Goblins: Who and Why? (Part 2)

Disclaimer: Though I hold a degree in Psychology, I do not profile people professionally. What I have written below is simply based on the education I have gained, and a bit of guess-work (as is all things in Psychology). It should be noted that aspects of each Goblin-type are not “end-all-be-all” aspects, and that often individuals will display characteristics of each type of Goblin. Lastly, all Goblins have one particular interest they each hold – the love of gold; this is what defines them as a “Goblin”.

The Greedy Goblin

Of all the Goblin’s that exist, the Greedy Goblin personality type is the most concerned about profit. If it hurts their purse in the end, they simply won’t do it. Their motto might be something like “I’ve got the best deals anywhere!” or “Ni hao! (just kidding!).” Some strategies they might employ daily are the following:

• Crashing the market (but only to a point where they will still make a meager profit).
• Sniping underpriced items (if their data suggests they can earn more from it).
• Regularly undercutting competitors (usually after they’ve gone offline).

Of the various types of Goblins, the Greedy Goblin will spend a good amount of their WoW-time observing the Auction House. The majority of this time is spent reviewing spreadsheets and calculating profit margins as they plan their next posting. They do this largely to secure the amount of gold they could rake in, but also for the feeling of success it might bring. The Greedy type invests a great deal of their emotional security on their level of success, and so it is especially important that they see themselves as doing well. It’s a bit of a stretch, but the greed this type of Goblin displays might even be a reaction to some form of a subliminal Inferiority Complex. In this, I mean to say that by earning mountains of gold, the Greedy Goblin might believe that they somehow command the respect of others.

It is also possible that the Greedy Goblin is greedy in that have a fear of feeling strained for cash (or the goods it would purchase). This particular fear is also commonly found in the kind of person that society might call a “hoarder” – someone that gathers a ridiculous supply of unnecessary junk (my mother is a prime example of this). Though gold doesn’t fall into the category of “unnecessary junk”, the comfort gained by having as much of it as possible is very much in the same category as the comfort a hoarder would get from their junk.

In conclusion, the Greedy Goblin is most easily associated with businesses like American insurance companies. They are investing in a person’s well being, expecting them to otherwise be healthy a majority of the time – and if they aren’t, they will dump them to the curb. The Greedy Goblin is the same way in that if it stops being profitable, they will stop doing it (until it becomes profitable again).

Stay tuned for tomorrow's release of Part 3: The Challenge-seeking Goblin!

Cheers,
GG