Why RuneScape’s Best Player Vanished Forever

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N0valyfe was Zezima's biggest competitor in RuneScape. In under two years, he went from a level 3 noob, to the number 1 player on the RuneScape Highscores. But soon after he disappeared forever. Today we discuss what happened to N0valyfe.
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Thieving Training - • RS fun
Smithing Training - • runescape moneymaking
Numa Numa RuneScape - • Numa Numa runescape - ...
Zombie Random Event - • Old School Runescape G...
Gnome Battlefield - • my gnomies
Age of Empires Gameplay - • Age of Empires 1 Gameplay
Blockbuster Commercial - • Video
Zezima Sighting - • Zezima Spotted
Trading with Zezima - • Zezima trades someone,...
N0valyfe Spotted - • wack the n0valyfe
N0valyfe Fans - • The Last of N0valyfe
N0valyfe and Zezima meet - • n0valyfe and zezima!!
N0valyfe killing Chompies - • n0valyfe gettin 4k cho...
Castle Wars Gameplay - • old skool Runescape 20...
N0valyfe fighting the Evil Chicken - • n0valyfe owning evil c...
N0valyfe at the Lumbridge Bank - • n0valyfe novalyfe
N0valyfe’s House Party - • n0valyfe's house and n...
2007 Halloween Event Footage - • Runescape 2007 Hallowe...
2009 Christmas Event Guide - • RuneScape - 2009 Chris...
N0va at the Duel Arena - • N0valyfe visits for Th...
#OSRS #RuneScape

[@ColonelloRS]

Thanks to HelloFresh for sponsoring today's video. Go to strms.net/ColonelloHelloFreshJulyYT and use code POGCOLOJUL50 for 50% off plus Free Shipping!

[@d542kdf46kn]

CRINGE. uploading vid about our beloved friend to make some youtube ad money, especially considering how everyone already know the story. Also aren't you the guy who glorified the gold-farming/selling barb assault services clan that has one of the admins in jail for having child porn in his computer? cool dude aren't ya

[@jcfrules]

the way you put the ad into this video disrupted my video experience. you pulled me in with a good intro then broke the immersion entirely.

[@2Problematic]

there is a bar...at the bottom of the video....that controls where you...well nvm...you might just be dumb. At least you can skip a built in ad. @@jcfrules

[@GIMRaphael]

You adding the ads mid vid makes me instantly hate the company you put the ad for.

[@Bobo-ox7fj]

Hello Fresh is the company you're looking for if you're sick of your vegetables being rigid and your meat unspoiled.

[@nahreallytho6583]

Man. nothing has ever completely immersed me like runescape the first time round. Like, I didn't wanna leave my room for a full year. It was crazy. And I never got depressed, I was just always so excited to get on and play. 9pm to 5am were the best hours for playing. No one else around. No one to break the immersion.

[@aPlayerHandle]

The joys of being a child. You can sit in a chair and stare at a monitor from sun up to sun down and not think about it twice. Now....taxes and such.

[@RSClassicAngel]

I miss those days so much 😢

[@memebranes]

couldnt of said it better

[@MarshallDTeach-hp8ue]

@@aPlayerHandle I think about that often how time truly does fly and nostalgia will keep hitting harder and harder

[@GamerBeatz]

bro took the words right out of my mouth, it was amazing

[@Augystys]

Runescape, just one of those things where you can easily tip the balance from being a fun game, to becoming a true addiction. Amazing vid.

[@highkeyJORD]

Rather the balance is tipped onto you after level 75 in every skill and you now have the choice between quitting, or an addiction lmao

[@kokikoda8203]

rs now has tipped onto an addiction where adults cannot grow up, theres no community sense or anything, its just a who can grind the most now, and only talk within your own discord clan and no one else

[@VividCoding]

@@kokikoda8203 theres still a good community bro its obviously not gonna be like 2007 when everything was new and before the GE but its still there

[@battosaijenkins946]

RIP n0valyfe died..

[@Augystys]

@@battosaijenkins946 rip

[@mintlaced6131]

Players like Zezima and this guy missed the bag on being able to monitize runescape through content creation

[@l4k]

At that time? Nah

[@jacobc4582]

​@@l4kthat's his point... lol

[@jleif7736]

@@guhv1386 highly unlikely... No way they made more than a popular RS creator today man.. Between sponsorships, streaming revenue, and youtube revenue, brand deals, the most popular creators are making thousands a day. Zezima was a "Stand up" rs player, he didn't scam, PK, stake, he made his money by playing the game normally, there's no way he could garner that much money per day by playing normally. Jagex surely investigated him, he was the biggest player back then, and was invited to Jagex studios on multiple occasions.

[@Dunkdamonk]

@@guhv1386 back then 1 mill gp was like 8-10 dollars. Federal minimum wage was like 5$/hr

[@traincore1955]

People like that usually would never make content then or now

[@Gibberish434]

When I was a kid we didn't even have a computer. We would walk 15 minutes to the library to be able to play for 1 hour. We would talk about what we were going to do the whole way there and we talked about what we accomplished all the way back. Every little thing was an accomplishment.

[@Tombraithwaite1998]

Man so relatsble. I only played for about an hour each week on a Friday at my grandparents house after getting picked up from school waiting to be picked up after my mum finished her work for the day. Sometimes I'd get 'lucky' and she wouldn't get us until 6pm so I had a whole 3 hours and that was my life from about 2004-2006. All my friends started playing around 2005 and I felt so superior until everyone else had access to computers 24/7 at home and within a few months my 2 years of grinding I was a Blackburner. They all got membership, I was still free2play. I still remember calling up on the phone and charging it to the phone account for my first membership for a month. Fun times. It's funny, all that time I spent, finally completing dragon slayer and of course equipping my first piece of membership items on my character. Since then, I've made an account and because there's so many effective guides for xp now all my accounts surpassed what I had as a kid literally within about 2 weeks 😆

[@Joyride37]

Same I used to bike to the library frequently 2004-2008 era on the other side of town and play for a couple hours (switching computers when time ran out). I miss those days. You went outside and got exercise, played an hour or two of video games. Then checked out books you were waiting for on your way out and went home to read and/or hang out with friends if you hadn’t already done so

