RuneScape

RuneScape
RuneScape logo RuneScape's Logo since July 1, 2008.
Developer(s)	Jagex Ltd.
Publisher(s)	Jagex Ltd.
Engine	Proprietary engine
Platform(s)	Java Platform
Release	RuneScape Classic (beta): 4 January 2001 RuneScape 2: 17 March 2004 RuneScape HD: 14 July 2008
Genre(s)	Fantasy MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

RuneScape is a Java-based MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) operated by Jagex Ltd. Recognised by Guiness World Records as the world's most popular free MMORPG, RuneScape has approximately fifteen million active free accounts and is a graphical browser-based game with a large degree of 3D rendering.

RuneScape was created by Andrew Gower, the creator of DeviousMUD, the forerunner to RuneScape, in 1998. Rewritten and renamed, the first version of RuneScape was released to the public on 4 January 2001 in beta form. It has a free-to-play option, and a simple interface that is accessible on most web browsers.

RuneScape takes place in the fantasy-themed realm of Gielinor, which is divided into several different kingdoms, regions, and cities. Players can travel throughout Gielinor on foot, by using magical teleportation spells and devices, or mechanical means of transportation. Each region offers different types of monsters, materials, and quests to challenge players. Unlike many other MMORPGs, there is no linear path that must be followed. Players appear on the screen as customisable avatars, setting their own goals and objectives. Players can combat both monsters and other players, complete quests, or increase their experience in any of the available skills. Players interact with each other through trading, chatting, or playing combative or cooperative mini-games.

History and development

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DeviousMUD, the forerunner to RuneScape, was never released to the public.

DeviousMUD, the forerunner to RuneScape, was created in 1998 by Andrew Gower. The game, which was never publicly released, used isometric graphics. Gower completely rewrote the game in 1999, albeit with no improvements to the graphics. This version was released as a public beta version for approximately one week before it was withdrawn.

As a Cambridge University undergraduate, Gower worked on a complete rewrite of the game with the assistance of his brother, Paul Gower. The isometric view was replaced by a mixture of both three-dimensional and two-dimensional sprites. The game, renamed RuneScape, was released to the public as a beta version on 4 January 2001 and was originally operated from their parents' house in Nottingham. In December 2001, the Gower brothers and Constant Tedder formed Jagex to take over the business aspects of running RuneScape. Jagex developed an interpreted domain-specific scripting language called RuneScript which is used by RuneScape's server for event handling. On 27 February 2002, a monthly membership service was introduced, allowing access to additional features including new areas, quests, and items.

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Ranged combat in RuneScape Classic.

RuneScape's popularity is partially attributable to being accessible from most web browsers allowing players to play the game in many locations. As RuneScape gained more users, Jagex began planning major changes. The developers completely rewrote the game engine so that the graphics were entirely three-dimensional producing a version called RuneScape 2. A beta version was released to paying members on 1 December 2003, which ended on 29 March 2004. Upon release, RuneScape 2 was renamed RuneScape, and the older version of the game was kept online as RuneScape Classic. On 12 January 2006, Jagex banned more than 5000 Classic accounts due to cheating and RuneScape Classic was closed to new accounts and restricted to paying members who had played Classic at least once since 3 August 2005, and once every six months after that.

To support RuneScape's free content, advertisements appear on an advertisement banner above the playing screen on the free-to-play servers. On 13 July 2006, Jagex signed an exclusive marketing and distribution contract with WildTangent Games, which granted WildTangent the right to handle advertising in and around RuneScape in the United States. The deal also allowed WildTangent to distribute RuneScape through the WildTangent Games Network, a distribution channel, reaching over 20 million consumer PCs. Jagex moderators have stated that in-game advertisements will not be re-introduced. Since computer users may use advertisement blockers, which may discourage such advertisers, Jagex introduced a rule that prohibits players from blocking the advertisements in the free game.

On 16 May 2006, Jagex upgraded RuneScape's game engine, primarily as a back-end upgrade rather than a visible graphical boost. Programmers reduced RuneScape's memory requirements, allowing the game to be expanded and improved without increasing the loading time for most players. The engine was upgraded once again on 26 June 2007 to allow the addition of future content. On 1 July 2008, Jagex released a beta of their "High Detail" mode for members, with a free-to-play version released two weeks later. Before the launch, Jagex stated that it would be officially revealed at the 2008 E3. At the same time it was announced that the cost of membership would rise on 4 August 2008, adding an additional $0.95/£0.30, raising it to a total of $5.95/£3.50 a month. Currently, existing members whose membership does not lapse for more than 2 weeks will continue to pay the previous price set in 2002.

Vince Farquharson was announced as the new "Head of RuneScape" on 21 October 2008. His first major action was to declare 2009 the "official Upgrade Year", which would focus on a "tweak and polish (of) what we've already got in the game alongside creating new content".

In February 2009, Mark Gerhard became the new CEO of Jagex, and announced large changes in the way the company would manage the game in an announcement to players. He focused on removing the perception of Jagex as "a secretive and closed-off company" and promised to increase communication with fansites, communicate more directly with players, and give a greater focus to the free version of the game. The two immediate examples of this new approach was the removal of video adverts and a series of Question & Answers sessions with the players.

Servers

RuneScape servers are located in 14 countries; USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Finland, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Norway, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, France.

There are over 160 RuneScape servers located throughout the world, which are numbered and referred to as worlds by players and by Jagex. They are located in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, and France. Servers are located in areas where they will, at the given time, provide the best connection for players in the most cost-effective manner. Servers are moved or added as the need arises.

