RuneScape History Project (No application - I can't post elsewhere)


July

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Hello everyone,

My name is July. I have just had a conversation with wildman18dew in-game and he told me it was okay to post in this forum.

I have been working on an informative e-book about the history and development of RuneScape. One of the chapters will be about the clan world of each of the three main communities (PvP, PvM, skilling) and I thought that I should also write something about Masors in it.

I have already had a look at the clan history page and it contains a lot of useful information. However, I would also like to find out more about the entire skilling clan scenery of 2003 and 2004. Are there perhaps any members here who have been around since 2003 or 2004 so that I could ask some questions about the clan's early years?

I look forward to any replies.

Kind regards,

July

____________________________________________

More information about the project:

-Twitter: /RsHistoryJuly

-Facebook: /RuneScapeHistoryProject

-YouTube: /watch?v=xDNimNFLsa8

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Sadly, I have only been around since 2005 Drew, which falls out of the range of his request :P I am happy to answer any questions you might have though.

Drew, also, can you please ensure that non-member accounts can respond to topics in Public Discussion?

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Validating accounts are able to read, reply to and now start topics in this forum.

Sounds like a really interesting project, best of luck with it. I joined in 2008 so wont be much help, but there's definitely quite a few oldies from 2003 - 2004 still around who should be able to give you some information.

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I will just post my questions here and then we will see if anyone can answer. :)

1) When MaSoRS was founded in 2003, what were the other active and biggest skilling communities/clans/services/businesses, etc.?

2) The drop parties attracted many people. Would it be ok to say that it was primarily these drop parties that caused the clan to grow over time?

3) Did the creation of Mining Golds in 2009 affect MaSoRS at all? I am asking this because Mining Golds instantly became the most well-known Mining community.

4) Has the MaSoRS clan always revolved entirely around Mining and Smithing or has there been a shift in focus in the course of the last 5-7 years? And if there has been a shift, why?

5) I seem to have the impression from the history page on this website that MaSoRS might have been the biggest skilling clan of RSC and early RS2. Do you think that is correct or not? If not, what other clans were as big or even bigger?

6) On what is the clan's focus today? I can imagine that the release of the new high-level Mining content since 2009 (LRC, Elf City) might have been bad for MaSoRS.

7) Is there anything else you want me to mention about MaSoRS (that is relevant)?

8) Would it be ok if I used one of the screenshots (on this clan's history webpage) in my e-book? The owner of any image I pick would be credited, of course.

I look forward to any answers!

July

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1) When MaSoRS was founded in 2003, what were the other active and biggest skilling communities/clans/services/businesses, etc.?


I did not believe there was many skilling clans out there. I found out about MaSoRs from a drop party post on Runescape Community which was massive at the time (Now known as Zybez). There was a lot of clans out there and I with other community forums like Runescape Community and tipit making it easier for recruiting but there was not many skilling ones.


I believed something that really helped us was that all the PK'ing clans had a one clan limit but we managed to have the image that MaSoRs was exempt from the rule. As we did not go PK'ing it give a lot of players a different way to get involved without a combat requirement.



2) The drop parties attracted many people. Would it be ok to say that it was primarily these drop parties that caused the clan to grow over time?


When joining MaSoRs there was a large focus on getting prepared for the next drop party. I think the fact that we could fill a world was outstanding so I think a lot of us would get involved a lot with resource gathering events. This included mining raids, hobgoblin mining trips, smithing assistance - helping those with slow smithing help smelt the ore we mined. We got a large increase of members on the day of the drop party but the challenge was to keep them on the forums and connected with the events.


3) Did the creation of Mining Golds in 2009 affect MaSoRS at all? I am asking this because Mining Golds instantly became the most well-known Mining community.


Can't remember 09


4) Has the MaSoRS clan always revolved entirely around Mining and Smithing or has there been a shift in focus in the course of the last 5-7 years? And if there has been a shift, why?


