Those of you who check-up on The StunLock every so often will know that I despise meta-gaming in MMOs. It is the equivalent of taking what is often a big, open-world, mysterious game and destroying all of its secrets. That big, open world turns into a path of linearity. Boring!
OSRS has slowly, not so secretively become the best MMO in the world. There is nothing that beats it out, and the influx of WoW players coming into the fold is a great piece of anecdotal evidence supporting the idea that, while other devs fail to adapt, the Jagex devs over at OSRS have their heads on a swivel.
One thing that does bother me about the influx of new players, though, is the culture OSRS vets have obtained with regard to efficiency. I think the biggest hurdle new players have isn’t actually learning how to play the game, it’s dealing with the insufferable attitudes the veterans have when it comes to “showing the ropes” to newbies.
This problem was most pronounced during the release of OSRS’s mobile application. With the influx of players on mobile, the veterans took to the streets of Lumbridge, gifting new players with gold and equipment worth hours of playtime; offering tips and tricks to people who wouldn’t have known what to ask for in the first place.
If botting is a big problem for new player retention in MMOs, veteran hand-holding is the biggest without a shadow of a doubt. The path most of us took to falling in love with OSRS includes being bad at the game and doing this so inefficiently that once we did learn how to optimize our gameplay, it was that much more rewarding.
Hand-holding robs players of that experience. So, too, does looking up guides to play the game efficiently. I’m not about to argue that one should try to solve all of the clue scrolls solo or do puzzle boxes without a video showing the tactics used to solve them, but looking up efficiency guides that tell you how to max your account will rob you of any enjoyment maxing might have had in the first place.
Play OSRS inefficiently, please. If you want an easy way to do that, only use the official client listed on Steam or the Jagex launcher. This includes QoL features approved and developed by Jagex themselves as opposed to Runelite’s client, which can be used with a variety of plugins that, while nice if you want to play the game as little as possible, rob any sense of exploration out of the game.
GLHF
-E