DOA Ressurected

The first runescape clan I joined was DOA (Dead on Arrival). It went through many highs and lows and I eventually left and joined ST (Sacred Templars).

Once ST closed I remained clanless although many former ST members joined EH (Eternal Honour). One of the reasons I never joined is that I wouldn't have had any time to really do much with the clan due to other real life events.

My personal schedule has not really eased up much since then, although I have decided to rejoin the runescape clan world. The decision is due to DOA being ressurected and so is a chance to go back and join many of the original members (who are still playing) and probably back home.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see who else comes out of clan retirement to rejoin DOA and it will be interesting to see how much some people have progressed since I was last a member.

Originally I was under level 95 combat when I joined, this time I am level 122 combat. Hopefully this will help spur me on to achieving maximum combat in the near future.

Overall, there have been some changes that have taken place in the runescape clan world with the RAW League being a prominant change. As DOA will primarily be a pay to play clan, it will be interesting to see if we enter the league at some point in the future.

Latest Runescape Poll

Jagex are again putting out a feeler about the strength of the role clans play in runescape. The current poll lists 3 questions that each have multiple answers.

I just voted and here is the current state of affairs for all 3 questions:

Question 1:
How often do you play through quests with friends?
Sometimes when I play a quest 53% (30354 votes)
I never play a quest with friends 32% (18403 votes)
Most of the time I play a quest 9% (4845 votes)
I don't play quests 3% (1772 votes)
Every time I play a quest 2% (1376 votes)

Question 2:
How often do you train your skills with friends?
Sometimes when I train my skills 57% (32548 votes)
Most of the time I train my skills 19% (10968 votes)
I never train skills with friends 19% (10600 votes)
Every time I train my skills 4% (2111 votes)
I don't train any skills 1% (523 votes)

Question 3:
How often do you player-kill with friends?
I don't player-kill 32% (17906 votes)
Most of the time I player-kill 20% (11599 votes)
Sometimes when I player-kill 20% (11465 votes)
Every time I player-kill 19% (10520 votes)
I never player-kill with friends 9% (5260 votes)

The results of the polls will help Jagex decide on which multi player areas of runescape they should concentrate on developing further. Obviously it does not mean they will start providing clan support within the game - it just may help them realise clans play a more important role than they currently believe.

This can therefore help the longer term objective of making Jagex adopt some form of clan support within runescape.

Runescape Clans and P2P Wilderness

Clans in runescape dominate the wilderness without any shadow of a doubt. However, the clan atmosphere is in a different league between free to play and pay to play (P2P). A recent dicussion on runescape community forums asked the questions and wanted opinions of people on what destroys the P2P Wild?

There were some different views taken by different people, although it boiled down to a small number of reasons:

1. No Honour Clans
2. One Itemers
3. Ancient Magic
4. Cost of items significantly greater

The list is relatively short and in some aspect it can easily show a reason why numerous people prefer to fight on free to play rather than pay to play. Runescape clans will not be as strong overall in P2P and therefore have less control over situations. This enables no honour clans an easier task to crash and interfere in any clan wars.

When any clan war in runescape P2P wild takes place there will be a network of one itemers and no honour members assembling and getting ready to crash the war. The fun element for them is taking the enjoyment out of the wilderness for other people. Clans will normally be much weaker in overall strength on P2P as not all clan members would be runescape members. However, almost every single no honour clan member or one itemer will be a member.

The organisation isn't as great on P2P when events get crashed as the crashers are simply their to cause mayhem - this causes confusion in clan ranks and members are less likely to return when they do not know what is happening or who exactly is crashing etc. With less organisation, lower members and more confusion, many clans simply refuse to hold P2P clan wars.

Overall, the cost of item replacement is certainly one factor that determines a persons ability and willingness to return to any clan war, although the fact no honour clans continually crash wars is probably the main reason in my opinion. The no honour clans will normally have a significant amount of ancient mages and therefore be able to cause huge damages quickly to any group of people. This hampers the ability of many melee based members to actually be able to do anything to help their clan. Consequently, returning is often pointless and certain fatality would only come of it.

Free to play runescape wilderness is much more evenly balanced in terms of the pking triangle and clans can maintain a much greater control over their organisation even when they get crashed. On top of that, all runescape members will be able to afford replacement of rune sets much more readily than barrows items or other specialist member items.

I don't know whether Jagex will ever get around to coding some sort of clan support, but one reason they should look at it is as a way to prevent the no honour clans (normally the same people associated with multiple types of cheating and scamming), from ruining the fun of the majority of more honest runescape clans and pkers in general.

Runescape Honour Versus No Honour

In the runescape clan world there has been an ongoing debate between honour and no honour clans. Personally, my preference is for some sort of honour system. I don't mean it to be extremely organised, but moreso, for it to be recognised as being respectful to other clans and showing common courtesy.

Runescape is a game at the end of the day and although Jagex do not officially recognise clans in runescape, perhaps they should consider the wider picture and look at adapting some formal clan system into the game. This would enable clans to be more organised from within the game user interface and would help establish some honour system.

Clans that respect each other will generally be classified as clans with honour, while clans that continually crash other clan wars or tournaments will normally be classed with no honour. In addition to crashing events or clan wars, no honour clans will also employ tactics that are frowned on by many of the runescape clan community. Activities such as luring, running from battles and looting at other clan wars can be broadly classified as without honour.

The fact Jagex do not recognise clans is one major limitation on being able to formalise some clan ethics within runescape. It is therefore normally set by established clans that want to promote a more active wilderness. This limits the impact of any generally agreed principles and as it is disjointed, it is really left open to individual interpretation - causing arguments or conflict within some runescape clans.

Overall, honour in runescape clans is never likely to become something that Jagex would adapt. It will therefore continue to be a cause of contention among the runescape clan community and we will continue to see the rise and fall of clans as time passes on. The large majority of runescape clans do work with their own rules and generally could be considered honourable clans. However, there has been an increase in the number of clans without honour and if this trend continues it can possibly have a large impact on runescape pking overall... with less players wanting to remain active in their clan and less pking in runescape in the long term.

Runescape Clans Not Endorsed

Runescape clans play an important role in the game for many players, however Jagex, the creators of runescape do not officially recognize or endorse clan activity. Jagex do acknowledge that certain players enjoy being part of a team and have introduced features they consider addresses the issue of clans.

The clan features (rather team oritentated features), that Jagex introduced to runescape are:

• Wilderness Team Capes
• Multi-player Mini Games
• Clan Forum section on the main runescape forums

These features may address some aspects of team play and go some way to unofficially accepting that clans play an important role for many runescape players. However, as most other MMORPG games have readily embraced clan activities, Jagex still hold back on implementing a coded solution.

If Jagex were to appease all runescape clan enthusiasts and implement a coded solution, the overall impact of clans in the runescape community would be increased significantly. Clans would be able to become organised through the game interface and official (or unofficial) tournaments or clan leagues would be much easier to control.

Runescape clans continue to thrive and exist beyond the Jagex realm and will continue to do so. However, by appeasing the large volume of members in clans and introducing an effective clan system into the game, Jagex can bring more benefits and longevity to the overall virtual lifespan of the average players' subscription.

Overall, Jagex are unlikely to change their opinion on whether a more formal can system should be introduced to runescape, even though many players only continue playing the game due to the clan they belong to. The runescape wilderness itself is dominated by clans and a formal clan system would help those players who are isolated from clan activities thoroughly enjoy their adventures more by being able to be more interactive in the game with others who are involved with clans.