Pals vs. Pixels

Hey guys

I just stumbled across some interesting videos on Youtube that have to do with a "Pals vs. Pixels" or "Friends > Pixels" theme. Basically, in the videos these rich kids trade each other phats & other extremely rare, expensive items in a "trust trade", and then trade the item back immediately after trying it on. It appears the message they are trying to send is that friendship is much more important than pixels, something that seems to be practically non existant in this modern age of Runescape.

What are your thoughts on this??

Personally, I think the concept is kind of stupid, as anytime you trade anything to anybody who you only know over the internet, there is a huge risk of getting scammed. So I'm not sure if I could ever trust somebody enough to just trade them over a partyhat and expect to get it back. But then again, from the other perspective, if one of my good friends on RS were to trade me one of their rares, I know that I would of course trade it right back to them and although I'm sure the idea of scamming would cross my mind, I just know that I could never do that to somebody as I could only imagine how horrible it would feel.

What about you.... could YOU trade somebody a partyhat out of trust? Or if a friend traded one to you, could you honestly say that you would trade it back to them?

 

Where these guy's IRL friends? I would trust my IRL friends with anything and i have done, I gave my mate a blue p hat and he gave it back to me. I wouldn't give something to someone i met on Runescape.

 

Same as above. If I knew them irl, then yes. If not, I don't think I could, even if I've known them for 10 years. 2b+ is just too much.

 

I believe that the people in the videos knew each other only on RS, which is why it was a "big deal".

I have 1 irl friend who plays RS, and used to have more when I was younger, and I could always trust those people with anything, because if it came down to it I could always shitkick them and get my items back lol.

Trusting somebody over the internet though is a completely different scenario. Just look at the example of when silentc0re lost his bank by trading it to his best friend on RS. Apparantly they knew each other extremely well, talked on Skype many hours a day for well over a year, knew very intimate and personal details about each other's lives, yet in the end the kid stabbed him in the back for a few pixels.

It is very interesting how safe people feel hiding behind the veil of their computer most of the time, and how this illusion of safety can lead them to do things that they would normally never do to other people. There is something about stabbing someone in the back that feels OK to these people, aslong as that person lives across the world and they will never have to see them face to face.

 

Same as above, I'd only trust people irl with things. That way, if they do the dirty on me, I can get them back.

 

If my friends IRL played runescape I would trust them based on the fact I could find them and kill them if they pulled anything dodgy.

No matter how many years you know someone online they can always disappear and never be found again.

 

Its sad though how people will decide to scam so quickly if they think they can never be found afterwards. You are still scamming another person and you still have to live with that afterwards, and the karma that results from that action.

 

I'd have to know them VERY well, as in talked on vent/skype, on forums or if they were trusted/important somewhere (like here). I don't think I'd trust any random bloke that walks up to me on the street

 

I don't think I would ever have that much trust in someone solely over Runescape.

There are a ton of people in WoW however I would hand over 500k to and without a doubt have them trade it back. The relationships built in RS I feel are very weak because even though it's a MMO there are very few thIngs you can do with a group of people.

 

I find this extremely interesting.

I have never played WOW, but you are saying that the experience is much more team/cooperative gameplay based, and therefore you develop better relationships with people and come to know/trust people much further than on RS?

 

Yeah. I find it a bit hard to explain but I'm willing to bet most if not all will agree with me. In WoW you see the same people every day because you're on a specific server. You raid with the same group and then you go on and do PvP with them, go and make new characters together and before you know it you're practically family. Because of complexity of the boss fights and PvP combat voice communication is crucial, so in Ventrilo you get to know everyone even a step further.

 

I've trust traded my close RS friends with 2b cash, partyhats, my account with full bank access, big gp loans, etc. Though, I've known them almost 7 years. Only two people I trust that fully, to be honest. I wouldn't really even let my family hold that stuff.

I pride myself on being a trustable person, as well. I have never scammed anyone, and never would. Even if I don't know them. But you can't really take someone's word for that these days.

 

I'd probably trust a few of my friends but I don't think the time I've known them matters.

 

On rs classic there were 2 people I trusted with my bank (50+ phats usually)

This was in like 06 and 07, rs classic was still very popular so they weren't worthless.

Now a days, I trust no one, but alot of people still trust me :]
Just one person I trust on rs2 who I would 'lend' a phat to in trade.

 

That makes sense to me so I can see that. Even back when I used to play RS in classic, I dunno if I would trust anybody with a phat, but I definitely had more trust in the Runescape community in general. The community was alot closer and much more mature than it is nowadays.

To be honest, I was actually quite shocked and appalled at how far downhill the maturity level and respect for fellow players amongst the general RS population has gone in the 5 years that I was away from RS.

 

I thought we were trust buddies, though.

Joking, of course. <3 you Sander.

 

I've trusted a lot of people with GP/items. One person I even trusted with 13B

 

I used to know people who I got to know trough RS and only knew on RS who I trusted enough to lend a few rune sets or something. My friend also let me wear his Santa and stuff.. Nowadays I must admit I wouldn't know where to start looking for people I trust on RS..
But maybe that's because I've grown up and find it hard to make friends on RS. There are very few people I meet on RS that don't appear in my eyes as complete retards/ worth talking to.

 

It sad how the rs community has become some people scam for 10k-50k which is extremely sad I can't even explain how said it is I missed the old rs people would have fun events make friends and chill.

 

I've had a few people that I trusted in RS with items/accounts of mine. I think only 1 of those few scammed me on account we were sharing. But I've loaned in total prob over 100m to a few friends (not at once) they paid me back. I've also been asked before to help a few friends trade over items. One of the bigger times was when a friend back in my early days on classic, he traded a santa to me for his other account. I have to say I thought about keeping it, but I gave it to him.

I can see where FlyingToast was coming from. I'd trust people I was in clans with more than just my friends. This is because we were always PKing or doing boss monsters together.