As you probably know, there is a well-known list of the first 2,000 players to sign up.

 

However, I seem to have found a discrepancy. According to the very first newsletter, over 28,000 players had signed up as of January 21, 2001. The thing is, I signed up on February 6, 2001, yet I am #1689 on the list of the first 2,000 players.

 

Can anyone explain this?

As you probably know, there is a well-known list of the first 2,000 players to sign up.

 

However, I seem to have found a discrepancy. According to the very first newsletter, over 28,000 players had signed up as of January 21, 2001. The thing is, I signed up on February 6, 2001, yet I am #1689 on the list of the first 2,000 players.

 

Can anyone explain this?

 

If I recall correctly, the claimed source of that list of early players was the highscores list for a new skill which all players had zero experience in. At that time, the highscores listed those with equal experience based upon order of account registration. However, I believe it was also stated that various criteria of inactivity would cause accounts to not be listed at all. Even if 28,000 accounts sounds like a lot to be inactive, it wouldn't surprise me if 25k+ people made accounts at school, etc, to try it out for a few minutes without ever getting really invested.

 

This is all based on vague recollections, so some of the details may be off. I believe this topic has been discussed at much greater length on other sites.

As you probably know, there is a well-known list of the first 2,000 players to sign up.

 

However, I seem to have found a discrepancy. According to the very first newsletter, over 28,000 players had signed up as of January 21, 2001. The thing is, I signed up on February 6, 2001, yet I am #1689 on the list of the first 2,000 players.

 

Can anyone explain this?

 

If I recall correctly, the claimed source of that list of early players was the highscores list for a new skill which all players had zero experience in. At that time, the highscores listed those with equal experience based upon order of account registration. However, I believe it was also stated that various criteria of inactivity would cause accounts to not be listed at all. Even if 28,000 accounts sounds like a lot to be inactive, it wouldn't surprise me if 25k+ people made accounts at school, etc, to try it out for a few minutes without ever getting really invested.

 

This is all based on vague recollections, so some of the details may be off. I believe this topic has been discussed at much greater length on other sites.

 

 

It came from the herblaw list, before the skill was released. With no experience, it indeed sorted players in the order that they started in.

 

However, there is a few things to consider:

 

1. Like previously mentioned, after a while I am fairly sure they did indeed start removing people from the list for inactivity. Though I do not believe that was originally the case. Whether such was happening by the time of the list, I cannot tell you.

2. Remember in the earliest days, people used to use mules. By the time the list was discovered, mules had been effectively been replaced by item banks.

3. Many accounts where probably only used a few times, then never touched again.

4. Inactive accounts (mules or otherwise) who had not gained so many levels/value in items on their character were deleted.

5. By the time the list was discovered, bans had long since replaced the black hole and banned accounts would not appear on the highscores.

i Started in 01.

i Started in 01.

 

Hurray

Inactive accounts being taken out of the lsit can't possibly explain that kind of inaccuracy. I made the account superman3434, which is number 58 on the list, and hardly ever played it after the day it was created. In fact I didn't even remember making the account until i was going through my old computer's documents and re-discovered the information for the account. I just started leveling it as a pure for when the 10 year capes come out, it will be interesting to have a 10 year vet cape'd pure haha. It had gained a total of like 4 levels and yet remained #58 on the list, so i'm not sure we can assume inactive players were deleted from the list.