sugarvalves [1963573] —
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Torn City is a place where pretty much anything goes. Fancy a killing spree before brunch? Go right ahead. Feel like dropping a dirty bomb on an entire city over a minor quibble at the poker table? Knock yourself out kid.
But there's one act which, although tolerated by some, seems to offend more people than any other. Buy mugging - the act of shaking down a trader just moments after paying for a particularly expensive item.
This kind of behaviour is not illegal in Torn, but nor is it considered good manners. For the most part incidents of buy mugging go unnoticed by the general population, with only offender and offended knowing exactly what happened. But earlier this month an occurrence of buy mugging went down a little differently than usual. For on this occasion, the case was made announced, investigated, solved and resolved entirely in public.
The story began at 16:32 PM on the 3rd of January 2017, when Kaurotuan, a simple shack dweller, was approached for trade by a game shop employee going by the name of -TL-. This request went unanswered, so -TL- offered up a second trade later that day at 20:30 PM. Kaurotuan accepted the deal, and the transaction was completed at 21:43 PM.
So far so mundane. However, just twelve seconds later Kaurotuan was mugged for $13,187,734 by an anonymous assailant. And while he did not initially point the finger at -TL-, he did suspect him of some form of involvement. So, in a post made first in Portuguese and then translated by a Torn staffer, he called him out.
Within three minutes -TL- responded to the claims with a denial, with such a swift response only making him look all the guiltier. Was -TL- lurking on the forums in case his victim revealed his crime? Or was it mere luck that he stumbled across Kaurotuan's post?
Either way, few believed -TL-'s version of events. But while most were content to let this incident lie, one citizen took it upon himself to a little detective work. T-Max, who is the director of a gentleman's strip club, briefly swapped his stilettos for gumshoes and sought out concrete evidence that -TL- was indeed Kaurotuan's mugger.
It did not take him long.
Just 17 minutes after Kaurotuan's posting, T-Max had discovered that -TL-'s largest ever mug matched exactly with the amount taken from him. The jig was up. -TL- knew he had to cover his ass to avoid repercussions, and he immediately offered his victim an apology, his money back, plus the seemingly random figure of $6,832,446 in damages on top.
If he had done this in private then perhaps that would be the end of the story. But he did not. -TL- dishonestly went back to re-edit the post where he first denied involvement, and as well as his apology, he also thought it appropriate to mock his victim and make public his generosity in returning Kaurotuan's cash.
-TL- later defended his actions, saying that his buy mugging was justified because he himself had once been a victim of the very same scam. This is a stance I highly doubt would work in court, and it only makes his actions look stranger since he knows the torment of being the victim.
But when I chatted to -TL- over email, his first act was to complain about my description of his crime in my initial line of questioning. To judge for yourself here is my first query to him;
And here is the first line of -TL-'s response.
In my humble opinion, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, the duck should not object to being called a duck. But I digress. -TL- confessed to me that this was not his first buy mugging, and that he has participated in many other acts of trading treachery in his short time in Torn City, while also taking the time to reiterate his derisory opinion of his victim.
During our brief conversation, -TL- went on to state his case by pointing out that Torn is a crime game. He compared his act of deception favourably to the bounties and mass-scams perpetuated by other citizens on a daily basis. And of course, he is not wrong.
-TL- also mentioned the several occasions he himself has been mugged after a big win at the poker table, pointing out that not once has he felt the need to make a forum post about it. He admitted that it was forum outrage which made him return his illicit earnings, and even went so far as to blame Kaurotuan for the whole thing.
The final piece of correspondence I received from -TL- expressed his thoughts that Kaurotuan's actions would only encourage more buy-mugs upon his person. I suspect he is probably right. But Kaurotuan believed his public outing of -TL- would have a different effect.
Is this naïve? Yes. But Kaurotuan's aim was an honest one. He was simply a new player trying to find a way of avoiding this situation in future, and was looking for information on how to go about protecting his future trade earnings.
