Of course, like many other Runescapers, I was not happy about these updates. I will be leaving members for a while because of my dissatisfaction with recent changes.
During the time when the changes were announced, there was mass hysteria in the various fan forums and, predictably, the RS official forums. At the time I noticed various trends of the replies of players who supported the updates. Here are my observations of the various RSOF poster types:
We have all read the rants about people who complain excessively each time there is an update. What about other types of posters though? Let's categorize them.
Daddy Knows Best
He is firmly on the side of game developers and views them as the ultimate god-like authority on everything whose will must never be questioned. He feels emotionally attached to dev team and often comments on their "hard work" and how sorry he is that people flame devs. To him all players who complain are just crybabies or ungrateful kids who don't appreciate the effort being made for them by the game companies. He regards the game as the sole property of devs and players should be grateful that game makers allow them to play their game.
Give It Time
No matter what the complaint is, he always responds with "give it time." Even if people are dying in droves to unfair players, according to this poster all players have to do is to give it time and everything will be hunky-dorky. Due to the nature of MMORPGs, over the long run this poster is often proven right as most players will likely prove to be sufficiently addicted to the game to continue playing so eventually even the worst controversies will blow over in time.
"A Kenyan man once said to me, 'You can get used to anything.' He used to stick mice up his ass for twenty bucks a time."
Wannabe Mods
These posters may be similar to the Daddy Knows Best variety but their motives are much less pure. Whether it is the official forums or a fan forum, they stick up for authority figures and are always anxious that all the rules are always followed to the letter. A common refrain of theirs is "mods should," for example "mods should lock this" or "mods should move this to rants." Another hallmark of the Wannabe Mods is their constant quoting and reminders to others of the rules.
Ranters Who Rant About Ranting
A special breed of poster who posts only because he wants people to shut up. He hates rants yet he reads them a lot and can't stay away from them so his constant pet peeve is "people who rant" even though his own posts are are as incoherent as the rants he professes to hate. Whether they realize it or not, these posters start an endless cycle of ranting. First there are ranters, then ranters who rant about ranters, then ranters who rant about those who rant about ranters, then ranters ranting about ranters who rant about those who rant about ranters, and so on. The cycle is endless and ridiculous in the extreme. They often have no sense of humor and answer seriously even the most ridiculous posts about rants because their posting time is completely taken up with ranters.
Best Update Ever
Much like stores in real life that seem to have the "best sale" or "lowest prices" every time they have a sale, for every update there are posters who love it so much they declare it the "best update ever." Whether they have been playing the game for 1 week, 1 month or 1 year, they confidently proclaim the update to be the "best ever" and thank the game developers for their genius update. Sometimes they painstakingly list each and every positive point of an update, no matter how small it is, just to emphasize why this one is the "best update ever."
The Perennial Kisser of Behinds/Bootlicker
One of the most common of posters, this one just wants to suck up to mods and game developers so he can score brownie points. Privately he may have his doubts but publicly he always makes it a point to stand up and be counted as a supporter of each update and, by extension, game developers. He likes to refer to people by their first names or nicknames even if these people have never spoken to him personally. In his mind, he views complainers as fools because complainers never get anything. He regards himself as smart because he knows game developers have the only real power in the MMORPG so he is always on the winning side.
Bow Down to Him, for He is the Great One
If a pmod, mod or game developer should post, this poster goes into raptures over him. Ecstatically going along with whatever mods or devs say, this poster's goal is to make friends or have a connection with his idols. Squeeling "omg you posted, you posted, I love you so much and this game, thank you!" like a star-struck fan, this poster only wants to love and be loved in return.
Me, Myself and I
This poster feels it is important to post that since the update or controversy doesn't involve him, he doesn't care about it. 99% of players might be affected but he wants people to know that he isn't directly troubled by it therefore it's great to be him. He admits that it might suck for other players but as long as his own playing style is untouched he is happy.
Substitute Posters
Has your training area been completely ruined by an update? There are other places. Is your character now obsolete? There are other types of characters. Are your skills now unprofitable? There are other skills. This poster has the answer to everything because to him each aspect of the game can be easily replaced by another aspect. He is the type of player who enjoys doing everything so he simply cannot understand why people whine when their favorite things are taken away. After all, there is always something else to do.
Let's See YOU Make One
This poster thinks every complaint is invalid because they were not made by a game developer. His motto is "if you can't make a better game then shut up." He likes to ask other posters if they think they can do better than challenges them to develop their own game. He doesn't even care about what the other poster's complaint is, he just thinks all complaints by non-game devs are inherently invalid.
Marquis de Sade's Brother
To the sadistic poster, human suffering is sweeter than mother's milk. The more people complain and whine, the better he likes it. Common examples of posts are titled "LMFAO, Pkers owned by update" or "Don't you just love it when nerds cry?" These posters thrive on pain and chaos. He loved riots and posts on quitting posts by saying "goodbye and good riddance." Sarcasm is his favored tool and harsh posts by other people delight him. He is the the player hater of MMORPGs. He may hate merchants, skillers, duellers, pkers, boss teams, veterans, wealthy or any other type of player, but one thing is for sure, he hates them with a vitriolic vigor. Frequently he hates them because he has had bad experiences with these types of player before or perhaps he just envies them.