[@ShaunBradley-xx3qd]

Bro this the realest shit I ever heard man

[@Radtastical]

I've been playing Runescape since 2002. N0va was a fairly good friend of mine for a few years, and I was an active member of his personal forums, "Runescape Escape." A lot of those men and women I still talk to to this day, and really, kind of grew up with for those few years. I will tell you right now, he didn't just disappear, he *disappeared*. None of us know how he is, where he is, and that's okay, because that's exactly what he wanted. To move on and live a life away from the game. I miss Jordan very much, and I miss the old community. We really were a little family. Such great memories. I am grateful that people still make videos about our friend, letting the memory of him continue to live on. Wherever you are N0va, or anyone from RSE, I love you guys. And I hope you're doing okay. -Dylan from RSE

[@ZeroPhilosopher]

Grow up.

[@pb4travel]

​@@ZeroPhilosopherlmao

[@l4k]

@@ZeroPhilosophergrow up

[@jacobc4582]

​@@ZeroPhilosopherdamn got em

[@slice6027]

Damn sick that you still got most of your community in touch all of mine have “dissapeared dissapeared”

[@comfywizard]

"Racking up 99s his mental and physical health began to deteriorate" - I think this sentence sums up a large portion of the player base throughout the years.

[@Joedirt32]

Just do what I do and afk shit while lifting, win win

[@gavintackett5626]

@@Joedirt32that’s what most streamers do - which is why people like Torvesta, Framed, and B0aty are pretty fit dudes. They get paid to afk on RS big time and work out lol

[@dksamaritan5200]

Don't forget the extreme RSI, runescape ruined my arms.

[@JimMilton-ej6zi]

That's what you get when people optimize the fun out of a game. Level 99 used to be the thing that was made purposefully unobtainable, so much so that the devs didn't even think people would get there, now you have to be level 90 minimum just to experience the game

[@SmokeOneAndChill]

I enjoyed the golden years of oldskool rs between 2004 and 2010. Such amazing times.

[@anglo5744]

04-07

[@a93142]

​@@anglo5744😢

[@JesusChrist2000BC]

I was in Middle school back then it was PEAK times for everything in life.

[@MaxGiganteum]

So... you remember the Kiddiescape era... the Ditch of Stupidity... the bot armies... the Massacre at Fally... cheaters using code to play the game for them and the false accusations plus bans against some players that were NOT actually cheating... Construction coming out and planks selling for 5-10K each... and all the fools that collected a bazillion clay tiles in anticipation of being able to use them only finding out they were still worthless ROFL! (I even remember some bots collecting them and players would bot whack in the Wild on F2P which was hilarious!). I'll go on: reg ESS versus pure ESS and how Jagex fubar'd everyone who stockpiled pure ESS when they came out with that idiot skill whose name I cannot remember off the top of my head. Divination was it? Tradeable versus untradeable holiday items... for the love of Dave, did Jagex ever foul that one up. I remember when the camo stuff came out and was tradeable for a few weeks then they made them UNtradeable. Oh the outrage - folks were paying 100K for camo then poof! You're screwed. Camo was NOT going to end up being like another party hat! The most disappointing thing for me was all of my old, original friends moving on in life for one reason or another. Some quit because of the changes Jagex made or when the Gower? brothers sold out and the investment group monetized the game. Yeah, the friends? They all eventually quit though I encouraged a few of them to do so. The game wasn't worth wasting your life over by fouling up your relationships, missing out on sports at school, not going to college, getting a good job or just not maturing and moving onward in life in general. In the end, I too finally quit permanently though I took long sabbaticals from the game over time. In one 5 year stretch, I only played on and off for about half that time. I just didn't let it take over my life. And that was indeed the thing about Runescape - it could be addictive to many folks. Remember the gag about the name r-u-n-e-s-c-a-p-e? The nickname was "Run! Escape!" for the longest time. I didn't have to run away, I walked but I did enjoy some of the friendships that came out of the game, some of them spilled over into real life and for those folks, I am thankful. My best advice to those still playing is to seriously limit your time playing and to invest instead into real life things. Invest in YOURSELF. Invest in real life relationships. Learn, grow, exercise, do it in the real world. You'll look back and be happy you did. Peace & good vibes to all.

[@externalboss9404]

​@@anglo5744 No.

[@anusthing]

This story is what makes me sad. I had so many friends who were like this where they had no life at all.

[@Jokervision744]

Melancholic maybe, but I'm not sad for man who reached his achievement. It requires brave heart to turn your face away, to face the new. These trailblazers left more than a mark to the game's history. Even if I was stunned by the stupidity of it, I still can be amazed how someone can pull through it all, and even that fast. I had no idea who he was, but I think I was playing and learning English when he came and took over the scores. "Selling lobsters!"

[@jacobc4582]

​@@Jokervision744his achievement gains him nothing in reality. It's a stupid achievement. He's a loser, not a winner. The only people who think he's a winner is other no life losers

[@jaysleezy5464]

I got laid off on November 14th, made an ironman, and have put in 12 days of playtime in 24 days. I feel so terrible.

[@yayatest7878]

Idk why everyone makes something someone had so much fun playing bad.The times i played RuneScape were some of the best in my life like yea i didnt do much but bro the times and exsperiences were real i think society makes u feel like u shud want more but what more can u ask for other than happyness ? The shit was fun thats why we all did it.i dont regret it one second persoanlly.I had a couple friends and a brother that played tho so our story is diff but i played constantly .Hes no dead he can go live life at any time .did he miss out on some stuff ? For sure .But we also got to exsperience things some people will never understand .Everyone makes it out to be bad and its not we had fun

[@antoniocortes1787]

its just when its out of porportion it becomes bad.@@yayatest7878

[@Purple_Tuesdays]

When the world needed Colonello most... He returned and uploaded.

