Why Don't People Explore Anymore?

[jimmy_jim]

This brings back some memories. When I first started RuneScape, I couldn't wait until I had 10,000 gp. I had decided that when I had made that amount of money I would take half of it and go exploring. I was knew to the game, and exploring some of the places was great fun. Constantly coming across new NPC's to talk to, many new quests to start, and many shifty characters. I ended up dieing to level 22 skeleton's in Crandor Isle.

 

 

 

About six months after this, I made a pure (they were all the rage back then :P) and I decided to get members. I used about 15 days of my month of members exploring, it was an amazing feeling seeing all the new areas, and all the different monsters which I hadn't even heard of.

 

 

 

Now I have seen everything there really is to see in the game. There's no new areas to explore, there's hasn't been a huge NPC update.

 

 

 

When the High Definition graphics were released to free players, I spent a very long time just roaming around, and got the old feeling that I hadn't had for a long time. It was very nice(great update), but got old a lot quicker than I would've liked.

 

 

 

I think players will explore a lot more when getting members, or even exploring just for fun in free to play if the map was substantially increased. From what I've heard, I'm sure that there will be some type of map increase this year, and I am greatly looking forward to it, and hope to have that special feeling return when I see new places.

[D Jay99]

Boooring. I'd rather achieve something than wander around aimlessly. That's why I never do quests on the release day either, it's just going to annoy me to no end when I find out I forgot to bring an item or something. I'd rather wait for a guide to come out and finish it faster, without getting annoyed by things I could have avoided.

[Danqazmlp]

I think the majority of new members would relish the opportunity to explore new areas without the aid of others, but as we progress in the game there are so few places left for us to explore that we often forget we can do things by ourselves. With new updates, I think people are often wary of new areas in case they are dangerous. Outsanity has an extremely valid point about those being willing to throw themselves at new challenges as being the most successful. Take the WGS quest as an example; on the first day the reward pieces were worth upwards of 10M each. Not very long after, they plummeted and it was near impossible to sell.

 

 

 

 

 

WGS is definately one of the best examples, If i had waited for a guide to do that quest, it would have cost me 5m easily, but as i did it asap, i gained a nice 13m from doing a quest.

 

 

 

I can use Summers End as another example of exploring leading to incredible rewards, not gp rewards but just plain old fun. Immortalised in my memory is the moment a tiffer shouted in the tif cc that the CB was in its cave, and about 5 other tiffers including me who had rushed to complete the quest at the same time went into the cave to be what i think, the first few players to ever see the beast. We had no idea what its attacks would be, what its hp was, what its drops were etc, but we still grabbed some gear and tried to kill it, about half an hour later we managed what i think was the first CB kill in rs (was rumours of DI killing it on another world). But if i had waited for a guide, or sat there asking other people about it,i would have missed that epic moment.

[Saru Inc]

Maybe, they don't find exploring fun. Maybe they find getting new content and levels fun. Simple, it's not that hard if you think about it. And how do you know they don't explore? You don't.

 

 

 

(directed at OP fyi)

[SwreeTak]

I think you're wrong when you say that people don't explore anymore. My experience is that players just don't explore for just the exploring's sake anymore. Instead they try to combine the exploring with other things within the game. For example, a player who trains agility, will explore the agility courses and the areas around these while he/she trains. The player reads a little about the courses, or asks friends, but just to get a main idea of what it is about. This combined way leads to both fun (The exploring) and the xp that he/she needs. Same thing goes for quests. If you for example do the elf quests, you explore the western parts of Gielnor at the same time.

 

I believe that players don't explore as they used to before much because of information about RS have become easier to access, much thanks to the KB and all the adverts for it on the RS main page. A lot of it could also be because of sites like this.

 

Players have learn to be more ready when they head to new areas, but they certainly still explore!

[unkn0wnwarrior]

Even though I'm F2P, I still "explore" once in a while. I'll walk around the long way instead of teleporting (not always, but sometimes), or I'll just walk around aimlessly when I get too bored of skilling. I've found a lot of new features while doing this.

[Magikarp]

I agree with you. People are lazy. They just want answers, but not to have to work for them. I bet you my entire account that about 90% of questers or more use guides to complete quests. No one wants to work for their rewards anymore. They just want to cut right to the point, which, in my opinion, makes them lazy and sets them apart from the real elitists of runescape. The most successful people in this game are the ones that dive headfirst into new updates and take risks and figure everything out themselves, and most often, BEFORE everyone else.

 

 

 

Completely agreed.

 

 

 

Being someone that has also gotten their quest cape without using a single guide, I can tell you that when people say "Just use a guide" it really bothers me that people can't figure out stuff for themself.

