Freeloading

Freeloading, also known as leeching or bludging, is the process of doing little to nothing to contribute to the game, in order to obtain the reward for doing the activity without participating. It is most commonly seen on team Activities such as Pest Control, Fishing Trawler, The Great Orb Project, and Soul Wars. However in some games, such as Fishing Trawler, or Soul Wars, updates have rendered freeloaders who do nothing (as opposed to doing small amounts of work) obsolete.

Players cannot report freeloaders, as they are not breaking any official Jagex rules.

Freeloading in Fishing Trawler

Freeloading used to be very popular on Fishing Trawler until an update on June 16 2009 when the activity bar was introduced to try and deter this increasing problem. Due to this update, Fishing Trawler has become less populated with freeloaders. However, it remains a problem with the activity, as instead of contributing nothing, some players are only working when their activity bar gets low, filling it, then doing nothing until it gets low again. This can not be stopped.

Freeloading in Pest Control

A freeloader in Pest Control, often called a "500 Hitter" by other players, is a player who plays Pest Control, but only gets the required 500 points at the beginning of the game (hence the name) in order to get the reward of coins and Void Knight Points at the end. They are commonly found in the novice (combat level 40-70) section of the game, but can be found in any other section as well. There is no activity bar in Pest Control, so there are no measures preventing players from doing this. 500 Hitting is not against the rules, but is frowned down upon by the majority of players.

Freeloading in Soul Wars

Soul Wars, which also has an activity bar similar to Fishing Trawler, still has a large problem with freeloaders even after the Missing My Mummy update. This is considered to be the most 'freeloader populated' activity by players. Sometimes to fill up the activity bar, freeloaders wait until it is low, then run across and get killed, filling the activity bar all the way to the top. Some others pick up bones to keep their activity bar up, as every set of bones picked up gives a small boost, and there is usually a ready supply of them laying around.

Another method of freeloading can be spotted in the bandage spot, freeloaders sometimes pick bandages and use it on nearby players. It gives about a 50% boost to activity bar. Many people do this, because this is the easiest way to freeload.

Freeloading in The Great Orb Project

Freeloading in The Great Orb Project was easy, as you only had to stay online while others were playing. However, despite the activity bar being added, some freeloaders are still active, as it is easy to fill up the activity bar by simply creating and destroying barriers, or by non-stop attracting/holding an orb of the freeloader's team. Since they take up a slot which could have been used for a team member that will work, it is much harder for the freeloader's team to win.

Freeloading in Castle Wars

Freeloading in Castle Wars is still common, as there is no activity bar helping to deter freeloaders. Freeloaders just stand around (and some of them AFK) the arena doing nothing and still claim the rewards of a participating player. Castle Wars freeloading is similar to Soul Wars freeloading before the update. Freeloaders are not as common there, because the only reward is untradeable armour, however due to the fact that the trimmed Completionist's Cape requires 5000 played games more people are doing it.

Freeloading in Dungeoneering

Some players seek to gain Dungeoneering experience and tokens without actually contributing to the party. They may stand around in the base room doing nothing, or run around grabbing and hoarding supplies without helping with any sort of combat. One particular way to freeload is to log out at the beginning of a dungeon, then return near or at its end. This method grants full Dungeoneering experience and tokens for completing the dungeon, despite having not done any work.

However, freeloading in Dungeoneering is difficult to get away with, as the rest of the team can choose to kick the freeloading player from the dungeon, at which point they will receive little to no experience. Most Dungeoneering teams will not tolerate players who do not help in some fashion, and will kick offenders before the dungeon's end.

Some players may create a team of four players and "sell" freeloading to others who do not wish to play, whereby the player pays to sit in the base whilst the other players complete the dungeon.

Freeloading in Stealing Creation

In Stealing Creation non combat clans; freeloading is often frowned upon. Freeloading generally consists of a player gathering sacred clay deposited at the base by other players, before refining it and returning the finished goods to the base. This allows them to increase their score with relatively low effort. This is often frowned upon as players who freeload are not helping to deplete remaining clay stocks which in turn prevents the game from ending quickly. Freeloading could also be inactivity or a lack of contribution to collecting the lower tier sacred clay towards the end of round. This also slows down games and therefore is often discouraged. Freeloading is only really an issue in non combat clans as they aim to end the round before the timer is up.

Freeloading at the Blast Furnace

On world 58, the official server for the Blast Furnace minigame, players training Smithing work together to operate the furnace and smelt ores into bars. However, there are almost always players who load their ores onto the conveyer belt and then stand around, doing nothing and waiting for other players to run the conveyer belt, fuel the stove, operate the pump, and cool the bars. In contrast to other activities, players who freeload at the Blast Furnace do not harm the activity or prevent other players from training. However, when few players are contributing and many players are freeloading, the latter group can still be a source of frustration for the contributing players.

Freeloading in other activities

While most freeloading occurs in the above activities, other activities, such as Trouble Brewing, have an increasing problem with freeloaders (many of which have started playing these activities after the activity bar updates).