First, let me introduce myself. I have been playing RS for almost 5 years, starting soon after the release of RS2. I post on these forums infrequently although I have been reading the articles and topics for most of this time (forgot earlier account email id when the forum went down).

 

 

 

As a mostly self-sufficient player and a skiller, I always try to play the game with an attempt at doing all kinds of tasks myself. As an example, when barrows was first released, I refused to buy any barrows armor but aimed to gather them from the minigame by myself for my own use. That resolve lasted about 500 or so trips to barrows where I did get a lot of armor pieces (20 to 25 by the time I stopped). After getting several pieces of the same armor and not any of some others, I just ended up buying the guthans set that I wanted.

 

 

 

The only interaction with the other players that I had during this time, besides a couple of friends that I chatted with was to sell the items that I kept collecting during my slayer tasks or barrow runs, or treasure trails. Even when I did have to sell any of the items, I would just go to falador, world 2 or varrock on world 1 and sell to the first person I find buying any of the items. Luckily there was always someone willing to buy at the prices I was more than happy to sell at. The GE definitely made life easier for me as I do not have to bother with trying to find buyers for anything I sell. It is almost as if I am playing my own fantasy world and everyone else is just an NPC.

 

 

 

I have enough interaction with people in real life to want for that in the game as well. This is probably why I have never been interested in clans in the game. The same reason that I do not take part in any merchanting either. (to be honest, I did make a pure to try out the concept of merchanting, made a few millions within a month from buying and selling cowhides in f2p and playing very infrequently for short times. That was way too boring and that account had no use for the money.)

 

 

 

I do not believe that I am the only one to play the game in this manner. I have met a few others while playing that have a similar viewpoint. Just like myself, I rarely see them posting on the forums. If you can relate to the way I play the game or if you play in a different way, I am certainly interested in understanding your viewpoint. What makes you tick in the game? What motivates you to raise a skill? Is it a self-made decision to raise a skill or do you simply follow the mob?

 

 

 

When I started writing this post, it was meant to be a commentary on the RS marketplace but then deviated into my playing history. So much for picking a task and sticking to it :P.

 

 

 

Before I forget the reason I decide to log in to tip it to write up a post, here it is: While browsing the GE prices, I came across something that surprised me: Zamorak and Saradomin braces have a higher price than the corresponding chaps or coifs although it has a lower set of stats and is not the best armor piece in that slot anyway. My guess is that people use it for GWD but I would have thought that it is better to use the chaps and use barrows gloves instead.

 

 

 

I find it strange that items that are obtained from clues or rare monster drops have become so unpopular as to be worth no more than their high-alch value (Light/dark/enchanted Mystic robes for example). I understand that the prices are based on demand and supply but I wonder mostly about where the demand comes from and why is the demand so low that these relatively rare drops are worth less than their store-bought counterparts in the case of mystic robes.

 

 

 

Another strange behavior that I have seen is of players standing around the GE and trying to merchant "insert-random-item-here". If a lot of people merchant "some-random-item" by buying up the item at mid or high price and then dump at a later time for their low price, someone has to be buying the items up at the high price for a profit to be made. The pump-and-dump scheme is a typical pyramid marketing trick where the early birders get the profits on the backs of the later investors. The GE has made this an easy money making method for the early birders in the pyramid scheme to make money off wannabe merchants.

 

 

 

Thats all for this edition of "Tales from a wandering Runescaper".

I like doing some tasks purely solo either to save money or to prove to myself that I can do it and/or gain some exp. But I don't know where I'd be without player interactions. I have a few friends I chat with frequently but my real social life in rs comes from tipit and forsakenmage clan chat. Not only are fellow tipiters great entertainment while I'm hacking away at maple trees or bloodvelds, but they also are like a quick knowledge database of everything you need to know. I ask loads of questions on the chat and I get quick and accurate answers.

 

 

 

I've heard of players who play rs with virtually no interaction with anyone, but you're the first one who actually was open about it. Do you plan on becoming a more interactive tipiter and rs player, or continue to complete most of your tasks by yourself?

warren211:

 

 

 

It is interesting that you mention tipit and the clan chat as your social interactions. I use tipit all the time but the clan chat is something I have used rarely. The only ones I use frequently being the penguin and star location ones. As for being an active tipiter or more interactive rs player, I do not foresee any change in my gameplay. I used to be more active on tip it under username "desipardesi" a couple of years back but I no longer find many discussion topics to [bleep]e my interest. It probably has to do with the limited amount of time to play the game and having set myself some targets to achieve, I find chatting to be a distraction. While I am happy to chat with anyone training beside me in the game or to help someone out when they ask for it, I do not go out of my way to start a conversation.

honestly im much the same sort of player as yourself. im happy to talk to the people around me and some other players in game to keep me from getting to bored... other then that i just surf tip it and their forums setting up the best way to go about solo skilling things etc.

