The Wilderness (Thesis)

The Clan Thesis is a document written by His Lordship and published to the WG Website on 27 April 2004. The full thesis is as follows, copied verbatim from the original apart from stylistic changes to fit the Wiki format.

The Wilderness

A Thesis by His Lordship of the Wilderness Guardians

Author's Comments

This report may not appeal to every reader. Some take a great interest in knowing the constructions of the game. Others simply enjoy it. This document deals only with the workings of the Wilderness, and does not provide advice for players. There is a very ambiguous element to the text below, which I deliberately simplify in order to reach a young audience. As the ideas are exposed and developed the level of difficulty rises consequently.

This document is not a tutorial. It is simply a combination of facts that have been, until now, common knowledge.

Most of the ideas that are being explored are insultingly obvious, when read on screen. A vast majority of Runescape players will say “I know this already, there is no need for me to read this.” Though it may seem obvious, most people do not actually think about these things. When I DO tell them, it becomes so clear them it seems obvious. But you will be surprised by the things that you would not have known before reading the thesis.

I was led into writing this thesis through sheer annoyance, after having surveyed an audience of people and finding out how shallow their opinions were. On the Rune village forums I received expressions of disgust at some of my viewpoints on PKing. My aim in writing this thesis is to both help people to find where they belong in this intricate system and also to share with you my thoughts on where I believe Runescape is heading, and where it should be headed to.

I have tried to cover as much as possible, though I can guarantee some is missing. If you would like to know more, or comment, email me at (email address redacted). I’m afraid to say that you will be rather low on my priority list, as I am leader of the Wilderness Guardians clan, and my clan demands the greater part of my time.

Introduction

Why is it that the Runescape Wilderness intrigues all of us so greatly? It must certainly be that combination of thrill and danger, combined with the sense of fostering friendships and the endless uninhabited plains in which one can trek through in awe and wonder. No other Runescape setting can ever compare with the Wilderness in any aspect.

No place grants us the ability to interact so greatly with other humans. The deepest caves inside the darkest dungeons don’t even measure up to the fear and thrill within the Wilderness. The King Black Dragon itself could not even provide such a feeling. Why is this? It is because danger is not measured by the challenge; it is measured by improbability. The KBD can not think for itself, and for this it is so easily slain. No computer generated character will ever think, or lie, or hide, or talk about anything other than what Jagex tells it to say. A human mind, on the other hand, is never perfectly predictable. We can never tell when our best friend is going to stab us in the back, or if we stumble across a 50-strong clan. We are left in the dark. And it is this that makes the Wilderness unlike any other place. Where can you find a mining location that is rarely used, abundant in every ore? Or where will you find a supply of magic runes lying on the floor untouched? Where can you fight large battles of might? Where else can you find a Mage Arena or a Red Dragon? Only in the Wilderness, is this possible; with a high risk comes a high return.

It is no wonder the Wilderness is harvested so often for its rich resources, combat possibilities and activities. Within this large network of clans, castles, and craters is an ecosystem of many individual components. Every member has a place somewhere, whether it is PKing, or training, maybe even war or following a clue. No matter how hard they try, no decent player will be able to avoid the Wilderness forever.

A great tendency these days is to form clans, for several different reasons. This makes Wilderness combat even more complicated, by creating power struggles and expanding the scope for peer relationships. The wilderness also has a great impact on the economy. A single full scale war could dramatically change the prices of war commodities. More details on clans and economics later. Every person has a reason to access the wilderness, in every aspect of the game. Battle, skills, quests, friendships, even moneymaking. Most of us know how to utilize the wilderness fully, knowing our place. Some of us try out some elements of it to see what it’s all about. Some of us fear it. Whatever type of person we are, what happens in the Wilderness directly affects us. That is why it would benefit you to learn about the system that works in simultaneity. What can you do to leave the Wilderness a better place that what you entered it as? What problems face players in the Wilderness? How can these problems be solved? If the answers were simple, the questions would not exist. This thesis can offer a cornerstone in which one can choose his or her own path in finding the answer.

Functions of the Wilderness

The Wilderness is very much a PKing dominated region. Though it may be high in minerals and resources, these are often neglected due to high risk factors. Other activities also come into motion. The whole idea of the Wilderness is to create a risk, in which Jagex can cleverly manipulate the players into choosing to make risks with a greater return.

Resources

The wilderness is host to a great deal of resources. Obviously the further in you venture, the higher the risk. So why venture in at all? Because the deeper you travel, the more you can benefit. To the shallow end of the Wilderness you can find Body Rune respawns, coal mining sites, arrow respawns, and other various objects of a similar kind.

As you find yourself at the other extreme of the Wilderness, you start coming across much rarer items, such as sapphires, mithril, chaos runes, rune rocks, and some powerful monsters.

The resources in the Wilderness are rarely yielded, due to the large masses of PKers that scan the Wilderness in search of prey. With the exception of the Rune rocks, the deeper in a person goes, the more likely it will be for the resources to be available.

