Drop

The Drop function allows a player to remove an item from their inventory, causing it to appear on the ground at the player's feet. When an item is dropped it will make a sound that is different between some items. The object will remain on the ground for three minutes, during which time it is recoverable by the player who dropped it. After a short while, the object may become visible to other players, although this is not always the case. It appears as a red dot on the minimap to any player who is able to pick it up.

Functions
Dropping objects is used to free up space within a players inventory or to get rid of objects that are unwanted. Occasionally during quests an object will have to be dropped as well to progress.

Dropped items will remain visible only to the owner of the item for 1 minute. After that, if the item is worth less than 3,000 coins, anyone will be able to pick it up. If it is worth more, it simply disappears.

Dropping high value items
When attempting to drop an item valued at over 500,000 coins, the player will be met with a warning dialogue stating that, "The item you are about to drop has a high value." The player can either confirm the drop, at which point the item will be dropped, or cancel the drop, and the item will remain in the player's inventory. It is pointless to drop such a high valued item unless the purpose is solely to clear inventory or bank space, as items valued at 3,000 coins or more will disappear and never be publicly visible as previously stated.

Drop art
Some players will drop random items usually of low value in order to create a path or picture. This practice is purely recreational, and in no way benefits the artist or the viewers, unless they have a need for one or more of the items dropped.

Destroy
The drop function is replaced by the Destroy function in some non-tradeable items, usually holiday items or items requiring a specific skill or quest, etc. The destroy function is similar to the drop; it likewise removes the item from the inventory, but unlike drop, it does not appear on the game screen and cannot be recovered. Because of this, when a player attempts to destroy an item, he or she will always get a warning message, with very few exceptions, of course. The message usually lists possible ways to recover the item as well.

Drop trading
Prior to the unbalanced trade removal update in January 2008, dropping was frequently used to transfer items between a player's multiple accounts, in breach of the Rules of RuneScape. The player would first log on one account, drop a valuable item, and then log into another account to pick the item up. With the new update however, Jagex has prevented valuable items from appearing to other players when dropped.