Player identification number

A Player identification number (often referred to as PID) is a unique identification number that each player possesses. It determines the priority between two or more players when simultaneously performing tasks throughout RuneScape.

A random player I.D. is assigned to a player upon logging into the game and it changes each time they log in. Prior to the player I.D. system, priority between players was based on the players' IP addresses.

“	When the server processes players, it goes through them each in turn. If you are first in the list, you get processed first. In early versions of Classic, you always got put at the end of the list (if I remember rightly), so if you stayed logged in you would end up at the beginning of the list eventually. Being processed first meant you could catch up with people more easily when following them, which gave an advantage particularly in the wilderness with PVP. A low PID means you were at the beginning of the list, high PIDs were at the end. This is no longer true, as you are now placed in a random place in the list and everyone else is shuffled up, so you don’t retain the same PID throughout your session. This makes things much fairer.	”
	— Game Engine Team

You can approximate your player I.D. by following a player and having them run. The delay between your friend moving and your character moving is believed to be caused by your player I.D. If the delay is longer than normal, you have a higher player I.D. than the other player.

Examples of Player I.D. Prioritization

The following list contains examples of when a player I.D. becomes a factor in determining which player has the higher and lower priority.

• Dueling - Determines which player gets the first hit in a duel or when both players simultaneously attack each other at the beginning of the duel.
• Setting up barricades in various activities - Determines if another player can walk through a barricade that was just set up by another player.
• Closing doors - Determines if a player can walk through a doorway while another player closes it at the same time.
• "Catching" in RuneScape Classic - player I.D.s determines if a player can "catch" another player when PKing in the Wilderness. "Catching" is a RuneScape Classic term where after three rounds of combat, a player runs from their opponent and the other player can "catch" them by chasing after them and attacking them again, bringing them back into combat.
• Picking up items amongst other players - Affects which player gets an item if two or more players pick it up at the same time. It is questionable whether this is true due to each player's ping having a great impact.