I sat there, arms folded across my chest, half asleep in the old fraternity pleather recliner that faintly smelled of a warn out baseball glove, while I listened to brothers argue about rules and laws. In these moments I usually jump into the fray and use contradicting opinions to annoy whoever is talking, but today I came to a realization. Not only do I divide my money equally between cigarettes, beer, and Taco Bell, and my time between fraternity, college, girlfriend, family, and video games, but I also have a talent that I've been hiding from the world, and it's time to let it out. Then there was the car ride. I sat and thought about how much easier life would be if somehow, some way, I make millions because of this talent. All of the sudden cigarettes, beer, and Taco Bell don't sound so great. I have cigar, champagne, and caviar tastes. This can't continue.
So, because of this realization, a moment of clarity if you will, I've decided to write about my day, everyday, for a while. From here, hopefully out of some miracle never yet seen by mankind, I can produce entertaining articles for you to sink your teeth into...metaphorically speaking, of course! (I've never tried it myself, but sinking your teeth into a computer screen, or what have you, doesn't sound too appealing!)
Again, in an all too familiar blue tinged cloud of smoke, I put a plan into action. How can I let people view my work? I stared down the answer like the barrel of a gun...
BANG!
RuneScape. A game I've grown up to love and enjoy. I've logged many hours on the popular MMO, quite like most of you, but after an almost two year span of retirement, RuneScape dragged me back in. Only this time it was quite different.
With the development of EoC, most of my knowledge collected throughout my eight years of play had been rendered useless and defunct. Again, I crawled back into my hole, slowly awaiting a time to strike. A few of my fraternity brothers are big MMO players, and one informed me of the return of the Old School RuneScape (OSRS for the rest of the article) servers. I yanked a laptop from my bag that night and dove head first into my favorite time period of the game.
That was a month ago, and although my skills aren't great yet, due to time constraints, I feel as if my knowledge is needed in game, but there was one apparent problem with my time spent on the OSRS dedicated servers. Rares. Discontinued items. Where were they? Now I have my answer. They are spawning across the old Gielinor map, attracting world hoppers from all over to flock to the designated areas. "One inherent flaw in the system," I thought to myself...Jagex had somehow managed to fudge the game!
Tradable VS. Untradable
Without tradable discontinued items to work towards, what will keep people's attention? How is this game going to end up any different from RuneScape Classic? It even HAS rares, yet the population is small. When will the inevitable demise of the servers occur? One month? Six months? No matter the case, it has to happen eventually.
I found myself in quite the quandary, you see, as my thoughts of the game whirlpooled in my head. I sat in disbelief and left the servers untouched, fearing that my presence would somehow drag out the inevitable. I hated to see a game I grew up loving being somewhat tarnished and crushed by outside influences. So, again, I crawled into the recesses, this time to the Evolution of Combat cave. Spelunking had become quite a pastime for me.
Now I take a look back, a few weeks later, and feel a cooling sense, like Jagex applied menthol to my skin. Chills.
The argument rages on, but, because of my immediate outburst, I no longer see red. I understand that Jagex was actually protecting the game, bringing back a play style I no longer think is possible on the EoC servers. The leisurely appeal I feel logging into an OSRS server is, to say the least, welcome and relaxing. Without tradable discontinued items the game takes on a much slower pace, one I can keep up with and enjoy. No rat races. No hoarding. No price manipulation. It's a perfect world.
Now you may question my last statements, logically it may seem strange at a quick glance, but look at it from another perspective. Hardcore players will stay hardcore and, if they enjoy it, they'll stick around, and casual players will do much of the same. What we want to look at is the people in the middle. Their reasons for staying will no longer be to own as many sets as possible, rather their goals, if they chose to follow through, will be much more community oriented and helpful, whether through skilling, killing, or otherwise, therefore extending the longevity of the game much further than even I had expected.
With the OSRS population starting it's ominous descent towards equilibrium, what are your thoughts on Jagex's, in my opinion, bold move to keep the game free spirited and interestingly different from the other servers?
