Power In RuneScape - By: Merch Gwyar

Throughout the Runescape world, there are many opportunities for players to find themselves in a position of leadership or responsibility. In-game, there are player moderators, clan leaders and generals, company owners and their representatives; outside the game, there are forum owners, moderators and distinguished members, not to mention respected commentators and bloggers. All of these people may find themselves in situations where tough decisions, diplomacy and wisdom are expected.

If this was to happen in the wider world, for example, becoming a manager in a working environment, then there would have been years of experience, training schemes and support providing this individual with the skills to undertake such a role. It will have been a role sought for and willingly accepted. In and around Runescape, positions of power are often a surprise. In fact, seeking to attain them, in many cases, is not only discouraged, but it is stated that to ask for them is to guarantee that an individual will never be awarded that status. Without prior warning, there is no opportunity to equip the fledging leader for performing their role.

So how do they cope? Have they, through trial and error, found their own personal blueprint for success? Merch Gwyar, on behalf of the newspaper, spoke to some of the people to whom this had happened to see how they fared. Some of these, notably those who had become generals on a chat channel, had had some prior warning that they were about to be given such responsibility, as a public election process had taken place in which they could see their names becoming increasingly short-listed until their positions were announced. However, the majority had no warning whatsoever.

'In 2006 I got a pm... informing me of this DM-ship-ness; that was out of the blue. I never strived for any recognition other than people having a good time reading the guides I wrote and the answers I gave in the questions forum. Thus I had to find out what this title meant.'

Simple, on becoming a Sal's Distinguished Member

'I have, naturally, no idea about the details on why I was promoted to a DM or even to a Moderator, but I'd imagine it was because of the level of involvement I had with the forum and also the view the Staff had about my capabilities.'

Yuanrang, on becoming a Sal's Forum Moderator

'On RuneScape, I don't know how I was chosen as a P-Mod although am confident that the methods Jagex use are complex, then I somehow managed to get picked up by their radar.'

Neo Avatars, on becoming a Runescape Player Moderator

Though our sample was very narrow, it seemed that the distinction was often between smaller organisations within Runescape and the wider communities. The smaller ones, like chat channels and PKing clans, are more likely to provide an opportunity for the player to agree (or not) to take on their role before it was publically announced; however, the opposite was true when the communities being served numbered in the thousands or millions.

Our leaders emerged as ordinary players, who woke up one day to discover that they had received titles and a various degree of power, setting them over the rest of their peers. As these positions tended to be long-standing ones, the players in question did have some experience of seeing others undertake them. However, the perspective of the layperson rarely matches the reality of the role or, as Neo Avatars told us, 'it's hard to get a true indication of what a role consists of before you actually have it.'

For some, this did not matter too much. Zachary was one of the lucky ones to find that his vision, concerning the powers inherent in effectively moderating a chat channel, wasn't too far astray, 'I thought it would be no different than not being a general. It wasn't.' Others, for example, Yuanrang, both a Sal's Forum Moderator and the leader of a PKing clan, found a kind of pessimistic gallows humour met that there were fewer shocks in store,

'I never had any high expectations of it being an easy ride. I assumed it would be lots of details, discussions and general work in trying to fulfill my duties and I've been right so far. When you're faced with the possibility into being pitched into certain roles which will demand something of yourself, it's important that you're aware of the extent of the role itself. If you take it too lightly, you will succumb to the sheer responsibility and work-load waiting for you.'

That reference to 'sheer responsibility' was precisely the root of troubles for others interviewed for this article. As Demsla found, upon being elected as a general in a chat channel, 'My reality of the role was to be strict and keep (the channel) a harsh place where no rule breaking would be tolerated. As I pictured the reality, I was unaware of how bad that would actually be, and would break (the channel's) welcoming feeling... The reality of my role is actually quite stressful.'

In fact, the majority of the people interviewed refered, either obliquely or outright, to the weight of their role. As well as responsibility for the welfare of individuals within their community and for the group as a whole, be it game, forum, chat channel or clan, the leaders often find themselves as targets of personal abuse. Any trouble becomes inevitably focused upon them, away from the original source of ire. It should be understood that many of the people taking on these stressful roles are often very young themselves. Pre-teen and teenage years are traditionally the time when an individual progresses from the dependency of childhood into the personal responsibility of adulthood. It can be a confusing time generally, especially as puberty brings its own chemical hyper-sensitivity to their emotional state. Identity and support is usually fashioned from social interactions. Friends are never more important and their approval is vital. The same is true, maybe to a lesser extent, for adults. It takes an extremely level-headed, self-possessed person to withstand the battery attacks inherent in their positions of power within and around Runescape.