[@Bittamin]

It’s always appreciated, especially old gold stories like this stuff

[@TUFSrs]

Best content by far. Blocked Sir Pugger for the BS illegal stream he did awhile back. Most other creators are just meh. But Colenello is *Chefs Kiss*

[@andrewv2782]

@@TUFSrs ...what

[@A1DollarTaco]

​@@TUFSrs you talking about the red magic one? I looked into it after I read your comment and agree, it's extremely shady that he even participated in it.

[@joshuamitchell9515]

​@A1DollarTaco what's the stream?

[@spiritofnex]

This is proof that we all need to occasionally touch grass. A fun game can easily become an addiction if we aren't careful, and social interaction is a must to stay mentally healthy. Always remember to take a break every once in a while. Your body and mind will thank you.

[@LiquidRR]

Great post but what is this "social interaction" thing, I don't think I've unlocked that yet

[@spiritofnex]

@@LiquidRR I bought it on the GE. It's great.

[@KevinCrouch0]

Isn't that the farming skill?

[@KevinCrouch0]

​@@LiquidRRI think it requires level 85 charisma... But I can't figure out how to... Check my level in that...

[@tdestroyer4780]

Have you tried interacting these days? A group of 4 people will 2 on their phones not paying attention.

[@vasscownage]

I remember as a 11-16 year old kid, discovering Runescape, grinding the game and loving it. Spotting famous pkers and high ranking players in hiscores was so epic, thinking of what they have achieved and how rich they must be. Man, everytime (30 years old now) I see video's like this I get this nostalgic feeling in my stomach. Just don't feel like playing OSRS again because of the grind, quit when EOC came. Each time after 2-3 years I play an RSPS for a little while and do some pking and pvming, and still the game is just awesome, best game ever.

[@Marko_Lungo]

Very similar to me. I started in 2003 and quit pretty much when eoc came out. I havent experienced anything like it in any game since. Maybe it was because i was so young. Im 30 now too.

[@OnFight1997]

I don't blame him, after I Max Cape'd myself, my dose of Runescape went from 12-16hours a day to I haven't touched or barely touched the game in around 2 years.

[@beware_ofdogg]

Tbh had that after my quest cape. Haha

[@AfroDyke]

12-16 hours damn lmaooo. So glad I never wanted to max

[@JustHereForTheDialogue]

Cya soon. 😂

[@scapewrld999]

bc you cant boss. You quit but yet still here watching vids about it. ur not worthy

[@Jokervision744]

​@@AfroDykeit's easy to afk, and depending on who you are... It's like rosary that nuns have.

[@LinklightGaming]

i actually can relate to n0va's story heavily. i think people with addictive personalities get sucked into runescape so much because it truly is a unique game where every click has some tangible benefit (XP). the sense of accomplishment and having every second you play translate to some kind of progress really gets you hooked. i love this game so much but i have also quit after religiously playing 14+ hours a day for 2.5 years straight. i did return during covid and that was pretty fun to start fresh on OSRS, but i had to force myself to stop. crazy how a game can create such an unhealthy relationship, but i fully acknowledge that its my fault lol

[@Nali_Verse]

Im still addicted. I try to stop, but I can't. RS has so many goals I want to finish.

[@AfroDyke]

​@@Nali_Versedon't try real drugs then brother lmao, runescape isn't worth it tho man just quit its literaly pointless

[@BushesRs]

I'm tieing off and mainlining osrs right now

[@swagsolomon8811]

The games that hijack your sense of productivity are the worst offenders

[@wardragon670]

@@AfroDyke actually psychedelics are hard to be addicted to, and might help tbh

[@D0ses]

"while most of us were stuck inside draynor manor" lol u have no idea how deep that hit me... before minimap i found myself there, n got stuck inside for hours n its one of my first RS memories

[@5uper5kill3rz]

“All trying to give him wood” 😳

[@Epics3xyn3ss]

Was coming to say the same thing. We all gave zezima that wood. 🤣

[@DrewChverha]

Make that 3 of us! 😂😂

[@behennybeats707]

That's what she said 😂

[@kostikoglu95]

😂😂

[@Annatizer]

My degenerate brain immediately went in the same direction lmao

[@basicguy99]

Sometimes OSRS can be a dangerous cycle just like anything else where you play because you're not in a great mental state and want to free your mind a bit and then you end up searching it out because you haven't actually dealt with the internal issues yet, only delayed them.

[@TheStoryofanoob]

Man, this is the first time I heard of this dude and still remember Zezima better

[@MikeysPsyche]

EDIT: OMG I'm Altec995! You found one of my old clips! You really did your research! Back in 2009 when I was a cringe little kid, N0valyfe logged on around thanksgiving and sat around talking with us fans and let us duel him in the duel arena. I was the last one he dueled before he logged off. That was the last time I saw him online. Younger me was geeking out. I have a clip of it somewhere on an old drive.

[@MikeysPsyche]

OMG THATS MY CLIP IN THE VIDEO HAHAHAH

[@nko99]

'I do look out the window more than I'd like to admit.' - N0valyfe

[@coreym5068]

Man you've absolutely nailed this content style. Always enjoyable.

[@ColonelloRS]

Thank you so much!!

[@ZonymaUnltd.]

I find myself having to take *frequent* time-windows of breaks because I’ve played RuneScape since I was like 8 or 9, and find it really easy to get lost in the nostalgia… then my physical goals go on the back burner. This was a very necessary video Colenello, nicely done.

[@FumblsTheSniper]

I was just on a two week trip where I hoped I would have enough internet connection to get 600k herblore xp for 99. It feels like a huge setback that my phone had no connection any time I would have been able to sit down and grind some potions.

[@lordvoldemort1985]

workout while you play lol. its easy

[@ZonymaUnltd.]

@@lordvoldemort1985 Does push-ups and presses the phone with my nose *boop*

[@lordvoldemort1985]

@@ZonymaUnltd. i did full workouts while also doing wintertodt lol. just do body weight workouts whiledoing afk stuff

[@rmi2548]

i completely agree with you on that same here bro

[@Sicaughtik]

I would give anything to go back to 2006-7 back when whips were bis and be able to sit there in the slayer tower with friends farming whips all night. One of my best core memories to this day.

