Tip.It Times Presents: The Greed Factor

[oddfaery2]

I am insulted by this piece, i am a merchant, i find nothing wrong with it, it makes lots of money and really fast. Its a honest way to make money, we do a lot of typing and posting on forums. We aren't scamming people out of there money. Most people dont want to spend the time to look for a cheap price so they buy phats from us merchants for a high price

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

maybe you need to read it again then...?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merchanting in itself is a respectable means of making money

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and later

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This method is completely respectable, as in doing so you have not ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬Åripped offÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

[diverboy699]

Yeah, I agree that "The Greed Factor" has gotton pretty out of hand. Upon trying to aquire a red mask 4 seperate people tried to scam me, whether the edgeville scam, or so on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I agree with the last part of the merchant section. Many people see merchanting as unfair, or unethical, and in some ways it can be. It's what gets many scammers the opprotunity to scam. But in my mind, the honest way of merchanting is like ess merchanting. Because hey, if you take the time to get my 400k ess for 91 runecrafting, I'll be glad to pay the extra price!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And you're right, many skills do not need money to be raised, or turn a profit. Jagex made the skills so you would NEVER need food to get to 99. Of course money does make it faster, but you can still raise it just as well without money to start with. Often times you can also earn enough money to make it a good income.

[Duke_Freedom]

Very good article, and a very good description of what merchanting really is, as many people do not understand it nor use the right definition. Not only that, merchanting has gotten a bad name throughout the years, caused mainly by people I do not even consider to be "merchants", like price manipulators (which are just advanced scammers) and rip-off merchants, who are just that... Merchants who solely live from ripping people off - not using the natural price ranges that exist on each item, but using 'lucky' sales. These rip-off merchants usually have a bad habit of lying about an items market price, making them scammer-like people as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only small detail I disagree about is that investing (buying a rare with the intention to keep for some time to, hopefully, sell it for more later) is a form of merchanting. Strictly speaking, investing is a different form of making money from trading then merchanting is. You can think of merchanting being the active form of making money from trading while investing is the passive form of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In RuneScape investing is usually referred to as merchanting as well though and it's no biggie anyway. I just like to make the difference, as I can't call people who gain their cash with skills and then invest it in rares, merchants. They are investors, and nothing more then that. :)

[SOT_II]

I don't think that merchanting is a greedy skill, in fact it can actually drive prices down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Think about the cost of laws....you can make them or you can buy them, lets say you buy them and your average price for 1000 is 250 per on the buy at the mag or ape atol.

 

 

 

Then you take those laws and sell them up at Camelot for 300 per.

 

 

 

There are soooo many people doing this that the price of laws has gone down, it used to be 1K for small batches of laws, now most buy at 500. A person buying 1k of laws isn't going ot pay more than 300 per.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So certain forms of merchanting seem to actually drive a commodity price down due to simple supply and demand. I get 50K for doing a round trip to the atol...I don'tthink that's unreasonable.

[ChristStopper]

One of the reasons I enjoy Runescape so much is that it is an interesting little social experiment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What the hell!!! you find it a interesting little social experiment heres a good tip for you. runescape is a game it is in no way a social place to have a life. go outside and go to your nearest pub or club and meet some real life people. That is what socialising is, meeting new people and having conversations face to face.

[ChristStopper]

i take back what i said i worte that without reading every reply posted in this topic and i now see your side (dr elephant) and Puddin_tane's but i still have to agree more with puddin_tanes side of the argument that the both of you are having.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ok i said my bit im done now

 

 

 

(slowly backing away from the convo into the shadows)

[Jarritos]

nice article

[Dr_Elephant]

What the hell!!! you find it a interesting little social experiment heres a good tip for you. runescape is a game it is in no way a social place to have a life. go outside and go to your nearest pub or club and meet some real life people. That is what socialising is, meeting new people and having conversations face to face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOL

 

 

 

It's funny how people jump to conclusions about others' personal life based on one post. I'm married with two children, work full time, invest in real estate... I'm probably boring you by now. Anyway, when I say social experiment, it's not that I live my life through Runescape. Quite the opposite. I play Runescape in a very disconnected way and enjoy seeing certain aspects of human nature manifest itself in this virtual world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the way, I've tried the pub/club thing. In many cases, the lives some people lead in those establishments are more pathetic than anything you'd find in an online game. You'll find out soon enough when you're old enough to enter such places.

[Dr_Elephant]

i take back what i said i worte that without reading every reply posted in this topic and i now see your side (dr elephant) and Puddin_tane's but i still have to agree more with puddin_tanes side of the argument that the both of you are having.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I appreciate that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as you agreeing with Puddin_tane, I will say you are entitled to your opinion...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...even when it's dead wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:wink:

 

 

 

I kid! I kid!

