As I was entering in all the Runescape headgear I could find into the Grand Exchange Central database I was literally dumbfounded by the variety and cost of all the things players can put on their heads (over a billion gp worth). The world of Runescape allows players to try on all sort of different head garments including partyhats, hoods, masks, bandannas, hats of all colors, sleeping caps and more. My focus was strictly on tradeable items, but there are also a bunch of things for the head that can not be purchased and need to be skillfully acquired through quests and other activities. After spending several hours of researching this category of Runescape clothing I decided to post a little about what I discovered, at least concerning partyhats.

Partyhats [GEC 550.1m gp] or phats are probably the number one article of Runescape clothing that people search for on the Internet. These tradeable items account for six of the most expensive items in Runescape. The cheapest partyhat sells for only 76 million gp. To wrap your mind around that figure consider this; to buy the cheapest partyhat (purple) you would need to sell about 179 thousand swordfish [GEC 506 gp] to get enough money. These clothing items are so expensive because of their rarity, with rumors around the Internet suggesting that only 500 of these rare treasures still in existence. Of course this figure cannot be substantiated unless Jagex comes right out and disclosed the true numbers, which will likely never occur. But if that 500 hat number can be trusted we can imagine an interesting scenario. According to the news in mid 2008, when Runescape was awarded a Guinness World Record, it has about six million players, 1 million of which are members. That means that only 0.008% of the Runescape population could conceivably have a hat (1 in 12,000 players).

Party hats were first introduced during the Christmas event of 2001. They were prizes in Christmas Crackers where two players would pull on the ends of the cracker to obtain the prizes inside. Each cracker contained two prizes, one that sucked and one that was cool. Each player would get one of these prize. Typically a partyhat (the sucky item) of various colors would go to one player and then something else of value to the other. The player who got the hat would likely discarded it because it didn’t seem to be worth anything. But being a limited time item which remained tradeable after the event, the hat’s value soon skyrocketed (hence why new holiday event items are no longer tradeable). Now the complete set of six hats runs around 900 million gp.

The rarity and prestige of owning a partyhat has now grown into a thing of legend and has even created its own mythology. According to one myth it is believed that for an extremely short period of time there was a black party hat. But because Jagex deemed it not festive enough, it was soon changed to white. This is of course a myth and there is no and never was a black partyhat. Usually this myth is only mentioned in order to egg on noobs who don’t know any better.

The black hat myth aside, if you see someone wearing a partyhat you can make a couple of guesses. Either they are a long time player who never got rid of their hats (bravo), or they blew a crap load of money to buy an item that has no purpose beyond being an investment item and showing off. (Did that sound a little bitter?) In either case you will not be looking at a noob.

I think one of the things that really draws me to Runescape is the variety of clothing, costumes, and armor. Don’t miss understand me. I know almost nothing about fashion in Runescape, and even less in real life. But it is nice to be in crowded areas like the Grand Exchange or banks, and not have everyone looking exactly the same. That is a problem with some other MMORPGs. You look around and everyone looks the same (this is also an issue with the SimCity series, but I will not go off on that tangent). The variety of clothing is even greater on Member’s Worlds where more options are available. I personally stick to my armor throughout most of my game play. But I have chosen gold trim Rune armor [GEC 997.4k gp] with dragon platelegs [GEC 866.2k gp], boots [GEC 494.8k gp], and helmet [GEC 60.0k gp]. I think it is aesthetically pleasing and offers plenty of defense for most situations. I will eventually cough up the gp for Dragon Chainmail. But even when I have it I will likely stick to my current look. I do like to switch in to my goofy looking customs when I am training non-combat skills like fishing and mining.

There are a ton of clothing options available. From your standard button down shirt and pants to cheerleader outfits. I have yet to see any swimsuits or bikinis, but who knows, maybe if that rumored “sailing skill” is true, some new outfits will show up there. [Note: I only mentioned bikinis as a selfish way of increasing page hits for this post.] There are Bob The Jagex Cat t-shirts. Pirate costums. Pants and skirts in many colors and styles. If you hang around a fishing hole long enough, you will get to see a lot of fun and interesting outfits.

Many people on the web come to this blog looking for information about Runescape clothes (because of this one silly post).  There really isn’t too much that can be said.  A lot of the clothing in Runescape is untradeable.  It doesn’t matter how much money you have you can not purchase it.  It has to be aquired through random events, minigames, and quests.  Of the rest that is tradeable, half of it is beyond the income level of a new or free player.  Only the basics are easily aquired with little or no income.  So, in other words, if you want a bunch of fansy outfits you will need to invest time into the game play.  Either by winning clothing items, or earning enough money to afford the coolest outfits. 

Some of the most valuable items in the world of Runescape are clothing related. A 3rd age mage hat sells for 33.0m gp. A robin hood hat sells for 3.9m gp. A nice Santa hat sells for 75.0m gp. Of course, the very valuable Party Hats sell for between 406.2m gp to 550.1m gp depending on color (see related post). In fact, the only thing more expensive in the world of Runescape than a party hat is a Christmas Cracker which sells for 725m gp.

Clothes also have functions beyond making players look good and unique. To conserve energy while running, players may opt to wear non-combat clothing as opposed to armor because it weighs less. If you see a bunch of people in pink skirts bitching about something, you are witnessing a “riot”. The pink symbolized sympathy to the rioters cause while green and blue skirts indicate neutrality or support for Jagex respectively. Some clothing is required to enter certain areas or complete quests. There are so many ways that clothes interact with the world of Runescape that every player has an opportunity to put together something that truly makes themselves look unique.

Tip: Someone wearing a skirt does not indicate they are, or their character is, a female. Skirts as armor tend to be considerably cheaper than platelegs. Also, as mentioned before, rioters will wear skirts to indicate the direction of their support. Or maybe that male player in a skirt is having an identity crisis? Or maybe they just like to wear friggin skirts. In any case, you men remember that while flirting with that player in a skirt, they may actually be a man also. Of course, if you swing that way then more power to you.

Most of the prices listed here are dynamic and come directly from the Grand Exchange Central database which is updated daily.