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INTRO

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Is ripping the head off of a goblin dull and uninspiring? Is eating the shark a whole lot more interesting and appealing then catching it? Can you play Runescape and fall asleep at the same time? Had Runescape come to the point that the mere mention of the name makes you groan in depression and the sooner that your membership expires and you are able to quit, the better?

NO! IT HAD BETTER NOT! RUNESCAPE’S FUN! YOU HEAR ME? FUN! ENJOY IT OR I WILL BEAT YOU TO A PULP, MIX YOU WITH PLAY-DOH, AND SCULPT DA VINCI OUT OF YOU!

… erm, I mean … oh, what a shame. You must be suffering from boredom. Apparently, you can’t find very much fun left on RuneScape because you either played it too much or you have a very weak morale.

Not to worry, though, you’ve come to the right place! Welcome to Alex 43’s Guide of Anti-boredom!

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GOALS

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The first thing that a player must do before they play a game is to set a goal in it. Usually, when someone plays a regular board game or even a game of cards, the goal usually is this:

To win. … that’s it, really.

That’s what the player plays the game for – the satisfaction of winning and proving their superiority against a competitor. That’s what makes a game fun.

Runescape is quite different because there is no sure-fire way to win. There is always something you can do, and the Jagex Team throws in an extra feature each week somehow. That’s the nice thing about an MMORPG is that when you’re finished playing the game for the day, you don’t have to start over from the beginning again.

Just because you can’t win the game, however, doesn’t mean that you are unable to set goals for yourself. You can set a goal to get to a certain level, get a certain amount of coins, get a certain item, or the second leading to the third leading to the first.

Now, the only effective way to set a goal is to be both reasonable and knowing it would be worthwhile. Trying to get level 99 slayer from level 1 isn’t very reasonable because not only is it the hardest skill to train, but it would get boring really quickly.

Also, setting a goal to get level 5 prayer from level one isn’t very worthwhile because … well, there isn’t much you can do with level 5 prayer, is there? Maybe use the +5% strength prayer, but that’s it. Set something that takes a few days to do, as well as a bit of effort instead of something that will take 10 minutes. If you set a million tiny goals, your patience for them will just keep wearing out as more and more tasks pile on your shoulders.

A good goal is something that will benefit not only your character, but also the achieving of future goals. Saving up 2 million coins for a whip, for example, is a very good goal because once you have a whip, your goal to get level 100 combat will get a lot easier then training with a dragon battle axe.

Don’t be afraid to change goals if you think they’re too easy or tough for you. It’s your character; you can do whatever you want with him/her.

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SKILL TRAINING

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Only when you have level 99 everything is when you no longer have anything skill-related to do anymore. If that’s the case, then there’s no need to read this section.

Runescape is famous for its vast number of skills and abilities a player can train and get better at. The more levels you get, the more things you can do and the more rewards you can receive. All that you truly need to spend to get these skills is time, as with each level comes a greater experience amount that a player must obtain in order to get the next. This is why training becomes so much more difficult after the first 30 levels or so. But of course, I’m sure you already knew that.

Don’t know what skill to train? Train your lowest skill and try to get each skill up to 60+ levels, or train a good moneymaking skill like woodcutting and fishing. Maybe there’s a skill out there that relates a bit to your part-time job out in the real world or something and you might enjoy doing it virtually? Some skills come as a result of other skills, like fletching and smithing, which can immediately come into play after training the first stat for a while. For example, if you chop down 1000 maple trees, grab a knife and make them into 1000 maple longbows, and even after that craft some bowstrings and finish the job.

Well, ok, it may not exactly be the most fun of things to do in Runescape, but if you are able to do something like this, then at least you can stick to a task at hand. Plus, with higher skills comes more opportunities for you to have great fun in the long run.

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COMBAT

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Combat’s always fun to train, because not only is there a number of ways that one can do it, but it also presents the challenge of staying alive while training it. Usually whenever you destroy a monster, it drops valuables which you can grab and sell for quite a hefty sum at the general store or to other players who want it, making combat one of the most effective, however not the most reliable, ways of making money.

There are 3 ways of combat: Melee, magic, and ranged. Melee, generally, is the hardest hitting and the least expensive, seeing as you only have to buy one sword and some armor, then you’re off. It’s the most preferred and deals the most damage to the enemies, but it’s quite limited and mostly any enemy can attack you back.

Ranged and mage are both long ranged, and can be applied to enemies without them betting you back. However, they cost money for extra runes and arrows and aren’t as powerful in the long run as melee combat. Not just that, but they can get boring quite quickly.

With melee, however, there’s always something to do, especially when you prepare for it.

First off, to effectively schedule and prepare for a fighting trip to a powerful monster like the King Black Dragon, you need to first get yourself some food. Instantly, you now have a goal to get enough food to make this trip somehow. The best way, I find, is by fishing. However, if you’re rich enough, you can save yourself the time and just buy some food from a food store or another player. Even still, that’s something you can look forward to.

Once you have the food, you need armor and weapons. Do you have that? If so, then that’s good. If not, then there’s something else to do! Save up once again by using another skill to make money, and buy the best weapon you think you can use, then go for the armor!

Already you’ve set 3 goals and have things to strive for and you haven’t even started combat! Don’t think of it all as one big chore, but instead split it down into smaller and simpler tasks, and your willpower towards doing it will skyrocket. It’s human nature, after all.

Once you’re ready, pick a monster out of many hundreds, and give them no mercy! You might get lucky and get a very good drop, or you might grow a combat level and not realize it! You can even fight enemies to benefit another skill, like killing chaos druids for herbs. With those herbs comes potions, which usually help you fight more!