No, we have always been focused on skilling and to often help train a skill that is boring. Hoping that having the company will help with the training. Having 20-30 RC'ing airs makes it much less boring and with people you can actually do it for an hour compared to giving up after 5 minutes. For April Fools, we change the clan name to WaFoRs, Woodcutters and Firemakers of Runescape



5) I seem to have the impression from the history page on this website that MaSoRS might have been the biggest skilling clan of RSC and early RS2. Do you think that is correct or not? If not, what other clans were as big or even bigger?


I joined early RS2, I would probably say there was bigger pvp clans



6) On what is the clan's focus today? I can imagine that the release of the new high-level Mining content since 2009 (LRC, Elf City) might have been bad for MaSoRS.


Miners and Smither of Runescape is more a of a title that we have kept. I would not see us as the dwarves of Runescape but I see us more of a community. I quit Runescape for years and have still been active on these forums as I see it more of community.



7) Is there anything else you want me to mention about MaSoRS (that is relevant)?


SDal is a nub.



8) Would it be ok if I used one of the screenshots (on this clan's history webpage) in my e-book? The owner of any image I pick would be credited, of course.


Masors watermark I'd say?


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For question # 3: I was really active around that time and I have never even heard of that of that clan before. I was also active in other communities such as Tip.It and RuneVillage (forum communities).

Our activity was slowly decaying, but it was in response to major RuneScape updates such as the removal of free trade ~ 2007 if I can recall the years correctly. Judging from the many messages I sent out, complaints, etc. (I complain & whine a lot, and I use to document many things very carefully even for stupid things like a gaming community), 2009 was still a decent year. In fact, a lot of our very active members were still around until a noticeable decline in ~ 2011. A devastating blow was the removal of Hiscores for F2P (I'm thinking this was ~ 2011 if it's matching the trends I have noticed, lol); since then, they have brought it back, but not all of our members came back with it. I don't think our clan was the only ones affected by these updates, but we have had a difficult time recovering from it. The clan activity is "Meh" (it's at a whatever works stage), but it use to be extremely active in the past; almost nothing like any newer members could imagine today.

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1) When MaSoRS was founded in 2003, what were the other active and biggest skilling communities/clans/services/businesses, etc.?

While I can't speak to 2003, in 2005, I found out about Masors from Runescape Community (now Zybez), which was already one of the bigger Runescape forums. This was a time when sites like Sal's and RuneHQ were still in their infancy and stuff like Swiftswitch/Swiftkit didn't yet exist. I never really liked PK'ing so I am not too certain about the clans around at the time.

2) The drop parties attracted many people. Would it be ok to say that it was primarily these drop parties that caused the clan to grow over time?

I agree that drop parties were one of the primary reasons for clan growth. We would consistently get a massive influx of new members just after drop parties and our board attendance numbers were highest just after or during a drop party. I'm sure you'll find many members who joined because of a drop party. Of course, there was always consistent organic growth from word-of-mouth, events, advertising, etc. FYI, the current board record was set just after the last major drop party in 2011.

3) Did the creation of Mining Golds in 2009 affect MaSoRS at all? I am asking this because Mining Golds instantly became the most well-known Mining community.

As with Josh, I was very active around that time period and have never heard of Mining Golds. I don't think it affected us really, and I don't believe that there was ever any formal or implied "competition" between the clans.

4) Has the MaSoRS clan always revolved entirely around Mining and Smithing or has there been a shift in focus in the course of the last 5-7 years? And if there has been a shift, why?

Mining and Smithing has always seemed to be a sort of "suggested theme" rather than a strict focus, even when I joined back in 2005. There were always a wide variety of events and even a small pk-ing sub-team which conducted business under a different name.

5) I seem to have the impression from the history page on this website that MaSoRS might have been the biggest skilling clan of RSC and early RS2. Do you think that is correct or not? If not, what other clans were as big or even bigger?

I believe this to be true, large skilling clans were quite a rarity back in the early 2000s.

6) On what is the clan's focus today? I can imagine that the release of the new high-level Mining content since 2009 (LRC, Elf City) might have been bad for MaSoRS.

I don't know, ask an active member :P

7) Is there anything else you want me to mention about MaSoRS (that is relevant)?

