Player Killing, or PKing as it is more colloquially known, is where players kill other players in the Wilderness. It can be highly rewarding, as the items gained from killing other players are usually of decent value. However, it can also be dangerous, because you can lose all your items. Many players make their money through PKing.
The Wilderness
The Wilderness (or Wildy) is a place in RuneScape which can be reached by traveling North of Varrok/Edgeville/Falador. It is a place where players can attack other players.
Bring your best weapon once you get some experience in combat, otherwise you will not get much reward. Remember to bring some good food.
Half of the wilderness is multi-combat, meaning that this is were most clan wars and PKing clans tend to go. The other half is single combat, so random PKers and solo pkers trek to find their kills.
When you attack another player, you will receive a "skull" over your head, which lasts for twenty minutes. (defending yourself from an attack does not give you a skull). Players with skulls lose all of their items if they die, instead of the usual all-but-the-three-most-valuable. Be very careful when making attacks, if possible get the enemy to attack you first to preserve your items. The protect from items prayer will let you keep an additional item.
Wilderness levels
Wilderness Levels determine who you can attack and who can attack you. The skull at the bottom shows your Wilderness level. The higher the Wilderness level, the more players you can attack but you run a higher risk of players attacking you. The level of Wilderness means that players 'level of Wilderness' levels higher or below you can attack you, and you can attack them, for example a level 70 in level 20 wilderness can attack or be attacked by anyone from level 50 (70-20) to level 90 (70+20).
Wilderness locations
There are many places in the Wilderness which many PKers choose to go, as they are considered good locations to PK at.
Ardougne Teleport Level (level 55 Wilderness and a favorite for P2P pkers). This is the place to go for players with a death wish. Pkers hang around here constantly because many players will use the lever thinking it will be safer. It is actually a better idea to walk through the entire Wilderness, the chances of dying are much lower.
Greater Demons (Multi Combat Area, level 46 Wilderness. Level 92 Greater Demons hang around here. Clan wars often occur around this area)
Dark Warrior Castle (Multi Combat Area to some extent, level 12-17 Wilderness. Many free to play PKers hang around here.)
Green Dragons (Several places, PKers like to kill unwary players training on Green Dragons.)
Level 1 Varrok Wild (Very crowded at certain times, multi combat area. Many inexperienced players bring decent gear into here believing that they can run easily, but die.A favorite spot for P2P and F2P alike, as there are many characters with ranging levels)
Giants (Level 18 Wild, Multi Combat Area. Favorite among many Free to Play PKers.)
Level 9 Hill (Used by PKers in Free to Play, Multi Combat. The hill is a good spot to Player Kill as players running up towards the hill are unable to see who is on the hill until they are actually on the hill, by then it is usually too late.)
Mage Bank (Level 54 Wilderness, Pay to Play PKers sometimes hang around here. Players who are PKed here are generally teleblocked to prevent them from entering the Mage Bank.)
Axe Hut (Level 54 Wilderness, Pay to Play Players who train on Axes make good targets for PKers.)
Pures
There are many things to watch out for in the wilderness... As there are special characters that are created for the wilderness called pures.
A common pure is the iron pure- with only 1 defense, medium/high attack, and very high strength.
Other pures include range/mage pures- who don’t train any stat but hp, prayer, defence and range/mage.
These pures will be hit often, but have the advantage of hitting you often and hitting higher.
WARNING: Pures are pretty much useless at fighting strong monsters like the 'King Black Dragon', 'TzTok-Jad' and the 'Kalphite Queen' though magic pures can be quite good for fighting strong monsters if their pure stats are maxed out to 99.