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FRIENDS

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Now, the guaranteed cure to boredom has been, and always will be, socialization. Anything, from fighting rock crabs with a runite halberd to fishing ten thousand sharks can get quicker and more interesting when you have someone to chat with to pass the time.

Not everyone out there can socialize easily, since they’re either too shy, or (in my case), it’s a medical condition. However, in Runescape, a virtual character conceals the player’s true identity. Although it may feel a lot less trustworthy, I find it’s easier to talk to people whom I don’t have to suffer a visual first impression on. Let’s everyone have a chance at making a few friends out there.

However, there are right and wrong ways out there that one must know in order to make a friend. Before I give you the run-down of the anti-boredom aspect of friends and how to apply it effectively, I must first teach you how to properly make a friend.

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THE FIRST TEACHING OF HOW TO PROPERLY MAKE A FRIEND

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Remember that the other players out there are human beings like yourself (unless pollution nowadays is something fierce) and that they have their own thoughts and ideas of how to play and do things on Runescape. Treat them the same way you desire them to treat you – known as the golden rule.

If you walk up to random high-level adventurers and ask “Can we be friends?”, most of the time they’ll just laugh at you. I’ll save you the humiliation: THAT’S NOT HOW YOU MAKE A FRIEND.

Doing that gives the other people the impression that:

– You obviously don’t have many friends an you are unable to be one

– You might want to take advantage of it (especially if they have more skill or are richer)

– You might not have any common ground

– … Let’s face it: you’re desperate.

So yeah. Don’t do that.

The proper way to make a friend is to start off by saying “Hi, how are you?” Once the person replies, you can ask, “What are you up to?” and take it off from there. If he’s doing something that you know about, like runecrafting, you can say something like “I wonder what the blood and soul temples will be like” and “What runes do you like making more?” If you know nothing of the skill, you can ask, “Oh? Why are you doing that?” and “Does it really help you get rich?”.

These are just examples. Once you find some common ground, you can converse for a while. After about 5 minutes, or when one of you wants to teleport, THEN you can ask him if you can add him to your friends list. The chances of this happening are far greater, since you both understand each other a bit and have some common ground. And of course, you enjoyed each other’s company.

If he still rejects you, then that’s OK. At least you learned a few things about runecrafting. He probably wouldn’t have been a very good friend anyways. Chat with someone else and try again. You’ll make some friends soon enough.

But don’t immediately go asking for free money or anything. In fact, don’t ask for freebies at all. You can ask for advice in a skill, a hint for a treasure trail clue, or some quest help, but not for something that would pull your friend away from what he’s doing. Let him have a bit of freedom. He’s trying to enjoy Runescape too.

Once you have some friends, you’ll find that Runescape can be a whole different game.

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CONVERSATIONS

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Conversations are the most interesting when you learn something from them (appropriately). However, always remember to NEVER GIVE AWAY PERSONAL INFORMATION. Such information includes the following:

– Full name

– Address

– Phone number

– Credit card number (Saradomin forbid)

– Where you live

– Anything to do with your password or recovery questions

DON’T tell them ANY of the above.

Unless you feel that it’s too personal, simpler more broader bits of information like age, job, and hobbies are fine. In fact, they’re more then just fine. They help the person determine the maturity of his friend as well as age group. For example, you wouldn’t talk about C++ programming to a 5 year old without knowing he’s 5, would you?

Learning about a person’s career is, in my eyes, quite intriguing. You can ask them what it’s like and learn quite a few interesting things about it. In fact, you might even take an interest to the profession yourself. Again, the best conversations are the ones where you are able to teach / learn other people.

A good conversation can help you pass the time in mostly any activity on Runescape. Especially woodcutting and fishing, which get very boring while alone. The fishing guild, Catherby, and the yew trees near Catherby always have someone there that you can converse with. Once you get into the conversation, you might not even notice that your inventory is full because it happens so quickly.

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EXTRA ACTIVITIES

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And in case the methods mentioned above don’t help, here’s a list of kick-starters that you can start and gradually work with:

– Do odd jobs for people – protect lower-levels in dangerous mining areas or help somebody smelt steel for cannon ammunition.

– Find a drop party somewhere or start one (make sure you have something to drop to start it off)

– INVENT a type of popular party or event and get people to join you. Someone had invented the drop party long ago and I have sort of invented the cannon party; can you invent the next best thing?

– Explore the land and try to get all the different music tracks (list of locations in the Runescape manual)

– Time yourself upon getting from one place to another without teleporting. See if you can improve that time with shortcuts along the way, and post your findings on rsbandb!

– Quests. There are tonnes of them. Do them one at a time. Check out the Runescape manual for what quests would really help with your Runescape life.

– If you don’t have any more undone quests in your quest log, join someone else and personally help them with a quest. It’s just like doing it over again!

– Play a variety of mini-games like Castle Wars or Pest Control, or get a group together to play a game like Trouble Brewing or the Fishing Trawler.

– While you’re doing something static and semi-automatic like fishing, open up a seperate wordpad window and type a Runescape diary along with your goals or something you wish could be a goal of yours. You can also type a fictional Runescape story that you can tell others while fishing. Keep your sound on to alert you of any random events, because they’re noisy.

– Add to this list!

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CONCLUSION

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It’s as simple as that. Set some goals, make some friends, and actually have some fun playing Runescape. It’s a game, so it’s not very hard to do. But with this knowledge, don’t turn Runescape into your second life (like I did). Remember that you still have real-life friends out there as well as school, job opportunities, and … yeah, I think you need your sleep too.

Enjoy Runescape again!