The person that celt refers to as "Sdal" is me. Board name = Phalonx, RSN = Sdalmonte. Let me know if you would like any further detail on anything :)

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Hi, this sounds like a very interesting project - once the e-book is finished please do let us know, I'm sure many of us would like to give it a read.

I joined Masors in 2006, so I can't give details regarding the early years, although I still think the clan's later history is also quite interesting. I notice that the history page on our site only covers up to 2006, in case you haven't seen it, this thread (http://www.themasors.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3577) covers up to 2010.

In response to your questions (of which I can answer):

#2 The drop parties were a big source of new members. Now that we irregularly host drop parties (our last was held in 2011 after free trade returned), we depend on many more areas to promote our clan. This includes recruitment threads on the RSOF and fansites. Word of mouth has always been and continues to be an important method of recruitment.

#3 In my opinion, Mining Golds has had no impact on our clan. We're a very open community, and have never really competed with other clans.

#4 As SDal has said, there was never a strict focus on Mining and Smithing - but through various events we did encourage the training of it.

#6 I stopped playing several years ago so I don't know about recent updates. The LRC was so-so, most people would prefer to switch to the heavily populated worlds to train there - which meant we didn't really skill in a more close-knit group. Thankfully we had clanchat by then, so could still chat through that. Mining and Smithing training events were irregular by the time LRC came out anyway (we focused more on minigames), so there wasn't much damage to be done by it regardless.

#7 An interesting read is chapter 26, from the history I linked to above, which describes the impact of the removal of free trade in 2007 on the clan. The restriction was disastrous for our clan; we could no longer host traditional drop parties and many of our events depended upon free trade between members (e.g. materials being traded to aid in training skills). In 2009 we did host a couple of drop parties in the Falador party room, whilst it was somewhat successful, it faced many problems such individuals spamming the chest and chat - making promoting the clan extremely difficult. I can imagine there were other skilling clans that suffered in a similar way due to the free trade restrictions.

#8 I don't see any issue with using clan images, as long as the clan is given credit. You may find our group photobucket interesting: http://s521.photobucket.com/user/masors_album/library/5O69W4Q2ES In particular this album which covers drop parties from 2003 to 2007: http://s521.photobucket.com/user/masors_album/library/Masors%20Drop%20Party%202003%20to%202007

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1) When MaSoRS was founded in 2003, what were the other active and biggest skilling communities/clans/services/businesses, etc.?



When I joined in 2005, all clans had combat requirements it seemed. The only other clan I remember that started around the time I joined is PhoenixFyre/Rising that was skilling based.



2) The drop parties attracted many people. Would it be ok to say that it was primarily these drop parties that caused the clan to grow over time?



I joined because I saw a thread for a drop party. We would fill up world 14 HOURS before a drop party. World 14 was one of the least popular f2p worlds but we would cap that world 3+ hours before a drop party.



3) Did the creation of Mining Golds in 2009 affect MaSoRS at all? I am asking this because Mining Golds instantly became the most well-known Mining community.



No. I can't recall anyone leaving for Mining Golds nor was their any threads/any pushes to keep members or anything like that...they weren't a threat in any way to us



4) Has the MaSoRS clan always revolved entirely around Mining and Smithing or has there been a shift in focus in the course of the last 5-7 years? And if there has been a shift, why?



Never a strict requirement on mining and smithing. Most events we did in 2005-2007 just wouldn't be fun now aka going to the hobgoblin mine or lumbridge mine to mine mith/addy when you can hop worlds and get inventories in 1-2 minutes with harmonized rocks etc. or firefests when you can bonfire for better xp



5) I seem to have the impression from the history page on this website that MaSoRS might have been the biggest skilling clan of RSC and early RS2. Do you think that is correct or not? If not, what other clans were as big or even bigger?



I'm not a clan expert but maybe Supreme Skillers? Pheonix Fyre/Rising? I don't remember how big they were honestly. Back then I remember there being 30+ people on the forums on peak times, if not near 50-60 on Saturdays. IRC peaked at probably 30-40 before FCs/CCs



6) On what is the clan's focus today? I can imagine that the release of the new high-level Mining content since 2009 (LRC, Elf City) might have been bad for MaSoRS.



