Monster killing
Monster killing, also called Player versus Monster or PvM, is the aspect of killing monsters (also known as NPCs).
History
Monster killing was initially one of the main purposes of the game, and much of Zeah still revolves around PvM.
Monster killing remains today as one of the most basic aspects of Zeah, for without monsters, there would be no combat aspect involved at all, besides PvP.
Characteristics of monsters
The vast majority of monsters drop something once they die (most commonly bones, coins, and many other items).
Some monsters, particularly higher-levelled ones, are aggressive, meaning they attack on sight of a player (such as deadly red spiders). Monsters will no longer be aggressive to players with a combat level of one more than twice the level of the monster in question. However, there are certain monsters that will attack regardless of combat level, such as Flesh Crawlers and Catablepon. Moreover, monsters located in the Wilderness will attack anyone, regardless of their combat level.
Monsters sometimes possess special abilities that may catch a player off-guard, typically found in boss monsters and slayer monsters.
Monsters may also be found patrolling boundaries or borders, such as black knights and white knights.
Incentives for monster-killing
Players fight monsters mainly to gain experience, loot, complete quests, or just for the fun of it. Players who fight monsters for experience usually turn on auto retaliate in order to deal more efficiently with monsters that immediately respawn. Bandits, a popular camping ground for member PvMers, are able to attack a player more than once with fellow bandits, so players can gain XP extremely quickly by employing a continuous method of attacking, killing, respawning, and repeating. In free-to-play worlds, the same steps apply, but in different places.
Some types of monsters require using one or more combat styles to kill, whether it be Magic, Ranged, or Melee. These monsters are good for training multiple skills at once.
Those who seek to effectively monster-kill for an extended period of time are known to be "grinding," a process in which a player stays at a certain location or set of spawn points to continuously gain quick XP in hopes of levelling up faster, known as power levelling.