'People sort've listen to you more. Our personalities have clashed, which have led to wars of words that have lasted for days. So if you're the only general there, you have to sort out the problems, and then people may be mad at you for a bit.'

Zachary, a chat channel moderator.

'True enough, people have commented negatively about me or my actions, but that's never been fairly objective or truthful (I'd personally believe, naturally).'

Yuanrang, a Sal's Forum moderator.

Many were cautious in providing the details, which is understandable when they are still performing their roles and this is a public report. A couple of the interviewees were bravely able to inform us about their role in real life situations.

'(It was) a heart breaking time... my visions for (the chat channel) were to be a rulebreaker free place. I kicked someone for swearing using a 5 instead of a s in a famous word. This then spread and people demanded a re-election in my place. They hated me. I PMed (the channel's owner) about it. She told me to calm down and apologise. But I couldn't. I enforced the rule. I had to stick to it. But then it dawned on me. Back down or face eviction. I made the right choice (in backing down).'

Demsla, a chat channel moderator.

'(After a member had caused a lot of havoc in the forum) The problem was that he had been one of my best friends - I even invited him to come to Sal's. It was really hard, because I was the only one speaking out against my "friend's" actions.'

Cameron, Sal's Forum administrator.

Despite the oft-quoted maxim that 'it's only a game', the people quoted highlighted how difficult it can be on a very personal level. It can also have an impact on playing the game or visiting forums, which were once joined for fun. As Truthscape's Qeltar described, 'Even now, with the site as small as it is, I am close to the point where I can't put my public chat to "On" or I just can't can't keep up with the messages.'While others discussed feeling 'on edge', as they were anxious not to be seen slacking in their role just because they were distracted by something in game, or else having the feeling that they were required to know every answer to every question asked. Many, especially moderators, also felt under pressure to intercede in cases of people being punished by their officialdom.

Viewed objectively, the circumstances in which leaders find themselves can appear to be quite horrific. On the other hand, they unanimously described how they had grown within their roles. Thrown in the deep end, people either sink or swim, the lessons learned in swimming can set them up for life.

'Being able to see other people's viewpoint and know their pasts is an extremely useful ability since it helps resolve conflicts quicker, especially if somebody has been in similar situations numerous times in the past.'

Neo Avatars, a Runescape Player Moderator.

'I would like to give some advice: If you do want responsibilites, be prepared for the consequences. Hard times are almost always around the corner and luckily for me, I had great friends to keep me alive. So remember: Keep cool, but, when needed, be firm.'

 

Demsla, a chat channel moderator.

The sort of skills born of experience as a moderator or other responsible position mean that the player becomes similiarly equipped for such positions in the wider world. It is said that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and many of today's young (and old) people finding themselves learning in this way could well end up putting their lessons to practice as tomorrow's managers and directors outside the game. Coping required developing strategies or else learning which role models to emulate, drawing upon reserves of common sense and spirit which they often didn't know that they had. No wonder then that, once they have found their groove within their role, it can become an arena of great personal satisfaction,

'I suppose this is more of being an admin than a mod, but I thoroughly enjoy the day-to-day helping of random people. Doing the little things that people appreciate, like sorting out email addresses, recovering passwords, looking at warns, and (previously) doing name changes, is very fulfilling. Few things are as nice to hear as a small "Thanks Cam " after some task.'

Cameron, Sal's Forum administrator.

As a member of that community, it just remains for me to say thanks Cam and thank you every other person who undertakes these responsible roles. Along the way, you all make the game and its satellite fansites a better place for us all.



With many thanks to Cameron, Yuanrang, Simple, Demsla, Neo Avatars, Zachary and Truthscape's Qeltar.

