"I don't trust you, so do something for me first"

When playing Minecraft multiplayer, I encounter a lot of people I don't know who beg me for items. This is natural for Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) games since veterans are often mixed up with completely new players, and of course, the new players want to experience the fun that the veterans are enjoying from their hard-earned experience and loot. I have played in my home Minecraft server since 2015, and I am currently staff there, so I could be considered one of the "veterans". (My fighting skills in Minecraft are trash though)

Of course, some people can get annoyed by beggars, and I am no exception to that...except I can be savage to beggars. Aside from the server having a rule where repeatedly begging staff will result in a mute (being unable to chat), it simply wastes my time and patience when I can focus on staff work and fighting my enemies.

Normally, a begging situation with me involved looks like this:

Beggar: "Can I have stuff"

Me: "I don't have stuff, sorry" (I'm usually lying in this situation)

Beggar: "Pls, just a little stuff"

Me: "I said I don't have stuff, and begging is against the rules"

Beggar: "Pls I'm new and I'm poor"

Me: "I warned you, pal; sorry about this" (mutes beggar)

If I weren't staff and didn't care about the rules, I'd replace my second statement with, "If you have nothing important to say and you keep begging me, I'll ignore you."

But now that I think about it, it's unfair to constantly repel beggars--some will just keep coming back whether or not they're given what they want. And it's bad customer service--a Minecraft server is dependent on the number of players in order to stay popular, and driving beggars away will give the impression that "Hmph. The staff here are toxic. I'm outta here."

So I gotta find a middle ground--I need to stop beggars from begging from me without letting them risk punishment or leave the server permanently.

I thought, if I simply give a beggar, I lose my hard-earned loot to someone I barely know, let alone trust. They might even backstab me later on, either in battle by using the items I gave, or using ad hominems. So in return for what the beggar wants, I ask something from the beggar. That way, both of us win, and the beggar might think twice about begging from me since they have to exert effort to get what they want.

On 7 June 2018, someone begged me for 64 sets of armor and weapons with absurdly strong enchantments like Sharpness 21 and Fire Aspect 5. (No, seriously, the server let us use that kind of stuff.) Of course, I didn't know the person, and I wanted to hold on to the equipment I already have--I could give them to a player who would appreciate them more. Plus, I only had, I believe, 7 sets.
I thought he was willing to receive the gear anyway regardless of how many sets I had. So, I told him, "I don't trust you, so I want you to give me money first in exchange for 7 sets of gear." He was kind enough to give me 3,000, which brought me 10% closer to buying something worth 30,000.
I then kept my end of the deal and gave him my 7 sets. But he was disappointed. "WTF? Why only 7 sets? I asked for 64!"
I replied, "I never said I had 64 sets. I told you I have only 7, and you agreed. I can give 2,500 worth of money back to you if you like."
Admittedly, I am terrible at remembering details, especially in a face-to-face conversation where there's no "messaging history", but in this situation, there is a messaging history, so I guess this beggar wasn't very smart.

Remember Mr. Incessant from "Helping People"? To recap, he begs from me a LOT. He even begged from me during my vacation. To this day, he still begs me repeatedly even if I tell him to stop.
I think you can imagine that none of my usual methods of repelling beggars have worked on him. I've tried telling him politely, punishing him, and even raging at him in private outside of the server. (I haven't tried ignoring him, but staff aren't allowed to ignore anyone)
I mentioned this a tiny bit in "Helping People", which I recently edited: I'll be harsher to him next time he offers to be my temporary soldier (P.J. Baloran, 2018). In fact, early this June, I made Mr. Incessant my temporary soldier in exchange for money and, possibly, getting off my back.
Since I've had a bad personal history with Mr. Incessant, I gave him a ton of rules which I normally don't give Lunatic Blade members, including "no swearing", "no disrespect", and "no begging". He will only get money if he follows my orders well.
He was quite obedient, fortunately--I expected no less from a "fanboy". He was willing to cooperate with almost all of my tactics, which I hardly expect from a Lunatic Blade member. I gave him the money he deserved--10,000.
Problem is, we got obliterated by a cheater. Don't worry--I banned that cheater afterwards.

A few days later, unfortunately, Mr. Incessant begged from me again, in addition to "when can you command me again". I was actually busy during my slack week with playing Pokémon, working out, practicing photography, and watching YouTube videos--I'm getting bored of Minecraft. And, thanks to the rainy season in the Philippines, I lag VERY badly and end up getting auto-kicked from the server. So I can't command Mr. Incessant, even though I want to.
Oh well, I guess I should try again some other day. One game isn't enough to change Mr. Incessant's ways, but maybe more games will.
In fact, I caught Mr. Incessant telling someone "fys" while I was watching the server without anyone knowing. I then messaged him, "NOT cool."

Responses to Potential Counter-Arguments

Since some people might think I'm selfish after reading this blog post, I want to rebut some of the arguments I'm anticipating, just like I did in "I Hate Interruption Rules".

"You should always give without anything in return, regardless of who's asking. Besides, it's just a game."

• I play video games to suppress boredom and to feel like a superhero in a world where superheroes don't exist. Giving away my hard-earned resources (money, items, etc.) ruins the whole point of feeling like a superhero.
• Giving a random person I don't trust is usually equivalent to teaching that person to be lazy, both in-game and in real life. They may think, "Hmmm, I can get rich just by convincing people with little effort. I'll keep doing it." This can turn a player into a corrupt businessman or politician later in life. Plus, there's the aforementioned risk of backstabbing.
• I only give to friends and to those who I think are worthy (i.e. by doing good deeds for me) because it's not only balanced in generosity, but it also builds a bond of friendship between me and the other person, which cannot be obtained by simply giving to a random beggar. In other words, giving to friends is a win-win.
• If I give a random beggar who is actually a hacker/cheater upon later inspection, and the cheater gets banned, I can't get their stuff back. My staff rank doesn't have /kill, and we are not allowed to demand players to drop their items.

"If you have extra stuff, give it away."

Again, the beggar might come back for more.

Also, most beggars play casually; they don't fight for power or popularity. They just play for fun. So it's unlikely that a beggar would actually use my stuff to change the tide of battle.

I'd be willing to give away not-so-useful items, though.

Lazy Conclusion

Just don't beg from me in-game if I don't know you. Because I am savage to beggars.

TL;DR summary: Since I'm annoyed by beggars and my ways of stopping them don't work, I usually ask them to help me first so that the beggar will think twice, and if they help, both of us win. Normally, I don't give beggars because it makes them lazy and I might get harmed back.