[@ghettoasmrisangrymanchild1852]

That’s really sad that’s one of your best core memories , hope your life gets better

[@Sicaughtik]

@@ghettoasmrisangrymanchild1852 Thanks Crack Galifianakis, I hope your hairline stops receding.

[@anusaukko6792]

@@ghettoasmrisangrymanchild1852 Kind of a dismissive and rude comment about something heartfelt. Its not about the quality of the game or the ''usefulness'' of the event/action, but the memories and feelings you gained from having fun with your friends. You could be doing the most useless shit known to man with your friends, and it could become a core memory, but that doesn't mean that magically your life is ''sad'' or ''empty''. You might honestly be right, and maybe OP has had a worse life than the average person, but it pisses me off how people shit on something genuine and meaningful then try to frame it in a way as if they were the good guys all along by adding some useless platitude near the end of the sentence.

[@ghettoasmrisangrymanchild1852]

@@anusaukko6792 I’m not reading that, sorry you wasted your time

[@dandavidson4717]

@@ghettoasmrisangrymanchild1852 It was a thoughtful and well-said response to you that you'd do well to learn from. If you choose not to read it, that's your loss.

[@KennyERC]

Early 2000s runescape was the best, coming home from school to game as a kid has its good memories

[@birdman258]

He sure was a nice guy! Was Great to meet him & be his friend. Enjoyed seeing his website & used his Forum. Miss him on RS hope he will come back someday just to see everything that has been Updated since he left.

[@6uhXBT]

at 6:45 in this video the PMs, i am Clark712 , that is crazy lol never thought id see myself in a video like this

[@ColonelloRS]

Thats amazing haha!

[@LegitHeroGaming]

🧢

[@Agmaio]

Thats soooo funny

[@Haie91]

Nova was an absolute legend, i had both the pleasure of getting 99 cooking with him in rogues den and also fletching with him - I was the 3rd ranked fletcher at 54m behind galliard and neo at the time. He was a lovely dude and said at first he just wanted to max but his friend said he would never get rank 1, so he decided to invest all his time into proving him wrong, he wanted to hit that top rank and quit, hitting that top spot even for a bit was all he wanted to do, but then stuck around abit longer. Legend and always will be the best skiller in my eyes.

[@Mr.Reality]

Man i don't know if it's a good or bad trait to spend that much time in a game just to prove your friend was wrong.

[@ferachia4748]

@@Mr.Reality He left RS, imagine the powerrrrrr.

[@DirtyPoul]

The title of best skiller sure has a lot of candidates. N0valyfe, Zarfot, Lynx Titan, Iron Hyger, and plenty more I'm forgetting atm. He box jonge is a recent addition imo with his maxing speed runs. If this takes off and becomes a thing among skillers, then perhaps that will be the new way to measure skillers.

[@David-ol6fw]

Zezima will always be the best skiller because he got most of his 99s in classic RS which was absolutely brutal.

[@birdman258]

Indeed :) Hello fellow Fletcher [Rank 4]

[@Durusial]

I followed his blog site after he quit and before it shutdown. One of the last posts he made he explained his account had been hacked and he had lost his whole bank. He was pretty pissed about it and I think that was the last straw and cut off Runescape completley after that

[@MaxGiganteum]

If that's true, I wonder if he got bit by the great Yahoo hack back in the day... Yahoo didn't admit it publicly when it initially happened but something like 125 million Yahoo accounts had been compromised. If you dealt with Jagex using your Yahoo E-mail account, you might have inadvertently given the hackers access to your Runescape account. A lot of players got mysteriously cleaned out by that... but didn't find out why for over two years. The hack news became public when Yahoo was trying to sell itself and the investment group discovered it... and disclosed the info publicly. A lot of people were really pissed because of what happened - imagine playing for years and amassing billions in value only to lose it all and not know why. A lot of players just quit after getting no help from Jagex.

[@georgiegan]

Damn, the person that introduced him to Runescape almost ruined his life.

[@derek_3054]

Nova almost ruined his own life

[@MyTorresmo]

I can relate 100% to what happened to n0valyfe, but I still have runescape present in my life for more than I feel like I should, it did took me a few years to come back to real life but I still have this parallel life which does feel like I'm actually chasing my own goals

[@NeanderthalDogma]

The moment u quit is the moment your real life will begin

[@Beno_XBL]

Seeing that “Unregistered Hypercam 2” shot me right back

[@trapboost4841]

I pretty much lived the same as n0va during college 2015-2019. Probably played on average 10 hours a day, mostly rs3 but for the last year or so old school. I was maxed rS3 with a lot of 120 capes and almost maxed osrs in around a year, Played on average 10 hours a day for 3-4 years. My mental and physical health got absolutely fucked and I’m still feeling some of the affects of this terrible lifestyle today, although I’m much much better than I was

[@Flettcross]

Hey nello! Just wanted to say how it always amazes my how much detail go into all of your videos! Dressing up into the outfits those players are known for(uloveme for example). Keep up the good work!

[@ColonelloRS]

Thank you so much! :D

[@fr_z_n3727]

I'll always remember seeing N0va on the way to 200m cooking in Rogues Den

[@GunnGuy69]

The memories with this man will never be forgotten ❤

[@KertCobain]

That was a complete nostalgia trip - I was an active member in N0va's RSEscape forum as "Du Thelduin" back in 2006 -2007. Wild to see names that I haven't thought about in 15+ years. I cherish those times now more than ever.

[@user-bh2eq2ew6s]

I remember as a kid Zezima was universally considered the best, but that was about 15 years or so roughly ago

[@paddyyy_]

This guy is built different Discovered OSRS and Runescape myself after hearing from it so much and i'm currently leveling (lvl 60) crafting and takeing advantage of the 7 days prime membership.

[@Bobby1Hines]

Nice! Hope you enjoy the game as much as I have over the years. Keep up the good work!

[@TheVannca]

That was the smoothest transition for a sponsor I’ve ever seen in my life

[@cheifzero]

I remember him from cooking in the rogues den. I was going for my first 99, I was burning lobsters while the man was getting sharks delivered raw in exchange for his cooked ones.