 

i dont do pking or boss monster trips because of my dodgey internet connection ive always had, and now its worse that i got satelite... like a 1s delay between everything i do...

 

but yeah its a very single plyer experience for me with the multiplayer aspect usually just getting in my way (they steal my dragons or trees etc).

My god another personal story. Might aswell contibute. I'm the opposite of what you are, I need someone to socialize with. All the Minigames are my life!

I have a close circle of friends I do most things with.

I'm like you. I don't bother with people in Runescape. My chat is always on hide, cause I find the game spam to be more interesting than what other people are saying. Lately I've been popping into ESC chat, but I find that I just get annoyed and leave. The GE was a godsend, cause I literally do not have to deal with people in Runescape.

 

 

 

As for what makes me tick? Combat, and trying to be a one man army, basically. I plan on maxing every combat skill, including Slayer, and putting them to the test. I would much rather solo boss monsters than go with a team. There's no challenge with teams. The only exception is the Corporal Beast, and if I do go with a team, it'll be a very rare occasion indeed.

 

 

 

I play Runescape for Runescape. Not for the people.

 

 

 

As further proof that I'm a total [wagon], I'm also very interested in PvP. Other players, to me, are just really smart boss monsters.

I play basically the same way as you do.

 

 

 

I've played for 5 years now, rarely post, etc. I actually said to my brother (Elferin, played the same time as me) that I almost think of all the other people on RS as one big NPC. It's strange you said the same thing...

 

 

 

I think part of the reason this is, is that veteran players are usually older in real life than someone new to the game. When people are in their younger teenage years they tend to want to fit in and be accepted. As you get older, this acceptance is no longer as important, and now I currently play RS just because I like to see my character grow and improve.

 

 

 

I had a really weird experience one day though: I saw my cousin's friend (both of them are around 13) who plays RS playing a hockey game. I saw a real person who I had talked to and associated with on RS, who I had previously thought of as part of the huge NPC that I considered the general population as. When he saw me by my cousin, I bet he didn't even know that the 18 year old guy watching the game was the Killordie18 he'd pmed in RS a couple times. It was weird, I can't even describe it well.

I play in a sort of similar way to you. I'm not particularly interested in clans, never bothered with them and never really made many friends over Runescape but I don't mind chatting too much really =/ I used to play to beat my best friend IRL's levels but now I have, I play just for myself. I love the GE because it makes things so much easier and there's no real need to have to talk to people I don't really care about. I enjoy the Tip.It forums because I like forums in general and I find quite a lot of the discussions on here interesting. It's also great to learn things, I wouldn't know half the stuff I do if it wasn't for the forums. To me, Runescape is a game to me rather than a social environment.

I feel like I can't live in RS without relying on others. Call me dependent, but it's the way I enjoy the game.

 

 

 

For example, after powering to 85 mining, I rarely mine anything except for gold, stars, or rune. So when I went for 70 smithing, I felt mining my own mithril and coal simply wasn't worth the time.

 

 

 

Of course, you can't talk about this topic unless you bring up the efficiency debate. Many people will say that "efficiency" isn't how you're supposed to enjoy the game. Well, I find that I get more of the game when I play by "efficiency", but there are people, such as yourself, who are more self-sufficient in their playing. In a way, I can respect that, although I don't think I would ever go that way. If I did half the stuff I do would be too boring and I just wouldn't play anymore.

Thank you all for posting. I am certainly glad to hear of opposing viewpoints as much as those who think alike.

 

 

 

Morningrise333, killordie18, Racheya, dahha:

 

So many of your statements seem to reflect my experiences as well. I play RS for the gameplay rather than the social interaction. If I didnt play RS I would be playing some other random game either online or on the PC. Your point on veteran players is also probably true as I probably had more player interaction the first couple of months that I played the game. Thats when the incessant questions started being bothersome and I limited my private chat to a few people that I could tolerate.

 

 

 

zaaps1:

 

You bring up a good topic of "efficiency" that seems to crop up so often on the forums. I find that "efficient" gameplay is too much like work rather than play. It may be more "efficient" to powerlevel skills and merchant to make the money for skills but if I did that, its as if I miss out on the game. Once I max a skill, its not as much fun using it as much as the path taken to get there. Thats probably why I use Slayer as the path to train my combat. I still have more fun raising the lower levelled skills than using the maxed ones. Maybe thats why there are so many "fun" accounts with low levels out there.