 

 

 

Anyway, the first thing I did when I became member... I remember thieving on men in lumbridge for a good hour, then I decided that I wanted to walk across the falador-taverly gate and just explore everything across it. I remember almost dying on White Wolf Mountain, but I barely made it. I remember walking to to Ardougne and doing Clock Tower and Hazeel Cult (I didn't even know that guides existed at the time), the quests that sparked the quest interest I still have today.

[actcasual]

The first thing I did when I got members was to log out. I was scared by all the peoples cats :lol: but on topic I did explore I suppose. Someone talked about their trip over white wolf mountain and I had a similar experience, but over time places just kinda found themselves and there wasn't too much to explore.

[perfetc]

Personally I think people dont explore is for the same reason we use maps and gps, who wants to wander round for ages when you can get to were ever your going a 100 times easier by asking some body or using a map?

[rainbowbody]

When my grandchildren talked me into playing this back in 2004, I never even turned public chat (only friends) on (nor trade) for several months. Though I had private chat set to friends, only my grandchildren were on the list. I wanted to figure it all out for myself as see how far I could go just making all the stuff I used or getting drops. Eventually I figured out it was too slow that way and that I had to buy some things from others of sell to them some stuff and turned public chat on. I still emphasized doing most myself and working skills together. I chose combat for drops to support skill work. I explored to find good sources and ways to do things together. It was all about the most important experience: knowledge of the game.

 

 

 

But things changed in ways that kept invalidating old knowledge, and usually in ways that degraded the game results and invalidated plans. Some things were for genuine reasons such as real world trading and its associated criminal behavior. But most was not. And of course, Jagex played it all very close to the vest. Having to re-explore to find out how we got messed over lately was a real negative influence style of playing.

 

 

 

Most recently, they have started another wave of game changes, but they seem to be motivated on reducing the hassle component and there is much more visibility from Jagex about it. Maybe exploring will again become a worthwhile activity.

[P4duke]

Jagex' are the root of this problem. Yes it's their game... blah blah blah, but since Grand Exchange, people instead of going to a remote location to buy whatever item, they go to G.E. That's the problem.

[Zierro]

The most successful people in this game are the ones that dive headfirst into new updates and take risks and figure everything out themselves, and most often, BEFORE everyone else.

 

 

 

If you wait until someone else figures it out first, that gives you more time to be doing something you know how to do efficiently. They are doing trial and error which only has the intent of figuring out how it works, as you are using this waiting time to do already known efficient things then mimicking what they done - so you don't have to resort to trial and error. The only objection is that some players might hold out on others and not tell them how to do the method for a while, but news does tend to spread fast on the internet and this is a rare case.

 

 

 

Unless by "successful", you mean the people who are having the most fun and enjoyment out of the game (which would be a good point, but I don't think this is what you were aiming for), I have to disagree.

[Danqazmlp]

The most successful people in this game are the ones that dive headfirst into new updates and take risks and figure everything out themselves, and most often, BEFORE everyone else.

 

 

 

 

 

Unless by "successful", you mean the people who are having the most fun and enjoyment out of the game (which would be a good point, but I don't think this is what you were aiming for), I have to disagree.

 

 

 

Shouldn't that be the aim of every game though? Thats personally what i 've been trying to aim at in my posts.

[Zierro]

Shouldn't that be the aim of every game though? Thats personally what i 've been trying to aim at in my posts.

 

 

 

Yes, and you're right. Fun should definitely be your highest priority in the game. But by "successful" I thought he meant the most efficient, high leveled, richest, or something else along those lines. I could be wrong though.

[Giordano]

[hide=]

People explore just as much as they used to back when you did it. Typically, those people are not the same people who post on forums asking for help, that's all. Nothing is different.

 

 

 

About every RuneScaper I see wants to get quick 99s. Or something way out there (like Godswords) the fastest possible way.

 

This thread is about exploring on the surface, but deeper in it's about the lack of relaxing and having fun. When you explore, you're not grinding away rapidly but at peace in your own pace.

 

Again, nothing has really changed. The people who act the way you describe probably aren't indicative of any larger pattern in Runescape culture. There are still plenty of people who like to explore and figure things out for themselves; you just aren't noticing them.

 

 

 

]And it is a serious problem (to me at least) because this makes the game developers create updates to please the grinders, helping them get a level faster, making the game loose it's "unknown excitement". I've stop playing 2 MMOs due to that.

