The Bonds that Tie Us

Posted by Makoto on 15-Jun-2007 at 13:00

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At some point in this game, you will have to make a friend with someone else. It could be temporary, such as a seller or buyer, or permanent; I have friends on my friendlist that have been with me since I was a level 21 back in Classic. Along with my old friends, I've made a handful at the various communities that I've visited and managed throughout the years, various clans and various other random encounters. But, there are also some people on my friendlist that make me wonder how they managed to find their way on there. Typically, I'd add someone for a laugh, a chat, a debate, or because they came to a party; however, some of these people turn sour on me and immediately begin begging for my things. So, for this article, I will tell you about the experiences of my friendships along the way.

Way back in the Renaissance of RuneScape, or RuneScape Classic to many of you, becoming a friend and building a trust with someone was never a complex ordeal. There were fewer servers with even fewer people, and it felt like you knew each and every person on that particular server (the concept of server-hopping was still a new thing to me). Everyone was highly social and friendly; it was only a minority of the people that were truly rulebreakers or just plain crazy. Some of the things involved weren't extremely intense, such as mining coal to buy my armor, buying someone a beer because they did you a favor, or even buying the 'deed' to the Blue Moon Inn for 30gp - it was all in good natured fun and contributed to most of my enjoyable experiences in RuneScape. Even when I met one of my longest standing friends doing (nowadays) one of the most repetitive and boring tasks of all time, it was all still in good-natured fun. We kept one another from harm, shared our experiences with one another and made sure that we were playing RuneScape for what it was, a game.

Even in the Renaissance of RuneScape, there were a handful of unscrupulous “friends” that would only befriend me to take advantage of my naivety and surprising ingame work stamina. Whenever I came in to make certificates in Draynor, there would be a few people that made friends with me just to separate me from my major horde of resources for their own private gain. There were also a few times when I let my naivety get to me; I was offered a Santa for 2,000 Coal (one heck of a deal, even by today's standards) by someone who I thought was a friend. When I went to get the certs for it, they immediately withdrew and said that I had to start trading them immediately; well...me being naïve back then almost instantly gave in and was out about 400 coal before I came to my senses. These are the people that do the community absolutely no good; how could they have gained my trust for a while and then betrayed me for their own initial capital gain?

Through those experiences, both good, bad and outright zany, I formed a definition of what a friend in this game truly meant. It wasn't someone that you'd treat in the same regard as someone you've known in real life, such as borrowing stuff and kickin' it with them in the street, no no - it meant something along the lines of trust and reliability, in many cases without involving items. Frequently it was taboo to borrow money or items unless in a dire situation, and even if one or the other of us had no other choice, we'd trade for collateral, or something of very high importance to one of us and of absolute worthlessness to the other. This was one of the ways that we used to build trust. With the closest friends that I've had in this game, this method has never failed me.

Now, we fast forward about 3 years, several hundred overall levels and almost one hundred combat levels later to the society of present. With over 5 million players, one-fifth of that being Members, and more and more players online at one time, it gets harder and harder to find true blue friends. Many of us belong to communities now, some big, some small, where we've found our little niche of friends and keep to that. More often than not, whenever people have asked to become a friend, all they would do was beg for free money or free items, or even ask for my traditional Black Cavalier! These are the people that are not true friends, and these are also the people that more often than not make my ignore list.

Now, it's your turn. What can you do to make sure that the person that you know is really a friend? These are just a few things that I've learned along the way, but it serves as a nice rule of thumb for me, so perhaps you could use it too. A few pointers would be to ensure that the person that's your friend cares more about the person than the pixels, respect you for who you are, not what your levels say you are, and above all, respect your time online..

In the end, whether or not you heed my personal pointers, or you have your own sure-fire way to make sure that the friend you have is a real friend, just remember that it all circulates around the bonds that tie us together - RuneScape. Play on.

Comments

Skatedog111 posted on 15-Jun-2007 16:27

I liked this article on an emotional level for some reason. Classic may have been the place to make friends, but I kept to myself then, and probably now I regret it. True friends that exist on my friend list have been on their, or in my head since a few months after rs2 was released and only then did I start to get inolved in communities and such.