[ChristStopper]

Yea sorry about the whole jumping to conclusions thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I play Runescape in a very disconnected way and enjoy seeing certain aspects of human nature manifest itself in this virtual world

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i can understand what your saying, i used to have a file on this when i was about 14 and i lost interest once i found girls and going out, i now have 2 jobs and am a volenteer fire fighter. i find this place (runescape) a place were i can chill out from society though and get away from the social sceen. (does what i just said make any sense??? lol)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

anyways i would also like to say once creating a new file and reentering falador i was quite amazed with the new update in the city kudos to you jagex staff now it does look like a white city protected by the great white knights.

[Jmk55]

Nice article, I enjoyed reading it. Very truthfull also!

[blckthnder31]

 

But it's overall the fault of the victim for falling for such trickery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What? I'm guessing you've never been scammed if you say that. Here was the scenario when I got scammed off 810k.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was back when mauls were still 800k. Someone traded me a Zamorak Plateskirt for one that I had gotten for 600k (no scam, just a guy desperate for money). I then had the great pleasure of selling something hardly anyone wants. Finally, I had a guy make an offer of exactly what I wanted, 900k. I was so exited to finally sell it (after an hour and a half). Then this guy did the extra item, a rune long. I didn't care, jsut thought he was desperate for one. We traded, bam, 90k. So you'd say its your fualt if you got scammed? Even if its a harder to beat scam than that.

That happend to my friend too he was selling a cannon for 600k and a guy put my a bunch of items and afterwards only got 60k...

[icantcmyeye]

Most of my runescape friends are very social outside RS, and i only ad pepole i know in the real world on my friends list

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but back on point...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree, with patience there are plenty of ways to make money. unfortunately, a large percent of the RS players are among what i call the "Ritalin Generation". we have lost all ability to be patient and will look for any quick way to make cash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I make all my money through barrows and shade burning in Morton

[megahamster9]

Very nice article. And sadly 100% true. Yea, it seems a bit like a greed world in Runescape these days. Unfortunetly, with the increase of many players, this problem may never cease.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, Nice [true] article.

[bluebell1]

i make 100k in a few months of smelting bronse, iron, and steel. i went slowly and steady and i was new to the game. i only sold to the shops and i made a small profit. i never got scammed and never merchent anything.

 

 

 

i think that these merchents only want the money in the real world. its sad that these people try haggleing the price to nothing then sell it for thousands. I feel sorry for the merchents that sell things to make the few gp. To the people who strive and work hard for there money i say keep up the good work.

[Noobkilla_3]

My personal favorite other then merchanting is mining. In the same time it takes to get 1000 yews i cna get 2k coal and 500 miht ores, i used to be able to sell that load for 650k, and was making aobut 1.3m a week, thats not bad for 55 mining or whatever it is to mine miht.

[mandiekc]

 

One of the reasons I enjoy Runescape so much is that it is an interesting little social experiment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In fact, I find it more amusing than annoying that there are people trying to resort to "criminal" tactics to obtain wealth in Runescape because it essentially acts as a mirror to our real society, but in a way that no-one needs to be truly hurt physically or financially (while some consider losing RS gold as being hurt financially, I would ask them to compare their computer game money to the real money lost by real victims of extortion, fraud and armed assault).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In real life, there may be a few thugs who generate wealth by peddling illegal substances or subverting the laws of the country or locality they live in, but the vast majority of middle-class to wealthy people make their money while obeying the rules of the land. Yet, there's never a shortage of people willing to try getting rich by theft, fraud or extortion, even when the success rate is not nearly as high and the risk of incarceration looms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The same applies in this virtual world. Even though it likely takes much longer and is harder to scam people out of a few GP - couple that with the risk of the ever-present "Report" button - there's no shortage of kids/immature adults willing to try.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I like having those people participate in this game. I just take comfort in the fact that the damage they do is only virtual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's try this little "experiment", shalle we. Just humor me for a few virtual seconds. :lol:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You go to your real life job and do what you must to put some cash in your bank. You use direct deposit. You save and save for something. Let's say stock in a new Italian microprocessing company.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day comes when you have all the money for some shares. You excange your U$ money in the bank for the Italian Lyra. All done via electronic exchange. Just so many bits byts and pixels. You've never actually _seen_ any of that money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You buy your shares of stock. Again, all through computer transaction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You've never seen an actual bank note or paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The company turns out to be a fake. Or maybe even real but not doing as well as you were led to believe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You lose your investment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, by golly.. no one was hurt. It was really just virtual money anyway. Right? No biggie. Just go make some more money..lesson learned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forgive me for sounding like Runesacpe is really real. However, in the virtual game world, how is real people, using real time to make RS gold really all that different than the same thing dealing with real foreign exchanges by computer?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ah.. other than the obvious. In RL, people are breaking all kinds of laws and are subject to real life jail time. Whilst in the virtual world of Runescape, people are only breaking a little rule and probably nothing will happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Side note... did you know that if you do sell virtual items from games like Runescape or World of Warcraft for real money, {rule breaking aside} it is considered income and taxable by the IRS?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And you thought it was 'just a game" :shock:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kudos! It's very furstating to work hard and spend my "real" time making money to have it be taken from me. I am very careful when trading and never take anything valuable into the wild. I hate that we have to fear parts of a game we all so love to play.