Resources are quite simple to comprehend and there isn’t much need to delve into precise detail, however it is important to note that the resources in the Wilderness are meant to be utilized extensively, for what other purpose are they there for? It is obvious that most people are not willing to take that risk. It is important for Jagex to find the perfect balance between risk and reward. We do not want to lower the risk so much to a point whereby the Wilderness resources are worn out, yet by not lowering the risk enough, the resources are rarely used, especially further in, with the greater demons and green dragons and such. Those that do use such facilities are the higher level players, and it is often these people who we see in higher wilderness. Though these players may be brave enough, a large percentage of the Runescape population would never dare use these skill reserves.

That is our present situation. A high risk relative to a low return. We have two options. We can either reduce the risk, or we can increase the reward, showing caution not to increase the reward too greatly.

If you are interested in joining a clan that places emphasis on skills work, try out:

SeeD:
http://www.cspacezone.com/cspaceforum4/index.php
The Council of Dragons:
http://www.avidgamers.com/c_o_d
The Runescape Scorpions:
http://www.runescapescorpions.com

Activities

The wilderness is an essential part of a player’s experience. Members are made subject to the Wilderness through clues, the KBD, the Mage Arena, and other venues and events that do not involve skill raising or combat. In other words, they are forced to enter the Wilderness. Non members are less affected by this. Not a lot needs to be said on this matter, though there are a few noteworthy facts that should be mentioned. These people usually travel in one of two ways:

1) Travel with 3 or 4 items, so as to minimize losses if a PKer comes in their direction. 2) To travel in a large group. The old saying strength in numbers proves to be quite true. A large crowd will either deter PKers, or grant people an even share in combat.

It is these people who are least subject to risk, because of the little time they actually spend in the Wilderness.

Combat

Combat is by far, the largest phenomenon that occurs in the Wilderness. Combat covers PKing, antiPKing, dueling, war, combat training and chasing. There are hundreds of documents written on PKing, quite a few on wars and dueling, and sadly antiPKing is written about very little. There is so much to cover with combat, that no one work can provide a definitive coverage of it. Combat will be focused upon in more detail in the next chapter.

Combat is a means of settling scores, making money, passing time with friends or alone, and even training. Every aspect of combat is extremely complicated. There is a combination of many factors and morals etc, and the methods in which combat are carried out vary. If we looked at all the people in the Wilderness at any one time in every server, approximately 80% of them would be fighting, 18% would be raising skills or collecting items and the other 2% will be doing something else, maybe exploring or chasing a clue. The high level wilderness is a favorite hunting ground for high level PKers and clans.

Combat in general is what runs the Runescape market, it is most unfortunate to say. Though this will be covered again once more in the Economic side of the thesis, we can look at how combat affects the economy.

Some important facts. Combat items are the highest selling items in Runescape that a player can make (not rare or special drop items). Every skill is based on combat. Prayer, attack, defense, strength, hit points, magic and ranged are the obvious ones. The secondary skills will supplement the combat situation. Rune crafting, fishing, herblore, agility, mining and smithing, crafting and indeed all the other skills pay attention to combat, maybe with thieving as an exception. With such a large emphasis on combat, every person will find him or her self manufacturing goods that ultimately lead to combat, most often in the wilderness. We look to the future in hopes that Jagex will alleviate some pressure from the combat cycle and invest in other areas of a role playing game, such as music, or carpentry.

The Nature of Wilderness Combat

Considering the importance of Wilderness battle, a great emphasis must be placed on it. We can divide combat into NPC combat, which is fighting game based characters and PKing, short for Player Killing. Because of the nature of the Wilderness, most Wilderness combat is PKing.

PKing itself can be broken into four major categories. These are dueling, PKing in general or RPKing, antiPKing and war. What separates one category from another is the intention of the combat.

After having established these subcategories of PKing, we can also deal with other variables such as clan networks, teams, fighting styles (Mage, Range Warrior), defensive and aggressive stance, and other minor factors.

Again, let’s look at the whole situation. It was previously stated that 80% of the Wilderness visitors were PKers of some description. Now, we shall inspect that number even closer. Within those 80% of PKers, we can categorize them into the four PKing types. 70% of all PKers are RPKers. 25% are antiPKers, although most don’t believe they are (more on this in later reading); the remaining 5% are duelists. War participants have not been included because war is a rare circumstance.

Note that these statistics are not exact. They are generic and should not be taken too seriously.

Dueling

This group is the smallest constituent in the PKing genre. Approximately 5% of PKers in the wilderness are duelers. It will not surprise you to know that dueling in the Wilderness happens only in the free worlds. The wilderness is the only way in which two people can agree on set terms before a battle. Unfortunately these players are limited in their dueling practices because they lack in circumstance what the dueling arena provides Runescape members. The two most common places are the low levels of Wilderness north of Varrock (levels 1-4), and in front of the Dark Warriors fortress (levels 14-16). These duelers are usually surrounded by PKers (RPKers have the PKing connotations, so when somebody says PKers, it is RPKers that they are usually referring to), and it is hard to differentiate between an RPKer and a duelist.