 

The majority of Runescape updates are not geared towards people who grind endlessly. Those people don't need updates, because they'll just accept the status quo and grind away with whatever method they think is the best. Quests and minigames in particular make up a large part of the developers' efforts, and their target audience falls squarely in the "explorer" group. If the game loses its "unknown excitement" for you, it's because you know now; nothing has changed but your attitude. To a new player, it's still unknown.

[/hide]

 

We're not discussing the lack of explorers, but the overpopulous amount of "quicker" people. Folks who want to get everything done fast and now. Which eventually will make the game into a routine and unoriginal.

 

 

 

The point I'm trying to make is that if people continue doing everything quickly, you're not going to have an enjoyable time playing the game. Since your concern, your only concern, is to efficiently train to be the best. Which, with a game over 10 million people, you're going to be working for a very long time. An this isn't work, its a game.

 

 

 

And to avoid more stupid posts, I am not saying everybody is like this but there is a large number.

[llVIU]

rainbowbody if I may ask, how old are you? And tbh I like doing things and finding out stuff myself and not be helped, but when it comes to wasting a lot of time/money, I just feel that I have to research before doing things.

 

 

 

btw I think most people go do things that were freshly updated to get those items that are worth a lot (whips were worth 10mil gp) or abuse bugs (some guy got 99 rc from spying penguins) or other such things that put the player at a significant advantage. Others like the new content, or doing something with a LOT of players

 

 

 

Well for example you wouldn't knew how good the new 2 agility courses unless you went there and test it yourself + see what the numerous other players had to say about it.... and it didn't show up in any guides (except.. knowledge base where it always BEARLY says anything on the things that you're interested in)

[Kilo]

[hide=]

People explore just as much as they used to back when you did it. Typically, those people are not the same people who post on forums asking for help, that's all. Nothing is different.

 

 

 

About every RuneScaper I see wants to get quick 99s. Or something way out there (like Godswords) the fastest possible way.

 

This thread is about exploring on the surface, but deeper in it's about the lack of relaxing and having fun. When you explore, you're not grinding away rapidly but at peace in your own pace.

 

Again, nothing has really changed. The people who act the way you describe probably aren't indicative of any larger pattern in Runescape culture. There are still plenty of people who like to explore and figure things out for themselves; you just aren't noticing them.

 

 

 

]And it is a serious problem (to me at least) because this makes the game developers create updates to please the grinders, helping them get a level faster, making the game loose it's "unknown excitement". I've stop playing 2 MMOs due to that.

 

The majority of Runescape updates are not geared towards people who grind endlessly. Those people don't need updates, because they'll just accept the status quo and grind away with whatever method they think is the best. Quests and minigames in particular make up a large part of the developers' efforts, and their target audience falls squarely in the "explorer" group. If the game loses its "unknown excitement" for you, it's because you know now; nothing has changed but your attitude. To a new player, it's still unknown.

[/hide]

 

We're not discussing the lack of explorers, but the overpopulous amount of "quicker" people. Folks who want to get everything done fast and now. Which eventually will make the game into a routine and unoriginal.

 

 

 

The point I'm trying to make is that if people continue doing everything quickly, you're not going to have an enjoyable time playing the game. Since your concern, your only concern, is to efficiently train to be the best. Which, with a game over 10 million people, you're going to be working for a very long time. An this isn't work, its a game.

 

 

 

And to avoid more stupid posts, I am not saying everybody is like this but there is a large number.

 

 

 

What updates have given you an indication that Jagex is only going to impliment updates that help the grinders? Your saying things without examples or references.

 

 

 

Games are an escape, and if people want to be totally innoculated with training a skill for a couple of hours to get away from life, why not let them? Your seemingly saying that if people aren't doing things the way you want them to, then they can't possibly be having fun.

 

 

 

To avoid more stupid posts, make some references please. :pray:

[guthixdruid829]

i agree. i remember looking forward to becoming a member and then all the exploring. i even got lost alot of times but that was the fun of it!i like exploring places, but the problem is, to few places. jagex should wrok on instead of some sort of graphical update, a land area update! :thumbsup: like increase the land area with tons more new towns, places, and people.

[Kilo]

Sorry for the sort of double post tipit, too many quotes I guess, messing with the format.

 

Yeah, it is quite a claim, and I can back it up with more than four years of playing experience. In my experiences, (and let's face it, I have a well rounded character and have experienced quite a bit of all aspects and areas of the game) I meet more people who would rather ask someone else how to do something than go figure it out themselves. Even high levels are like this now-a-days, and that's what makes me sick. My friends list is near full from a lot of people I meet and full of old friends. Out of maybe the 60 people on it, I would say a good 45 of those have all at some point asked me a question that would have taken them literally 10 seconds to figure out. (Usually by opening up a skill guide or checking the ge.)

