The game seems to have developed a seriousness...

[Andufus123]

Perhaps my title is poorly worded, but allow me to explain.

 

I have played RuneScape on and off for a number of years, though the last time I played for more than a day at a time was a solid year ago, and for more than a month at a time a year or two before that.

In this time, the game seems to have gone from a community of people questing and mini-gaming, with tip.it, for example, holding events (indeed, I was a member of the event team for a while, on a different TIF account, Andufusthebronze) to being dwarfed by a large skill-maxing/quest-finishing/monster-killing contingent. It seems that the 'casual' players have died out in favour of those who are more 'serious' about the game - just as an example, TET has become the Tip.It Monster Hunting team.

I find this very interesting because I strongly believe myself to be a casual player: I have a singular level 99 that I gained over, what I can only assume, was literally around the 90-days played time mark.

 

May I ask why people think this is?

Or, am I wrong? Are the casual players equally distributed, I just can't find them?

When did the game go from free-roaming to objective-based?

[Den]

Andufus! Long time no see. :D

 

On topic. I believe Jagex are partly to blame for the shift in community. A lot of focus has been created around getting experience and being "efficient". I also believe tip.it has a fairly large efficiency audience, but there are always casual gamers around. You just have to know where to look. The game is still free-roaming, but there are a lot more people who are objective-minded. The game itself pushes for you to go for goals after all. Always been like that, but there's more focus on doing it now than say in 2007. Not saying that's a bad thing. I consider myself an efficient player, but I enjoy that kind of gameplay. :P

[chenw]

I count myself as one of the more casual players (although one could debate whether burning nearly 10k vyres and shades as 'sane'), I don't particularly strive for max xp/hour, although I sometimes do if it isn't out of my way to do it.

 

What I think have changed more is the community attitude as a whole compared to say... 2006 or 2007 (which I thought was one of the highest points in the community), but then it slowly drifted down, and unfortunately, I don't see it stopping anytime soon.

 

I am not saying there are no more fun/nice people around (there still is plenty), but you will get your daily share of players whose internal brain OS is several years/decades out of date and needs updating (aka immature)

[Andufus123]

Andufus! Long time no see. :D

 

On topic. I believe Jagex are partly to blame for the shift in community. A lot of focus has been created around getting experience and being "efficient". I also believe tip.it has a fairly large efficiency audience, but there are always casual gamers around. You just have to know where to look. The game is still free-roaming, but there are a lot more people who are objective-minded. The game itself pushes for you to go for goals after all. Always been like that, but there's more focus on doing it now than say in 2007. Not saying that's a bad thing. I consider myself an efficient player, but I enjoy that kind of gameplay. :P

 

Aloha, Den.

Just as a case in point, your signature has the word 'completionist' in it ;)

May I ask the kind of things that Jagex has added or removed from the game that has caused the shift in focus? When I left, people were complaining they were making the game too 12 year old+ focused, is it now the opposite? Have they changed the game's direction, to require commitment that only older players can give?

So, where do I find these fabled, hidden casual players?

 

I count myself as one of the more casual players (although one could debate whether burning nearly 10k vyres and shades as 'sane'), I don't particularly strive for max xp/hour, although I sometimes do if it isn't out of my way to do it.

 

What I think have changed more is the community attitude as a whole compared to say... 2006 or 2007 (which I thought was one of the highest points in the community), but then it slowly drifted down, and unfortunately, I don't see it stopping anytime soon.

 

I am not saying there are no more fun/nice people around (there still is plenty), but you will get your daily share of players whose internal brain OS is several years/decades out of date and needs updating (aka immature)

 

I wasn't neccesarily talking about getting the most efficient gameplay: like, I wasn't asking why people are all fly-fishing now, I was simply asking why there don't seem to be people stood around in banks chatting anymore. Everyone is doing something that contributes to a goal, seemingly at the expense of the social side.

 

Can you explain this shifting attitude, though? What's caused the slide towards immaturity? Is the game too easy now, is there simply too much to achieve but also too easily?

[Estoc]

If you go to spots that are inefficient you will find inefficient players. Likewise, if you go to spots that offer the best xp/hr you will find people who value it. It all depends on what you do, there are plenty of players of either play style.