As a relatively new citizen, Kaurotuan has a low opinion of buy-mugging. He believes it is an unacceptable practice, and while he does accept -TL-'s apology, Kaurotuan feels that naming and shaming was and remains an appropriate response.
Thankfully, Kaurotuan says there have been no further attempts to buy mug him since, and he continues to have faith in the trading system despite this unsavoury incident. But what does the community think of this situation? Has buy mugging now become acceptable? Or is it something the powers that be should consider banning?
The forums gave us a mixed response. Solitude defended -TL- by saying he was just playing the game, and it seems there are some who even go so far as to actively encourage buy mugging as a legitimate way of earning money in Torn.
The delightfully named Kapten_Klitoris seems to subscribe to this view, and he went one step further to decry -TL- for returning Kaurotuan's money, calling him a soft wimp for doing so. Is this fair? Should -TL- have stuck to the path he chose for himself when he decided to defraud another player?
It is the position of the Torn City Times to discourage buy mugging, as we have been told it could destroy the city's trading culture if left unchecked. But one has to question whether or not this is accurate. Would buy mugging really have such a huge impact on traders if it became acceptable? And if so, why has it not been outlawed? Why are some traders allowed to buy mug each other to destroy their rival's business?
Official buy mugging figures have never been released in Torn City, and many forum posts outing suspects have been summarily graved in the past. But Kaurotuan's post was not. Why is this? Has there been a change of opinion at the highest levels? Is buy mugging now something all traders must accept, like losses from theft or unsold stock?
There is no easy answer to this question, and Torn's citizens remain divided over whether buy mugging constitutes an acceptable act or whether it is against the spirit of the city. In this respect, the practice's opponents do have a point.
Every time a citizen engages physically with another in combat they are afforded the opportunity to fight back. You tase me in the nuts, I get to respond with a hail of 5mm rounds, and so on and so forth until one person is on the ground bleeding and the other has their wallet. Torn City believes in certain etiquettes and ways of doing things, so one can understand why buy mugging is frowned upon.
To take back your own money after purchasing goods does seem unacceptable when placed in this context. However, what strikes me as odd is the fact that most of those who support buy mugging tend to be of an older generation. Conversely, it seems new citizens are the ones who are most irritated by its continued prevalence.
So do newcomers to Torn expect too much protection? Has generation snowflake penetrated Torn City at last? Or does the fault lie with the veterans? Are the old guard merely in favour of buy mugging because they have become jaded and grizzled by this despicable toilet of a city?
Or, is there a third option. Does Torn simply operate on a complex system of morality; one which is too impenetrable for even the savviest newcomers to understand at first? Here, what seems wrong one minute can be fair the next. Scammers, thieves and scumbags can be outlaws to some and heroes to others. How can you judge what is fair and what is foul in a city like Torn?
The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that -TL- should have gone hard or gone home. If you choose to engage in buy mugging you must either be smart, be strong, or have the balls to stand up for your reckless decisions. -TL-'s first mistake was in failing to cover his tracks. His second mistake was to lie, and his third was to lie about lying in the first place.
But in some people's eyes his biggest error was to pay back the money he'd taken, and with interest too. Not only does the public now know that -TL- is someone not to be trusted or traded with, but they are also aware of his one major weakness - exposure.
And in Torn City, the last thing you want to do is let other players smell your fear.
Have you been affected by any of the issues mentioned in this article? If so, the TCT has the following advice for staying safe after a trade or poker victory:
But there's one act which, although tolerated by some, seems to offend more people than any other. Buy mugging - the act of shaking down a trader just moments after paying for a particularly expensive item.
This kind of behaviour is not illegal in Torn, but nor is it considered good manners. For the most part incidents of buy mugging go unnoticed by the general population, with only offender and offended knowing exactly what happened. But earlier this month an occurrence of buy mugging went down a little differently than usual. For on this occasion, the case was made announced, investigated, solved and resolved entirely in public.