[@Beckwourth]

I thinks this was a video i needed to hear thanks for the documentation Colo 💯

[@bozobebop5859]

I can relate to the social skills, I spent all my time for quite a few years playing which began my social awkwardness downfall, and now that I drive semi trucks and only interact with truck stop cashiers, I’m pretty much doomed lol. I wonder what he’s up to today.

[@WoahSoSa]

How you like driving trucks man? I’ve played since I was 8 now I’m 25 quit 2 years ago but when osrs came out I went ape shat crazy for a couple years on and off lol. My social skills are bi polar. Amazing one week, subpar the next. Got my cdls permit. Do you like the solitude? Feel any sense of gratitude and achievement? Or is it lonely and a bit gloomy at times.

[@mryoutube42069]

@@WoahSoSa i dont have my cdl or anything but i am a ex-hardcore rs player and ive been a ups driver for the past 7 years. lot of work but its nice being outdoors, tbh its kind of similar to the rs grind when you're hyperfocused. more active vs just straight driving a truck all day, but thats just me.

[@Roel93]

Such nostalgia. This is the Runescape I played and loved. They made OSRS in an attempt to revive the experience but I don't recognize that game either. RIP real Runescape.

[@Hugs_4_Bugs_]

Oh dude OSRS aka 2007scape was legit for the first couple of years. Maybe 3 tops. Then it basically became RuneScape 2.5 as it is to this day.

[@Roel93]

I completely agree. They cater only to the audience that plays 12 hours per day. I can do no more than 1 hour on average so the game is way too expensive for me to play and I can never keep up with new content anyway. OSRS is not for me anymore.@@Hugs_4_Bugs_

[@kubasniak]

​@dude5240 why?

[@tdestroyer4780]

@@kubasniak They brought back all the things that ruined the game. Like the grand exchange.

[@natsfan100]

One thing I wish you covered was that N0va was really one of the first to understand playing efficiently. Zezima was far, far, ahead of N0va when he started. Yet Zezima did things really slow and inefficient, which is what allowed him to catch up.

[@mindaugux]

Wasn't he also the very 1st player to do tick skilling?

[@tlanimass952]

Zezima actually had a full time job, N0valyfe just played shit ton. Zarfot was the first to play really efficiently in the modern way, such as 3 tick skilling, etc.

[@trapboost4841]

Zarfot was the one who started all the efficiency shit

[@natsfan100]

@@tlanimass952 sure but Zezima did things super inefficient like killing blue dragons at the ogre enclave to bank 99 prayer and crafting. Early RS2 players were super inefficient, I mean most people trained mage alching back then. N0va worked out the most efficient methods time wise, which was well ahead of others. This was before xp rates on the screen or anything like that so it was all manual work. Playing to tick level of efficiency wasn't what I really meant and wasn't on the radar for years.

[@natsfan100]

@@trapboost4841 I'm talking more about the super inefficient early days of RS2 where people didn't even know xp rates of skilling methods. N0va worked it all out and changed how people thought about it.

[@ferrariramsgobrrr]

Finally someone recognising n0va as the best. Sadly a lot of his website is no longer retrievable via wayback :( Some screenshots that used to be available seem to be 404s now...

[@Robinteeken896]

I love Runescape and would love to play it again, but being 28 now the time needed for the game for me is something I just cant give.. It is unfortunate that it is very grindy but I guess thats why we all love the game at the end of the day, but life has to come first..

[@liquidsleepgames3661]

I'm 30 and have gone back to it. Though not nearly like when I was a kid

[@BreakfastSharkTV]

I’m 27 and came back to it.. iron woman style. RuneScape mobile makes it super easy to have quick training sessions!

[@oliverlikescheetos]

28 here and I agree! Though we can look back with fond memories! Playing RS with my friends in middle school was so fun.

[@liquidsleepgames3661]

@@oliverlikescheetos never had real world friends to play with and in game friends would be around for a few days or even just that moment and then be gone and never to return

[@BreakfastSharkTV]

@@oliverlikescheetos unfortunately the middle school "friend" I had scammed me. LOL! but we live and we learn :) won't keep me away from the game.

[@aeiouaeiou100]

I wish we could him and other top players from that time on the Sae Bae Cast

[@PlonsterOSRS]

I once met N0valyfe hunting chompy birds I think around... 2006. He was nice enough to have a conversation. What was interesting was after he finished his grind on all skills he also wanted to complete all the completionism things that weren't even achievements back then. They were eventually made in to the completionist cape or completionist cape (t) requirements though such as the chompy bird expert dragon archer rank and the castle wars full reward completion. These were super rare achievements to even see full completions of and a lot of those top rank highscore players like N0valyfe were often seen in 2006 finishing it off before he vanished. What was commendable imo is that as you state in the video he went back for another time to not only beat everyone and be rank 1 with all max total level but also in max exp against Zezima. It was truly a remarkable feat as not having any Runescape Classic playtime. One of the all time crazy things to see in live highscore setting imo even if his timing with slayer getting 85 and profiteering was off this. There were other players far more wealthy from classic no doubt who just didn't clock in like he did grinding away. N0valyfe certainly was my favourite choice of player for that era along with obviously Zezima, ilyuffie88, Choppermad and Yogosun. I also have a recollection of seeing Uloveme training firemaking for 200m exp at Piscatoris Fishing Colony where I fished monkfish around 2006-2007. The only other notable player I met was Kingduffy training slayer but that was in 2008 by then when he starting showing higher in the scores. Love the videos mate. Thank you for this one and for the memories I just had watching this great well put together video.

[@Nath98765488]

If this guy was just a few years later to the game he would have made irl bank as a KZbinr...and wouldn't have had to worry about his financial situation.. Ahead of his time.❤

[@UnrealRushx]

true

[@Faustained]

Very true, look at Alfie

[@jadiellima8922]

@@Faustainedwhy alfie roflmao

[@Faustained]

@jadiellima8922 lol Does Alfie look like he has any aspirations beyond OSRS? The game gives him bliss, he's so happy to restart accounts and display his prowess. Could you imagine him working a real job?