 

 

I count myself as one of the more casual players (although one could debate whether burning nearly 10k vyres and shades as 'sane'), I don't particularly strive for max xp/hour, although I sometimes do if it isn't out of my way to do it.

 

What I think have changed more is the community attitude as a whole compared to say... 2006 or 2007 (which I thought was one of the highest points in the community), but then it slowly drifted down, and unfortunately, I don't see it stopping anytime soon.

 

I am not saying there are no more fun/nice people around (there still is plenty), but you will get your daily share of players whose internal brain OS is several years/decades out of date and needs updating (aka immature)

 

I think it's more likely that many factors such as you becoming older older and so are less tolerant to that kind of behavior and nostalgia blurring out the memories of bad players rather then the entire community being replaced by drooling idiots.

[SnuGGzZ]

Check out the the goals and achievements section on the RSOF, probably will see endless amounts of threads all of which are people going for max cape.

[Platinum_Myr]

I have plenty of friends who do non-completionist/goal-oriented things. I spend a fair amount of time dancing with my friends for example.

 

I think the advent of the clan chat, the friends chat and clan system, and all has allowed more social interaction without having to appear that way. Also, the advent of the max/completion capes have increased the visibility of the efficient gameplay.

 

I enjoy efficient gameplay, calculating the best methods and so on.

 

I think as time goes on the dedicated players get older, and as jagex have claimed a decline in new players, it seems to me that an increase in efficiency/dedicated gamers would occur, because fewer casual gamers stuck around and new gamers weren't as common.

 

At any rate, I think that the main change in focus was probably the max cape release. Now tons of players can be more vocal about "going for max cape" instead of "going for max total"

 

But there are plenty of people who are more casual for sure.

[homer205]

The change was happening before max capes however, so I don't think it can all be attributed to that. Also, as tip it tends to have more late teen/adult players, I think the efficiency focus or more noticeable here than elsewhere. I think tip it events team was replaced with the monster hunting team as a result of not many people attending events and so monster hunting was adopted to encourage more people to participate.

[Ashoke]

I like this thread a lot.

[Serpent Eye]

I think there has always been a more "serious" side to RuneScape, but in my opinion, people seemed to start caring more and more about efficiency after Dungeoneering was released. I think it really caused people to reevaluate and change their gameplay styles.

 

Whether that's a good or bad thing, I won't get into. :-P RuneScape has always been more of a solo thing for me, and I've never really focused or worried about how other people play the game.

[Lord Slayas]

I would agree that the game has definitely made a shift to a more serious type of game, but there are definitely a lot more casual players out there then serious ones. Things like friends chats and clan chats have pretty much made it extremely easy to communicate without having to gather in common areas, so it's not surprising it is less noticeable, though. Serious players also tend to be the ones who are most vocal, since they care the most, while casual players usually have much smaller forum and in-game presence, so are a bit less noticeable.

 

All the recent EXP bonus items and rewards for getting high levels have really put the serious players in the spotlight, but try spending some time in one of the busier F2P worlds in the common areas, and you'll see lots of casual players :P They are still there, methinks, they're just being overshadowed.

[Omar]

When I started playing, I got off tutorial island and I had no idea what to do. The concept of goals only hit me later. Am I wrong to think players are immediately guided nowadays?

[highlanders]

I think eventually you just run out of stuff to do. You can try a variety of things, finish all quests, play minigames till you're sick of them, do some pvp, etc. But the novelty and fun in everything inevitably wears out. If you're into this game for fun, the game has a limited lifespan. All games do.

 

Probably the only reason you're still around is because you didn't put in that many hours in the game, and played on/off like you've said. If a casual played like 4 hours a day, which students often do, it wouldn't take long before they had exhausted the fun part of the game and hit a big wall of grind. At which point they quit and move on to the next fun thing and that's why they aren't around.

 

The people that stay and keep playing are pretty much the goal-oriented types, that enjoy setting up and completing goals, even if the process to get there isn't that fun. Probably if you hang out with low levels, you'd find people still in the fun/exploration part of the game. 'Cause look at us, we're all high levels here, so it's not surprising you're getting the "serious" vibe.

[Barney.S]

I think the game has been pretty much the same since when I started in ealry 2001, but the main thing is, that you have so many other ways to communicated other than bankstanding and chatting. I prefer to keep my private chat on friends and publick chat off, while talking a lot in PM and FC/CC.

 

Also, what ahs changed that computers have improved a lot, which mean you can easily multitask. So while I'm bankstanding fletching or crafting, I am also watching shows. Which means all of my chats are off and I am just grinding away. In my mind that is perfectly normal, because if you still find novelty whcih takes up a lot of your time in the game after even 2 years of play - you really haven't done a lot in the game.

 

RS has always been grind based and the people who stay here are grind orientated.

[Mercifull]

I think RuneScape has always had serious players. Serpent Eye I think got it right with his theory about the shift changing since Dungeoneering. I wonder if you graphed Dungeoneering level with "seriousness" you'd find a corrolation...

 

There are still plenty of us bank standers around we just aren't as vocal as some others :P

[Donnie]

You missed the surge in seriousness by about a few years. Skill capes were the beginning of it, but also later with the GE. Players started to realize efficiency and grew toward that attitude.

[Kaur]

I was simply asking why there don't seem to be people stood around in banks chatting anymore. Everyone is doing something that contributes to a goal, seemingly at the expense of the social side.

 

People communicate via clanchats, friend chats, IRC, forums, Skype, msn, Facebook, Teamspeak, Ventrilo which are all 100 times better options than public chat that is constantly flooded with irrelevant text and info about the gamestate making it hard to follow. Then you need to teleport and it's all gone.

[Andufus123]

If you go to spots that are inefficient you will find inefficient players.

 

I didn't say I was looking for 'inefficient' players - I just noticed that there was a trend towards efficiency that hadn't existed. And I don't think there's a correlation between social and inefficient. But, I mean, if I myself was to try and max out in this game, without some good friends to talk to along the way, it would definitely begin to feel like torture after a while.

 

I have plenty of friends who do non-completionist/goal-oriented things. I spend a fair amount of time dancing with my friends for example.

 

I think the advent of the clan chat, the friends chat and clan system, and all has allowed more social interaction without having to appear that way. Also, the advent of the max/completion capes have increased the visibility of the efficient gameplay.

 

I enjoy efficient gameplay, calculating the best methods and so on.

 

I think as time goes on the dedicated players get older, and as jagex have claimed a decline in new players, it seems to me that an increase in efficiency/dedicated gamers would occur, because fewer casual gamers stuck around and new gamers weren't as common.

 

At any rate, I think that the main change in focus was probably the max cape release. Now tons of players can be more vocal about "going for max cape" instead of "going for max total"

 

But there are plenty of people who are more casual for sure.

 

Your argument seems well reasoned: particularly the part about clan-chats etc. May I ask which clan chats you use and how you found the players you talk to inthem/that host them? Was it through tip.it or people you knew before the surge towards seriousness?

I'll admit the max cape was my main suspicion: when I heard about it, even I was tempted to try and get it, before I realized how much time that would take and how few people I know who still actively play this game from *wipes nostalgic tear* the good old days.

 

I think there has always been a more "serious" side to RuneScape, but in my opinion, people seemed to start caring more and more about efficiency after Dungeoneering was released. I think it really caused people to reevaluate and change their gameplay styles.

 

Whether that's a good or bad thing, I won't get into. :razz: RuneScape has always been more of a solo thing for me, and I've never really focused or worried about how other people play the game.

 

Solo as in you skill alone or solo as in you don't talk to people?

To each their own but I can't imagine enjoying RS myself without meeting other, social, players.

 

I would agree that the game has definitely made a shift to a more serious type of game, but there are definitely a lot more casual players out there then serious ones. Things like friends chats and clan chats have pretty much made it extremely easy to communicate without having to gather in common areas, so it's not surprising it is less noticeable, though. Serious players also tend to be the ones who are most vocal, since they care the most, while casual players usually have much smaller forum and in-game presence, so are a bit less noticeable.

 

All the recent EXP bonus items and rewards for getting high levels have really put the serious players in the spotlight, but try spending some time in one of the busier F2P worlds in the common areas, and you'll see lots of casual players :P They are still there, methinks, they're just being overshadowed.

 

Sorry to be the continual asker of questions (as I appear to be both in this thread and in my help and advice about fishing - you'll notice the hypocricy of posting these two threads at the same time, by the way) but where would you say are the busier areas of f2p? I played for a little while yesterday doing some fly fishing in edgeville and people seemed to either be fishing or cutting wood, but with very little conversation. Where would you recommend I check out, as it were?

Also, where are all these exp boosts coming from? I keep hearing about them but not actually knowing what they are.

 

I think tip it events team was replaced with the monster hunting team as a result of not many people attending events and so monster hunting was adopted to encourage more people to participate.

 

This makes sense, I suppose. Whilst I'll admit I was lamenting the loss of the events team in the original post, I wasn't criticizing the decision at all: if it's working, great!

But you're probably right about the shift being more noticeable here than elsewhere: but given this was my old haunt, I figured here would be the place to check, and I took it as representative of a swing in attitude across the whole game, perhaps incorrectly.

[Den]

Also, where are all these exp boosts coming from? I keep hearing about them but not actually knowing what they are.

There are holiday-styled exp boosting rewards most times. The current one is Festival of the Dead, a mini-holiday event you can start south of Lumbridge Graveyard. Can net you up to 251k bonus prayer exp while training. It's members only though.

[Fallstar]

I think it's more that RS has been around for so long now, that there's little left to do for 'casual' players. Since the more serious player is probably more likely to maintain a continuous membership, that's probably why most updates are aimed at them.

[Zerker_Jane]

Most players are casual players, they just don't tend to use fan site forums.

[Lord Slayas]

Sorry to be the continual asker of questions (as I appear to be both in this thread and in my help and advice about fishing - you'll notice the hypocricy of posting these two threads at the same time, by the way) but where would you say are the busier areas of f2p? I played for a little while yesterday doing some fly fishing in edgeville and people seemed to either be fishing or cutting wood, but with very little conversation. Where would you recommend I check out, as it were?

Also, where are all these exp boosts coming from? I keep hearing about them but not actually knowing what they are.

 

 

The EXP boosts I was speaking of are the continual rewards Jagex has been awarding P2Pers as of late in an effort to get them to stay P2P as much as possible, and increase membership revenues. Basically you stay a member for a certain period of time, and Jagex awards you with free EXP for it.

 

The busier areas of the F2P game aren't necessarily skill areas. Lumbridge courtyard, the grand exchange, Varrock Bank, Al Kharid, Daemonheim, to name a few. Any area where players tend to congregate, really. Just make sure you check a busy world. Just like all things, there are occasional dead periods where no one is really doing anything. However I just quickly rushed through those areas all on my homeworld (which is not even busy, really) and there were lots of people talking about a variety of things. Also trying checking out Botany Bay on a busy world, but be prepared for lots of spamming :P

[Arceus]

A quick recap:

 

1 has a lot of people but lags and has too much spam to do much, especially when gold farmer spam starts getting through.

3 is no longer crowded except during very peak times, and the fact that 1 never hits max capacity.

7 is Dungeoneering and has a decent number of people.

10/19 are Dutch worlds, which may have some people, I'm not sure.

16 is the leftover air assist community, which is mostly gone.

57 is high-risk pking, hard to chat there..

61 is the classic skiller world-you will find some people actually alive there.

-There is often a system "dump" world-you will see one of the American worlds with ~800-1000 people when the others have 300. This is the server dumping people automatically into one world rather than distributing them-I'm unsure why it happens.

 

Aside from that, you can't really expect to find more than 2-3 people in one place who will respond.

 

P.S. R.I.P 113, 141.

[Blyaunte]

I think there has always been a more "serious" side to RuneScape, but in my opinion, people seemed to start caring more and more about efficiency after Dungeoneering was released. I think it really caused people to reevaluate and change their gameplay styles.

 

This. In a nutshell.

[Pinata]

I think there are a lot of casual players left. Also, a lot of your casual players maxed since the game has been out for 10 years. I'm not sure if I'm considered casual, I have 400m xp but also 380 days played. Which is a lot of days of no skilling and just chilling. But I'm not sure if you mean casual in the sense of just goes on RS for 30mins once a week.

 

I think it was mentioned earlier, you're more likely to find your casual players in less efficient spots. Such as Magic trees. Lava flow mine is a great place to meet people imo. Even though it is highly afk, you actually get a lot more talkative people than Living Rock Caverns.