Right now we are just more of a general clan with an active citadel and avatars out all the time on our home world 27. We still have the same 60 mining/50 smithing requirements but 99.9% of RS3 players have that easily so I wouldn't even call it a requirement. We still pull 20-25 people on a good Saturday online at once.



7) Is there anything else you want me to mention about MaSoRS (that is relevant)?




8) Would it be ok if I used one of the screenshots (on this clan's history webpage) in my e-book? The owner of any image I pick would be credited, of course.



No issue


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1) When MaSoRS was founded in 2003, what were the other active and biggest skilling communities/clans/services/businesses, etc.?


none that im aware of



2) The drop parties attracted many people. Would it be ok to say that it was primarily these drop parties that caused the clan to grow over time?


these are what attracted me to the clan way long ago



3) Did the creation of Mining Golds in 2009 affect MaSoRS at all? I am asking this because Mining Golds instantly became the most well-known Mining community.


no idea what this is.



4) Has the MaSoRS clan always revolved entirely around Mining and Smithing or has there been a shift in focus in the course of the last 5-7 years? And if there has been a shift, why?


i wouldn't say we focused on mining and smithing, but all skills. several times we set cities ablaze with firemaking and other stuff i can't remember.



5) I seem to have the impression from the history page on this website that MaSoRS might have been the biggest skilling clan of RSC and early RS2. Do you think that is correct or not? If not, what other clans were as big or even bigger?


biggest that i knew of



6) On what is the clan's focus today? I can imagine that the release of the new high-level Mining content since 2009 (LRC, Elf City) might have been bad for MaSoRS.


no idea.



7) Is there anything else you want me to mention about MaSoRS (that is relevant)?


moo.



8) Would it be ok if I used one of the screenshots (on this clan's history webpage) in my e-book? The owner of any image I pick would be credited, of course.


don't think any are mine but i don't care.


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1) When MaSoRS was founded in 2003, what were the other active and biggest skilling communities/clans/services/businesses, etc.?

It was mostly combat required clans that were all about pking and if you couldnt keep up you were gone. MaSoRs greatly helped change that.

2) The drop parties attracted many people. Would it be ok to say that it was primarily these drop parties that caused the clan to grow over time?

I believe it helped grow it for short periods of time. You would have people join to see if they could get more free stuff or try to mooch. Those people fell thru quickly. We did gain some valuable members from it but that was only part of the plan.

3) Did the creation of Mining Golds in 2009 affect MaSoRS at all? I am asking this because Mining Golds instantly became the most well-known Mining community.

Who? never heard of them.

4) Has the MaSoRS clan always revolved entirely around Mining and Smithing or has there been a shift in focus in the course of the last 5-7 years? And if there has been a shift, why? We orignally were mining and smithing based, we eventually came out with our own Pk group H2O (Hard 2 own) for life baby! But yes as most of our senior members have reached their goals of mining years ago it has become a push to help each other gain levels in everything.

5) I seem to have the impression from the history page on this website that MaSoRS might have been the biggest skilling clan of RSC and early RS2. Do you think that is correct or not? If not, what other clans were as big or even bigger? as far as RS2 I dont know we were pretty big and had a pretty good following I believe. I started shortly after RSC so I do not remember it all that well.

6) On what is the clan's focus today? I can imagine that the release of the new high-level Mining content since 2009 (LRC, Elf City) might have been bad for MaSoRS. I really couldn't tell you our main focus today. Everyone has their own goals and we just kind of help each other along with it.

7) Is there anything else you want me to mention about MaSoRS (that is relevant)?

Just that MaSoRs has helped many of people through the community whether or not they remember us. From protecting people at Hobgoblins mine in wilderness to giving them some ores or gear.

8) Would it be ok if I used one of the screenshots (on this clan's history webpage) in my e-book? The owner of any image I pick would be credited, of course.

Sure

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