PKing

Player killing (PKing), or player vs. player (PvP), is the act of two or more players in combat, instead of a player and a monster or NPCs. At present, there are only six places in RuneScape where player killing can occur: the Wilderness, the Castle Wars minigame, the Duel Arena, your house, if you have a combat ring, the TzHaar Fight Pit and a Player's Dungeon. However, there was a time in the game's history that the entire map was open for player killing.

The Wilderness
Main article: Wilderness

The Wilderness is the riskiest area to engage in PvP combat. Anything you take into the Wilderness could be lost if you have a skull and crossbones over your head, which can be obtained if you attack a player first. The wilderness covers all of the Northern area in the free world section of the map.

Castle Wars
Main article: Castle Wars

Killing other players in Castle Wars is technically only a secondary objective to getting the enemy flag; however, many players fight amongst themselves with no regard to the team objective.

Duelling and the Duel Arena
Main article: Duel Arena

This is a place where players can fight in a controlled environment and choose rules to their fight. They can also place a wager on their fight. The duel arena has inspired a new type of character called a staker. These characters are created to make money by winning duels.

In RuneScape Classic, there is still a third option available when right-clicking on a player in normal areas. The option, "Duel-with", allows the player to send a duel request as if in the Duel Arena of the modern RuneScape game. There is also even the option to stake items, and to set specific rules in the duel, though this is very limited compared to the modern Duel Arena's rules. Such options include "No Retreating", "No Magic", "No Prayer", an "No Weapons". Once the rules are set and the stakes are agreed on, the players then proceed to fight under the condition of the given rules, if any.

The key difference between wilderness player killing and this form of duelling is that players cannot obtain the skull and crossbones effect upon attacking another player in a duel, and will not lose any of their items if they should happen to die. They will still, however, respawn in Lumbridge, making it a good way to return to the free area of RuneScape should a player not have a high enough Magic level to cast the appropriate teleport spell.

TzHaar Fight Pit
Main article: TzHaar Fight Pit

History
Originally, after the release of RuneScape Classic, players could select whether or not to play as player killer characters. Players could switch from player-killer mode to non-player-killer mode (in which the character could not attack or be attacked by other players) three times, after which they remained at their chosen setting forever. PvP combat could take place at most locations in the RuneScape world. The rules of combat were the same as in the modern Wilderness. Lumbridge was designated as a neutral area in which players could not attack each other; this was done to prevent a practice called "spawn camping", in which recently killed players were immediately killed again as soon as they re spawned. In addition to this restriction, NPC Guards and White Knights patrolled the cities of Varrock and Falador, breaking up PvP battles by attacking the aggressor. These guard units were limited in number, however, and if all the units in a city were already in combat, PvP combat could go on freely. On August 13th, 2001, this system was replaced by the Wilderness, partly due to complaints from many players who were unable to leave Lumbridge without being attacked by hordes of hostile player killers. Later, additional areas where PvP combat is allowed were added.