Writer’s Opinion is a new monthly article that I’m going to be writing that basically is about what the title suggests: my opinion on things Runescape-related. Feedback on this first one will be greatly appreciated in the Article Discussion forum, but enough talk and on to the actual article.

F2P or P2P?

At first glance, the answer to this question may be obvious: P2P definitely! You get extra skills, a mammoth amount of new places to explore, tons of items and quests, mini-games, etc etc. What wouldn’t be better than all that for just $5 a month? In F2P all you get are a few lame quests that total up to only 39 quest points, a little area, and a much more restricted base of gameplay. However, when the more I look into the question, the more I realize: perhaps there are some things that make F2P better than P2P.

Hear me out for a little before thinking, “She definitely has issues.” This opinion may branch off from the fact that I’ve been F2P my whole Runescape life, but that fact is the reason that I’ve looked so deep into F2P to find something worth playing for since I won’t be getting members anytime soon.

The first thing that I thought about was the amount of feeling you’d get for your accomplishments, skills being the more prominent. There are so many people with level 99 in skills and 126 combat in members that it just wouldn’t really stand out -that- much if you were P2P and got 99/126. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying it’s not a great accomplishment, but imagine if you were F2P and you got a 99 skill. Since F2P is so much more limited, a 99 skill would take much longer to get, much more work, and much, much more patience and dedication. It would be such a more momentous task than in P2P since there’s not as many guilds, resources aren’t as numbered, and travelling most of the time is done on your feet. In the end, if you did get a 99 skill as F2P, or even better 126 combat (someone has done this!), the feeling of achievement would be so much greater than in P2P.

Going back to my accomplishments point, it isn’t just skills either. Getting money is a tough job as well. One million isn’t even considered an average amount of money in P2P, yet in F2P getting one million is considered pretty rich if not at least over the average amount of money. I consider an F2P player in full trimmed rune or rune S/G/Z to be somewhat respected for their time to make the millions needed to buy the trimmed armor (unless someone donated it to them; that’s another story). Even more rare is someone with a rare item who’s F2P. However, anyone can get the amount of money needed to buy items, but in F2P, the feeling of achievement and the effort put in to reach the goal is much more superior than to that in P2P.

I’ll admit, members is a very catchy and appealing game option to have, yet I’ve had my if’s and but’s thinking about it. I am a person who likes smaller communities, so if I went to members, I have a feeling that even though I’d get used to it eventually, the vast lands would overwhelm me slightly at first. Even after I got used to it, I probably wouldn’t prefer such a large place over my small F2P home that I know every nook and cranny to. I also am quite content with my combat level in F2P (currently 70), yet I know that if I go to members, my combat level will easily get dwarfed by all the high levels. It may be that I don’t like change, but after thinking it over, I realize how content I am with F2P.

Overall, the smaller world, the lower levels, and especially the accomplishments are enough to keep me in F2P. I realize that there’s so many attractive extras with P2P, but that’s the thing: they’re extras. The structure of the game lies in F2P as well as P2P – the skills, the quests, pking, and social interaction. I need no more than the basic foundation of a game to fully enjoy it, and I don’t anything else. The one rule that’s in every game – have fun – I can do enough in F2P. I know some of you may have different opinions, but this is mine, and it won’t be changing easily.