 

 

 

 

 

On a side note, have you ever tried the keldagrim blast furnace solo. It can be quite a workout :P.

I don't find this to make sense at all, its an MMORPG, other players are a large part of the gameplay itself.....

 

eh. each to their own I guess.

 

The grand exchange killed one type of merchenting, but gave rise to another type, though I have tried both, I like investment merchenting better, well, solo anyways, I find that with clans, the clan operators and moderators tend to screw over all the members by dumping early.

When I play, I play by myself. When I GWD, I massacre so I don't have to deal with other people. When I buy stuff I use the GE. When someone starts to talk to me, I ignore them.

 

Been doing that for the passed 6 or 7 years.

This is an MMORPG.

 

If you don't like interacting with other people, go play Oblivion.

I don't do many activites regularly in Rs, other than Sc, which require the help of other people to be successful. However, i'm almost always in Esc clan chat as i like having people to talk to and as there are "regulars" in the chat, it creates a kind of "community" within the game community itself, which is nice.

I am almost always by myself because everyone i knew quit playin around the time of the trade limit and wild removal. but this isnt the way i want to play. i love haveing a group of people to talk to but I have big problems with shyness so i can almost never bring myself to start a conversation with people i dont know well either in rs or irl. it's such a curse to love to talk yet not having the courage to start a conversation with anyone.

I am almost always by myself because everyone i knew quit playin around the time of the trade limit and wild removal. but this isnt the way i want to play. i love haveing a group of people to talk to but I have big problems with shyness so i can almost never bring myself to start a conversation with people i dont know well either in rs or irl. it's such a curse to love to talk yet not having the courage to start a conversation with anyone.

 

 

 

I mostly start conversations with "Hello" or something comletely irrelevant, like "Run for the hills!".

 

I'm shy by nature too.

I am also like cuque I choose to play by myself. The reason for this is that to me the game is more more peaceful and relaxing. That is what I believe a game should be a way to get away. I do have friends in game but they are people I know in real life. Some of you have brought up the issue that this is a mmorpg. Well i know this and still to this day pray for a private server where only your character is visible.

the trade update killed it for me. Good job jagex on making a game ... and then succesfully killing it

This is an MMORPG.

 

If you don't like interacting with other people, go play Oblivion.

 

 

 

You're such an idiot. If I choose to ignore part of the game (player interaction), doesn't mean I should quit the game altogether and play by myself all the time. Because I get enough Socialization in real life (I don't think I can say the same thing about some of the other people on here) I don't feel like I have to yup about nothing with avatars of others around the globe.

 

You remind me so much of people that yell "0mfg nub train str" - if I don't want to do it, I don't enjoy it, I'm not gonna do it. My Life, My Runescape, my decisions.

 

 

 

To the Author: I feel like you just told me my RS life, I was thinking of creating a topic like this myself, but the laziness and lack of impressive vocabulary got the best of me :lol:

 

For 4.5 Years now, I've only had a handful of Runescape friends, that I talked to usually. I did everything by myself and was satisfied with that.

 

I spend good 3-5 hours a day on forum.tip.it (for a couple of years now) but yet I rarely post, unless it's something I feel strong about. I'm the observer type :ugeek:

 

 

 

Good thread.

I wonder how old you are, OP. I'm 37, so I grew up before there was even an internet, forget online multiplayer games. I'm conditioned to play RS like a single-player game, and I prefer it that way. I avoid things like Pest Control where I'm part of a team. I'd rather stand or fall on my own. My kids, on the other hand, do all kinds of clan stuff and have completely full friend lists. My friend list has three people on it - my kids.

 

 

 

Oh well, takes all kinds, I guess.

anti-social people ftl. :wall: :wall: :wall:

 

 

 

GET SOME FRIENDS...

 

 

 

btw not everyone who is social says 0mg train str.

 

 

 

they say, What's up?

good read and without interaction with other players i dont think i would play. i think that is what is the most fun of the game. to be able to trade/talk/kill other players is just fun.

anti-social people ftl. :wall: :wall: :wall:

 

 

 

GET SOME FRIENDS...

 

 

 

btw not everyone who is social says 0mg train str.

 

 

 

they say, What's up?

 

Such eloquence. It's rare to see someone sum up with such clearness why I prefer to play this game alone.

I have been a solo player since I started the game sometime in 2001.

 

 

 

I've never found anyone competent enough to actually get to know.

 

This is probably mainly due to the fact that I'm f2p.

 

 

 

Sadly it's gone down hill over the years, for the first time playing the game I'm tempted to become p2p. (I know, I should have joined the bandwagon a long time ago)

 

 

 

The obscenity that f2p has become is the driving force now...