I just wanted to say that I completely understand how you feel. About a month or so ago one of my more minor accounts was hacked. Admittedly the password for that particular account wasn't the most difficult one in the world, but I just never dreamed anyone would spend long hours trying to hack a video game account. Especially when accumulating wealth has become so easy on US-east L (Seriously, when you can get HRs for pgems and other minor items you know it's not horribly difficult).
Overall it wasn't too bad because, as said before, it was a minor account that I had just begun putting decent items on. In all I lost a full tal set, 35FCR spirit, and about 5 annis...ironically they left a gul and pul rune and about 15 keys. Regardless, I couldn't help but feel a little violated and cynical about the whole game. As you felt, I felt like I had invested my time and energy into finding this gear just to have it stolen from me...even if it is "just pixels and code." To be honest, if someone had hacked one of my main accounts I would almost definitely quit because it has taken me years (literally) to accumulate this "wealth" and I doubt I would want to redo all of it again. I also agree with your sentiment about accepting charity; regardless, I had grown a bit attached to my gear and the fact that I found or traded for pretty much all of it. That alone would probably lead me to quit if I incurred a serious loss. I'm truely sorry for your loss of items. Although almost everyone is saying stay and remake, rebuild, and reacquire it may be a good time to reconsider what else you want to do instead of investing even more time into a video game. Most of us are so invested the only way we would quit is to be hacked. Again, sorry to hear about it.
JME