[Samoht_Nitsuj]

First of all I'd like to say that I look forward to reading tip.it articles each weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The "Greed Factor " was no Disappointment either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though I agree with most of which had been written, "merchant" is not as ugly as a proffesion as was characterized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I do agree that there a good number of unruly people out there that take advantage of new players' naiive-ness, but Merchanting is a hard business, and though many try, I can assume many give it up soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though I, and many other may not like the tactics used by some Merchanters, they are faithful, and run the risk of losing money on whatever it is that they are attemptin gto profit from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, beyond the whole dignifying the merchants rant, I loved the part in thte article about how people feel that you can't gain money from skills, and how it was well contradicted by the guest author.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am by no means a Merchant, but have gained way more cash, items, and most importantly XP, by myself, then spending mass amounts of GP, like so many believe you "HAVE TO."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So often I train places and see people leaving free drops, coins, runes, Herbs etc. This I feel is the unheraled secret to gaining wealth. Though it may be considered a waste to pick up these "Items", these do add up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, for those with the "Greed Factor"... looking for a more legitimate way of gaining cash, xp etc. think smart in whatever it is you are training, make the most of your time. You will find you have to work a lot less hard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep up the great articles tip.it.

[ChristStopper]

here here! well put Samoht_Nitsuj

[i_like_pie48]

the greed factor exists not only in runescape, but in the real world too. that is when it is hard to stop

[ChristStopper]

it seams that runescape and real life both suffer from the same thing, the greed factor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but if your not with me on this then answer me this "we all complain about greed but really it does help us in many ways, for example countries may want to stock up on a certain resource that may be only found in developing countries (i dont know why they would but anyways) people would notice the increase in it and they would start buying more of the same resource pushing its prices up and then in return helping that developing country. but then again it has the oposite effect as well a well delvelopt country like america or australia etc could put up their prices on something that developing countries need."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you know what im just contradictinig myself now. meh oh well i guess its got pros and cons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(dont forget even though stuff poor countries depend on may be high we just wipped all their debts so i guess it was a win win for them except that there all poor and stuuf)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOD can i not shup up thats it im done

[dudester2005]

some people like satenza think its ok to bring a person to the wildy to "buy" or "sell" something and then kill them. thats just rationalizing saying that they know they could get killed. its a dirty trick and its pathetic that u would say its ok to do im not trying to flame or anything im just disgusted with how much runescape has degraded from high lvls such as a lvl 126 to a lvl 3 they r all starting to scam just and becoming pathetic noobs in general. this article should hopefully lessen the amount of people scamming and such.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

oh and i really liked this article and the others written by tip.it and i was deeply saddened to hear about the death of kumar. its a shame the world lost such a good guy. :cry:

[Lime_Mercury]

Pretty much a "feel good" article with no substance whatsoever.

[FuBai]

 

 

But it's overall the fault of the victim for falling for such trickery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What? I'm guessing you've never been scammed if you say that. Here was the scenario when I got scammed off 810k.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was back when mauls were still 800k. Someone traded me a Zamorak Plateskirt for one that I had gotten for 600k (no scam, just a guy desperate for money). I then had the great pleasure of selling something hardly anyone wants. Finally, I had a guy make an offer of exactly what I wanted, 900k. I was so exited to finally sell it (after an hour and a half). Then this guy did the extra item, a rune long. I didn't care, jsut thought he was desperate for one. We traded, bam, 90k. So you'd say its your fualt if you got scammed? Even if its a harder to beat scam than that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

shiny blade you should have watched the second trade screen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exactly.

 

 

 

And you're right, I've never gotten scammed. I'm not saying people have never tried. I take precautions such as setting up trades in towns, or making sure that if the person wants to meet somewhere specific, it isn't in the wild or somewhere I might die. I check both trade screens. I look for changes in the deal, I use Google's calculator to make sure the price is fair and I'm getting the overall price the items should be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like I said, it's at the fault of the victim, but that doesn't mean it wasn't wrong of the scammer. I'm not flaming anybody for not taking precautions, I'm just saying maybe people should be more careful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I ever get scammed, it won't change my thinking on the subject. I'll call myself stupid for falling for it and take it as a lesson and reminder to be more careful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in your reasoning, i would agree that the victim is partly to blame, however i find it disturbing that you place all blame upon the victim. Surely the scammer is just as much, if not more, at fault?

[dieseluk2k]

good article... i h8 greedy noobs who sell stuff way over price... the article went a bit off track at the end, i thought it was about greed not about money making