It is hard to find a good friend, one who offers you the most they can, cares for your well being, and most importantly is there for you. The oldest friend of mine, and most dearest fills all and any good attributes, and for this reason, I can smile and say I've beaten RuneScape in the main point of playing, fun.

who plays posted on 16-Jun-2007 07:28

I didn't really like this article. The end was good, but pretty standard and obvious (to me) and the beginning was the same as almost all articles, threads or posts about RSC. Almost everybody was way nicer back then, you had the feeling you knew everybody, etc. I've just seen it too much to really enjoy reading it now, maybe the long playing nostalgic people like it. But I don't, also because I wasn't playing yet back then.
I liked your previous article better.

Skatedog111 posted on 16-Jun-2007 08:20

'quoting who plays'

I know where your coming from, I was playing in rsc, I wasn't social though, pking was all I did, i might have added one or two people a week but deleted them when they didn't log on. It is getting annoying with all the rsc people saying 'oh how it was better back in the good ol' days...' I do wish they would stop that-.-.

Makoto posted on 16-Jun-2007 22:43

@ Who Plays:

I only made the comparison between RSC and today (and overidolized it) simply because it was an easier time to make friends. There were fewer players, fewer skills, and a much tighter knit community. I also realize the satire of overidolizing the "good ol' days", and realize that it does get old. Wink

jaklumen posted on 17-Jun-2007 06:24

I started out at the end of 2002, or early 2003-- not sure when as "February 2002" as the date for my password reset questions has been said to be a bug.

I knew next to nothing in regards to fansite communities-- I visited Zybez and Tip.It, but was not involved in any forums. I received a friendly reception by a few when I began, and it was easy to make a few friends, but most all dropped away-- only one did I catch up with again, and relations aren't even as rosy as they used to be.

I was F2P for a very long time and I got to the point where I was tired of the abusive players and turned all chat off for quite some time. Of course, that sapped the game of its social element.

I started participating in forums shortly before RS2 was released. I would suspect that people speak more of the forum communities when reminiscing than they do random socialization in game, because after I joined a few, and began meeting some other long time players, some far more devoted than I, then I started feeling a stronger sense of community.

There's no question as I've talked especially with some of the earliest players on Runescape that fansite communities were pretty tight when things were smaller. But I must say, that didn't mean there wasn't an ugly side. I found out about plenty of drama in fansite history, which drama isn't abnormal for gamers in general anyways, at times.

I therefore take a view closer to Adam007's in his last article: the proportions are just larger. As ruder players grew proportionately, so did the odds that you might meet such a player.

I think he also has a point that a lot of the early players grew older and more mature in some respects, and take a biased view in hindsight, with increased expectations.

Don Cazador posted on 17-Jun-2007 20:38

This article was well written. I'll give Makoto that. But reading these types of threads on forums, rants from RSC players, etc are almost as common as the '12-year whining, begging noobs are taking over Runescape' rants, and just as dull.

Mario sunny posted on 25-Jun-2007 21:59

It's sad to compare the RSC community to today's community. I've heard from RSC veterans that the game was heaven, just because of the friendly people. Now look what RuneScape has become- a game where you can't trust anyone- not even your five-year best friend. I set a rule for borrowing: If you want to borrow one of my items, you pay me the equal value in cold, hard cash. Then we switch back when my friend is done, and that's that.

I've heard so many stories nowdays of people's "best friends" turning on them. Perhaps Billy will lend his poor old friend Joe his dragon chain. Next thing you know Joe's logging off and dancing around his house. And sometimes- what truly sickens me- is that the person knows the person in real life. Real life friendships have been torn apart over PIXELS. That just sickens me that someone would choose pixels over a great friendship.

I have never been in a situation where someone has stolen something I let them borrow, but nonetheless I still take all precautions.

My advise? Don't trust anyone. I know, it might seem harsh- but think about all the people you've seen who've been betrayed.

Chadwick3000 posted on 19-Jul-2007 06:53

This is a great article because i can relate to it because i have had my fare share of people like this and most people probably can relate to it because there are alot of them out there anyways great article makoto Razz .