Runescape MMORPG
For those of you who have never heard of Runescape before, I can't say I blame ya. Although it's be around for a while, My brother introduced it to me right before World of Warcraft was released. Honestly, I probably owe several hunderd dollars in thanks for that, as it has saved me from the expense of a new computer, as well as the monthly fee associated with WOW, which I would surely be addicted to right now, were I not already shoulder deep in Runescape. Runescape a web based MMORPG, which is free to play. Of course, being free, it's not nearly as nice as some of the other MMORPGs out there, but for me it is more than adequate to satitate my level grinding fixation.
Being free, it also attracts a much younger crowd than a game that requires a credit card to play. And along with a younger crowd comes a... let's just say that these players can be naive. Which makes it an easy environment for scammers to run their bs. I present what I consider a must read for every novice who is about to play a MMORPG for the first time:
PTC's FIVE BIGGEST SCAMS IN RUNESCAPE
#5 - "I need help in the wild"
In case you didn't know, the wild is the only place where another player can kill you. Also known as a Player vs. Player (PVP) zone, it can be a fun place to go if you bring a buddy or three for protection. However, this guy isn't looking for a buddy, he's looking for a sucker. He's going to lead you to a place where his other friends are waiting, and then they are all going to attack & kill you. When you die, they get your stuff.
Note that so long as you haven't killed anyone yourself (skull over your head) you hang on to your best 3 items when you die. A clever variation on this scam it to put a very low level character in front of you first, which you will kill easily. They do this intentionally to put a skull over your head. This way, when they kill you, they get all your items.
The other variation on this scam is someone says they are building a clan. What you don't know is that the 5 people in the clan are all friends already, and they make their money by convincing people to join their clan, taking them to the wild, & killing them for their gear. Sadly it works, because who would expect their own clan to turn on them? Fortunately not all clans are like this, but be suspicious of any clan that wants to go the wild right after you join them.
#4 - "Free Armor Trimming"
Runescape is unique in that it has both free to play servers (f2p) and pay to play servers (members). Trimmed Armor is a special bonus quest for high level members. (It adds a colored stripe to the armor) It's very hard for members to get, and it takes a long time. Go read a faq on it if you're interested. The important part to realize is that the level 30 dude you are talking to isn't high enough level to do this himself, and even if he was, he wouldn't be able to do it while playing on the free servers. Plus, he would be a fool if he really was doing it for free, as trimmed armor is worth roughly 10 times more than the normal version. All he's trying to do is get a free set of armor from you.
If he's really persistant, offer to trade him your armor for a set that he's already trimmed. Just don't trade him your armor for nothing, because he will not be giving it back.
#3 - "Free Item Copying" or "Free Item Duping"
This is very similar to #4. Okay, think about this for a second. If this guy really knew how to duplicate stuff, then he would already have multiple copies of every item in the game. Why on earth would he be talking to you? The answer: He doesn't have a dupication trick, and he wants your stuff. Typically, the way this works is he'll ask you to drop all your stuff on the ground, then press Alt+F4. Alt+F4 is the hotkey in windows to close a program. So all your stuff will be sitting on the ground, and you just shut runescape off. By the time you restart your web browser, reload runescape & log back in, he will have all your stuff & be long gone.
There are of course, even less clever variations on this, where he simply asks you to give him your stuff so he can copy it, and presumably return it. Rather than returning it, he simply logs out with your stuff, leaving you empty handed.
#2 - "Selling Rune thing for (half price)"
This is not always a scam, sometimes people really don't know what rune items are worth. However, usually you'll go to trade with this guy, & he'll show you the rune item he prommised. Then, right when you both go for the accept button, he'll quickly replace it with a Mithral item of the same type. (Mithral looks similar to Rune, but is worth about 1/8 as much). The easy way to catch this is at the 2nd trade screen, look at the text. Make sure it still says "Rune" before you click on the final accept button.
#1 - "Jagex hides your password. Look, my password is ******."
Okay, I don't know how anyone could possibly fall for this. He didn't just type his password, he just typed in 6 astericks at the end of the sentance. Runecape does not hide your passwords. Don't ever be tricked into giving yours out to someone else. I see someone trying this scam at least once a day, which sadly means someone falling for it. Don't be that person!
That's all for now. Hope this helps you avoid being scammed. Play safe out there!
-PTC
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Runescape
RuneScape
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