3 Things why people play RSPS: pvm, skilling, pking.
I saw this game turn from all 3 into 2 - PVM and Skilling. Pking was left out (was improved but not in a way people enjoy it)..
You would find a wide audience of players if it was OSRS type pking feel rather than pre EoC kinda stuff which nobody really enjoys.
There are lots of people who want to practice or cannot afford gear in the real game so they search for easier alternatives. People will come here to learn, but stay for what EMPS can offer .... ?
To start bringing players back to wildy introduce a PKP SHOP - people could receive upgraded weapons, boosts or items that are necessary for everyday stuff all untradeable and degradable. Everyone would have a reason to go pking.. With it comes PK VIDEOS, which are natural advertisements. If using right keywords
in Youtube you could receive tons of views..
Also, reconsider that in Pking - nowadays people usually just come to bully you and not to fight. Fights are more and more becoming segment where they express hatred towards you or just to mock you in any way they can(keep in mind, I'm not including Dh fights in 1 - 7 level wilderness area near Edgeville) No wonder there is, let's say, up to 6 people(which is at best 10% of whole active playerbase, if we peak at 60 player count online right now) Not to mention - rebuild from Duel Arena. That's how pking worked ever since it started to get more empty. Neither pkers suggest things nor is PKP shop any how relevant thing here. First, wilderness should look more active and not like ghost town from time to time having a bit errand to run away from at revenant or spectrals area. Also, reason why PKP shop is worst idea ever to bring up, people in wilderness that are still running there cause the ones who are already cleaned tend to leave - will gain those rewards in no time, no matter how you look at it while newbie will come empty to edge and will leave it just as much(if not more) dissapointed as he was too late to grab those rewards and use them to gain any sort of advantage during the fights. I remember days when Lars used to pk - a guy literally knew what he was doing, always looked for decent fights and never backed down from them either. Unlike these days, can't go anywhere without bully in it.
O-T:
Yesterday visited other server. Met 126 lvl donator status guy - literally, hands me 300 dragon bones to gain fast levels and other stuff to do something there, asks if I need something just pm me, provides me more info than I could get from forums in one day just reading everything through. I don't know about here, can't judge all personalities but when I got back here after "great" shutdown(I would say it was around 2015 - 2016 when I came back) to start from scratch playing - all I found was sarcasm filled people who even comprehands you for not knowing one or two things about this server. So, maybe it's not Thomy, nor his actions at fault? Maybe, excluding new players from greater picture is what makes older ones leave as well? (not talking about veterans) I mean you want people in wilderness, bigger community or even more suggestions - yet, on other hand there is plenty of players who like nothing else but to bully them out.
So, where is fucking logic in that...
All I know, from personal experience, if community pushes Thomy for not having more players in wilderness, more players overall, I suppose it's time you take a good look in the mirror and say I did everything there is to do here to make it great again.
As far as Youtube goes, how come I see my friends Di Dot or Rotanas making videos - doing effort to advertise this server that it's worth playing yet someone other brag about there is no way he would gain more players... Lol, what? Instead of schemming your little bully campaign, I think best option is accept new players won't even look at this community nicely if you bully the ones that are already in it or perhaps, change as players and respect each other for once. It's not like time is giving us any sort of opportunity to live life twice. Also, I respect what Ameer and Junkz said on some points.