Gate monkey

A Gate monkey, or GM, is a player paid to join a party in order to trigger an event required for moving forward or crossing a portal. The term was previously common in pre-Searing, where a second player would join the party to operate the lever that allows access to the The Northlands, usually for a nominal fee in the range of 50-100. Typically, the GM would leave the party via map travel before their employer continued to the next zone.

Infrequently, the term is used in dungeon speed clears to describe the player character who waits near a Boss or Dungeon Lock, so that it can be opened as soon as the party obtains the required key. Very rarely, the term is used as a synonym for torch runner, the player who carries a bundle that is used to trigger events within a dungeon (e.g. in Shards of Orr or Arachni's Haunt).

Notes

• The June 6, 2018 update doubled the length of time the gate into The Northlands stays open, rendering this practice obsolete within pre-Searing.

Trivia

• Gate monkeys in pre-Searing Ascalon would often get paid using the game's general lack of Z-axis. Once the gate was open, players crossing into the Northlands could open trade with the gate monkey standing above them at the lever, paying them for their completed service. Having finished the job, the gate monkey would then leave the group.
• Some buyers of this service would not cross into the Northlands until the gate monkey had left the group. That's because there's no way to kick someone from a group while in an explorable area, and zoning into the Northlands with someone who refuses to leave could either result in leeching or - in some extreme cases - force the buyer themselves to leave the zone while the gate monkey got to reap both the benefits of getting paid and gaining access to the Northlands for farming purposes. By not crossing the portal while the gate monkey was still in the group, the buyer denied them access to the zone, usually forcing gate monkeys with bad intentions to leave and look for another prey. This caution was mostly employed against higher character level gate monkeys, since they'd be more capable of hijacking the run for their own purposes.
• Dedicated gate monkey guilds used to exist in pre-Searing Ascalon.
  • These were comprised mostly of alt accounts, offering players a way to make some gold for low effort tasks while socializing with friends and guildmates in the meantime.
  • Being part of these guilds made one appear more trustworthy and thus get hired more.
  • Members would usually line up next to the portal in Ascalon City.
  • At the later stages of the game, bots gradually replaced the player GM guilds.