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Dissatisfaction Tsunami- By: Po22

Ah, what a beautiful day in Runescape! The birds are chirping, the bank is active, and there are all sorts of things to do. Should I go questing, train the new Summoning skill, or maybe try to try my luck at Grand Exchange merchanting? One thing is for certain, it feels great to log in for the first time in a couple of weeks. As a passing player logs in I feel the need to say something. “Hi there”, I say with cheer. The player turns to me, possibly a hint of a pixilated smile and immediately says:

“WTF, OMG, whut did those n00bs do 2 dis game! Well **** this I’m playin Wow r something! Stupid Jagex!!111!!!1

I sigh to myself and walk on with a hint of leetspeak in my mouth like a bad aftertaste of biting into a sour fruit.
This has become the attitude of a growing base of players that are dissatisfied with the recent updates. With over 60,000 players quitting due to these updates, they are not to be ignored. The most notable of these updates that bring up the most unreadable teen leetspeaking are the unbalanced trade removal, the new wilderness, the new duel tournament rules and the new skill, Summoning. Through this article I will break down the obvious and less obvious reasons why these updates are met with great animosity.

It’s no secret that unbalanced trade is possibly the most unpopular update to the game. Although Jagex has supplied a now 30k limit to those with 200+ quest points, the anger is still present. The update stops RWT but it also stops a multitude of things that many players are outraged about. This update stops gifts from friends, emergency supplies while on a quest, and limits any traders from leniency when dealing with friends. Say you are buying 800 Irits from a friend. He requests about 800k since you’ve known him since you have started playing. But now thanks to the updates, you have to pay 1200k. This gives a sense of not being in control of what you want to do and psychologically gives Jagex a look of total dictatorship in the game. The reason why people play these games like Runescape is because of the freedom the game entails. If you wanted to you could drop everything you are doing and attack another skill. The trade update eliminates a certain aspect of freedom in the game.

The new Duel Arena affects the game greatly, mostly in the rare item department. Now that the 30k limit in the Dueling Arena is imposed, stakers are now extinct. The promise of quick money is what staking was all about. One day of staking could yield tens of millions in items or total bankruptcy. Now that the financial side of the Duel Arena has been effectively gutted, the Dueling Arena has been hit hard. Now dueling is a fun leisurely activity without any monetary gain. A fair amount of people used to enjoy rare items staking as a way to get rich quick. Now that stakers don’t stake, rare items have gone down since there really is no use for them now apart from looking good. This gutting of staking has driven even more people to quit and the market to fluctuate when it comes to rare items.

The wilderness update is probably the update that has made most of the players quit. Pking was a unique aspect of this game that was lost due to RWT going on. The wilderness is now inhabited by Revenants, which act as marauding packs of super efficient pures. This is especially unpopular amongst players not only for pking being eliminated, but incurs many side effects, some bad and some good. Some bad side effects are that deep wilderness clue scrolls get harder to do because of Revenants patrolling every hour of every day. Before, there were always times in which pkers would log off and get some sleep, but Jagex programming these new monsters means they await you every second in the game, whether you like it or not. This next side effect hasn’t been publicized that much but still present. Before pker’s wouldn’t step into the Agility Arena without a need such as killing others for food, but Revenants wander the course constantly, making it harder to train. The upside is for any runecrafters, you can no longer be killed while Abyss Runecrafting since Revenants do not travel that close to Edgeville. But it is a small victory on a hill of what some might call the worst updates done to Runescape.

Finally, this last topic is controversial in nature. Summoning played a bigger role in these updates than some might think. Many people were disgusted at the wilderness, Duel Arena and trade updates and were about to quit but had one last regret. Summoning was about to come out and was quite possibly the best handled release in Runescape history. Before, all other skills were given vague hints and barely were mentioned to create a wave of anticipation. With Summoning, Jagex held one last piece to coax would be quitters back to the keyboard. In a brilliant move on Jagex’s part, while announcing the coming the unbalanced trade removal they also announced Summoning. For those who are new to Runescape and don’t quite understand the magnitude of this, you have to understand the history of Summoning. Summoning was mentioned over 2 years ago and hasn’t stopped being talked about since. Players have screamed for this update for awhile and Jagex knew that something as tempting as Summoning would hold a chunk of players from quitting and even bring some back. Hence the hugely hyped skill and the amount of spoilers given to the general public. Players were waiting for an update more than 2 years in the making.

But as every new skill comes to be, you can’t satisfy everyone. Players were expecting something similar to Magic were you were free to summon a personalized familiar from a spell book and train that familiar high at will. Summoning brought something much different. Shards, pouches and ingredients, combined with altars made the skill dubbed “Pouch Making” and is estimated to cost over 73 million. In the short time I have observed the skill, I have noticed it much like Runecrafting with far more obstacles. To make matters even more confusing and making the skill harder to train, charms were implemented to not make it a buyable skill. While many people will agree that we do not really need another easy skill, training Summoning has been proven to be extremely difficult. In the time of a little under a month two people have gotten 99 Summoning. The closest one after those two people is currently at 92. That’s a huge experience gap when you see than 92 in a skill is halfway to 99. Many people have complained charm’s are much too hard to obtain, the skill takes way to much time, and the cost of shards still are too great over time even after the price reduction. Overall the skill has been met with hostility and disappointment.

