RuneScape:WikiGuilds/Proposals/RS Newspaper/RuneScape Wiki Post/07/Editorials/Does this skirt make my treads look fat?

=Does this skirt make my treads look fat?=

I get called names. A lot.

"What are your levels?" people ask.

I tell them 99 mage and 90 defense.

"Oh, you're a tank!" they respond gleefully.

I know they mean it as a compliment. But it doesn't feel like one.

A tank lumbers around, crushing flowers, tipping over when it tries to climb a steep incline.

And if not a tank, then they tell me I'm a hybrid or a def mage or some other clumsy term that doesn't describe who I think my character is.

(I am really sure I'm not a hybrid.)

I think of myself as a mage who has trained her defense so she can last longer in combat. Most meleers want that same goal when they train defense, I bet. But having a useful defense level doesn't mean I should be defined by it.

I am curious why I don't see those labels used with melee players. Does anyone call Jediadam4, who has 99 defense, a meleer tank? Would you ever refer to him as a def meleer? Me either.

Now that I think about it, I've also never seen anyone with other complementary skills labeled this way. We don't call someone with high fishing and cooking levels a fisher cook, although those two skills seem just as complementary as mage and defense.

(I'm not even sure what you call someone who is melee-based. I've seen the terms berserker and warrior on guides, but I rarely see them used in game. I suspect most everyone knows what a melee-based player is, so we don't need to make up terms to describe them. Mages are less common and perhaps less understood. Because of that, maybe, we want to create terms to describe them.)

To me, attaching some modifier to mage suggests my being a mage isn't enough. The mage skill alone doesn't measure up to someone who has trained melee. I need to use another word with my skill to be an equal:

"Oh, you are a mage? That is too bad. Now, if you were a hybrid, well, that is someone to be respected."

So I become a mage tank. A def mage. Or not a mage at all if I'm a hybrid. I've even frequently told I'm a ranger tank, ignoring the mage skill altogether.

I don't like the labels, though. They seem to create a bias in favor of some groups and against others. They do not represent who I am.

I adore my Mage cape. I spent hours in the Mage Training Arena earning it. I don't need to combine mage with another combat term to measure up. Just call me a mage, please.

Pop quiz: Which one's a tank?
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy180/Horsehead789/tank.png

Is this a tank?

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy180/Horsehead789/mage.png

Is this a tank?