Thoughts
Entry posted by Dimosthimise
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It has now been a good deal of time since I have quit Runescape, and here are just my thoughts since then.
I really don't want to leave my memory of Runescape with a bitter taste. After all, I played it for almost four years - a good portion of my life that I can remember well.
The hardest part of leaving wasn't sacrificing all my goals, selling all my stuff, and giving it away. It was leaving the community and friendships I had made over the past four years. It was leaving working on the citadel, to make sure the Sal's was always ahead of Canting (even though that wasn't too hard to do). It was leaving being able to stay up until early in the morning talking in the Sal's fc, or bossing with the Aussies (aka the only decent bossers who would do something other than Bandos). It might be kind of sad, but I do not have any very close friends in real life, and you guys were as good as friends to me as the few loose ones I had in the real world.
In retrospect, SoF was really only the catalyst for me leaving. I had been growing more and more distant from Runescape - it was a few days after SoF that I actually even realized that buyable skills were put in. I can track the events that were severing my ties with Runescape:
-Minecraft - Previously, Runescape had been my exclusive game. Sure, I'd take a day and play like some Civ. IV or some other game, but I would be back to RS quickly. Minecraft was a game I could really put a lot of time into, and I really enjoyed.
-Junior Year - It is always the killer one - I had a heavy workload from all my classes, and I really just didn't have enough time for games. Combine that with being a 2-3 hour bus ride from my school, and becoming fairly active in drama and Japanese club at my school, my home game time was cut significantly.
-Guild Wars 2 - It's Zooey's fault. Now I had a game that I was looking forward to that I was pretty sure was to replace my MMO.
-Quests - Previously, I had considered quitting, but I really was waiting and wanted to know the sequel to WGS. That kept me through until I was back engaged into the game. But when RotM came out, I was really disappointed. Quests in general just didn't seem to be what they used to be - shallow plots, easy, overly-linear progression. I missed the quests like Desert Treasure, the first few Myreque quests, and the Karamja quest lines. Quests were my favorite part of the game, and Jagex wasn't really pulling up to standards they had set.
-Level-Up Banner Change - This really left nothing to screenshot when you leveled up. As such, I decided to close down my log for the time being. My log was really my main motivation through many times in my Runescape career, and without it I had little drive to keep leveling.
-Tier 7 - Sal's citadel - my main contribution to Sal's - was at max tier - not much more to do. All the buildup and hype for the citadel was gone, and I felt so did my usefulness.
At first, I quit because of my anger at SoF, and the fact that people could just buy levels. But I stayed away because it really just showed me that Runescape wasn't the game that I played in 2008. I had always watched on the other kids play - the outside looking in hype - as my parents wouldn't let me play. I still remember the day I came to Sal's looking for the quest guide for Ernest the Chicken because I couldn't figure out the lever puzzle. I remember killing goblins behind the Lumbridge general store and being excited when I hit the 500 gp mark. I remember ragequitting for a week after dying and loosing all my stuff at the black mages south of Varrock. I remember all the cities before their graphical updates - with all their flaws, they were the best I knew.
Now I recognize that every game has a need to evolve, and the Runescape that I remember can't stay around indefinitely, but it still calls that sense of nostalgia that most true Runescape fans feel when they hear the 'Newbie Theme' playing.
This is the Runescape I want to remember. I don't want to remember that wretched goblin - I want to remember when I first killed Elvarg. I want to remember the first time I popped into the Sal's chat - I was in the karamja deadly red spiders training strength. I was curious about how people were not impressed when I got 40-something strength there. I remember the first day I got members, and how I planned and prepped all the logs I would need to get up to 50 Fletching before I got it. I remember the first boss mass I (tried) to go to (in panic I tele-tabed going through the Bandos stronghold). I remember the first day at the citadel, before I was even on events team, thinking about how awesome it would be to run it.
I don't want to remember going on for the last time, saying goodbye to the Sal's chat.
I would like to thank a few people through my Runescape career who have particularly been special to me:
-First of all, a person who I have long since forgotten their name, who gave me the trade limit of money about an hour after I started playing. That first act of kindness shortly after I started playing shaped how I played and treated other people as I played. Over time, I have tried to give back to other people who needed help many times over the help I received.
-Warrior Zynk - You were the first player who I really looked up to. I saw your log, and really saw you as almost a celebrity. I cannot tell you how excited I was when I dared add and messaged you and you responded. You were the inspiration for me to start a log, which has been a valuable asset to me in my time.
-Trey Strukel - You were my pure-f2p idol. I remember your signature for your log for the longest time: 'Trey Strukel - Free to Play Skiller'. Later in my career you were always willing to let out a hand for me, and I thank you greatly for that.
-Eval Riz - Just as a good friend to talk to, I missed you greatly when you left.
-Byahh - I'm sorry I never got 99 Ranged.
-Thank you to whomever hacked me in 2011. That helped show me the care of the Sal's community to get me back on my feet, and fostered a new sense of trust between us.
-Sal - Thank you for starting the community which I have come to love very much.
And finally thank you Jagex. Despite whatever gripes I have about what you are doing (or being force to do) to your game now, you did create the game which helped forge many friendships, and I must thank you for that. Like I said, I want to leave my memory of Runescape as a positive one, and I am truly sorry to see the game decay and fade like it is. Runescape, while maybe not the best game, truly is a milestone in the history of gaming.
~Dimosthimise
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