The recent updates have been unpopular but we also have to look at the other side of the argument. Sure, maybe Jagex hasn’t handled the situation with delicacy and could have put in blocks to stop RWT while having the freedoms we used to love. But we are at fault for wanting such a harsh stance on RWT and in effect we got what we wanted. A harsh and effective end to RWT. I know most of us really couldn’t care about it but Jagex is trying to fix their game in the way that they see fit. Hopefully future updates will provide us with the things we used to like. All we can do is hope.

 

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Clan Chat - By: ZacharyB

On August 6th, 2007, Jagex released an update anticipated by all parts of the Runescape community. It would change the way players played strategically, and socially. The update was called Clan Chat. Cries of thanks were called out on The Official Runescape Forums. It was voted the third best update of 2007 on the RS Polls (Next to God Wars and Grand Exchange).

How did it change the game? Well, say you were in Al Kharid mines (Mining, of course). You can't just pull up a web page or a forum, because you always have to be clicking on a rock. Well, you could go into a clan chat, and talk with your friends or the people in the chat. It's also useful if you're in Bounty Hunter, or Castle Wars, or battling the Kalphite Queen, and it's needed for Clan Wars.

You can look at clan chat from two points. Social, and strategic. (Or both.)

Social

When you look at it from a social point, it means interacting with other people. This could be a general chat, skill talk (Discuss methods or something), or even selling something. It's more fun when doing something that you have to be watching, like Firemaking or Mining, but it can be distracting and can result in you getting owned by a metal dragon.

Strategic

A Strategic clan chat means to be using Clan Chat for a mini game like Bounty Hunter, or killing a boss monster like KBD. It helps you stay organized with your teammates and give your opponent, assuming it's another player. a disadvantage.

So you're probably looking at this and going, "so . . . what's the point?" Well, look how the game has changed after Clan Chat. The only way you could keep yourself entertained is by pming a friend or talking to the other people alching. If you like to be alone while alching, then you can't talk to people, and it's a pain to have to go to your friend's list, reply to your friend, and get back to the spell book in a three-second period while your doing the spell.

And clan chat keeps you more organized when killing the Kalphite Queen, and has offered us Clan Wars, which is a very good minigame. And you don't have to speak in some weird code while pking because you can just tell your clan mates in chat.


Big chats to small chats

A clan chat can fit up to 100 people, right? This means you can have a lot of people talking at once, or there are so much people you can't even get in.



It could lead to a spirited discussion, or a super spamfest, in which generals get very annoyed of kicking every 10 seconds. Bigger chats can be fun if you put the right people together.

Or there are smaller chats. You probably told five of your friends to come to your clan chat. It's probably a bit quiet with only a small amount of people, but there's no need to press the kick button! Also, there is still a good potential for fun discussions.

Clan chat have probably also started a lot of arguments. One guy had a bad day in real life, the other guy won't keep his mouth closed, one person won't stop talking about what they're doing ingame. The guy having a bad day would scream "SHUT UP!!!!!" and would start screaming at everyone in chat.

Now a person with kicking powers had two options. He can either try to put out the flames, by trying to calm the guy down, or just kick the person screaming and get him even more angry. Being a chat owner, or a general, or a captain, or just someone that can kick, is hard work at times. Basically, you need back bone to be a kicker.

Minigames

The last thing to worry about in a clan chat, is to see if your clan can dominating and utterly owning another one. Head up to the wilderness for some Clan Wars! This was Jagex's replacement for traditional clan on clan battles in the wilderness, and it's great! What did you need for this? A clan chat of course. (Going back to the changes Clan Chat has changed Runescape). Depending on how organized you are, it can be a strategical game of warfare, or a disorganized mob where the team with the most people wins. There's no reward for Clan Wars though, except for a little bit of pride...

I can't recommend anyone to some great clan chat, because I don't know what would be the best for anyone. Look around on the clan chat sticky in the general section of runescape forums, or maybe even try to start one yourself. Owning one is a blast, and is great fun. Good luck!

 

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