[@jadiellima8922]

@@Faustained I feel like Alfie is always been teased, I find it funny, but there are many youtubers in the same situation I presume!

[@chrisgiles40]

I went from A of E to RuneScape like many others, 2 great games still both over 20 years old

[@valhalla3650]

What an greate video 🎉 Y'are a legend Colo, thanks for the time spent on this

[@ColonelloRS]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@rafaelzuniga3673]

I remember meeting him for the first time in 2006. I sold him 120k cannonballs after making them for days in al kharid. He was focusing on slayer. We didn't chat much. He said thanks and teleported away. Good memories

[@djdt1988]

If you see at 9:38 of this video his friend list my name is there at the top - Dest9026. I used to lead an F2P Pking/Warring clan called Lethal Blades. I brought N0va to RS from Age Of Empires, as we used to play there, I had no idea he would become as hooked as he did and reach where he got to. Incredible but yes as great as RS was it was very easy to spend all your time on it! N0va wasn't even interested in the pvp side, I was forever trying to get him to come to some of our wars haha.

[@oldschoolgoblin]

He was really cool and would interact with anyone. I ran into him fletching in lumby basement and got to chat a bit.

[@ElitePraetorianGuard]

I remember that when he was going for 200M XP in fletching. He was taking all donations of logs from players and the basement was absolutely packed with players spamming trade to help him reach his goals.

[@ericchilton6863]

I remember giving him logs while he was fletching in seers bank.

[@backseatgaming9087]

Crazy it takes so much time and effort to climb the ladder the way this guy did. Make a video on how Zezima did it.

[@Crypto2103]

great video man. thank you for the nostalgia. well done

[@Astrobmh]

Shield of Arrav is a quest specifically designed to work on your basic in game social skills

[@punk4rockorz]

This game has taught me so much and yet drained so much from my time. I remember playing every minute of my free time. Ending top 1000 runecrafting. Shortly after I got richI was hacked and after that lured with the construction bug. Months of saving and achieving my goal was gone instantly. It was a good wake up call and made me quit the game quite easy. I have been coming back and quit again several times. Knowing better now how to handle myself and games in general ever since that whole experience.

[@mryoutube42069]

hell yeah brother i hit like 80 runecrafting on f2p in middle school and then would cast fire strike on lvl 13 scorpions for days, then craft more runes, rinse and repeat. LMAO

[@tylergillespie6888]

RuneScape is such an unhealthy and dangerous game. The quality of my life when I’m playing vs not playing RuneScape is like night and day. A lot of people don’t realize they’re keeping themselves from a meaningful and fulfilling life. I know it’s hard not to play RuneScape, but if you try to stop, I think you’ll realize how dependent you are on it

[@lonerider5315]

That's your own addictive nature.

[@Frostile]

This is not limited to runescape and is games in general, gaming addiction is a real thing however you can have a balance. I play games for easily 6h a day if not more. But I still go out for an hour for a walk and play runescape with friends and still go out for drinks with them. Quite frankly, unless you are a rich and can go out everyday, obviously your life is going to be better during that than being sat in your house. It sounds like you have a problem, not that any game is inheritantly dangerous.

[@tylergillespie6888]

@@Frostile for me at least, it is JUST RuneScape. I play a lot of other video games and it’s fine. For some reason, when I play RuneScape it’s an uncontrollable addition and it just gets worse and worse until I have to force myself to back off. I agree this happens with all games to a certain degree for people, but RuneScape specifically is designed to make you sink hours upon hours into it. A game like Call of Duty on the other hand, can be addicting but I’m sure you can understand that’s not as much of a “grind” and it’s a lot easier to just play less hours at a time. And no you don’t need to be rich to go out. There’s hiking and fishing and all sorts of things to do for free. I would argue that, if you have a job, and you’re playing 6 hours of video games a day, there’s not a lot of meaningful memories being created and when you look back in like 10 years, you’re gonna be disappointed you didn’t experience more of life. That’s just my personal opinion. It’s possible your gaming experience is incredibly fulfilling, but most gamers I know who play daily do so to try to fill a void in their life.

[@tylergillespie6888]

@@lonerider5315 there’s a reason they say “you never quit RuneScape, you just take breaks.”

[@lonerider5315]

@@tylergillespie6888 that's with everything people enjoy. That saying was not made for runescape.

[@hi_tech_reptiles]

I feel like guys like this would dig those clicker games. Obv most MMOs including even RS keep players through more dynamic fun activities like raid bosses or quest content, lore, social games, gear customization etc. - challenge that isn't directly tied to just grind = beat.

[@trentsims]

Sounds like me with World of Warcraft. My first experience with the game was back in Wrath of the Lich King. It was fairly uneventful since I only played during that expansion, but never really all that seriously, and my time with it ended before even reaching level cap when the new expansion Cataclysm came out. However that wasn't the last time I played the game. Fast forward several years, to the release of Shadowlands, I decided that this expansion sounded cool, and I was looking to play another MMO anyway, so I got in there. I soon realized that the game had grown a lot since Wrath and now had a massive catalog of cosmetics such as mounts to collect. Many of which require hours of grinding or incredible luck to get. So me being the stubborn Runescape Veteran that I am, decided that I wanted to get 400 mounts in one expansion cycle. 400 was the number required for the highest collection achievement at the time. And you know what, I did it. Then basically instantly quit the game because I had achieved my only real goal with it.

[@ownyounext]

I actually attended his house party the day he beat Zezima. I spammed "take my whip", he wouldn't take it but he "lol'd". But I did end up making scrambled eggs in his house as a souvenir. I still have them in my bank in rs3 lol

[@N0skGaming]

Growing up means different priorities. That’s the normal way to exit a game. He was online a bit in 2020. Got him added. Seen him a few times after that year aswell.

[@YoursUntruly]

Zezima was a legend when I was a kid. i trued to hunt him down to meet him hundreds of times.

[@_zoid]

Man, all the old equipment setups in this video are perfect. Extremely nostalgic.