A duelist fights so he can simply have fun, against his friends in battles of might, to settle scores, or perhaps because he believes that RPKing is a dishonorable act for several reasons. Sometimes two people can fight each other just to gain combat experience. It is very, very rare to see duelists fighting away from the crowds of Varrock or the Dark Warriors’ Fort (known as The Castle by most). The lower level duelers tend to occupy the Varrock area, while the more daring ones venture deeper to the Dark Warriors’ Fortress.

Surprisingly, there are very few dueling clans that provide dueling opportunities for players to gather and fight in a controlled manner. This could prove to be a big an innovative approach to PKing. There is a large audience of players that would respond well to this. It would be unique in the fact that it would be a clan where the members fight each other, not people outside the clan. This is an amazing opportunity for bonds to grow and strengthen.

PKing in General (AKA RPKing)

PKers have been in Runescape since its earliest days. Originally Runescape was intended to be a dueling based game, where people could simply fight on the streets, and only banks were safe. Soon trends of RPKing grew popular, people striking innocent targets and the game continued to become more dangerous. Soon PKing became so well-liked, and Jagex was forced to move all PKing to the Wilderness, where RPKing continued to prove popular, and has since been growing steadily.

PKers comprise the largest part of the Wilderness. They vary in form, and have many different purposes and intentions. Thus far we have deconstructed the wilderness twice. On the primary level, we have said that at any one time the Wilderness is 80% PKers in some form, 18% Skills, and 2% other sorts. Then, from that 80% of PKers, we said that 70% belongs to the RPKing group, 25% antiPKers, and 5% Duelists. We can now take it down even further by saying this: Of the 70% RPKers, 55% or so will be PKing for just money. Usually these PKers are found alone or in pairs. 15% will have returned into the Wilderness for vengeance or to make up for a recent loss. These people may be alone or may be accompanied by several friends. The remaining 30% belongs to those who are there just to have fun. In many cases, this means clans.

Note again, these statistics are only designed to create a general impression, not exact figures. They are most likely off the mark.

RPKers are Random Player Killers. They will kill anybody they deem worthy of fighting. Most clans fall into this category.

Just like the name, the behavior of RPKers is quite random. They can PK solo, in a team of a few friends, a large group of 10, or a clan of 50. They can fight in several ways. In regard to clans, there are opportunities to create strategies. RPKers are scattered all over the Wilderness. As a general rule, the serious PKers are always in high Wilderness. Those who are just getting a feel for it spend most of their time below level 20 Wilderness, within the teleport zone. There are many forms of PKers in regards to combat. Though pures have diminished since the release of Runescape 2, they are still existent. There is also a tendency for a mage to couple with a warrior. We also don’t know what type of people a PKer will attack. Apart from these few pieces of information, there is much variety in PKing.

Because PKing has been extensively used due to its simplicity compared to antiPKing and dueling, there is a high risk factor. In the Wilderness the risk by far outweighs the return, which is one problem with PKing. The economy is dominated by PKing. Whenever a large clan goes to war, or when there is a surge of PKers, commodity prices vary as well. Only marginally, but they do change all the same. Some good advice is to sell rune armor at a higher price before a full scale war, and buy for cheaper afterward.

The problem with PKing is that you never know your luck. Some days may be good, others will be appalling. It’s all part of the system.

Another fact to note is that there is a simple dichotomy between amateur PKers and professionals. Amateurs will never venture past level 20, whereas the professionals will scour the higher levels frequently. This is 90% accurate.

One growing problem with PKing is a sense of pride. Because such a high emphasis is placed on combat there are many rivalries caused as a result. The concept of “ownage” is very popular as well. And its amazing to see how many people actually use it. If two players of equal combat fight each other, and one does particularly well, he’ll call it ownage, when in honesty it is simply luck. Even great level differences will not necessarily mean the player of lower combat skills will lose. People use the concept of ownage to make themselves feel good, and discriminate the other player. The competitive nature of RPKing may be very good, but then bullying and concepts much like ownage come into motion. This artifice of dominance is a way in which a player will generate self confidence, believing it is power. Most PKing problems are related to bullying and rivalries through the competitive nature of RPKing. As a general rule, RPKers who do not work together are enemies.

Some top ranking RPKing clans are:

Damage Inc
http://s4.invisionfree.com/DamageIncorporated/index.php
‘THE’
http://theclan.im00.net/
Zeonic Force
http://www.zeonicforce.com
Clan Jaguar
http://invisionfree.com/forums/Clan_Jaguar/index.php
The Knights of Death
http://www.rskod.com
The BlacKnights
http://www.rsblacknights.com
The Gladiatorz
http://www.geocities.com/gladiatorzclan/

• Please note that not all high ranking clans are listed. This thesis only names a number of the more famous ones, who are backed by good reputation. All of the above clans have some sort of minimum requirement.
• These clans are all highly recommended by the general population of Runescape, and these clans have a friendly atmosphere and a sense of pride.