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If we could trade expensive items in the ge again, it'd be much more difficult to manip. This thread might be intended well, but the OP is mistaken about what is manip and how manip works.

Manip can also be telling a person: "Prices don't change" when they have. The only way to know prices is to actively trade or to learn who in RS is honest. Both require experience. To a person who knows neither, there's little you can do but realise a great deal of info is fake.

Lately no one knows phat prices well. In such a market, merchants make bank.

Since everyone calls everything manip, no one much wants to try to clarify what prices actually are either. A person trading in today's environment will likely be scammed. Oh well. I cannot for the life of me manage to catch Covid. Perhaps it's because I didn't get vaxxed? The travails of those lacking immunity.

01-Jun-2021 15:48:03

To reiterate, probably the most common scam right now is merchants telling people, "prices don't change much." It's not necessarily an intentional scam, but it leads to people losing money.

When fish masks went way up, they then crashed way down. I bought 2k at 4m each. They sure aren't 4m now.

People throw "manip" around a lot, but what's the real price? If you think they're over/underpriced you wait or buy. Merching is about figuring the market and making a choice.

People say it's unfair that santas and scythes went out the ge, but the people who own a lot of them don't seem to be selling. Calling them "manip" doesn't change the fact that I can't buy one in the ge.

If phats ever do fall, which they could since they rocketed up so quickly, some will make bank telling others, "they didn't really fall." They could also go up further, since gp is supposedly cheaper than ever right now. I'm always hoping Jagex manages to ban the rwt gp, which would cause a fall. I cannot for the life of me manage to catch Covid. Perhaps it's because I didn't get vaxxed? The travails of those lacking immunity.

01-Jun-2021 20:07:30 - Last edited on 01-Jun-2021 20:11:03 by Trip180

01-Jun-2021 21:07:58

I Jonyfrecle said :
Hmm, I agree with some of what you're saying, perhaps I was a bit rash in my conclusion, I've removed it Keep in mind, what sort of person is Trip180? I like to argue and get attention.

So, anything you write, one way or another, I'm going to fuss about.

So, don't take it too seriously. But if you do update things to be more accurate, I think that'd be great. But this is your thread, not Trip180's thread. Don't let me control your views.

Also, feel free to fuss at me in pm, in game. Maybe sometimes I get out of line here. All just for fun. I cannot for the life of me manage to catch Covid. Perhaps it's because I didn't get vaxxed? The travails of those lacking immunity.

01-Jun-2021 22:21:12

01-Jun-2021 22:34:16

03-Jun-2021 03:14:17

Bunny ear envy. I cannot for the life of me manage to catch Covid. Perhaps it's because I didn't get vaxxed? The travails of those lacking immunity.

03-Jun-2021 13:33:05

I don't even own phats currently. I probably erred in selling, but I just always enjoyed merching. I never had to scam anyone.

But when people ask me the price of things, they overestimate me. Usually I never knew prices. I'd occasionally figure one or another price temporarily, then I'd have to shower or sleep, and the price would maybe change, as it always changes. I was good at predicting price changes, not so good at knowing current price.

My secret weapon merching has always been that I seem like a wonderful nice person (secretly evil); so, I usually have one or another merchant giving me prices. Currently, everyone I rely on has quit, except for one person.

Mostly with merching you see that evil triumphs. The bad guys win. Whatever bad action can be taken, usually that wins. However, it can also work being good. My being honest and helpful to people enables me to work with others who are such.

And if you read Plato's "Ring of Gyges": Perhaps the ideal is to be evil but appear good, best of both worlds.

One merchant in particular is so "good," in a sense, that he scares me. But his sense of "good" includes stealing other's trades, because he figures in a market the other party wants the best price. (It's fair to compete.) The way he trades, he kills margins, if he's active. Other merchants have a sense of "good" in that they don't steal others' trades as much, enabling enormous margins.

The "good" merchant I mentioned, I once trust traded him a cracker, for collateral but it was still risky. I didn't have to stress. Most people, of course, will steal from you, given the opportunity.

However, it is, in a sense, good to have this evil environment... because it teaches players human nature. We learn that others can be dangerous, given the opportunity to be so.

It also gives us the chance, for absolutely no reason at all, to be "good," a chance at virtue. And when you're good, if you brag about it to another, he'll just assume you're making it up to scam. I cannot for the life of me manage to catch Covid. Perhaps it's because I didn't get vaxxed? The travails of those lacking immunity.

03-Jun-2021 17:37:40

The R Quark system worked incredibly well, for a time. I think people got spoiled by it, came to assume that people are generally honest. That's the risk with a "good" environment: People grow too accustomed to it, then can't adjust when environment gets bad again.

That system can't work now, for various reasons.

Also, there used to be greater reward for being good, even though bad seemed to be more rewarding. People develop reputations. One mistake, and your reputation is ruined. So, we all used to know a few who were real.

But many things have changed now. Prices are higher, fewer trades, fewer hats in general. Different market. No ge to trade in. When vampyres run out of peasants to feed upon, they feed upon other vampyres. I don't trust hardly any of it now.

I don't believe a thread like this can accomplish much. At the end of the day, if we wanted to restore what we once had, we'd need to each figure just which price reporters are real. I don't know who is real, if indeed any are, now. The reputation system is the only thing that works. Right or wrong, I tend to trust established merchants, because they have reputations to defend. But I take note of who loses his "reputation" in my view. So, process of elimination.

It really is the case, in some instances, that a few who seem good are not. It surprises you to see it, when you catch a person in the wrong. Maybe rs merching is like studying game theory. It's just a lot of fun to experience. I cannot for the life of me manage to catch Covid. Perhaps it's because I didn't get vaxxed? The travails of those lacking immunity.

03-Jun-2021 17:45:52 - Last edited on 03-Jun-2021 18:06:16 by Trip180