Loot ninja A loot ninja , AKA ninja looter or simply ninja , is a player who takes loot to which he or she is not entitled . The act is referred to as ninja looting or ninjaing . The term predates World of Warcraft and originated with the notion of looting as " quickly " as possible . The common synonym for this behavior is greeder , though that term has ironically fairer play connotations specific to WoW . Definition . The term seems to have a few different meanings depending on whom you ask , including : Gold farmer s also try to join instance groups in order to ninja / pirate loot items and sell them . Loot ninjas are , understandably , not well liked by most players . Often , a ninja will get a bad reputation on a realm which eventually prevents them from being invited to participate in any high level instances . Unfortunately , a tainted reputation can often be avoided by changing one ' s character name . Many guilds also have rules stating that ninjas / pirates should be kicked from the guild on their first offense . Dealing with ninja looters . With the advent of patch 3 . 3 . 0 , Need before Greed was implemented as the standard looting system , the ability to ninja loot has been significantly reduced , so long as everyone hits ' need ' . Unfortunately , this also means that players with legitimate off - specs are often denied needed gear . Additionally , this patch has provided the ability to trade BoP items with other players that were eligible for the loot . Therefore , if a player acquires a BoP item unfairly - it is possible to discuss this and trade the item between players ( this is a good way of telling the difference between genuine mistakes and a loot ninja ) . There is also an ongoing debate as to whether rolling " Need " for a player ' s off - role is considered ninja - looting , especially when another group member needs the item for their own role . An example of this would be a shaman , present in a group in the role of Healer , rolling Need on an Agility ring which a rogue who is present needs for his current role of DPS . This debate has fueled argument that the Need roll should be split into Main Spec and Off Spec rolls , with Main Spec rolls getting priority . The general consensus so far seems to be that out of courtesy , a player should only roll Need on an item for offspec ( or off - role ) if nobody present needs it for their current party role . Sometimes , those will also ask if they can Need for an item and why they want it to prevent the thought of ninjaing . Though some people might be suspicious if the reason is legit , many feel this is good etiquette in this situation , since those that usually ask such are not usually viewed as those that would ninja loot items . Blizzard ' s official policy . Blizzard will usually only take action for a blatant scam , such as a raid leader declaring free rolls in chat and then master - looting everything to himself . They will not intervene if there was no prior agreement ( and cannot if the agreement was made over Ventrilo or a private forum - it has to be in game , where they can check logs ) . In any PuG raid , ask the raid leader to state the loot policy explicitly in chat . World of Warcraft game design . Several features in World of Warcraft were designed to minimize the opportunities for players to ninja / pirate loot , addressing problems which had occurred in earlier games .