 

 

 

It's annoying is what it is. And I'd like you to know that the people you say that "dive in" typically are the same few dozen people on each world. Every updates I always see the same people there. All the regulars.

 

 

 

And if the people who dove in first and REALLY found the potential of updates didn't write guides and make videos, the people who look up guides would have no clue what to do unless they went to go look for themselves.

 

 

 

It's called being self-sufficient. If you don't learn how to ween yourself off the bottle, you're just going to stay dependent on it. If you go out and do things yourself you get them done faster and more successfully. We're not just talking about runescape here, we're talking about life. If everyone in the entire world sat around saying, "Eh, I'll wait until they've found the cure for cancer instead of trying myself," then we wouldn't have scientists and doctors trying to save the world from it right now. Now, fogive me for the rotten metaphore, seeing as how people in runescape will still survive without knowledge from other players, but people with cancer won't without a cure for it. My apologies for that, but it's the best I could come up with.

 

 

 

And in the end this is only my opinion and my first hand experience of the players in the game. If you have met a different crowd of people then cheers to you, but it seems to me that you only hang around with these "self-sufficient" players, so that's all you really know. I've been around thousands and thousands of players of both kinds, and I see far more of the lazy, "I want it all and I want it all fast and with little hard work," types of people.

 

 

 

It just sounds to me like you want to be optimistic for the sake of being optimistic, not really because the situation calls for it. We're talking about runescape, not a crowd of people fighting for civil rights or equality among men.

 

 

 

The problem with your experience is that you draw a biased conclusion. That's why truth isn't based in experience, it just can't be. I'm not even going to begin to respond to your post however. I don't see how some of you people write all of this stuff, and then expect others to care so much as to write a giant response. :wall: It's runescape we're talking about not cancer damnit. Stop taking things so friggin' seriously.

[Danqazmlp]

[hide=]

People explore just as much as they used to back when you did it. Typically, those people are not the same people who post on forums asking for help, that's all. Nothing is different.

 

 

 

About every RuneScaper I see wants to get quick 99s. Or something way out there (like Godswords) the fastest possible way.

 

This thread is about exploring on the surface, but deeper in it's about the lack of relaxing and having fun. When you explore, you're not grinding away rapidly but at peace in your own pace.

 

Again, nothing has really changed. The people who act the way you describe probably aren't indicative of any larger pattern in Runescape culture. There are still plenty of people who like to explore and figure things out for themselves; you just aren't noticing them.

 

 

 

]And it is a serious problem (to me at least) because this makes the game developers create updates to please the grinders, helping them get a level faster, making the game loose it's "unknown excitement". I've stop playing 2 MMOs due to that.

 

The majority of Runescape updates are not geared towards people who grind endlessly. Those people don't need updates, because they'll just accept the status quo and grind away with whatever method they think is the best. Quests and minigames in particular make up a large part of the developers' efforts, and their target audience falls squarely in the "explorer" group. If the game loses its "unknown excitement" for you, it's because you know now; nothing has changed but your attitude. To a new player, it's still unknown.

[/hide]

 

We're not discussing the lack of explorers, but the overpopulous amount of "quicker" people. Folks who want to get everything done fast and now. Which eventually will make the game into a routine and unoriginal.

 

 

 

The point I'm trying to make is that if people continue doing everything quickly, you're not going to have an enjoyable time playing the game. Since your concern, your only concern, is to efficiently train to be the best. Which, with a game over 10 million people, you're going to be working for a very long time. An this isn't work, its a game.

 

 

 

And to avoid more stupid posts, I am not saying everybody is like this but there is a large number.

 

 

 

What updates have given you an indication that Jagex is only going to impliment updates that help the grinders? Your saying things without examples or references.

 

 

 

Games are an escape, and if people want to be totally innoculated with training a skill for a couple of hours to get away from life, why not let them? Your seemingly saying that if people aren't doing things the way you want them to, then they can't possibly be having fun.

 

 

 

To avoid more stupid posts, make some references please. :pray:

 

 

 

 

 

I agree games are an excape, i guess it's down to more people now-days finding grinding towards goals more fun than exploring a CG world. That or they just seem much more notice-able.

 

 

 

But i do ask, if anybody does grind skill all the time, and doesen't enjoy it, (if it applies to anybody here) why do you do it? Try exploring, you won't be gaining any ranks or exp, but if you try to find some far-flung areas, examine anything strange you see, that time will stick in your mind and go much quicker than any grinding will.

