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The Fundamentals of Luring in RuneScape General Tips to Avoid Being Lured

When you boil things down, lurers are very similar to item scammers, because most types of luring effectively are item scamming. In both cases, the idea is that someone uses deception and dishonesty to manipulate someone out of their items. The only substantive difference is that lurers trick you into dying to get them.

Since luring is a form of scamming, the characteristics of lurers are mostly pretty much the same as those of item scammers and account scammers. Lurers are usually selfish people who want to get money and items without working for them. Many will openly admit that they do it just for the money, especially those greedy individuals who have become obsessed with getting rare items.

As with account scamming, some lurers also claim that they do it for the “challenge” of being able to trick another player into being killed. There are also many very angry young people who let out their frustrations through this activity. A lot of them justify taking advantage of their victims by saying “it's just a game” and ignoring the fact that there is a real person behind every character. They feel no remorse whatsoever for their actions.

Some of these lurers are just kids who don’t know any better, and feel it is okay to act like this online when they never would in person. Others are older teens and even adults, some of whom I believe resemble the following definition:

“The sociopath is typified by extreme self-serving behavior and a lack of conscience, as well as an inability to empathize with others and to restrain himself from, or to feel remorse for, harm personally caused to others.”

The controversy over luring, and Jagex's changes to the rules that govern it, was actively swirling at the time I wrote this section. Accordingly, I got to witness first hand the attitudes of many lurers and see what makes them tick. Here are a few direct quotes from lurers, which will illustrate the twisted mentality of these people far better than I could ever express in my own words:

• “There is a warning sign. If you ignore it.....then it's your own fault.” (Hundreds of lurers use this in complaining about the current ruling against Wilderness luring. Ironically, it is the very same illogical, blame-the-victim-and-forgive-the-scammer nonsense that Jagex itself used to justify their earlier February 22 ruling legalizing luring.)
  
  
• “In my opinion, scamming is not an offense. If people are stupid enough not to check the second trade screen, too bad for them. The same goes for luring.”
  
  
• “It's not our fault if those people being lured are stupid enough to not realize that they are being lured...” (Talk about getting things backwards.)
  
  
• “Why, Jagex, are you taking sides with STUPID people?”
  
  
• “If you don't read [the Wilderness warning], I will kill you, take your stuff, sell it, and laugh at you for crying over your stuff.. point laugh and make you cry some more.”
  
  
• (In response to the question “have you ever felt guilt in committing the acts of luring that you have done?”): “Nope not at all. I even lured a player mod once.”
  
  
• “Luring is not scamming it's a fun way of making money.”
  
  
• “I feel better knowing I've made someone cry.”
  
  
• “I think you're taking it a little too seriously. There will always be bad guys, no matter where you are. I'm not trying to condone or try to act like I'm doing good deeds, because I'm not. I recognize that luring is dishonest and often harsh, but this is the path I have chosen.”
  
  
• “Luring isn't scamming. It is lying.” (???)

Anyway, I hope you get the picture now.

The Fundamentals of Luring in RuneScape General Tips to Avoid Being Lured