A blue partyhat, a decorative set of untradable armor, and 99 Agility are all things that many RuneScape players would surely love to receive for Christmas. After all, who wouldn't want to prance around for a while as the proud owner of RuneScape's most expensive wearable item? How many people would die for a set of armor, unbuyable for any amount of coins in the Grand Exchange, and so spectacular that fire cape owners would hang their heads in shame? How many skillers would die for some free Agility XP, enough to provide the last bit of motivation to push to level 99?
Although this all sounds quite glamorous to some, none of that quite does it for me.
It's not the case that I have partyhat sets and billions of cash lying around, so that I wouldn't care for gold.
I don't desire something new to be the envy of all my friends, and I won't feel resentful if I can't attain such an item.
It has nothing to do with the fact that I'm F2P and can't get Agility experience—well OK, maybe it does.
But let's get on to business. It would be a pleasant surprise, to say the least, if players on RuneScape and other games could, for lack of a better phrase, chill out.
I'm not even requesting that people be nice to each other, because that's far out of reach. I'm acutely aware that many people are not really interested in making friends online and I'm fine with that. I'm not trying to convince you to get close to me or anyone else online. To be quite blunt, I much dislike the treatment that every time I hang out with a female friend, she's either my girlfriend or a prostitute. Case in point: the picture below.
She was wearing an abyssal whip, granite platebody, and dragon platelegs. As far as I could see there was nothing provocative. Yet a simple comment about selling stuff attracted harassment like a lightning rod, for the crime of... being female? This time I was too stunned to react properly, but I would see similar antics all summer.
I wish that I could walk into the Grand Exchange, and have a simple conversation with a (female?) friend without witnessing harassment.
I wish the same people who said those things hadn't continued harassing both random people and other friends to the point that I could not hang out there most of the summer without confrontation. I wish someone had stood up to them, or that the offending players would at least be muted for things like this.
I did not see my friend much after that. I imagine she felt rather embarrassed about it She played less and less and then simply stopped logging in. I do not know if she quit, but I can assure you that she would not be the only one to have done so.
That brings me to the next thing I would like. I have so many friends who disappeared entirely without a trace. I have no way of talking to them. I wish I could have given them a proper goodbye.
I remember last year, when I wanted nothing more than to see someone again. I had met him some time ago and in his own words, I was his best friend. Ultimately, he did log in, and we chatted for a while. I don't remember what we discussed, as that wasn't really important. Although he mentioned logging in every couple of weeks, that was February, and I haven't seen him since. Somehow one last chat was satisfying enough.
I just wish I had spent more time skilling with some of my friends rather than running off to do my own thing back in the day. And this will be the last thing I wish for, really. Just in general, maybe other people as well could join a friend instead of getting the best XP, if only for a moment.
I doubt I'll get anything I wish for, but you can't say I didn't try. I have tried to be good this year, and if RuneScape does have a Secret Santa, I definitely look forward to it.
Merry Christmas!
