Believe me; I went through the same thing. At first, I was honored that people trusted me to help with their problems, or to simply be an ear.

But by the time I got called an “ass-kisser” toward the other Officers for not dealing with things promptly or thoroughly enough, it was starting to rub me the wrong way.

I wasn’t in any sort of “clique” until my 60s. Heck; I didn’t even know how the Friends list worked for a long time. >.<

I both love and hate being the “local therapist”! The first few times someone comes to with their troubles, I’m all “awww, they trust me! That’s so awesome!”. Over time though, i go from being flattered to “why do they only talk to me when they need a shoulder to cry on?”.

I can’t say I get random gifts very often, but I do on occasion, especially on birthdays, in response to Christmas gifts I send or from strangers when I’m playing a lowbie. On my old server, I was part of a tight-knit clique where we just shared everything so we gave each other “useful” gifts all the time.

I do remember two occasions of gift-receiving quite well, though.

First, I remember when my Hunter was questing through the Wetlands. A Druid a few levels higher than I was stopped me and asked me if I wanted a green-quality BoE chest piece. I hemmed and hawed a little bit, not knowing if I’d have to give anything in return. (My poor guy at the time was cash-strapped, and didn’t have anything in the way of tradeables worth giving.)

She; at least, it was a female toon, said that it was a gift, that she’d just AH it otherwise. So I took it. The item required a few more levels on my part before I could use it, but once I was able to wear it, I had it for a decent amount of time.

I still remember that Druid’s name, even though I never saw her again.

The other occasion that I remember vividly was roughly a year and a half ago. I was still in my first Guild at the time, and had gotten to know one of my Guildies enough to exchange birthdays with her. So when my birthday rolled around in ’08, I checked my ingame mail and saw that she and her then-boyfriend (the Guild’s co-GMs, in fact) had gathered the mats to make me the best TBC-level leg Enchant for Hunters.

I was stunned; those things were rather expensive back then, and I didn’t know if I was worth it. They seemed more than happy, though. In the months that followed, I got to know a few more of my Guildies fairly well.

I’m probably looking through rose-colored glasses, but sometimes I really miss those folks…

And after I became an Officer in my old Guild, I never had anyone try to buy my favor; instead, since I’m a personable guy, I became the one everyone came to with their troubles. That’s one thing that I DON’T miss about it, ha ha.