Dear Editor,
I know I have written to you before, and that you have posted my letter for all of the Tip.It Community to read. I thank you for that, but I again ask you to look at the following letter and post it. This letter is a response to the article "Runescape: A game for the young?" and will primarily hold the other side of the argument presented in that article.
It seems to me that everyone is giving Miniclip a bad name just because it was after that advertisement that a lot more immature people started coming in. And even though I wasn't around before that time, I'm certain there were immature people before Runescape used Miniclip to advertise their game. .Miniclip is not responsible for the maturity or immaturity of the players it brings to RS. Miniclip does not control those people nor their behaviours. And it seems now that everyone is making Miniclip the scapegoat. There will always be immature people on Runescape, and there most likely always has been. There's no way to avoid it except taking extreme measures by having ID checks or something absurd like that. Then they could set a minimum age(something in the high teens, to guarantee a more mature amount of players) for people to play and have it actually be effective by getting valid identification from the players. But of course, that's too much trouble and very illogical. It would eliminate a major portion of Runescape's players, while not eliminating the problem and possibly causing more problems. A lot of those younger people, who tend to be not as mature as the rest of us, are also subscribers to the membership, and they are benefiting Jagex with cash. And Jagex isn't necessarily filling their wallets with all that money. It takes a lot of dough to run a game, and it's probably a number we can't figure out. But I know that with more members generating more cash, we can get more updates to better this community that "isn't like the good old days."
I also agree that this author had a very pessimistic view towards Runescape. When did he stop playing? Unless he just quit recently, he has no clue how the game has changed since. So technically, he was ranting about the community when he quit, which could have been a year ago for all we know. The community of Runescape changes very rapidly. I'm not sure if he had too many bad experiences, but I know that the Runescape is not completely full of immature preteens begging for items and cash and calling you a "noob" if you don't. Even if that could be a majority of the free worlds. If you see someone being immature, and they're breaking a rule, report them. That's what the report button is there for.
Prankster_King wrote, "RuneScape has gone from a decent game with a great community game that took some strategy to play, to a cute little game that a 10 year old plays. The constant warning signs when entering a dangerous part of the game just make the game much less thrilling. So you’re walking, about to enter a dark cavern, not having any idea what’s in there, when suddenly a box pups up saying “Look out! It’s dangerous in there… You could be killed! ” Oh, really? Never mind, I guess I’ll take a detour. *Runs off in another direction.* Jagex is not helping the community with their childish updates."
You know what this sounds like to me? A player killer. Or someone that wants to walk straight into certain death unaware of his dire situation. Maybe he got tired of Jagex protecting his prey, or he's just a crazy player who loves danger to an extreme. Would you want someone to tell you about the danger of guns or would you rather point it at your head and find out for yourself? There's a reason that Runescape has warnings in it, just as various items having warning labels in Real Life. Someone said this before, but all those warning signs are there so Jagex doesn't get a million "I lost my stuff and died because you didn't tell me it would be dangerous" messages. Which is better for both Jagex and us. Do you want to listen to those players whine about how they died? No you don't. (And you can avoid it by using the ignore button. Apparently Prankster_King didn't think of that.) And overall, I have seen an increase in both dangerous areas and monsters. Like the Chaos Elemental, Barbarian dungeon with Mithril Dragons, Barrows, Dagganoth Kings, even quest battles such as the ones in The Great Brain Robbery, Dream Mentor, and Grim Tales. Even older bosses like the Kalphite Queen and KBD are still difficult. He obviously has played too long ago to see the increase in boss/monster/quest difficulty. You can't have done all of the above things and tell me that it didn't take strategy or it wasn't hard.
Now let's clean the dirt off of Runescape without shoving it on someone else please. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Foodfight13
In response to the article "Runescape, a Game for the Young?" (August 3, 2007)
I personally think that preteens are not the only ones that are leading to this game's so-called destruction. Players commonly stereotype younger players as the ones leading to the game's downfall. But just because someone begs, swears, or breaks rules, does it necessarily mean they are 8 year olds? I don't think so. I have yet to see an 8 year old with such a "colourful" vocabulary, to put it nicely. In fact, players seem to think of combat level as a sign of player maturity. If he's level 3, he must be a 10 year old. If he's lvl 105, he must be 20 years old. Somehow, people don't seem to realize two things: 1) Level IS NOT a sign of maturity or age and 2) Just because you're young it doesn't mean you're immature.
