Its been a year since i played Runescape

[retaxis2]

I have been thinking of making this post for a while but never got around doing it.

 

 

 

My purpose in this post is just to say some things from my mind and if possible give tips to others who is going through things i went through and etc.

 

 

 

 

 

I guess its manners to first introduce myself. My rsn is/was retaxis2 and i have played from the very beginning of runescape. There are a lot of things which i want to talk about but that could go on forever so i won't bore you with the details. But yeah, six years on runescape went by very fast and when i look back at all the thousands of people i have met on rs and all the clans i have been in, it just seems like a different world to me.

 

 

 

Some of the most remembered clans to me which i have been in include RsMob, BDK, Court of Dragons, Zeonic Force, The Wilddawgs, KT/SA and Forsakened.

 

 

 

Don't know exactly if any of the old schoolers still play since i have not spoken to them for years. Mentions go out to X Dragon X, Raimus, Denker, Peter Tong 1, Chronic24, abxi, Ali Arrows, Skin Style, Meeturpker and many more. Wow i forgot so many names after a year its a shame i guess.

 

 

 

Well now its the important part where i hope my knowledge can help people playing Runescape. I have played Runescape altogether for 6 years from 2001-2007. Out of those 6 years, i only enjoyed 3 years of it. RSC and the early parts of rs2 were enjoyable for me when me and my friends use to make many pures and 3 hit people at varrock wild on world 3. After rs2 80% of my friends quit and i pretty much lost the fun in rs2 and to be honest i should have quit there and then as well but i was stupid enough to keep playing. What followed was me afk training for the next 3 years. I will never say RS is a waste of time if you enjoyed it but i sincerely did not enjoy it but i thought heck i shall afk train because one day it will get fun and interesting again. Well guess what, it never did and it only got worse. In my case i lost so much time afk training and before i quit i was top 100 in 3 skills. My tip here is that if you play and sincerely do not enjoy it, just quit and do something else. Don't wait around hoping to join a fun clan and revive some spirit back into the game. The fun part of RS when you were still a newbie and learning things is over. Its just grinding and time wasting now so do yourself a favour and quit before you waste time like i did. But if you sincerely enjoy it, then game on.

 

 

 

Many of you guys and girls out there probably think heck Highschool sucks and i don't have many friends so i am going to play rs till i start fresh in Uni or something right? Sure i never felt that way but over the many years i have played, many peoples mentality was just like this. You will know if you are one of them, denial will only dig yourself a bigger grave which will be increasingly harder to climb out of. But i tell you, if your one of those guys who is 16/17 doing high school and etc and playing rs and hoping to play rs for a while longer i just have to tell you something. When you finish highschool everything is different. Your slate is clean so kick the old bad habits. Be friendly and talkative and never put RS infront of anything. If some boys or girls from uni ask you to go out and etc to play pool or get wasted at the pub, don't think "hmmm i want to get lvl 98 in magic tonight....." or "hmmm my clan leader wants me to go to this thingo". Ditch that crap and just go out it will benefit your social health, mental health and make you a more cheerful person in the long run. Although what i just said does not relate too well with me since i was always the type who liked going out at any opportunity, i know for a fact that this relates to so many people which i have talked to since 2001. Point is, remember once you finish high school or primary school, your slate is clean and you best make the most of a fresh start. Don't screew yourself over by being a geek and telling new people you just met you can't go somewhere because your mum is sick when in reality you need to go to a clan event. If your 12-16 years old and playing a lot of rs and have friends. Never let it effect your life. RS is always comes last. only play when you are so bored that you want to bite your nails. And when you do, don't join clans because they will require you to do this and that and you will be dragged into crap that you don't want to be part of.

