Philosophical and ethical conundrum while playing Oldschool RuneScape

[Carl-Richard]

So I play Oldschool RuneScape sometimes, and today I lost a lot of money in a highly unexpected way (I was in Bounty Hunter and got killed by poison in the "safe zone" just after removing my Protect Item prayer).

My first response was to buy back the lost money using the bond system (for real life money), because I thought that wasn't supposed to be possible (I thought it was a safe zone; turns out it wasn't).

I have in good conscience bought bonds one time before when I died because my game client froze, but then it was due to a bug. Now it was due to a lack of game knowledge or skill, which doesn't seem like a good reason. I've decided over the years that buying bonds generally ruins the sense of purpose of the game, and doing it for bugs seems like the only exception.

So I decided to spend the money on a good old-fashioned drop party (dropping items for people to pick up, generally in competition with other people). But of course, this begs the question: does a drop party ruin the sense of purpose for the people involved?

This thought sat in my mind, and I decided to have the drop party in a place where I saw mainly decently wealthy people just hanging out. Maybe picking up the items won't change much for them. What I was mainly concerned about was having a new player 100x their bank and completely warp their experience of the game.

So maybe if the gains are minimal, like in the 0.01-0.10x range, maybe that's less problematic. Maybe it could even enhance their sense of purpose, motivating them to pursue the next micro-step in their natural progression of the game. Besides, drop parties are exciting and an integral part of the OSRS experience, which itself gives meaning and purpose.

So maybe the most ethical way to do drop parties would be to scale the gains relative to the people attending, in a way that pushes their progression just a tiny step forward and in a way that doesn't invalidate the preceding or future progression. So that means a drop party for example in W301 Lumbridge should include at most high-end bronze or low-end iron items as an example.

Anyways, I partly regret the drop party because it had one item that was much more valuable than the others, and there was a chance that a noob would get it. That didn't turn out to be the case; it was a bot that that sits at Grand Exchange picking up items that got it (gratz on 10m bud); but there was a non-zero chance for a noob to get it, so it was not ethically optimal, but hey, it's only a game  (which is what life is anyway ).

Edited September 9 by Carl-Richard

[integral]

Start a YouTube channel this is gold.  I broke my finger trying to hit the like button That didn’t exist.

Edited September 9 by integral

[Carl-Richard]

1 hour ago, integral said:

Start a YouTube channel this is gold.  I broke my finger trying to hit the like button That didn’t exist.

Haha, I've actually planned to create some YouTube videos going forward, spending parts of my sundays on that. It will involve probably some OSRS but mainly psychology, spirituality, science, philosophy, music covers and original music.

When I was 10 or so, I asked my dad to buy me a license for an editing software that he used professionally to make videos, and he promised to give me it but never gave it (same for when I asked for double-bass pedals for my drum set, but that's a different story). Ever since that age, I wanted to make videos, and it has stuck with me as a shadow desire until this day. 

A few days ago, I revisited a video I made when I was 11 (over 15 years ago):

 

It's simple and to the point, as you would expect from a 11 year old, but the potential was definitely there. When I looked at the date and realized I was only 11 when I made it, I was stunned for a good 5 minutes. The "what if" questions that popped into my head about where I would be in an alternate timeline, boggle my mind.

Same with my passion for music and 15 year long guitar habit; the uncountable number of small audio recordings and the desire to create my own songs; the "what ifs" have kept bothering me for years. Also, my more left-brain zany side needs an outlet for more creative writing that I don't fully get in academia (and I already have pages upon pages of such writing from bookmarked forum posts and threads ready to be packaged into video format). This part is not just about mere self-expression either: it's to share what has been most impactful in my life and what I believe is of value to other people and is most meaningful (and a different angle on the same project that I want my academic work to be).

So I thought where can I give all of that an outlet? And the answer is obviously developing my YouTube channel on my free time. And I've finally become principled enough to allow myself one free day where I am completely free to pursue whatever I want, so even if it moves slower than the continents, I will put something out there on that channel. And what better time to get started with this than in the age of AI-powered content?

I will also revamp the stylistic design along the lines of my profile design on this forum. 

 

@integral

It might be counting butterflies to explain the storm, but I think your albeit ironic but incessant suggestions over the times has helped steer me in this direction, and I thank you for that.

Edited September 9 by Carl-Richard

[integral]

@Carl-Richard lmaoo hopefully my incessant nudges we’re in the right direction. 😅 but from the moment I laid eyes on that mountainous back years ago I knew it was witnessing potential like I’ve never seen. 🥺

but in all honesty you’re A strong writer and YouTube is basically dominated by great writers. 

[Asayake]

On 09/09/2024 at 3:17 AM, Carl-Richard said:

Haha, I've actually planned to create some YouTube videos going forward, spending parts of my sundays on that. It will involve probably some OSRS but mainly psychology, spirituality, science, philosophy, music covers and original music.

When I was 10 or so, I asked my dad to buy me a license for an editing software that he used professionally to make videos, and he promised to give me it but never gave it (same for when I asked for double-bass pedals for my drum set, but that's a different story). Ever since that age, I wanted to make videos, and it has stuck with me as a shadow desire until this day. 

A few days ago, I revisited a video I made when I was 11 (over 15 years ago):

 

It's simple and to the point, as you would expect from a 11 year old, but the potential was definitely there. When I looked at the date and realized I was only 11 when I made it, I was stunned for a good 5 minutes. The "what if" questions that popped into my head about where I would be in an alternate timeline, boggle my mind.

Same with my passion for music and 15 year long guitar habit; the uncountable number of small audio recordings and the desire to create my own songs; the "what ifs" have kept bothering me for years. Also, my more left-brain zany side needs an outlet for more creative writing that I don't fully get in academia (and I already have pages upon pages of such writing from bookmarked forum posts and threads ready to be packaged into video format). This part is not just about mere self-expression either: it's to share what has been most impactful in my life and what I believe is of value to other people and is most meaningful (and a different angle on the same project that I want my academic work to be).

So I thought where can I give all of that an outlet? And the answer is obviously developing my YouTube channel on my free time. And I've finally become principled enough to allow myself one free day where I am completely free to pursue whatever I want, so even if it moves slower than the continents, I will put something out there on that channel. And what better time to get started with this than in the age of AI-powered content?

I will also revamp the stylistic design along the lines of my profile design on this forum. 

 

@integral

It might be counting butterflies to explain the storm, but I think your albeit ironic but incessant suggestions over the times has helped steer me in this direction, and I thank you for that.

I have had the same what if experience as I used to make videos on how to improve your computer when I was 12-13 and YouTube was new. Those videos had like 5k views and I thought wow.. imagine if I would have continued down that path.

Btw, Runescape absolutely rules, the best game of all time. I enjoyed your moral reflections on it.