The Big Picture
erhaps the most drawn out scientific disagreement of all time, the debate disputing the shape of our planet earth still stumbles on in present time. “The Flat Earth Society,” continues to lead the faltering, but still very much alive, theory of, well, the flat earth! This theory is obviously on the contrary to popular and scientific belief. Several photos of a spherical earth have been captured from space. One of these photos is “The Blue Marble” as seen by the Apollo 17 crew on their final mission to the moon. Personally, I don’t know of any images of earth that depict it as flat. However, “The Flat Earth Society,” along with many other “believers,” continue to neglect the evident fact that the earth is round.
It seems to me that hundreds of photos depicting the earth as a spherical, round shape are proof enough that we do not live on a flat planet. Bizarrely enough, not everyone on our planet (regardless of what shape it is) agrees with me! It could be because they are not intelligent enough to realize the truth. Or, it might be a result of brainwashing. It may even be because they are afraid of the truth. Nevertheless, the world is filled with human beings, each with their own perspectives and beliefs, and this huge assortment of ideas comes into conflict constantly.
It is the conflict of these ideas that causes many problems in the game of Runescape. Obviously, Runescape is not the best video game of all time. I’m sorry to break it to you, but it’s not even the best MMORPG (massive(ly) multiplayer online role-playing game) out there. When Andrew Gower first created Runescape, one of his main goals was to make the game accessible from any computer with an internet connection. This philosophy still stands today. Now, the problem with anyone being able to access a game is that many younger kids, who cannot yet understand the purpose of an online game, join up to play Runescape. Not only younger kids, but players who are only interested in scamming, hacking and other rule-breaking activities create accounts. This constant flood of new players is the cause of the conflicting ideas I mentioned earlier.
By now I am sure you are wondering what the purpose of this article is, right? Well I am not here with you today to suggest that we should be pushing JaGex to Abolish the F2P version of the game, or block people from creating new accounts, or anything of the sort. I am simply encouraging you, as a Runescaper, to respect the viewpoints and opinions of other players. Not only this, but to discuss, constructively, an agreeable compromise so that all Runescapers can co-exist without massive flame wars and such. One look at the official Runescape forums, and you will see what I mean by “massive flame wars.” Let’s not take for granted the wonderful community that we have here at Global-rs.com. Outside of our haven of friends is a world of Runescapers thrashing at each other and making forum threads about how Jagex should burn in a fiery death, because they made one bad quest. Is all this arguing and flaming necessary? I say no, and I hope that this article has brought you to agree with me.
“The Blue Marble” as seen by the Apollo 17 crew on their final mission to the moon.
“The Blue Marble” may have been the first photograph of earth which included the southern polar ice cap, but it is media like this that generally proposes new ideas and perspectives to the masses, and in-turn influences our individual interpretation of our chunk of society. Our job as Runescapers is to not to go out and start a society (or a thread in the forums) about how dumb and “N00bish” others are. Instead, begin by changing yourself. Next time you see someone standing in a bank offering their services at trimming armour simply report them and go on with your happy gaming. Next time you see someone asking for free items, don’t call them names or flame them. Instead, inform them politely that begging is not a legitimate career in Runescape, and maybe even offer them some items that you don’t have use for. The golden rule of Runescape: Do unto those as you would have them do unto you.