Yes, it is true that probably a lot of younger players (but not necessarily all) probably lied about their age when the Create Account section asks for age. However, plenty of players have made accounts before that rule was placed. They now have strong accounts with high skills. My brother is under 13, he played since Jan 2005. He put a lot of effort in his account and I have seen him play. He does not use bad language, he never begs (well, he begs me but not others...) and he certainly has the ability to act maturely. His friends treat him like an equal. I think it would be unfair to ban such hard working young players just because a new rule tells them to get the heck out. In fact, the new rule doesn't prevent anyone from coming in. It just drives them to break the rules by lying about their age, something that is not a good way to start a Runescapian life.
Miniclip did not just attract little kids. While they probably did increase the games size ten fold, not all of the players there are little kids. I know that some of their games certainly aren't all enjoyable for kids. Heck, I play on Miniclip when I'm bored. I'm sure a lot of others did too.
I also do not believe Jagex lowered the maturity of updates. Runescape wasn't exactly gory to begin with. Many quests especially in the Plague City/Mournings end series have twists and turns around every corner. Especially when you think the good guy you're working for turns out to be the evil one! *cough*Lathus*cough* I don't think many 8 year olds can figure out the Monkey Madness sliding puzzle or the Mournings end part 2 giant maze (heck, I still didn't finish that maze and i paid 200k to skip the puzzle). I noticed the article stated "The monsters look like goofy cartoon characters, even with the graphical updates". Well, what you will be reminded of by players time and time again is that its difficult to make perfect graphics on Java, and certainly on a budget of 5 dollars per player, while other games charge 3 times that amount. Java is the program that operates some of the little games on your mobile phone. Can you tell me those are quality graphics? If you ask me, Jagex did a great job making such a game on a low budget and with non-state-of-the-art program.
You do not need to be an 10 year old to have been scammed, misunderstood the rules, or got hax3d. I know of many older players with poor account security and who have lost their account. Stronghold of Security and Town Criers are, in my opinion, very creative ways to educate players on how to play safely! If those updates bore you or you dislike them, just ignore them. They don't concern you if you don't think you need them. Demon slaying? That's not as much to appeal to younger characters as it does to weaker ones. Imagine, just starting your Runescape carrier and already defeated a powerful lvl 22 demon and saved the world! You don't need to be a little kid to be happy over that. I certainly celebrated over owning that demon. And those warning signs before entering a dungeon? Again, you don't need to be a 10 year old to fall victim to death. You can always go to the doomsayer to turn them off, then they don't concern you. Players seem to rant too much about updates that they can easily ignore.
I'm basically trying to say a lot of things here. But overall, I'd say that blaming young people is not the right thing to do. Anyone can enjoy this game. Its cheap, simple to play, and still enjoyable. Whether the maturity level is low, it doesn't necessarily mean the age level is low too.
Warren211
Did You Know...
... for a Wilderness Treasure Trails coordinate clues - place your spade, chart, sextant, and watch on left side of inventory in vertical line; place the clue in the lower right "safe" spot; wield ONLY a dds/ddp++ and a glory. Wear no armour. If attacked just relax and drop all items on left side. The 3-item rule keeps your clue scroll, dagger and glory (if not skulled). See our Treasure Trails guide to learn how to replace items.
Do you have any thoughts or comments about what you've just read? Want to discuss this article with your fellow RuneScapers? We invite you to discuss the article in this forum topic.
Letters to the Editor are now being accepted. If you have some thoughts to share with the Editor about this or any other Tip.It Times article, please refer to this forum topic for more information on writing a letter to the Editor. Selected letters will be published in the Times' usual space on the main website during those weeks that no Tip.It Times article is being published.
