Autoers

The free-to-play worlds of Runescape are known for many things, such as congestion, rule-breaking, pures, scamming, merchanting, begging, new players, immature players, and autoers. Of course, this is not a generalization of the f2p servers, as many of the people I know are f2pers and are very mature and follow all the rules (I even have a player moderator friend who is a f2p player). But the f2p servers are generally scarred by such negative aspects and many people are turned off by them, especially members. Yet again, this is not always true, as f2p servers offer slower training in skills than members and many find this to be a challenge so they stay there. Some people, though, argue that Jagex should take away the free servers in an attempt to get rid of many young people and immature people who swarm into the game, but this would ruin the game for me in so many different ways. Sure, I may be a member, but I love going on f2p visits just walking around and reporting any rule breakers that I see when I get bored doing skills. Yes, there are quests that I can do as I have 89 quest points which shows that I still have tons of quests to complete, but for some odd reason I'm always turned off by quests. F2p is my vacation spot when I'm tired from my work in members. Even just standing in the Lumbridge Forest watching autoers fly past me in all directions is relaxing for me. And I'm saying relaxing from an in-game perspective. If you were playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas a lot and got tired of blowing up cars and helicopters with the rocket launcher, your 'relaxation' may be exploring the desert and mountain regions. It's the same case there as my case is in Runescape. But we don't have to worry much about Jagex closing down free-to-play anytime soon. F2p is what attracts many players to get members, thus filling Jagex's wallets with money. Also the ads that display at the top of the page in f2p servers help them too.

My number one relaxation in Runescape when I don't feel like skilling, fighting, or doing quests is to go to free-to-play and report autoers. I'm always reading message board threads on various fan sites that complain that people don't stand around and report autoers enough. I agree with that, but I also agree that reporting autoers won't solve the problem of autoers at all because it's just too easy to bring more autoers into the world of Runescape. But I find that when I do such an activity that I'm somehow helping Jagex by pointing out some of the autoers and to eliminate a few. But I can very well find up from fifty to one hundred autoers a world, and reporting only thirty of them takes a while. Think about this: you can only send in a report every minute. Finding a few autoers takes awhile and then if you find thirty, that's thirty minutes to stand there and report each one. That is what turns almost everybody off from doing what I do because many think that when they play Runescape that they much be doing something productive, as I was the same way when I had my 99 woodcutting goal, but after I finished my goal, I was sick of everything besides 'hunting' down these autoers and that's one of the things that keep me playing. My goal is to now try and eliminate as many autoers as I can by pointing them out to Jagex who will hopefully ban them. Sure, my efforts may be wasted time as for every ten autoers I help get banned, twenty more may be created by the runner of them, but at least I'm having fun by doing it. Botanreaper2 said that I should do a few games of Castle Wars or quests to get back in my former skilling mood and to obtain the patience that I once had for skilling, but I would rather relax in the woods west of Lumbridge or at the docks at Karmaja to get back into my skilling mood.

I just thought of something while typing all of this up. What would happen if Jagex finally enforced the ultimate method to stop all autoers and not a single one roamed fishing, woodcutting, or mining in the game? What would happen to my means of relaxation in the game? I would much rather stand by the pond west of Lumbridge with the many willow trees surrounding it in the middle of nowhere where at least the autoers don't talk than standing in the middle of Varrock by the fountain where people curse, beg, and call me names. If autoers were gone, I would be happy that Jagex took a giant step forward and completed a massive goal to make the game better but at the same time, I would be sad that I wouldn't see any bald men chopping willows with bronze axes at that pond. If auto typers were still around, I would go after them, but it wouldn't be the same as I get headaches seeing all the flashing text flying throughout the playing screen. I do, however, wish that autoers were eliminated from the game because prices of items would stabilize and skillers would finally be able to make money from productive skills like woodcutting and fishing. Then maybe goals like 99 fletching and cooking would be harder as the rich wouldn't be able to buy their levels so easily and would go out and fish and cut their raw materials to use. Then when the demand for such raw materials becomes in high demand, the skillers may rejoice as they can get good money from the desperate rich men and women who seek the materials to level. But that's just my two cents and may not be correct if these situations were to ever occur.

Now how can you tell if a person is an autoer or not? Well...

• If you see a level three player whose character is white and bald and wearing a tan shirt and green pants (as the default clothing). Also they do not have any facial hair. These characters are not 100% always an autoer, but to make sure they are, trade with them about three times, maybe ask their 'x' level, and wait a few seconds and then report them. If they do not trade nor speak, they may be an autoer. If they have their trade off (it'll say that the player is busy), then it may be a real player or a smart autoing script. I have yet to run into one of these characters with their trade off.
• Autoers also take the appearance of women and characters with different clothing, hair, and facial hair. If you suspect that this character is an autoer, try talking to them or trading with them. Remember, some level three characters may be 'skillers' who have their public chat and trade off. You may need to take a while guess here and maybe depending upon their name report them.
  