[Zierro]

But i do ask, if anybody does grind skill all the time, and doesen't enjoy it, (if it applies to anybody here) why do you do it?

 

 

 

Sometimes they will hate the grind but love the satisfaction they get from the outcome. It's the opposite of those who goof around in the bank all day and then get upset that they haven't accomplished anything. I'm not saying one is more right than the other - they both have their pros and cons.

 

 

 

Fun is very subjective - some people like watching sports. I will never understand that, but to each his own.

[DocterDuck]

I was more goal oriented when I got members. Before I did I wanted to get my total level to 700, get all my F2P levels up to 50+, and all that. When I got it I was so confused as to what to do, I've had it two months now and I still have no idea what to do.

[Skull]

I've always wished I could erase everything I knew about Runescape from my mind and start over. The most fun I ever had while playing the game was back in the day where I got lost everywhere, killed by everything, etc. Not having a clue what to do was just so much fun. Now, as hard as I try I can't do that, I already know where everything is.

[Giordano]

 

 

 

What updates have given you an indication that Jagex is only going to impliment updates that help the grinders? Your saying things without examples or references.

 

 

 

Games are an escape, and if people want to be totally innoculated with training a skill for a couple of hours to get away from life, why not let them? Your seemingly saying that if people aren't doing things the way you want them to, then they can't possibly be having fun.

 

 

 

To avoid more stupid posts, make some references please. :pray:

 

"Only implement updates"? Stop twisting my words. Jagex are releasing updates that make the game easier but not all of them are geared to it.. Such as skill capes, the quest-helper thing, grand exchange, Make X, and other easier methods of skilling.

 

 

 

Of course, whatever floats their boats, but I can't stop to think that what the grinders do is a tad routine and boring. If everybody does the same thing, it's not exciting you know what I mean?

[Troacctid]

[hide=Danqazmlp wrote]

People explore just as much as they used to back when you did it. Typically, those people are not the same people who post on forums asking for help, that's all. Nothing is different.

 

 

 

About every RuneScaper I see wants to get quick 99s. Or something way out there (like Godswords) the fastest possible way.

 

This thread is about exploring on the surface, but deeper in it's about the lack of relaxing and having fun. When you explore, you're not grinding away rapidly but at peace in your own pace.

 

Again, nothing has really changed. The people who act the way you describe probably aren't indicative of any larger pattern in Runescape culture. There are still plenty of people who like to explore and figure things out for themselves; you just aren't noticing them.

 

 

 

]And it is a serious problem (to me at least) because this makes the game developers create updates to please the grinders, helping them get a level faster, making the game loose it's "unknown excitement". I've stop playing 2 MMOs due to that.

 

The majority of Runescape updates are not geared towards people who grind endlessly. Those people don't need updates, because they'll just accept the status quo and grind away with whatever method they think is the best. Quests and minigames in particular make up a large part of the developers' efforts, and their target audience falls squarely in the "explorer" group. If the game loses its "unknown excitement" for you, it's because you know now; nothing has changed but your attitude. To a new player, it's still unknown.

 

We're not discussing the lack of explorers, but the overpopulous amount of "quicker" people. Folks who want to get everything done fast and now. Which eventually will make the game into a routine and unoriginal.

 

 

 

The point I'm trying to make is that if people continue doing everything quickly, you're not going to have an enjoyable time playing the game. Since your concern, your only concern, is to efficiently train to be the best. Which, with a game over 10 million people, you're going to be working for a very long time. An this isn't work, its a game.

 

 

 

And to avoid more stupid posts, I am not saying everybody is like this but there is a large number.

 

 

 

What updates have given you an indication that Jagex is only going to impliment updates that help the grinders? Your saying things without examples or references.

 

 

 

Games are an escape, and if people want to be totally innoculated with training a skill for a couple of hours to get away from life, why not let them? Your seemingly saying that if people aren't doing things the way you want them to, then they can't possibly be having fun.

 

 

 

To avoid more stupid posts, make some references please. :pray:

 

 

 

 

 

I agree games are an excape, i guess it's down to more people now-days finding grinding towards goals more fun than exploring a CG world. That or they just seem much more notice-able.

 

 

 

But i do ask, if anybody does grind skill all the time, and doesen't enjoy it, (if it applies to anybody here) why do you do it? Try exploring, you won't be gaining any ranks or exp, but if you try to find some far-flung areas, examine anything strange you see, that time will stick in your mind and go much quicker than any grinding will.

[/hide]

 

It really has nothing to do with "nowadays." There's no giant movement away from exploring. For the most part, the people who want to are still doing it, and the people who don't want to aren't.