 

 

 

However at the same time i know how hard it is to quit rs. Over the many years i have played, i doubt anyone could make me just quit RS. Heck i even lost my whole bank many times through staking and hackings and i still played. But when i had a few hundred million and top of my game, i just stopped playing cold turkey. Why? because i finally had enough of it and a combination of getting bored and having not enough time left me quitting and not logging in. Currently i am 20 years old and i really can't find any time playing rs anymore. Sure i "can" find time if i am willing to put rs at a high priority but i work 15hrs a week, full time uni, uni placements, go to the gym with friends, get wasted friday and saturday nights and with a girlfriend i just don't see how i can ever fit rs back into my life. So for those of you who want to get socially active and not sink yourself into a deep hole the advice is to get busy. Get a job first. Make some money and go out and have fun. Meet people because the later you delay this, the harder it will be to make new friends. Don't play rs into your mid twenties and find yourself socially [developmentally delayed]ed and the next 40year old virgin. However everything i say here is only based on those people who are playing rs too much and are not enjoying it like they should. It goes for those who play too much in general and is interfering with their lives. I say this because you can not play rs for the rest of your life and what will you have when you quit rs? only the memories.

 

 

 

To be honest, this post is mainly suited to those who play rs even when they are getting no fun out of the game. AFKing while reading internet forum sites and clicking refresh and etc for years to come is not the way to live your life and neither is letting this game rule your life. Take a deep breath and think about what this game is doing to you and what you could be doing instead. In many cases, this game is just some fun on the side but i fear for most, it can and will develop into much more...Trying to quit this game just won't work even if you lose your whole bank and etc. You just have to lose enough interest in this game to realise it is not worth playing anymore.

 

 

 

I wanted to create this post due to the reason that since 2001, i have met thousands of rs addicts who are spiralling downhill. Some played for fun and logged on once or twice a week but most played 4-6hours a day at least. And if you just look through your own friend list, i bet you can find many who at times play 10hrs+ a day. So obviously we can all see this as a problem to our mental, social and physical health.

 

 

 

Well if you did bother reading this thanks ;)

[Trip]

good revelation 8/10

[Ravenkana]

Ere, that there part about kicking old bad habits, well I like my bad habits. I play RS, WoW, Spore, and DnD. I read Science-fiction and fantasy novels. Even if I were to quit Runescape in college, with a completely clean slate, nothing much would change. So, cheers to bad or, more correctly, nerdy habits!

[Italian5kamikaze]

Im sorry it took you a few years of your life refreshing the page to find out there are better things to do then play this game, however we arent all like that lol.

 

 

 

Oh and the people who are addicted probably couldnt care less about what you have to say, let them do what they want with their lives.

[retaxis2]

Im sorry it took you a few years of your life refreshing the page to find out there are better things to do then play this game, however we arent all like that lol.

 

 

 

Oh and the people who are addicted probably couldnt care less about what you have to say, let them do what they want with their lives.

 

 

 

I always knew there were better things to do then rs and i did them. But i found that i could replace RS completely with other things eventually.

 

 

 

I know that not all people play rs but there is no denying that perhaps millions play rs 4-6hrs a day and many of them play even more then that.

[Gilformen]

yeah, ive been considering quitting lately, i just dont enjoy the hours spent grinding.

 

the first year was fun, after that it was mostly getting a few more levels, then some more.

 

 

 

lol @ trip rating what you said

[highlanders]

Im sorry it took you a few years of your life refreshing the page to find out there are better things to do then play this game

 

It's not a problem of lack of knowledge. Everyone logs in knowing it's just a game. It starts with a month, a year, and before you realize what's going on you're married with Runescape and you have 3 skillcapes. It seems so innocent. "Ah, I'm a teenager, I have plenty of time, it's just a pastime." But the pastime grows into a habit that becomes so integrated into your life you don't even notice it eating away your time, and that's whats dangerous about it.

 

 

 

At some point you have to take the real life decision to stop. And you can't just stop completely right now, and forever. You have to replace Runescape with other activities. Otherwise, at night you will end up at your house, with nothing to do and you'll just log in and start again. Just like someone who decides to stop eating junk food when that is all they eat. They stop, then for the few first days, they struggle. They're hungry, but they don't know what to eat, so they just start junk food again. You stop junk food, but you have to start eating something else - something better, in order to replace it. That's basically what you have to do to get rid of Runescape.

