Particularly, I saw groups from several boards helping whomever they could without regard to who they were really. There were simply too many people needing help and they had to hit the right loby at the right time. I wish I could have helped everyone but our team had a plan and stuck to it - others were totaly selfless and put others before themself completely. We had a few help our team. One when we offered a shot, but she turned it down so we could all finish first - she never did get past the task and it expired before she could be helped. That person isn't on this board but mainly tried to help kids unsuccessfully for 3 days and is always doing selfless acts. It wasn't till she saw how we did it she understood even though I tried in a PM to explain it.
I am sad for those that did not finish or felt they could not attempt it, and I witnessed a lot of uglyness on the docks often by well know players refusing to budge from the docks and demanding others leave. So as others have said it brought out the good and bad in people. I think the excersise was about team work - interesting and ironic it was a pirates quest which is the route many took. Get your loot and run.
I met 97% of my crew members for the first time on Saturday, the rest during recent double flag days. I lucked upon an amazing group of people who valued the "you first, kids after, me last" ethos and after two late nights and two early mornings, I fully expected my entire team to finish the quest. Imagine my shock and disappointment when I saw some of my new friends standing on the jungle cruise dock when the quest shut down without so much as an ingame announcement. (Remember, we were skipping our meals and stumbling through four hours of sleep per night to help everyone pass that hump - how could we stop to check the Disboards or read a belated notice on the VMK homepage when we were so exhausted?) How could VMK punish so many people who spent the last hour helping their loyal teammates catch ghosts?
Out of the 30ish people I assisted that weekend, only two betrayed my crew and left to finish the quest early without helping anyone else. How is that fair to the other 28 who exemplified the spirit of teamwork?
I am ashamed that I left my team over an hour before closing time on Sunday to help my family out in the Haunted Mansion lobby. I thought I could return in time but I made two terrible assumptions:
1) the quest would end at closing time the next day, enabling me to aid my remaining teammates who needed to work or nap in school
2) I would not crash in every other ghost game. By then, I thought my blue crew was better off without me jinxing their shootin' and healin' with my kablooeying computer.
Our team tried to squeeze in as many players as we could - kids, grandparents, even a last gal standing whom I saw for only a couple hours but who experienced the frustration of getting marooned by multiple crews. To penalize these self-sacrificing people who worked together for so many days, while rewarding the dream crushers who abandoned their team after their turn - it's insulting.