The story began at 16:32 PM on the 3rd of January 2017, when Kaurotuan, a simple shack dweller, was approached for trade by a game shop employee going by the name of -TL-. This request went unanswered, so -TL- offered up a second trade later that day at 20:30 PM. Kaurotuan accepted the deal, and the transaction was completed at 21:43 PM.
So far so mundane. However, just twelve seconds later Kaurotuan was mugged for $13,187,734 by an anonymous assailant. And while he did not initially point the finger at -TL-, he did suspect him of some form of involvement. So, in a post made first in Portuguese and then translated by a Torn staffer, he called him out.
Within three minutes -TL- responded to the claims with a denial, with such a swift response only making him look all the guiltier. Was -TL- lurking on the forums in case his victim revealed his crime? Or was it mere luck that he stumbled across Kaurotuan's post?
Either way, few believed -TL-'s version of events. But while most were content to let this incident lie, one citizen took it upon himself to a little detective work. T-Max, who is the director of a gentleman's strip club, briefly swapped his stilettos for gumshoes and sought out concrete evidence that -TL- was indeed Kaurotuan's mugger.
It did not take him long.
Just 17 minutes after Kaurotuan's posting, T-Max had discovered that -TL-'s largest ever mug matched exactly with the amount taken from him. The jig was up. -TL- knew he had to cover his ass to avoid repercussions, and he immediately offered his victim an apology, his money back, plus the seemingly random figure of $6,832,446 in damages on top.
If he had done this in private then perhaps that would be the end of the story. But he did not. -TL- dishonestly went back to re-edit the post where he first denied involvement, and as well as his apology, he also thought it appropriate to mock his victim and make public his generosity in returning Kaurotuan's cash.
-TL- later defended his actions, saying that his buy mugging was justified because he himself had once been a victim of the very same scam. This is a stance I highly doubt would work in court, and it only makes his actions look stranger since he knows the torment of being the victim.
But when I chatted to -TL- over email, his first act was to complain about my description of his crime in my initial line of questioning. To judge for yourself here is my first query to him;
And here is the first line of -TL-'s response.
In my humble opinion, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, the duck should not object to being called a duck. But I digress. -TL- confessed to me that this was not his first buy mugging, and that he has participated in many other acts of trading treachery in his short time in Torn City, while also taking the time to reiterate his derisory opinion of his victim.
During our brief conversation, -TL- went on to state his case by pointing out that Torn is a crime game. He compared his act of deception favourably to the bounties and mass-scams perpetuated by other citizens on a daily basis. And of course, he is not wrong.
-TL- also mentioned the several occasions he himself has been mugged after a big win at the poker table, pointing out that not once has he felt the need to make a forum post about it. He admitted that it was forum outrage which made him return his illicit earnings, and even went so far as to blame Kaurotuan for the whole thing.
The final piece of correspondence I received from -TL- expressed his thoughts that Kaurotuan's actions would only encourage more buy-mugs upon his person. I suspect he is probably right. But Kaurotuan believed his public outing of -TL- would have a different effect.
Is this naïve? Yes. But Kaurotuan's aim was an honest one. He was simply a new player trying to find a way of avoiding this situation in future, and was looking for information on how to go about protecting his future trade earnings.
As a relatively new citizen, Kaurotuan has a low opinion of buy-mugging. He believes it is an unacceptable practice, and while he does accept -TL-'s apology, Kaurotuan feels that naming and shaming was and remains an appropriate response.
Thankfully, Kaurotuan says there have been no further attempts to buy mug him since, and he continues to have faith in the trading system despite this unsavoury incident. But what does the community think of this situation? Has buy mugging now become acceptable? Or is it something the powers that be should consider banning?
The forums gave us a mixed response. Solitude defended -TL- by saying he was just playing the game, and it seems there are some who even go so far as to actively encourage buy mugging as a legitimate way of earning money in Torn.
