RuneScape fascinated me as a kid but going back as an adult, it got really boring once I got past level ~60 in anything as the content did not change quickly enough to keep me engaged. Never seemed fun to grind something for hours just to get another level.
I thought about getting into custom botting as a fun challenge but it’s still kinda pointless - even if I had a ton of gp and max levels there would not be much to do except all the quests. PvP in the contemporary scene seems way too complicated and difficult due to the reliance on quirks of the game engine.
Definitely an interesting and quirky game but can’t fathom spending days of RL time grinding levels to chop a different color tree.
Ironman here btw. I started playing Old School Runescape in 2018 in my 30s because of the swamp man. I fucking love this game.
I take frequent breaks from the grind, but I keep seeing a parallel with real life effort: nothing worthwhile is achievable unless you put your back and a LOT of time into it.
Like the meme says, Runescape players either are basement dwelling NEETs, or accomplished people with families, going to the gym every day. There's no in between.
(Grinding OSRS a couple hours a week is the only thing keeping me sane while trying to bootstrap a business)
I haven't played since maxing and finishing my 200ms circa 2016, but at least at that point your meme was pretty true of the efficient skilling community. A surprising number of high-ehp players held down professional jobs while legitimately competing with the NEETs for highscore ranks by pushing the envelope on high efficiency skilling methods like tick fishing. Iirc, a number of fairly prominent skillers like autumn elegy, mazhar, gingbino and other hexis people worked in tech.
I played RuneScape compulsively[1] from about 2005 to about 2013, but haven't really played it since (besides trying OSRS a bit). It's probably the original reason I was interested in programming (I fondly remember poking the client's memory in a debugger to make my local GP seem higher than it actually was).
[1]: I mean this literally: RuneScape is an addicting game, in a way that makes me a little sad.
I played RuneScape daily from 2005 - 2009 (I started playing with a friend after school every day when I was in 2nd grade).
Definitely gave me a leg up on things like spelling, social interaction, learning not to trust strangers who promise to guard you through the wilderness, etc. Arguably guided, subconsciously, some much later intuitions I had about psychology / economics / game theory. And it was probably also responsible in getting me interested in computers.
I could see it being part of a funnel that makes people more likely to wind up on HN.
It exposed me to scripting early on (13), when I started trying to figure out how to bot making bow strings or whatever. Computer club was lit in middle school…
Even though I played many games in the 2000s, I actually never played Runescape, even though it sounds like something teenage me would have absolutely loved. I feel like I really missed out on a part of many people's childhoods
opportune|2 years ago
I thought about getting into custom botting as a fun challenge but it’s still kinda pointless - even if I had a ton of gp and max levels there would not be much to do except all the quests. PvP in the contemporary scene seems way too complicated and difficult due to the reliance on quirks of the game engine.
Definitely an interesting and quirky game but can’t fathom spending days of RL time grinding levels to chop a different color tree.
TheFreim|2 years ago
If you're okay unethically and immorally deteriorating the game experience you can make a pretty penny operating a large bot farm.
sph|2 years ago
I take frequent breaks from the grind, but I keep seeing a parallel with real life effort: nothing worthwhile is achievable unless you put your back and a LOT of time into it.
Like the meme says, Runescape players either are basement dwelling NEETs, or accomplished people with families, going to the gym every day. There's no in between.
(Grinding OSRS a couple hours a week is the only thing keeping me sane while trying to bootstrap a business)
livueta|2 years ago
woodruffw|2 years ago
[1]: I mean this literally: RuneScape is an addicting game, in a way that makes me a little sad.
penjelly|2 years ago
unknown|2 years ago
[deleted]
LeftHandPath|2 years ago
Definitely gave me a leg up on things like spelling, social interaction, learning not to trust strangers who promise to guard you through the wilderness, etc. Arguably guided, subconsciously, some much later intuitions I had about psychology / economics / game theory. And it was probably also responsible in getting me interested in computers.
I could see it being part of a funnel that makes people more likely to wind up on HN.
LazyMans|2 years ago
friendlyHornet|2 years ago