Pack mule

Pack mules are character accounts used simply for their storage space. They are normally low level accounts that were either owned by a trusted friend or a secondary account made by a player to store items owned or normally used by their primary account.

These accounts are against the rules.

Types of Pack Mules

Mobile Bankers

Pack mule accounts were used in the early days of RuneScape as the banks initially could only hold coins, not items. They were frequently used to hold sets of armour but were also known to store weapons and coins. As soon as RuneScape Banks began storing normal items instead of only coins, pack mules were made useless, though they were still used rarely by players, mostly non-members with limited bank space. The Trade Limit made Mobile Bankers impossible to use; its removal, however, resurrected the Pack Mule duty. Today, "Mobile Bankers" have returned as mobile banks that players can call upon to deposit and withdraw items. Players stuck in dangerous areas that need food might call upon a mobile banker. In other cases, Pack Mules may be used as a back-up in case one's account is hacked, and may hold a large sum of a player's coins. The logic behind this is that most Pack Mules are level 3 with no experience, meaning there would be no obvious reason to hack them.

PK Targets

Since the Bounty Hunter release, there used to be a resurgence in the use of Pack Mule accounts to try to obtain valuable drops. Players were known to use two computers, or the dual login trick, one with their main account logged in and the other with their pack mule account, and let their main kill the pack mule with 76k. This allowed the main to possibly get a drop of over 10 million coins, but, since the newly re-instated "Free Trade" and "Old Wilderness" update of 2/1/2011, players can no longer do so. "76kers" have since dissapeared.

Carriers

In both eras of Free Trade (before and after the trade limit), there has been a specialized breed of pack mules who accompany players who are skilling or killing NPCs for their drops. Carriers bring along an inventory full of Food, and trade it to the player as needed. The player, in turn, deposits his or her loot in the carrier; carriers also "loot" monster and resource grounds for dropped monster rewards.

Also, level 3 carriers may be used to hold valuable items if the player is in the wilderness, as high-level PKers cannot attack low levels. So, before coming under attack, the player could quickly trade with the carrier to dump off any valuable items.

Carriers are by far the most popular use of Pack Mules. They allow the player 46 item slots, and in some cases, may ferry items back and forth between a bank. In some cases, there may be up to 5 carriers accompanying a player on their adventurers! Players often hold real-life gatherings with their friends to ferry supplies back and forth between the skiller or resource-gatherer. The disadvantage is that in the case of a members-only monster or resource depot, the pack mule must be paid for to buy membership credit.

As much as carriers help honest players who need extra space to store items, they have unfortunately been taken advantage of by Gold Farmers who work for real-world trading companies. A high-level player could stay at a monster site for hours and hours, while carriers controlled by other employees run back and forth, bringing the player food and depositing their items in banks. The removal of the trade limit has made carriers even more relied upon than ever, especially for illegal means such as this.

Decoys

These are a rare type of pack mule account, but are still occasionally used. If a player is journeying through a high-risk area of the wilderness or wishes to scare of PKers, he or she may have multiple high-level pack mules formidably armed follow them so as to look like a PK Gang. This is the only case in which a pack mule is not a low-level. Due to the difficulty of legally raising multiple accounts to high-levels, players will often just get a real clan instead of going through all this trouble.

In a more common case, however, players spread their pack mules across a monster area so as to be attacked by monsters. The decoy attacked will then auto-retaliate and the player will take control to kill the monster; this is helpful when monster grounds, such as locations of Green Dragons, are especially crowded, and the area is single-combat only. This is arguably the most dishonorable use of a pack mule, and is often compared to botting; players are strongly advised to NOT use monster decoys and instead join a legitimate clan.