 

 

 

I think also the other main issue is that people feel there is nothing else they could possibly do better with their time. They go to school, they come back, they have no other project. They don't know what they want to do.

 

 

 

If I look back to my own childhood, I was so in over my head with the ton of work we were given at my private school, the thought of doing anything curricular that had to do with "learning" was completely out of the question. I was busting my [wagon] trying to get into advanced maths, and getting atleast 80% into all my grades. The teachers had us stressed out about grades telling us that we needed this or that to get into X, Y or Z learning program after highschool, and that if we didn't know what to do yet it was best to keep all options open. And of course, because it was a private school, we had to work twice as hard but for supposedly better "rewards" after highschool. Apparently, just the name of our school was enough to give employers shivers down their spines. Everyday I arrived 3 hours before school started just to be able to catch up with my work, on lunch after eating I went to the library trying to get ahead on my homework. School ended ridiculously late: 5:30 PM. Then back at home it would take me 2 hours to make my math homework and finish up the team projects teachers gave us constantly. After that? Forget it, I still had things to do but I went on Runescape and would play my heart away. Social life? Forget it, who has time for that? The school was filled with BS snobs anyway, unable to do anything else but to criticize all day long, no one you'd ever want to have in your life.

 

 

 

A few years later now, want to know the truth? It's complete BS. All of the crap we studied was useless. None of it was worth the effort. The real problem was the homework, very time-consuming, and in the end entirely useless. The worse thing is that there was no getting around it. You could get kicked out of the school for not making them, even if you had perfect grades. Remove the homework: add a useful learning curricular activity: 100 times better. People always claim how great school is: the truth is it's a huge waste of time and you should do the minimum and don't waste time making the homework unless you know you need it. Don't bother going to good highschools, because no one cares about highschool. My highschool name didn't give my employers nor my universities shivers down their spines at all. Good universities and the require scores in university is all that matters.

 

 

 

It's weird and all, but I blame private school for making my teenage social life miserable, I blame them for making me do homework that was completely useless, I blame them for being lying pieces of trash about their school being so great (they just want parents money), I blame them for making my life such a pile of crap only RS was the fun part in it, I blame them for having condescendant pieces of trash as teachers.

 

 

 

Don't get me wrong, unless you live in an european country that happens to have a good education system, public schools suck. But atleast you don't work hard in public schools, getting 80% is dead easy compared to private (spent 1 year in public school, btw). You have time for lots of other things. In the year I spent in public, instead of finishing school at 5:30PM, I think it ended at 3:10 PM. Just imagine the amount of stuff you can get done in the ~7 hours you have before you drop dead on your matress and fall asleep. And almost no homework whatsoever to eat upon that free time. Remove Runescape, and add an after school activity you enjoy and is actually useful: uber win.

 

 

 

The kind of teaching quality you get in highschool: private or not, is awful. Everything goes slowly because teachers are given too much time, and there are soo many dimly lit students in classes that slow everything down. Everyone knows only psycho masochistic teachers choose to teach at high schools -.-

 

 

 

Everything gets easier once you get to university, though it's STILL filled with a bunch of idiotic kids, you study what you want. But the REAL fun is when you study in a 18+ class outside of major institutions, with actual adults, and actual non-psycho, non-omg-im-a-university-teacher-power-trip, normal non sociopath, non obnoxious, non YOUNG, and non psycho teachers. That of course, is uber win.

 

 

 

Now highlander, what does all that crap rambling mean? Nothing, I just had fun getting that off my chest.

 

 

 

BUT know one thing: once you get past highschool (which is full of crap, evil teachers, and pathetic morons, which in itself is enough to make your life so crappy that it can transform ANYONE into a mmorpg-addict) things become better. Why? Because you get to do stuff and go places where morons can't get in. Under 18? Get out of my bar. Under 18? Get out of my class. Too stupid to enter into political sciences? The truck driver class is over there. Now that is of course uber win, the time when you get to laugh into all the moron's faces and get to block out from your life all roaming human sources and forms of stupidity and patheticalness.