• If you reported somebody whose name was yahulu019 and then a couple minutes later you see yahulu037, yahulu067, yahulu064, yahulu016, and yahulu048 (these were real autoers that I reported), then report them. Don't even bother talking to them or trading with them. These people are normally 99.9% of the time autoers and sometimes each one may have a different appearance to try and fool whoever they're trying to fool, whether it be a player or Jagex.
• A point that I found out yesterday -- If one of these level three characters are using a bronze or steel axe on a yew tree, then there's a good chance that they're an autoer. Yes, that's a very vague theory, but why would an average player want to get logs that slow unless it wasn't a player but a script that ran the character all day long? Because the script is running that character all day, there's no time that a human wastes by getting logs slow because there is no human at the computer. The logs, for the autoer, over time will stack up because they can run that character for days unless they're banned or stopped by some other method. I'm 99 woodcutting and I use a dragon axe and I still get yew logs slow -- I can't imagine then a player with around 60 woodcutting using a steel axe on yews and maintaining their sanity for long. Yes, they could be poor, but only about 66 yew logs cut and they can have enough money for a rune axe. But why would an autoer want to waste money when they're going to use that money on another account or for real world item trading when they can just run all day and eventually get as much logs as a player who played for two hours cutting yews? That's my theory, but I have yet used this theory as evidence to report.

If you really want to stand around and report autoers like I do, then do the following:

• Get a tablet of any kind, or maybe even open Notepad or Word on the computer and resize the window to a reasonable size so that you can see both the Runescape window and the word processor at the same time. If you have a tablet, get a good pencil or pen.
• When you see an autoer and obtaining as much evidence as you can that they are indeed an autoer, write or type their name out and then report them. Make sure you correctly transfer their name from one source to the other as the report system accepts any spelling of any name for the rule of macroing. You want to make sure your reports are as accurate as possible. As far as I know, I have only typed in a incorrect spelling of a name once.
  
• Get a stopwatch of some sort or record the time it was when you sent in a report. Once you report an autoer, start your stopwatch and once the time hits one minute, report another autoer, reset the watch, and repeat the process.
• After reporting an autoer, put a check next to their name in the tablet or delete them from the word processor.

Good spots for autoers on any world are (that I go to for reporting):

• Forest west of Lumbridge. They're all over at normal trees, oaks, willows, and yews. The yews near the boundary of the forest and the swamp and the willows surrounding the pond in between the Draynor Jail and the nearby farm where the Sheep Shearer quest takes place are filled with autoers mostly. Also the two oak trees behind the Lumbridge General Store is a hot spot.
  
• Willows just south of the Draynor Bank. There doesn't seem to be a lot when there's a lot of average players cutting there, but the night that Botanreaper2 and I were celebrating my 99 woodcutting in f2p, World 128, there were tons of autoers here.
  
• The willow trees near Port Sarim near the stone fence that creates a boundary between Draynor and Port Sarim. The location is always swarming with autoers.
• Karmaja Docks on Karmaja Island. North of the banana plantation. I only went here once or twice and the amount of autoers vary.
  

Hot spots mentioned by others from various sources across the internet:

• Yew trees by the maze near Rimmingon. I never saw autoers there, but others have seen many.
• Mining Guild. I never saw autoers down there.
• Behind Varrock Castle at the yew trees. After all the pictures that I have seen of about twenty to thirty autoers at these trees, I have only seen about three in my Runescape career prior to when I stared 'hunting' autoers as my Runescape hobby.
  
• Various mines around the f2p world. I'm not sure about any wilderness mines. I have yet to explore mines for autoers. If I find any more information about autoers in mines, I'll be sure to post an update here at the blog.
  

And for an example of an autoer tablet:

If you were want to come autoer hunting with me if I'm not busy in the game or in the real world, them private message me or comment me here. I'll try to keep my private on more when I'm autoer hunting (it's mostly on friends) if you want to message me. Company would be great and the help in getting rid of autoers. I think Jagex would pay attention to two reports on one person more than one report on one person. I will guarantee that it may be boring, but it is definitely pretty relaxing and if you follow my process of reporting autoers, you'll then find yourself in a rhythm that may become addicting for you.

I'm out. Have a nice day. I think I may take a visit to f2p if you know what I mean.