Solidarity

[Zaaps1]

This post will mark my ten thousandth post as a member of the Tip.It Community. I looked back at it, and thought about just how much time I spent here and wondered why it's just so appealing. Thinking about it, I've come to an understanding about the Community and why it is so vital to RuneScape, to Tip.It, and to life.

 

I think the reason why Runescape is such a popular game is the high level of interaction you receive with many players, and I will say that player interaction is at the front and center of what makes Runescape tick. Interaction is the driving force behind almost everything we do, as players, and behind everything Jagex does, and developers and maintainers. The ability to fight with and against other players; the ability to trade for anything you need; the ability to talk with someone to making mining god knows how many gold ores to reach 99 mining...all of this is the most vital part of the game.

 

I read a thread a few months/years/who knows back, which pondered the results of what would happen if absolutely no trading was permitted. Although there would still be player interaction, in the form of talking and competition, the game we know would be radically different. Think about it, having to slave away at Barrows for the last piece of Dharoks you need; having to cut trees for days on end just to get enough nests to support one 10-minute tree farming run, having to run around the world gathering items for a quest that will probably take less time to compete than the preparation.

 

And I also came across a thread that debated the possibility of Quick Chat becoming the ONLY Chat. What would the game be like? Clans outside of boss hunting and pking would likely cease to exist, as the entire process of doing things like locating penguins, specifying hook specs in Fish Flingers, and locating Obelisks is simply too vague in Quick Chat. Plus, the entire ingenuity of the players would be removed, as we as players can come up with a better way to run a community together than Jagex every can.

 

This, is the reason why updates such as the RWT updates and actions such as mutes are considered such atrocities. Eliminating any limb of player interaction leaves a player crippled. Not being able to freely trade with others, or not being able to freely choose targets in PKing, or freely betting on matches in stacking was such a punishment, that tens of thousands of players decided Runescape was not worth playing. Mind you, player interaction was not completely removed, and was compromised a little by things like the GE, but even still, it was too much for so many people. This is what happens when a game loses player interaction.

 

Jagex's recent attempts to increase community interaction have been fairly well received. The Thanksgiving Clue event was outstanding, in my opinion. It brought thousands of players together to work on the challenging puzzles, to the extent that the Tip.It forums crashed a few times! The more recent Triumvirate and the multiple Jagex Clan Cups and similar events, such as the Castle Wars Kill Streak competition, are also well planned and well executed attempts to increase community interaction, and I feel it is no coincidence that I generally see less complaints about Jagex. Consciously or not, I feel that we all acknowledge and/or respect Jagex's work toward greater interaction.

 

Unsurprisingly, however, many of these ideas were taken from fansites such as Tip.It. I consider myself lucky to be a member of the staff and being able to work with the site. The success of Tip.It and other fansites simply goes to show how important the community is. Help is freely given (none of the crap about buying the "secret to success" for $10 from those worthless ads I always see), the Guides are great in the PMG Forum and on the Website, and discussions are always interesting and I can't help myself to take part in them (I suppose that's how I got to 10k!). Overall, Tip.It is such a fun community to be a part of, I'm always happy when I'm on these boards.

 

Achieving success as a fansite took the skill of administrators and moderators, event staff, and many, many dedicated community members. It really says something when Tip.It loses the first Multi-Site Steel War, then comes back every subsequescent years to dominate the event. The shared attitude was that "hey, we're TIF'ers, and we won't let anyone else top us". It just goes to show what a dedicated, loyal, and great community we have. It's a shame that the event was discontinued, as I feel it is one of the best examples of the community in Tip.It and Runescape.

 

I made a forum game a few years ago for "Googlebombing", that is, to manipulate google and put the results you want at the top. I believe we managed to get Tip.It ranked #1 under the query "Ownage Forum". It might still be there, who knows. But that took about 70 pages of hard work by the participants :P

 

I've written 5 guides in the PMG forum, 4 of which have reached AoW status. I felt that by writing guides for the benefit of everyone, I could give back to the Community for everyone it has done for me. I think it's great that so many other people share this view, as there are many new guides that I see on a regular basis. If guides are frequent enough proof (as they do take a long time to write), look at the Help and Advice. Tens of thousands of threads, all to solve the problems of any member of the community, and even non-members (I see many people who register just to post). How many times have I seen, "wow that was a quick reply?". The sheer number of players who are willing to help others on the Help and Advice board represents the height of the Tip.It Community.

 

While there has always been some degree of flaming, immaturity, and disconcertment among the community posters, I've been able to see past that. Maybe behind a flamer is actually just a player who is dedicated to what they believe? It doesn't apply to everyone, but when a discussion gets really heated and flames start rolling, to me that shows that the posters are more passionate than immature. There are some cases, yes, when I can't say that. But really, I think sometimes we give people who post "expectionally passionately" a bit of a rough time.