[@Demorthus]

Good on him for moving on with his life. It doesn't mean he doesn't play but it's clear he must have seen the improvements in his health alone by leaving it. Same for his (or anyone in a similar situation) support or social circle that he'd eventually develop.

[@hellowill]

yup imagine being an older play at the time, you'd be a freaking god. I made the same progress in the first 2 weeks of OSRS as I did in the first 2 years playing as a kid. Those EHP nerds on OSRS were nothing compared to these guys that came up with everything on their own.

[@Abionx]

yeah i remember when osrs came out within 14 days i had hit the 1k total level milestone, and by week 3 1250, also hit 2996 top on highscores within 6 months, had a 2nd account mining gold to fun me gp and then switched to fishing to fund my food needed for slayer lol. eventually got extra sweaty and had 3 accs running, 1 for mining, 1 for fishing and my main progressing. just got burnt out doing that for 6 months straight

[@user-ov7vb7nq9t]

Wow, i haven't heard the name N0valyfe in a long time. Props on the video! i never knew about his photo album dude that's sick

[@St0lenriches]

man, i met him when he came back for an event in 08 as i was just starting out, met pure kq pax aswell when he came back for an event (used to compete with zezima for r1 in classic)

[@Spiffy35]

Run. Escape.

[@apexbaines9014]

I was about when this happened so thanks for the nostalgia trip appreciate it!

[@ColonelloRS]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@apexbaines9014]

I certainly did… it’s very strange seeing people do vids on players you both interacted with and followed at the time… never know who else you will do next… there are some great characters of that time… The Old Nite, Larryr… here’s a name - Sharif50… rank1 str for YEARS! Keep it up!

[@MaxGiganteum]

@@apexbaines9014 I remember when The Old Nite passed away. That was a bit sad. I never knew him personally but when I was a nooblet, he once banged out about 5 sets of Rune armor for me in trade for the bars. That was something he certainly didn't have to take the time out to do. And on a F2P server too... before I went members.

[@ValentinoQ]

Yeah I started playing again during the pandemic and really had to quit last January. It was a slow process but finally stop playing completely by last summer. I’d say it’s been about 10 months since I’ve played consistently and at least 4 months since I’ve logged in.

[@KonStarStudio]

I remember a time when N0valyfe came out of nowhere and became #1 after summoning was introduced in 2008, Since then, there's been a number of other legends like telmomarques with 120 dungeoneering, or lynx titan with 200m all skills in osrs, but the name N0valyfe will always be remembered as the first person who beat zezima's streak

[@Halibut86]

To anyone playing that much: It's not healthy. You can do more with your life than sink hours in for meaningless points in a game that will eventually be taken offline anyway.

[@MaxGiganteum]

Be smart... build "points" in real life. You'll thank yourself some day!

[@alexhill9423]

I pray for a new mmo that’ll take me back to the feeling I had when I first started RS

[@bobman212]

He was in an ally clan of mine, "Gladz". 'The' had one of RS' first maxed players as well, y0goson

[@insomn1ous]

I briefly spoke to him once way back in the day, was a really friendly guy.

[@just_limerence]

"If Zezima posts that he needs 2000 Yew logs, there'd be a line around the block of players all trying to give him wood." I see what you did there, you sneak, you.

[@jm9762]

Bro. I specifically remember being around him when he hit rank one. I was a high score checker for everything for no reason. Noticed he started to lose 1st, then 2nd.. then 3rd…. And I think I knew it then.

[@boseph97]

Really great video!! That addiction is real

[@KyloB]

I maxed back in I think 2014 or 2015? Something in that ballpark. I think divination was the last skill at the time. I quit pretty much immediately, because of how I felt and it genuinely shocked me. I got all my friends gathered and we were all excited, and when i got that final 99, went and got my max cape and played around with the colours for about 5 minutes, I realised something. I didn't feel happy, I felt relieved. I didn't feel like I'd really achieved anything in particular, but that a burden was lifted from me. I stopped playing about 2 days later, and while I still watch videos every now and then, I can count on one hand hour many hours I've actually played since then.

[@MaxGiganteum]

And I bet you're happy now too!

[@emsouemsou]

Nova was just a regular OSRS player who time traveled 15 years into the past

[@MrBrightSide784]

Used to be me when I was like 10-12 years old my whole life revolves around RS and I would be on it for hours up until the point when I decided to get off I would just get back on because I very much preferred the RS world. Although as I got older I weened off of it. Now I am 26 and still play it from time to time cause even after all these years it is still such a amazing game and I enjoy the nostalgic feeling I get

[@RizztarSpeedruns]

Long ago, when I was a noobotron on RS2, I stumbled across N0valyfe in a partyhat in world 18 edgeville bank. I didn't understand the gravity of what I had just experienced at the time. I just knew that partyhats were super omega rare.

[@MaxGiganteum]

Super rare... that's funny. They weren't all that rare back in the day. Want to know the truth? When they first came out, players would often drop them onto the floor of the banks. You would see them be sold to the general store for what I think was a single coin. Many players thought they were totally noob. Some players ATE some of what eventually become rares. Not that it would be worth anything now but I wish I'd grabbed every single one I could find and collect them. Nobody knew what was going to happen with them or other items, of course. I did collect some things though they couldn't be traded or weren't worth anything. I think I ended up with over 150 frog masks for example. The froggie princess must have been in love with me!

[@locatolaka]

I'm a simple gal, I see Colonello just uploaded a video, I click on the video

[@smashingblumpkins100]

this was a little disappointing to not know what happened to him IRL, I'm sure someone could figure it out.

[@Radtastical]

There's a few of us that knew him closely and none of us even have a clue. He truly did leave everything behind.

[@Lucy-yc4bc]

Probably better for him that no one really knows.

[@marcussmith4913]

im guessing he was murdered or killed in a drunk driving accident.

[@Torrance92]

Been addicted to runescape for about 18 years now,already at 31 y/o and i can't seem to quit it anytime soon

[@Ructions]

5:40 He socialised a lot more than me. Impressive

[@Ben-tp5jx]

Zezima was also character sharing. Either that or he used to tell different groups of people he had a different name over the years. I knew him as Martin in 02 . Others have said numerous names. The real legend of runeacape is thehate. Most consistent of all the time . An still plays .I was one of the first 2k players in runescape so I've seen all the names an watched the hiscores for some time.

