ramblings inspired by halloween.

holiday events relieve the drudgery of an otherwise quest-bereft f2p. which is really sweet of them, considering.

after a while though, they get boring enough, too. till i almost dread repeating it on my mage pure, and wonder if it's even worth the effort. so call me an ingrate, you wouldn't be too far off. after all, wouldn't i just be going along with the more vocal forumers in the domain of rants?

it seems it's probably the general holidayish feel to it, though. it's like early birthdays, when there were presents to look forward to (as opposed to, say, money). all the expectation's built up, and i wonder if that isn't why they release these events early. regardless of how much better it is, it always falls short of those expectations of a holiday event. i don't suppose the poll and news of preparation helped much in that respect, either. if you raise awareness so expectations find their way up there too, it's hard to build as high, yourself. even if you do break a record or two along the way.

the consolation's that by the next holiday event, the initial positivity outshines that nagging sense of boredom that by the actual holiday day it peters off to. that, after all, is the fuel for expectations - that previous events were ultimately successes in themselves, as this will be.

maybe it's just me, but the easter you-are-a-rabbit hopping game kinda got me, the first time round. as a rule, i like mazes. a wish of mine's to visit (and be allowed to get lost in) one of those garden mazes they advertise when they advertise europe (with the price in fine print, of course). the easter event implied the player required something more than the mental capacity to walk and breathe at the same time. it's rather annoying that this halloween one patently does not. (and you still have people screaming away, where do i put the last testament???) i mean, it's a holiday event. fun doesn't imply brainless.

then sometimes i wonder how jagex comes up with these things. aside from conforming the intricacies of the idea to the various festivities, it would stand to reason that there's a sort of general template to draw from. not that it betrays a lack of creativity, just presence of mind, the way teacher's testimonials ostensibly do.

on to the components, anyhow.

1. mazes. (invisible spiders, rabbit! though that's stretching it...
2. give things out/ collect things. (dispense eggs to npcs, other players, defeat the strange tree...)
3. put things together. (bauble-painting, marionette-making...)
4. shoot things. (gublinch, freaky toys...)

only common factors i've managed to source, so far. maybe they aren't that boring, after all, not when taken as the whole concept of holiday events. just repetitive.

and fun. let's not forget fun. second floor. the slide was really cute. the springboard was so-so. the green slime was faintly disgusting. blah blah blah. it was okay, that bit, better than okay. then come the pitfall traps... i just couldn't see them, the first two times around. got it the third time, then complacently got caught by the trap just a square next to the door...

yes, it was fun. all in all i can't find fault worth mentioning with it, or with most holiday events, generally. but there's still the thing called overkill. so upstairs was fun, so upstairs got repetitive fast.

better overkill than not at all, anyway. happy holiday(s) y'all, if you have any.