My Encounter with N0valyfe

N0valyfe once did have the extremely awesome opportunity to be ranked I on the Runescape high scores, while Zezima then got the II rank. N0valyfe became quite popular but unfortunately, this did not last for long. Ever since, he has a very few fans left and of course, I’m one of them. Only last week, I managed to get a glimpse of this star player and would like to share it with you all.

At first I was quite surprised and excited to find N0valyfe standing just next to me in the Pest Control mini game. I thought of getting a few words from him but then I thought “Aw, what?s the use? He’ll only treat me as a noob player and ignore me”. But when I did walk up to him and ask him for a quick chat, he most politely replied, “Sure, come along with me to my Player-Owned House and we can discuss there”.

I was delighted. We soon reached his house (He lent me runes to teleport). It was a marvelous sight. We sat down on two chairs (I could not make out the room as there were thousand of them and thought it would be too noobish to ask him) and his interview began. I asked him, ?So N0valyfe, quite some time ago you had ranked I in Runescape, how did you do it?”. To this, he replied, ?Well I must admit it was quite hard, especially when I had an opponent as hard as Zezima, but then a little progress everyday adds up to big results” His style really amazed me.

Then I asked, “?How exactly did you feel, when you saw your name ranked as the first one on the hiscores?” “It was simply awesome” he said, and further added, ?I was really glad that my hard work had payed me off well?.? Yes, indeed, it is something to be proud of, but why are you no longer a visible figure in the hiscores?” I asked him. To this, he calmly replied, ?Good question. If you notice, I have been pushed back because of only one skill: Hunter. You see, I don’t know why, I simply hate training that skill”. “I see.” By now his Butler had served us some Chocolate cake. I took a slice, it was delicious.

“N0vlyfe, which skill is your favorite one?” He said “Actually, I have two. Cooking and fletching.” “Cool. Where do you normally train them?” “I usually cook in Catherby and I make bow and arrows in the Gnome Stronghold.” “Which are the other skills that you like training?” I asked. He said,” Attack and mining” “I see. Which armor do you wield the most? Oh, and please tell me the weapon too.” “Well I like most of the armors available but if someone asked me to pick my choice, it would certainly be Dharok and of course, the weapon would be Dharok’s greataxe.” “That?s a great choice, do you remember the first time you were killed?” “Yes, it was a highwayman.

At that time I was a newbie in Runescape and was not aware that highwaymen attack you even when you don’t attack them, because other low level monsters like goblins don’t do that. So I was passing by Draynor and the highwayman there finished me off in no time.” Then he added with a giggle, “Later of course, I had my revenge.”

I found N0valyfe having a really enthusiastic and energetic personality. He was really fun to talk to. He told me something quite amusing, ?You know, most people choose to call me “Novalyfe” than “N0valyfe”. I mean, they replace the “0″ in the name by an “O”.” I asked him, “But why did you use a zero in your name rather than an “O”? I mean “O” would certainly have made more sense.” He said, “I like to be different. The zero in my name makes it quite extraordinary as it gets most people puzzling.”

There was something very friendly about N0valyfe. I asked him, ?Do you have many friends on your list?” He replied, ?Yes of course, some of them are my original friends who were there with me from the beginning and most of them are my fans.” “But what about spams? Don’t most people add famous guys like you just to pester you or ask you for free money and stuff?” “Well yes, I get quite many spams but then I use the excellent Abuse Reporting system in the game.”

I asked him, “How many fans do you have on your friends’ list?” He replied, ?Actually, I have really many fans and those many names cannot fit into the list so what I do is whenever a fan starts chatting to me, I know he’s online. So I remove someone else’s name and add his’. Then when the latter comes online and chats to me, I remove somebody else’s name and add his’. That’s the only way I can keep in touch with as many fans as possible.” I was really amazed.

Once again, I came back to his skills discussion. “N0valyfe, how long have you played to get such high skill levels?” He replied, “I think around 3 to 4 years. At first, Runescape was just for passing time. But slowly, I must confess, I got quite addicted to it. This affected my life a lot and I decided to give it up altogether, for a change and I did do that. But then friends all around me were discussing the game and I realized that it is to be taken lightly as it is just a game after all. Then I started playing again and this time, I was my old self, playing just for the love of the game.

But still when most people see others? names coming number I on the hiscores, they just get jealous and start calling us nerds and they think we are fat people with thick spectacles. But it is not so. As I said before, a little progress everyday adds up to big results.”

At this point, I realized that time had really flown away. I bid N0valyfe good-bye, thanking him, and exited the grand house. It was really a pleasurable time chatting with N0valyfe. He’s a real star who plays just for the love of the game and that made all the difference. THAT was the turning point in his life. Three cheers for N0valyfe!