 

And the essence of the community is one thing, we all come here so we can have a better time when enjoying Runescape, both when we are logged in and when we are logged out.

 

The reason why Tip.It and Runescape are both so successful as instruments of a community are because they mimic and conduct the traits of communities in real life so well. They allow us to fit in right at home. It's not a hard transition to go from talking to your friends irl to posting in a General Discussion thread. The ability to be in a community is important in life. We all have some sort of need to have people who we can lean on and trust. Successful people, I believe, are simply people who understand this the best. Successful players, in a similar manner, are people who understand that grinding levels isn't the way to play, unless you WANT it to be, and that the community is the heard and soul of the game. People are not solitary creatures, and there is no reason for people to be solitary online. A community follows humans anywhere they go. Again, the success of Runescape and Tip.It is the ability for people to seamlessly act the way they would in real life online.

 

And after a little while, a community really gets to stick to you. You may even suffer withdrawal if you're not a part of it. After 10k posts, I can't imagine me ever leaving the Tip.It or Runescape community. Quit Runescape? I can easily imagine that. Quit the community for good? Pains me to think of it. It would be like moving to a different country and never talking to anyone from your old home again. Not only is that unhappy for you, it's also rather cruel for the community to have to lose such a great member so suddenly.

 

I want to know what you all think. Is the Community as vital a part in Runescape and in our lives and I've said? Do you agree or disagree? Do you want to yell at me for making such a big wall of text AGAIN? :P I know there have been threads about the community in the past, but I want to get analytical. What EXACTLY is it about the community? Adaptability? Sheer numbers?

 

I hope you all feel the same way I do. I can't imagine removing myself from this Community for good. To quote the rapper Drake, "I want this [cabbage] forever." I hope this doesn't make me a nerd :P

 

~Zaaps1, Troll General :)

 

tl;dr:

 

Tip.It is awesome, Y/N?

[Danqazmlp]

I can agree with you a whole lot on quitting runescape but not quitting the community, it is almost a family. The community has always grown, shrunk, grown again and changed no-end over the years but it is still something that can hold emotions and feelings for so many.

[Slayer_Jesse]

hah, just kidding. I read the whole thing, and it was a great article. I completely agree that we are nothing without the community. However I disagree with trimuviate. the idea is good, the exicution was lousy. (in particular, the clan wars and pvp world events.)

[langer]

I find myself somewhat at the exact opposite of you. I would never come to these boards if I wasn't actively playing the game. I view RS as a single player game mostly... yeah I'm that kind of player who would rather train slayer alone with no interaction. This is probably why I can't debate properly the issue of the "degrading" community.

 

But back to your topic, great 10 000th posts, here's to another 10K more!

[Aslan]

Nice lie, post 10 001 already.Spammer.

Forgot tl;dr at the end.

Only going to say this:I'd rather deal with the trolling here rather than having to search for answers on RSOF.

[Lemeja]

From personal experience, I've left this game for months on end but still came back to these forums pretty much daily. The diversity here is great, I mean Off-Topic is pretty much a separate community in itself :P

[mememe513]

A great example of this forum community's solidarity was the overwhelming response to Jagex's not immediately making Tip.It a "platinum fansite".

[Skull]

To the tl;dr : the answer is yes. To the whole article... I'll get back to reading it in a little while :oops:

[Kimberly]

The declining player interaction is what drove me to clans. It is constant immersion in player interaction--high leveled, complex, fun interaction with a healthy dash of competition! We (as in the clan community) have had their own slew of blows over time. The RWT updates hurt us terribly, arguably the most alongside sole PK'ers. And we still feel the pain of it even today, when we look at diminished activity and camaraderie of discussion boards while remembering what they used to be...

 

But although the interaction is not as broad as it used to be, it is still just as deep. It is what makes the game for me. It is what keeps me still playing. It is why I can't quit RuneScape, which is wonderful and terrible at the same time. :unsure:

 

I loved that broad interaction though, which is why I started actually discussing things on tipit (not just marketplace threads to sell my god book pages, which is what I did for all of 2004 and probably some of 2005!) The forums might be a bit cliqueish at times, but when it's at it's best...When it's at its best, at the end of the day, we have a great deal to show others what it means to be a community.

 

That close-knit feeling exists in so many places. Even if it's not on tip.it, it is infinitely precious in it's own way and shouldn't be scorned, though I know I'm not the only one who forgets that from time to time. It doesn't matter where it is, so long as it exists. It's what keeps this game and any other game going from the age of "spurr of the moment enjoyment" to "precious memories".

[dirk4slayer]

Well said, zaaps :thumbup:

[Zaaps1]

Thank you for reading and replying everyone :) I'm glad to see there are many others.