010 12:28 pm

Re: On the philosophical musing of looting a peasant shack

Postby sMartins » Fri Nov 29, 2019 4:19 pm

:) / :twisted:
But be careful now, it's a fine line .... nevertheless great post!
I'd hardly call anything the Bible of our times » special thanks to MagicManICT
I only logged in to say this sentence. by neeco » 30 Oct 2018, 02:57
Default Client, Best Client!
User avatar
sMartins
 
Posts: 2851
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2015 10:21 pm
Location: Italy

Re: On the philosophical musing of looting a peasant shack

Postby Zachary09 » Fri Nov 29, 2019 5:06 pm

One of the better posts on the Moot I read in a while.

Recently I was looting a village. I needed hides, so I ransacked their 100 stockpiles of hides. I expected them to be sorted, but, woe and behold, both dried & undried, 2x2, 2x1 and 1x1 hides were mixed in there. Hide galore. Completely inefficient.

I came up with a theory that the village got abandoned because nobody sorted anything. I kept finding random shit in the wildest locations. An anvil next to a loom and a spinning wheel. A ropewalk in front of two ore smelters. Mulberry trees next to the minehole in the outer ring of walls, and the house which was supposed to feed the mulberry leaves to silkworms was built in front of a farm of apple trees.

I just think they quit because they got bored of their shit.

I would, too. Honestly. Fuck unsorted stuff. If you don't sort stuff and purposely place unsorted stuff into sorted stockpiles or cupboards, fuck you.
User avatar
Zachary09
 
Posts: 694
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2011 8:55 pm
Location: Poland

Re: On the philosophical musing of looting a peasant shack

Postby Amanda44 » Sat Nov 30, 2019 8:21 am

I can so relate to your post, I went through that whole range of emotions when I first ever began looting abandoned places. From the feelings of guilt, even though the places were clearly left for dead, the wonderings of what pushed them into leaving the game and the sadness of seeing their work standing in ruins (that part still remains to this day tbh) through to the thrill of finding something you have a need for.

Now-a-days looting is one of my favourite pastimes in the game, even when I'm fully established in the world, there is always something you can find a use for and especially, as you say with the introduction of credo quests ... one of my always needed finds is clothing with an available qilding slot! Lol.

(As a side note ... if you go south by river, you can get to an ocean in about 20 minutes, you can travel northwards up the coast for quite awhile. It's where I go when in need of bladderwrack. :)
There is also a charter stone on the way at WAWBH which you can visit and then use in future to save on the journey time.)

I no longer feel any guilt, it takes a long time now for claims to run out and decay to set in enough to open them up, so it seems pretty certain that those players are not going to return and if they do, well tbh, they will know what to expect after being gone for so long. Then there is the knowledge that if you don't loot it someone else will. ;)

When I ran into the place we have been scavenging I had been barely playing for quite awhile, had virtually no resources left, my livestock were suffering and it was basically just to keep the claim active and keep them alive that I even bothered logging on ... I had already abandoned my main village and char long since. Finding that huge village deserted and open with all it's bountiful treasures actually got me back into the game, firstly to loot it for barrels of food for my animals and much needed restock of food for myself but then with the excess of leather, higher q trees, bone glue, silk worm eggs, mulch ... etc ... I ended up replacing my workstations, planting new trees, building another couple of mineshafts to lower levels - giving incentive to explore and mine once again - restarting silk production and so on and so on. :)

Leading to me now basically logging on daily once again.

From the ashes rose the phoenix ... :)
Koru wrote:
It is like in Lord of the Flies, nobody controlls what is going on in the hearthlands, those weaker and with conscience are just fucked.
Avatar made by Jordan.
Animal lovers - Show us your pets! - viewtopic.php?f=40&t=44444#p577254
User avatar
Amanda44
 
Posts: 6491
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2011 12:13 pm

Re: On the philosophical musing of looting a peasant shack

Postby MagicManICT » Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:13 pm

@Zachary09: i think I became my village's official hide (and leather) sorter. I didn't get into sorting by size... didn't really see a point... but it would drive me nuts going to find something to build or craft with, and the hunters just dumped them all into one pile after pulling them from the racks. They all appreciated having them sorted, though.
Opinions expressed in this statement are the authors alone and in no way reflect on the game development values of the actual developers.
User avatar
MagicManICT
 
Posts: 18437
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2010 1:47 am

Re: On the philosophical musing of looting a peasant shack

Postby Jalpha » Sat Jan 04, 2020 11:21 am

I find it comforting to know that some of the people who trash my numerous freshspawn campsites are thinking men reaching toward the edges of the blanket of enlightenment. Undoubtedly these goods are of more use to others than to myself.

Why stall at this level of progress? Because just like in real life, once the joy of discovery has passed nothing remains but monotony.
Laying flat.
User avatar
Jalpha
Under curfew
 
Posts: 1843
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2013 12:16 pm

Re: On the philosophical musing of looting a peasant shack

Postby Ants » Sun Jan 05, 2020 1:56 am

You should gather their belongings and make a museum of abandoned things. You could even put their clothes on mannequins to recreate their characters.
Haven's most kawaii retarded ethot karen
Image
User avatar
Ants
 
Posts: 1842
Joined: Sun May 04, 2014 9:55 pm
Location: inside your head

Re: On the philosophical musing of looting a peasant shack

Postby pawnchito » Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:44 am

Slightly off topic but what ui are you running? looks so nice.
User avatar
pawnchito
 
Posts: 1086
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2018 11:52 pm


Return to The Moot

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest