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Tip.It Times - 14th October 2012


tripsis

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Time for a new release of the: >>>Tip.It Times!<<<

 

 

Sorry for the lateness! It's my fault!

 

 

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WRITE FOR THE TIMES - SUBMIT A GUEST ARTICLE:

Remember, YOU can write an article for the Tip.It Times! You can apply to write full time, or just submit a "one-off" guest article any time you want! Our editors will work with you to ensure that your article is ready for publication. All guest articles can be submitted to @tripsis or any other Editorial Panel member. For more information, including details on how to apply full time, read this forum thread: http://forum.tip.it/topic/209138-how-to-write-for-the-tipit-times/

 

I'd like to remind people of the rules pertaining to Times threads:

 

[hide=Read these rules before posting in this thread]

Rampant flame wars have taken control of virtually every week's times discussion topics. The following guidelines must be followed when posting on this topic. Posts that ignore these guidelines will be removed.

 

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2. Spelling and grammar errors can be reported to tripsis by PMing her and they will be fixed promptly. It is not necessary to post them on the discussion topic.

 

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By keeping within these guidelines, Times discussion topics will mean more for the Panel and Administration than just a place for flame wars. Flame wars do not provide any useful feedback to the Times, which is mainly what we're aiming for with these topics: feedback.

 

This policy is effective as of now, November 17, 2010. Any posts prior to the creation of this policy may or may not be removed according to the new guidelines.

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When replying please make sure to clarify the article you are replying to! Thanks!

 

If you spot any typos or mistakes in an article then please PM them to @tripsis. :)

 

Enjoy the articles!

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I enjoyed Arseus' article. And I would like to add that Jagex chose some pretty bad pmods the first time around. When their job was to uphold the rules, they didn't. I knew a pmod in my clan who started muting people in the rival clan who were calling piles during a clan war. I knew plenty of pmods who would stand at Varrock, see the obvious autotypers, and let them type while saying "I don't have to do anything" if asked. Finally, I have seen too many mid level pmods. i don't mean level 3 skillers, I mean level 80s who have no idea how to play the game let alone moderate its community.

 

And pmods spamming through chat is the most annoying thing in the game.

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Best. DYK. Fact. Ever!

 

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Does that make us a bunch of muppets?

I've been called worse things. :lol:

 

As for the proposed influx of pmods, I think they really need to rework the support system currently in place (which sounds like it hasn't been modified since the program was first implemented) before they add five times as many people to it.

 

Are there really that many active players in the game that they need so many player mods? Will they be given more responsibilities or power? Or is it just a promotional stunt to try and keep paying members?

 

On the plus side, it increases my chances of becoming one. :P

 

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I'm personally not really a fan of the direction the PMod team is headed. We're expected to be more "community leaders" and "event organizers" and "advice-givers" than moderators. And to some extent, I understand that. But that also means that I really feel like my hands are tied when there is some sort of harassment/bullying/rule-breaking situation that I should be able to take care of but can't because technically it's not my job any more.

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It'd be a cold day in hell before anyone offered me a moderators position in ANYTHING, let alone a player moderator for Runescape. :lol:

 

That said, if I was ever offered the position, I am not sure that I would take it. For one, I really don't have the time. With my personal life (husband, kids, home, job) being already so busy, what little game time I do have these days is already tied up in managing my clan, right now. As it is, I don't really play for "myself". Most nights, there is some clan event that needs supervision or attendance or involvement in some way or another.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love my family, I love playing Runescape, I love my clan and my friends and clan-mates, but I'm not all that sure that I have the time to take on more responsibility than I've already undertaken.

 

Not that I'd be offered it anyways, but still ...

 

However, considering the "last batch" of people who were given player moderator rankings in the last mass modding -- including plenty of people that I knew were of questionable character and/or ability -- I'd hope that, this next time around, they actually take the time to review some of the proposed "applicants" prior to giving them silver crowns.

 

Just sayin' ...

 

:rolleyes:

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Wonderful article on the P-Mods! Jagex definately needs to review it's current standards for recruiting Player Mods! I've run into far too many people who have been victimized by nasty, power-hungry p-mods who abuse their powers. One of my clan-mates just got off being muted and she has no idea why she was muted. Simply being a long-time player and/or being "involved" in the community should not be what it takes to attain this lofty position. I think a player mod should be someone who has NEVER broken a rule or been punished in any way for breaking rules, nor be involved in negative things like gambling, spamming, advertising websites, gold-farming, etc. I would not want to see a huge in-flux of thousands of people with the ability to mute people when their own nasty bias's will result in thousands of innocent people being muted for the crime of disagreeing with, or simply not being liked by the P-Mod!!!

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Err, why again would they possibly want to add more of these positions? That must be the one thing I missed out of that article - a reason for J to want to do something so foolish.

Personally I'd never want to be a mod, and if I became one, would probably never speak in public chat again since it seems like I'd never be treated like an actual or normal player again...

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Both articles were good ones this week. I think it would be great with more PMods in game. Even if I can agree with Tripsis on that more moderation is needed. Events and all of that stuff is of course great...But all those rule-breakers needs to be taken care of as well. According to me that has a higher priority.

Making RS a less grindy game is a great goal. Jagex should keep working on this approach. Making RS more varied I think is one of the best ways to make it more attractive for new players.

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I think the way to make RS less grindy is through more content, not through faster content. Obviously xp rates are going to increase slightly over time, but I'd certainly prefer more varied content with the same xp rate over some arbitrary increase in xp rates which doesn't really introduce anything new.

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I think the way to make RS less grindy is through more content, not through faster content. Obviously xp rates are going to increase slightly over time, but I'd certainly prefer more varied content with the same xp rate over some arbitrary increase in xp rates which doesn't really introduce anything new.

 

More varied content? The problem with the idea of "more varied content" is that you end up with crap like The Artisan's Workshop and Charm Sprites.

 

What is needed is a complete overhaul of some skills ...

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I did charm sprites for the first time the other day, and apart from the trees.. it was FUN. However the charm rewards were crap, and the trees get in the way so its hard to see and click. (new trees are actually annoying more than pretty in a lot of areas!)

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I really enjoyed the articles. About the mods, I however don't think level has much to do with knowledge of the game. Some level 80's know more then I do about certian parts of the game. While I have asked some 120+ questions and they didn't know but this level 60 piped up and told me what I wanted to know. Sometimes the higher level players forget a lot of things, it is a vast game and I think a level 60 might help a level 20 better then a level 120+ could because the memories of what it was like to be new to members and a lower level would be clearer. I think you have to give people a try. But I don't understand why we need more either. I remember a very kind Pmod who helped me once with stealing creation.

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I did charm sprites for the first time the other day, and apart from the trees.. it was FUN. However the charm rewards were crap, and the trees get in the way so its hard to see and click. (new trees are actually annoying more than pretty in a lot of areas!)

 

Yes -- as much as I like the new tree graphics, they canopy effect gets in the way -- A LOT. It's particularly annoying around evil trees. Not to mention that it can make finding the ghost penguin something of a challenge in heavily wooded areas ...

 

:P

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Yes -- as much as I like the new tree graphics, they canopy effect gets in the way -- A LOT. It's particularly annoying around evil trees. Not to mention that it can make finding the ghost penguin something of a challenge in heavily wooded areas ...

 

:P

Could they make it so that it can be toggled through the 'show roofs' setting?

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Yes -- as much as I like the new tree graphics, they canopy effect gets in the way -- A LOT. It's particularly annoying around evil trees. Not to mention that it can make finding the ghost penguin something of a challenge in heavily wooded areas ...

 

:P

Could they make it so that it can be toggled through the 'show roofs' setting?

 

Dunno - but it sounds like it'd be a good idea. All I know for sure is that, whenever we're poking around in the woods these days, it starts to look like a deforestation project because people keep cutting down trees so they can see anything ...

 

:rolleyes:

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Simply being a long-time player and/or being "involved" in the community should not be what it takes to attain this lofty position. I think a player mod should be someone who has NEVER broken a rule or been punished in any way for breaking rules, nor be involved in negative things like gambling, spamming, advertising websites, gold-farming, etc. I would not want to see a huge in-flux of thousands of people with the ability to mute people when their own nasty bias's will result in thousands of innocent people being muted for the crime of disagreeing with, or simply not being liked by the P-Mod!!!

 

So... what would you say about your previously mentioned "friend" that was muted for doing nothing? According to your standard... she would never be offered a PMOD position just because she "got in trouble" one time. That wouldn't seem fair, would it? Example: I myself have been given a pair of mutes on the official RS forums... for calling out a scammer on each occasion I got the 24 hour mute. Rather than have the thread get closed for blatant scamming, I was muted and my posts were hidden for "interfering" with the thread. For that and for being sick & tired of dealing with 6 year olds that got away with murder, I stopped using the official forums permanently years ago. It was like dealing with petulant children every time... and it was obvious I was wasting my time. The JMODs seemed to be more interested in making the kiddies happy than actually moderating the forums in an adult fashion... and I still occasionally wonder if some of those JMODS themselves have refused to grow up and that's exactly why the forums went to Hades in a handbasket long ago? Probably so! I full heartedly agree with the sentiment that putting power in the wrong hands would prove to be a disaster though, there is no doubt about that.

 

I was also wondering how on earth... would Jagex ever know if anyone in particular was gambling? Many of the "games" that involve gambling wouldn't be tracked by Jagex in any way... nor do they seem to be doing much about the gambling that is going on where Jagex could definitely be making a difference. Yes, they changed out the slogans from the toy horsey to "Just say NEIGH to gambling!" thus eliminating that possible way of gambling... by they've left the seal e-mote alone. To get rid of that gambling option, all they need to do is change the animation to dump any change in coloring and the numberl that appears on the back of the seal... yet they have not. They also left alone the colored egg animation from the Easter event (ring) and some of the other ways gamblers ply their trade. To my recollection, pretty much all of the ways the gamblers gamble can be eliminated if Jagex CHOSE to do it... yet they have not. Instead, we get more worthless clothing to show off and advertisements for 60 and 90 day mems cards.... which in and of themselves are a ripoff when compared to just paying for a year up front. The bottom line for me is that Jagex has their priorities all messed up and THAT is why nothing is being done about the gambling. Don't get me started on "doublers"... err, "dubblers", "dublers" or "dblrs". Would a PMOD have the power to mute one of these blatant scammers as soon as that player offered to "double"? Perhaps a mute after a single warning to the player to shut the (bleep) up and stop scamming? It seems to me that they do NOT. My fellow players that are JMODS say the answer is yes... yet strangely, I see no PMODS doing it and the doublers scam all over the place all day, every day. Why is this? Either Jagex doesn't put the hammer down and encourage enforcement... or the PMODS don't give a flying rip.

 

My biggest problem with the few PMODs that I do see anymore is that they seem to care not about anything. I've walked into the GE area where about a half dozen gold farmer SPAM bots were in full-blown, chat box spamming mode... advertising gold for sale and power leveling websites... yet those PMODS didn't do anything other than stand there yakking with each other. I would find it hard to believe that they wouldn't be empowered by Jagex to insta-mute website advertisers! Yet when asked as to why they didn't mute the blatant rule breakers... I was told not so politely to piss off. Yeah, that's going to reinforce my belief in the Jagex system of abiding by fair play. While I'm sure that not all PMODs have that attitude, I do know one thing is for sure. Of all the PMODS I have known, almost all of them stopped being a cop almost all of the time due to the ever shifting position of Jagex on the rules. I know this because that is exactly what I was told. I can only conclude that Jagex themselves really isn't interested in having any cast in stone policies... and that's why the game is such a free-for-all in many ways. Hit up server one at the GE... and see how many players are blatantly using auto typers to SPAM the chat box with advertisements for clans or fish masks... or whatever. And you'll see what I mean. Isn't using an auto typer supposed to be a mute-worthy offense? I sure did. Apparently, I was in error!

 

I'll finish up by speaking about PMODS from my own perspective as an adult and long time player... both on F2P and mems. While I have had some good experiences with PMODs, yes I've known a few personally, the majority left me wondering how they ever attained such a status. I say this because they often took advantage of their position of power to push their own agenda. They also often went into what my friends and I called "God Mode" and acted as if whatever they stated was infallible, even if what they said was blatantly false. Yes, I'm saying that I've directly experienced PMODs giving out the worst advice any player ever could because they just didn't know any better. I don't mean they were blatantly caught in a lie... though plenty of that went on too... I'm saying that they were offering advice that was that poor or simply bad because they didn't have either the experience I did as a player or they were too immature to admit someone else may have been correct in answering a question or possibly had a better way of doing things. Yup, that would be ignorance. To me, here's what it really boils down to: MATURITY. Or in the case of the average PMOD, a LACK of maturity. Just as I learned on the official RS forums... dealing with a PMOD is often like dealing with a 6 year old. They're a God of Runescapoe... because they're a PMOD. They're SPECIAL and an EXPERT at everything and if you don't bow down and shoe the proper respect by kissing heine... you'll suffer for it. Then there's the PMOD that's a kid that really goes over the edge... and acts like it. A 6 year old that knows that you have no real recourse against them... such as if they lip off at you in a way that they wouldn't IRL. You see, IRL... a kid knows that if they spout off the wrong thing, they might find the taste instantaneously slapped out of their mouth for a week because you don't dare speak to an adult that way. EVER. On Runescape? You can lip off all you want... and NOTHING happens. EVER. It's like a free license to go far beyond being a brat and well into the territory of deserving the butt blistering of the century. So, for me... no kid should ever attain PMOD status. They simply don't have the intelligence or maturity to deal with complex issues or mature subject matter. Adults have experience, patience and often... can see through the BS to the heart of a matter and deal with it wisely and fairly. Kids? Very easy to manipulate, very impulsive. Sadly, I doubt I'll ever see the day when all PMODs are at least 18 years old... or even 21. Not that age is an indicator of maturity mind you... it just greatly improves the odds. I doubt I'll ever see the day when Runescape grows back up... but you never know. Having a positive ratio of adults to kids would help but that's also doubtful. Jagex doesn't seem to advertise to adults or want to make adults only servers... something I've been suggesting for about 7 years now. Most of the adult friends I've had quit long ago.... because they grew tired of idiots and sheer stupidity. Having a place in the sun all of our own probably would have given them reason to stay. The irony is that they often got onto Runescape so that they could get face time WITH adults! They already had to deal with their own kids when they weren't in school, why would they want to deal with them in-game too?? I know I wouldn't, I cannot blame them for moving onto another game though I do miss them all.

 

-Spanked

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Thanks for your comment. You've made some good points-most kids are indeed not able to see through everything. Many times my friends have assured me X is the underlying explanation for something, yet it turns out to be Y as I suspected in the first place.

 

For gambling, yes they can take those out, but they will just find new ones. Already at least one large dicing clan has moved on to dicing over an IRC channel, and more may follow with subsequent methods being nuked.

 

With regard to doublers, I've heard that you're allowed to report them if they say that it is two-trade doubling, but I don't know if a P-Mod is empowered to mute them...probably not until after a scam has taken place.

 

P.S. Welcome to TIF!

"Fight for what you believe in, and believe in what you're fighting for." Can games be art?

---

 

 

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My blog here if you want to check out my Times articles and other writings! I always appreciate comments/feedback.

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Actually... I've been on Tip.It since 2007... yet like a fool, lost the pass for my original account - I still cannot figure out how that happened - I logged on not too many months ago and all was fine? Huh??. So I'm back to uber-noob status when posting :P

 

As for the gamblers... everything Jagex does to shut them down is best for all of us, especially when we don't have to directly see/deal with it. I know that gamblers, like bot users and other cheaters, can/will do everything possible to accomplish what they want to do. I say make it as difficult and unrewarding as possible. While I'm not a fan of gambling in and of itself, I do on occasion place a friendly wager with friends. To me, it isn't about the cash prize... it's about bragging rights, even if for a short lived period of time. I'd rather have them wear my team's jersey to work on casual Friday than take their money! Knowing the co-workers will let them have it is pleasure enough! Ha!!

 

-Spanked

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