[retaxis2]

Highschool wasn't too bad for me although i did repeat an extra year in the final year to achieve better grades.

 

 

 

However the problem with Runescape is that it doesn't have too many benefits. I mean we can play different sports and become good and have a social life and etc. We can read a lot of books and increase our knowledge even when we stop reading them after a few years. What have we really gained from Runescape? not much. Sure after playing for 6 years, with three of them being really boring, i at times still think about Runescape and whether i will play again. And the answer is always no never. I would play it if i were truly having fun and enjoying it but now that the fun is gone i won't play it anymore.

[highlanders]

Runescape has definitively no benefits whatsoever. It's always so pathetic when people make these threads entitled "What did you learn thanks to RS?" then you have dozens of people posting trying to fool themselves into thinking RS has actually been a positive influence of some sort on their life.

 

 

 

I can't relate to people who are addicted to RS though. For me, RS was my fun after a long day of crap, to balance it out. As I get older, I gain the power to make my days fun, so RS loses its purpose. People who have decent or fun lives, and would still want to play given the option, I have no idea why they'd do that. Well, that would be plain old irresponsability.

 

 

 

The last enemy standing is free time. Too much free time = brain must find something to do = RS. Eventually, you find much more fun things to replace it with, but you have to make the effort to look for these things. You can't know you love piano if you don't try piano.

[davidium]

for me i always knew that games conferred little benefit (it's NOT "no benefit" cause there ARE benefits) since...a long time ago...so i only place rs for fun now and instead of grinding at one particular skill i spread out and do a variety of things with favourites being castle war and boss fights...on top of that i only get membership during my sch holidays so that i can focus on work...work hard and play hard =))

[IIR50Range]

gratz, i've been playing RS since 2002 classic first for about 4 years then 2 years on rs2 :)

[Hevendor_Guy]

This should be a TipIt times tbh =D>

 

 

 

I came to that same realization you did last summer, I got a job and started going out with friends and RS took up a lot less of my time. I still play, but my xp rate and money-gaining rate has screeched to a halt because I only play it for fun now, like highlander's balancing a day of crap, and it's nice. :D

[Ezz]

Great post, I agree with you. I always try to get off RS if I notice that what I'm doing is just boring and addictive, since I just play for the fun. And I notice that many others take RS way to seriously and just grind themselves through the whole game.

[@Dan3HitU]

Its been a year since i played Runescape

 

Congratulations.

[Lameo3]

thx for the essay....essay! im at uni now and I play is good to pass the spare time when im not stoned.....and its good when iam :P! :shock:

[flash]

First off I think we need to all realize that this is not a drug and it has nothing that should be considered addicting. While video games can be addicting they are only addicting because people use them to do things they can't do or be in real life and find comfort in this. Whether it is being popular or rich or getting to be a big game athlete or whatever it is just living a life you know you probably won't live.

 

 

 

I am in college and have been playing rs since 2001 on the same account. If you look at my account you will see its not that great for 7 years of work. That is the point in those 7 years I carried a 3.5 GPA through high school, a 27 act, captain of the wrestling team, state placer in wrestling, and got a scholarship to wrestle in college (I'm a junior in college now). I had my moments where I enjoyed playing a lot and some where I didn't play as much, but I never let it run my life. I hung out with friends, maintained my current relationship with my gf(3 years now) and still had time to play every now and then.

 

 

 

My whole point is those who say you have to stop playing to "Experience" life are wrong I have lived a great life so far all along playing and enjoying runescape. The point is you must realize that runescape is not your life. As long as you keep that in mind game on and enjoy it, because there is no such thing as a waste of time as long as you are happy with how you spent it.

