arbitrage.

arbitage: a fancy way of saying merchanting.

merchanting: a shorter way of saying buy cheap and sell high.

people make ridiculous amounts of money merchanting, and almost every good moneymaking guide i've come across mentions this, and mentions it as the best way to make money.

i don't dispute that, but frankly i just don't like it.

the macros're already destroying the yews, nats, deaths, chaos (chaoses? chaos?) etc markets. the way i see it, merchants simply buy from the bots and sell to players who tolerate their high prices simply because they want to do their part in buying from legitimate players, and legitimate players alone.

besides the bit that they're propelling that whole enterprise, there's also the issue of it being plain mercenary.

it's too businesslike for me, too calculating. i'm not too great at the whole marketing thing, and while i respect that merchants have their own skill (or at the very least, patience to spend equally ridiculous amounts of time on the game), i cannot bring myself to buy from a player knowing the price isn't a fair one, and that i will be playing on his ignorance of the market.

of course, if it's an experienced player just trying to get rid of stuff in a hurry, i've got nothing to say to that.

a while back, i read a post (in the rants forum, if i'm not wrong) about how runescape's economy's going to collapse just as rsc's did (or would have, i'm not too sure about the facts). it being early enough in the morning that i'd only have 4 hours of sleep before heading off to school, i just skimmed through the post. it seemed quite logical, really, and basically his argument was that there's too much money flooding the game, and to stop that, some solutions were to stop alching stuff, among the more prominent ones, and of course, to stop merchanting.

i'm trying to reconstruct the argument right now, kudos to the player who came up with this, i'll try to source for your name and the actual thread later.

with the influx of too much money, there's the risk of devaluing it. inflation, i believe it's termed. when money's worth decreases. the way it did during the war, when the foreign, military government simply printed their money as and when they needed it. prices more than doubled, for some products prices even increased a thousandfold.

just realised. it's off topic.

anyway. you could try arbitrage if you're looking to make quick money (quick in the sense that you won't be leveling any virtual skills) and if dealing so much with people doesn't bother you in the slightest.

i don't encourage it, but what the hell. i'm now fully convinced that persuading people to change their minds just isn't my thing.

edit: okay. i've been persuaded. TURN IT ALL AROUND. merchants sell their time. it's their time they're selling, so it's worth paying them. and they help the economy, like retailers do. and the RS ECONOMY IS NOT GOING TO CRASH. i'll post more some other time. it's all other people's points, and i'm all in agreement with them.

not again...

whoopiededoo.

"there are currently 0 people playing!"

what i'm most afraid of is that it's something big. like that time there was an earthquake not quite that near here, i was all, why am i lagging so much? and felt so bad after, because it was the earthquake. the undersea cables'd been ... broken (i know that's not the right word) and all i could worry about was the slow internet connection. of all things. i was ashamed. i am ashamed.

in any case, i'm taking this as a sign that i should forget rs altogether and start work.

byebye.

july updates.

three cheers and all that.

yes. finally the end's in sight. that whole "i was in the dungeon of a poh and got expelled and died outside and lost my phat and 10 mil" thing. i know it's true, most times, but there isn't anything i can do. if i do ever earn enough for a rare, i wouldn't splurge on that. it's kind of a waste. one small glitch like that and everything's gone...

so. programme that out and you'll have my thanks.

the door spammers. i can't say stop cos that just gives them the attention they want. i can't rightly do anything that'll work, really. always wondered why that was allowed.

kebabs. lol! hardly like the kebabs we get here, but that one's amusing enough... almost as much so as mod ash and the construction messages o.O talk about plain weird...

just a note.

please stop asking me questions.

if they're meant to antagonise, i don't have the heart to humour you right now. you've hounded me out of playing on any character but my skiller for a weekend. i don't want to give in and put my private chat on friends, so please. piss off. or i'll just ignore you. see it as a test of patience, and you're the trial.

if they're game-related, search the knowledge base. if they're quest-related, google it. if you're self-confessedly too lazy to do any of that, you might want to consider getting off the game before you wear out your clicking finger.

if you've been hacked, or if your friend's been hacked, or if your mains been banned, or muted, or permanently muted; if you've, in short, been punished for things you say you didn't do, go. and. lodge. an. appeal. i don't know what happened, i don't know if you're guilty or not (notice i even have that little note of doubt there, because i'd like to suscribe to the innocent until proven guilty thing. fyi, it is not a good idea to push me out of that.) i do. not. know what happened. if you're guilty (which 97% of the time you would be) face up to it. if it's just a little misunderstanding, learn.

i'll be glad to help, but being an acessory to actions morally wrong isn't my thing.

if you need free stuff, go mining, wcing, fishing, air running. i can get 10k on my level 3 ch00b in 15 minutes air running. 15 minutes tops. more's the time i do not give handouts to beggars. i'm only that generous if you need or deserve it. i don't profess to judge you, either. i'd just like to motivate.

if the question's rule-related, and the knowledge base failed, by all means. ask away.

if you just need someone to talk to, why didn't you approach me on my skiller? why didn't you catch a random level 3?

if all you want, really, is a decent conversation, i'll usually be able to fake a mood acceptable, and really get into that by the time we're done. i don't mind just talking, but please don't start with inane questions.

thank you, so very much.

why.

sometimes i wonder why i play runescape. then again, it's usually not so much me not knowing as me playing for such a long while without needing to know that i lose sight of it.

like this whole day, for example.

i've played for a good three hours, in toto. on my skiller, because it's fun just to talk without the weight of that hanging over (besides your head), your every word. (the wrecking the stereotype that all level 3s are macros and n00bs doesn't aid much in the get-off-this-account-and-rs-already! hype.) the fact that it's a rare monday public holiday also factors.

and after a while, it gets boring. sure. it gets pointless (though i dissuade myself with the justification for creating that account in the first place). and that's what i mean by losing sight.

then wham everything comes together.

i play rs for the same reason some people fantasise, or read books. it's a satisfactory enough escape from some things real. when i talk people can't see the anger seething just below the surface of each word, can't see the tears.

when i type happy, people think i'm happy, and then i become happy too.

or at the very least, calm.

i don't play rs for fun very much, anymore.