The delightfully named Kapten_Klitoris seems to subscribe to this view, and he went one step further to decry -TL- for returning Kaurotuan's money, calling him a soft wimp for doing so. Is this fair? Should -TL- have stuck to the path he chose for himself when he decided to defraud another player?
It is the position of the Torn City Times to discourage buy mugging, as we have been told it could destroy the city's trading culture if left unchecked. But one has to question whether or not this is accurate. Would buy mugging really have such a huge impact on traders if it became acceptable? And if so, why has it not been outlawed? Why are some traders allowed to buy mug each other to destroy their rival's business?
Official buy mugging figures have never been released in Torn City, and many forum posts outing suspects have been summarily graved in the past. But Kaurotuan's post was not. Why is this? Has there been a change of opinion at the highest levels? Is buy mugging now something all traders must accept, like losses from theft or unsold stock?
There is no easy answer to this question, and Torn's citizens remain divided over whether buy mugging constitutes an acceptable act or whether it is against the spirit of the city. In this respect, the practice's opponents do have a point.
Every time a citizen engages physically with another in combat they are afforded the opportunity to fight back. You tase me in the nuts, I get to respond with a hail of 5mm rounds, and so on and so forth until one person is on the ground bleeding and the other has their wallet. Torn City believes in certain etiquettes and ways of doing things, so one can understand why buy mugging is frowned upon.
To take back your own money after purchasing goods does seem unacceptable when placed in this context. However, what strikes me as odd is the fact that most of those who support buy mugging tend to be of an older generation. Conversely, it seems new citizens are the ones who are most irritated by its continued prevalence.
So do newcomers to Torn expect too much protection? Has generation snowflake penetrated Torn City at last? Or does the fault lie with the veterans? Are the old guard merely in favour of buy mugging because they have become jaded and grizzled by this despicable toilet of a city?
Or, is there a third option. Does Torn simply operate on a complex system of morality; one which is too impenetrable for even the savviest newcomers to understand at first? Here, what seems wrong one minute can be fair the next. Scammers, thieves and scumbags can be outlaws to some and heroes to others. How can you judge what is fair and what is foul in a city like Torn?
The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that -TL- should have gone hard or gone home. If you choose to engage in buy mugging you must either be smart, be strong, or have the balls to stand up for your reckless decisions. -TL-'s first mistake was in failing to cover his tracks. His second mistake was to lie, and his third was to lie about lying in the first place.
But in some people's eyes his biggest error was to pay back the money he'd taken, and with interest too. Not only does the public now know that -TL- is someone not to be trusted or traded with, but they are also aware of his one major weakness - exposure.
And in Torn City, the last thing you want to do is let other players smell your fear.
Have you been affected by any of the issues mentioned in this article? If so, the TCT has the following advice for staying safe after a trade or poker victory:
- - Bank your cash immediately. After a trade, you have a 12-second window during which your money cannot be mugged.
- - Self-harm. Hospitalising yourself with drugs, the wrong blood pack or a quick meeting with Bodybagger's fists is a great way to prevent potential buy muggers from shaking you down post-trade.
- -Trade with the trusted. By using the trade forum you can quickly find out who can be trusted and who others have blacklisted. Some players may even advertise themselves as a mug-free trader, although you may be forced to pay a premium price for such a luxury.
- - Do a background check. -TL- has more friends than enemies, but for most buy muggers the opposite is true. If someone attempts to trade with you and their ratio of friends to enemies is worse than the karma on a HT_Dude forum post, then proceed only with caution.
- - Take revenge. Torn is nothing without bitter acts of reprisal, but you may need to train yourself up if you wish to recover your stolen loot. Having a sworn enemy can prove great motivation for self-improvement, and when you buy mug your assailant several months down the line your victory will taste all the sweeter for taking your time.
- - Trust no-one. If you assume that everyone in Torn can and will scam you, it'll come as a nice surprise when they don't. And if they do, at least you'll be prepared.
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