[@tlanimass952]

He wasn't character sharing considering his account was monitored by Jagex.

[@MaxGiganteum]

@@tlanimass952 The biggest rumor regarding Zezima by 2006 was he was one of the original cheaters who used code to play the game for them... but he was never caught. Of course many of the originals were suspected to have been cheaters and many were... and were banned for it. Back in the day, there wasn't any easy way other than in-game spot checks for Jagex to tell who was or wasn't a code cheater and the cheaters just came up with better code to combat Jagex when Jagex added to or otherwise improved their code to catch the cheaters. I'm not sure Jagex ever won that war though they may have by eventually going with their own mandatory client. I had quit playing before that so I don't know what ultimately happened. Interestingly, I was in a group of players that used to go through the motions of bot hunting all over the world map on a server each night. Any bot found was reported and we'd record all the player names, dates, times, etc to see what would become of the cheaters. I have to admit, by about 2008? or so Jagex would issue bans in anywhere from 1-3 days and the ban rate was over 90% according to the recorded group data. While that was good, it did show one thing was true - reports by real life players was still the only effective way Jagex had to ban bots at that time in history. We also noted patterns by the bots themselves not only in where they were, but also in where they'd go as well as how the resources such as lobbies were passed from the lvl-3 bots to higher lvl players. Drop passing of noted items was the standard method rather than trading directly. The school of thought on that was that Jagex couldn't tell who was attaining items from the lvl-3 bots... thus immunizing the characters cheaters wanted to keep. If a lvl-3 bot character got banned, it didn't mean anything, especially to gold farmers. What was cool though was if you knew where to go and at what time of the day, you could watch the lvl-3 bots go to a drop spot, stop and then disappear (log out). You could then run over to that same exact spot and wait for the noted items to appear at your feet. If you were watching closely and fast, you could scoop up the noted items before the transfer was made by the cheater. Scoring a ton of free items was cooler than cool! My biggest haul off a bot was almost 10K noted lobbies... which ended up being a pile of Cooking points and a pile of coins when I sold them off on the Grand Exchange. Anyway, I loved bot hunting in the Wild but that got old after a while. Whacking a lvl-3 to maybe a lvl-17 bot was a snoozer. It also didn't exactly improve your skills thus was looked at as mostly being a waste of time. Some of the F2P players we taught to do it made far more of a sport out of it than us P2P players did. Here's one for you old timers: remember Botany Bay?!? The best thing to come out of that was the ability to pelt players with apples... as opposed to snowballs. Perhaps you remember gaining the ability to do that during Christmas one year! Best wishes!

[@Nick-xc8uv]

Great video! I used to love reading through Jordans website in the later years I played, I just wished I discovered it early on and I would have probably progressed a lot more although I bet a lot of people feel the same. I believe that's me at 12:24 with the def cape. Think it was thanksgiving crypto clue? Still got the screenshots of that event and our duels. It's quite telling how back then to get that far up the hiscores you put in 10-12 hours a day semi efficient gameplay and that was considered unhealthy in 2005/6. In 2012 most of the front pagers were playing more like 16 hours a day. Fast forward to OSRS of today and I can't imagine the stuff front pagers put themselves through in their real world lives to achieve or maintain their scape goals.

[@chancethewizard2336]

this was fascinating as fudge, very cool video :)

[@ColonelloRS]

Glad you enjoyed it! :D

[@iKSmurf]

Wait, the guy was playing 12 hours a day? Rookie numbers.. Nowaday people on the real grind do 20 hours+ a day. This guy had it easy. 😂

[@ColonelloRS]

Hahah true, absolutely insane how much time some OSRS players can put in.

[@ihannibal2470]

Its the same for wow or any other games.

[@MaxGiganteum]

Never underestimate the power of the crackhead...

[@flowerbomb1907]

So he was asian. That explain a lot

[@soliloquy5995]

bro your casual racism is showing

[@flowerbomb1907]

@@soliloquy5995 its ok, im mexican and black

[@ihannibal2470]

​@@soliloquy5995how is it racist if its true.

[@Patanjalii]

@@soliloquy5995it’s not racist you numb skull

[@cutter8293]

Zezima, uloveme, and elvemage.. are pieces of my core childhood memories.

[@timurrte5694]

Honestly, i can relate to his story, because i discovered Runescape when i was 18. In my country (Ukraine) even "OG" gamers never heard about Runescape. Here more commonly people refer to games like Heroes of Might and Magic as an "old school" game that they used to play in 2000's. I discovered about Runescape couple years age from a video of a russian youtuber, who taught a story about Falador Massacre. I thought that the game was already dead for year, but 1 year ago i decided to try it and my life changed forever. I never experienced so much joy in my life. I was addicted to Dota 2 and couldn't find better replacement for it. And now i'm addicted to OSRS)

[@jimmyjangas9789]

"There were a line of players wanting to give him wood"

[@osrsbeatrs3249]

Wonder how he managed to graduate college despite playing RS for 10+ hours a day. Must have picked a really easy major.

[@Kend00zums]

Bro, you really questioning nova’s “grindset” Bro probs went #1 on the hiscores in his accounting class too bruh

[@Yungshamgod]

@@Kend00zumslol fax

[@elijahaa]

The ability to do tedious things consistently in of itself is a skill. Most likely what made him good at rs made him good in school.

[@MaxGiganteum]

I don't believe the video is correct - I remember him stating that he stopped going to college for most of his 2 year run to the top. After getting there, that's when he got serious about college. His parents supported his RS effort until he reached his goals in the game.

[@yoloswagginsguitar]

that sponsor transition was smooth AF

[@benstelpstra3261]

Just got so excited seeing the thumbnail and instantly clicked.. I haven’t even watched it yet but I’ve been saying he was the goat for a long time.. just flew up the ranks proved a point of how effective you could be in game then gave it up.. he was a legend.

[@voarexxx]

I loved watching this. Subbed and liked!