RuneScape:Wiki Post/Editorials/Does this skirt make my treads look fat?

Does this skirt make my treads look fat?
by Horsehead

I get called names. A lot. "What are your levels?" people ask. I tell them 99 Magic and 91 Defence. "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'm even frequently told I'm a ranger tank, ignoring the Magic skill altogether.

Pop quiz: Spot the tank
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy180/Horsehead789/tank.png Is this a tank?

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy180/Horsehead789/mage.png Or, is this a tank?

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

I am curious why I don't see those labels used with other melee players. Does anyone call Jediadam4, who has level 99 Defence, a meleer tank? Would you ever refer to him as a defence meleer? Me neither.

Now that I think about it, I've also never seen anyone with other complementary skills labelled 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 Magic and Defence.

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 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 being a mage isn't enough... that the Magic skill alone doesn't measure up. So I need to use another word with the skill to be an equal.

That's okay, I guess: I adore my Magic cape. I spent a lot of quality time with the guardians in the Mage Training Arena earning it. I know I don't need to combine Magic with another combat term to measure up. I'm pleased to be a mage.