[miracleman58]

I dont understand why you are flaming this topic at ALL. This thread is 10times the value of any other thread on this forum, i am glad that i read this. Because i am gettin to this point in RS (bored), where i am almost 18 and want to enjoy my last year at school with my friends before i go to uni and make new friends :thumbsup:

 

 

 

I used to do some of the things you stated, like not going out with friends sometimes to play RS, yes i know this is stupid and i do realise but at the time its what i wanted to do. And now i am thinking 'what did i do that for?'.

 

 

 

Yes i did enjoy RS alot of the time i played, since about '04 i think. But if i had spent the time studying or learning the guitar i would be aceing all exams (am gettin good grades atm, just not amazing) and pretty amazing on the guitar, for example.

 

 

 

I think if your real life and RS life are on a collision course sort it out sooner rather than later!

[Boris5000]

I play runescape for maybe 1-3 hours a day, simply because I choose to, I do simply close the program and go out so I wouldn't say it is interfering with my life, I do it to keep me from doing nothing.

[Hevendor_Guy]

First off I think we need to all realize that this is not a drug and it has nothing that should be considered addicting. While video games can be addicting they are only addicting because people use them to do things they can't do or be in real life and find comfort in this. Whether it is being popular or rich or getting to be a big game athlete or whatever it is just living a life you know you probably won't live.

 

 

 

I am in college and have been playing rs since 2001 on the same account. If you look at my account you will see its not that great for 7 years of work. That is the point in those 7 years I carried a 3.5 GPA through high school, a 27 act, captain of the wrestling team, state placer in wrestling, and got a scholarship to wrestle in college (I'm a junior in college now). I had my moments where I enjoyed playing a lot and some where I didn't play as much, but I never let it run my life. I hung out with friends, maintained my current relationship with my gf(3 years now) and still had time to play every now and then.

 

 

 

My whole point is those who say you have to stop playing to "Experience" life are wrong I have lived a great life so far all along playing and enjoying runescape. The point is you must realize that runescape is not your life. As long as you keep that in mind game on and enjoy it, because there is no such thing as a waste of time as long as you are happy with how you spent it.

 

 

 

And you are one of a very rare breed, because not many RS players balance their life like that.

 

 

 

And that's a terrible acct for 7 years btw, I managed mine in 3 carrying a 3.5 in middle school and freshman year, playing football freshman year as well :-#

[rangeor]

Yeah I really haven't been playing as much since school started. Been too busy to play. Feels kind of nice actually

[XDX]

HMM... IT'S NOT OFTEN THAT I SEE MY NAME POSTED, MOST PEOPLE HAVE FORGOTTEN THE OLD AGE. YOU SHOULD ADD ME ON MSN RETAXIS :)

[flash]

 

And you are one of a very rare breed, because not many RS players balance their life like that.

 

 

 

And that's a terrible acct for 7 years btw, I managed mine in 3 carrying a 3.5 in middle school and freshman year, playing football freshman year as well :-#

 

 

 

It is terrible because with working and training my game time was like 2 or 3 hours a week during season.

[retaxis2]

haha xdx somethings like caps never change. RS just isn't the same anymore like old school cod with members such as llmao0 and etc. best of luck.

[jsboutin2]

I certainly think RS is a waste of time, as watching TV, playing piano/guitar(as a hobby, not a job), or any other hobby.

 

 

 

You can't always be doing constructive/productive. Sometimes, you gotta get off work and everything and relax. That's the job a hobby should fill.

 

RS does it great for me. Not for you? Better luck next hobby.

[Atom Smash40]

great thread. yea I've been balancing (poorly) rs with school/hockey. I always put school and hockey first but whenever I get free time I jump on the ole computer and play away, usually doin something pointless like mining (which I like). not a very wise use of my spare time. but I have nothing else to do. my idea/plan would be to quit rs sumtime during or after junior year in highschool (prob around sat time) and focus on college and my dream of becoming some sort of heart doctor like a cardiologist or a heart surgeon and to live out my highschool life with my friends whom I mite never see again. hopefully I can break that chain rs has around my ankles without sawing through my leg (get the movie reference?)

 

 

 

great post, hit the nail rite on the head for me