Each RuneScape server allows up to 2,000 players to connect simultaneously, allowing a maximum capacity of more than 320,000 players. The servers are divided into free servers for all players and member's servers. Players can play on any eligible server. Some servers are given activity labels, allowing players performing tasks that require or desire group participation, such as mini-games, to group together. In addition to the RuneScape servers, there are two members-only servers for RuneScape Classic, both located in the United Kingdom. Each of these is limited to 1,250 players, allowing a total number of 2,500 simultaneous RuneScape Classic players. Players can no longer create new accounts for RuneScape Classic.

Other languages

On 14 February 2007, Jagex released a German open beta translation of RuneScape. There are currently 5 German servers online, located within Sweden and Finland. On 1 December 2008, Jagex announced that they would release a version of RuneScape in French, which was introduced on 10 December 2008.

In an interview, former Jagex CEO Geoff Iddison stated that "We do plan to go East with it [RuneScape] to the Asian market and the Eastern European market too" and "RuneScape is not for Japan, but it could work well in Malaysia for example. And where's India in all this? I think RuneScape is a game that would be adopted in the English-speaking Indian world and the local-speaking Indian world. We're looking at all those markets individually".

Gameplay

New players begin in a secluded area. They are led on a set path where they learn most of the non-member skills needed to succeed in RuneScape. After the tutorial, players have access to tutors located in the towns they explore. These non-playable characters, or NPCs, can replace some basic equipment items if necessary and can give players appropriate information about their respective skills. When the tutorial was initially introduced on 24 September 2002, it was set on a secluded island. On 14 July 2008, a new tutorial was briefly introduced, set in the town of Lumbridge. However, due to technical difficulties with the new one, the original tutorial was temporarily reinstated.

Skills

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A player catches a swordfish using the Fishing skill.

The 24 skills in RuneScape enable players to perform various activities within the game, allowing for interaction with NPCs, the environment and other players. Players gain experience points (exp) in a skill when they utilise it. For example, mining an ore trains the mining skill, and when the player accumulates enough experience points in the skill, their character will 'level up'. As the skill level rises, the ability to retrieve better raw materials and produce better products increases, as does the experience awarded if the player utilises the new abilities. The total skill level of a player partly symbolises the player's status in the game and the official RuneScape highscore tables can be viewed by anyone. Upon reaching the highest available level in a skill (99), members may buy a special cape known as a "Cape of Accomplishment" (or a "Skill Cape"), to symbolise their achievement.

Some skills, such as woodcutting and fishing, enable the player to collect raw materials that can be processed into usable items for other skills, such as fletching and cooking respectively. The items created can be used by the player or sold to other players in game for a profit. Other skills allow players to kill certain NPCs, build their own houses, move around the map with greater ease, steal from various NPCs and various stalls and chests located in-game, cook their own food, create their own potions, create runestones and weapons, grow their own plants, hunt NPC animals, and summon familiars to help in combat and training skills.

Combat

RuneScape features a real-time combat system. Combat is an important aspect of the game, allowing players to retrieve items or gold dropped by dead creatures. Combat is also necessary to complete many quests. A combat level gives an indication of how powerful a player or NPC is in combat. For players, it is determined by applying a formula to the eight combat skills. Players engage in combat by clicking on the enemy they wish to attack. A player will automatically continue fighting until they kill their opponent, die, or leave the fight by running away or teleporting. Most of the game's weapons are medieval or fantastical in nature and feature different strengths and weaknesses. Players may also summon a familiar to assist with combat.

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Players engaging each other in combat in RuneScape Classic.

Combat is subdivided into three main categories: melee, magic and ranged. Melee attacks are close range with or without weapons, magic attacks focus on using runestones to cast spells, and ranged attacks use projectile weapons like arrows, darts or knives. These combat types make up the "Combat Triangle". Melee attacks are most effective against ranged opponents, ranged attacks are most effective against magic opponents and magic attacks are most effective against melee opponents. Unlike most games in the MMORPG genre, RuneScape does not require players to choose a character class nor are players bound to a specific category of combat. They may freely change between the three styles of combat at any time by switching weapons and armour. Players can even carry the weapons and armour of more than one combat category in their inventories and switch between or combine the styles. The advantages and disadvantages of the combat triangle apply to both NPCs and player opponents.

Players die when their hitpoints are reduced to zero. Lost hitpoints can be recovered by eating food or drinking certain liquids. Players can use potions and the Prayer skill to boost their combat ability and defences. Players who die reappear at one of three respawn points (which members can toggle) with their hitpoints, and any other reduced skill levels restored; however, they drop all but their three most valuable items (the Prayer skill can be used to retain one more item). But there are situations in which all items will be lost upon death (or just one with the Prayer skill). The items dropped form a gravestone, and they can be retrieved if the player can return to the gravestone before it crumbles within a certain time limit. Players can purchase longer lasting gravestones, and fellow players can repair or bless a gravestone to make it last longer as well.

Player versus player combat (sometimes called "PvP Combat") can be performed in specific controlled mini games. Bounty Hunter gives players a chance to keep their opponent's items, Duel Arena offers limited staking, and some other PvP type games offer their own rewards (Fist of Guthix, Castle Wars, etc.)

Before 2008, Player Killers (PKers) were players that went to an area known as the Wilderness, to fight other players within a certain combat level range, hoping to gain their items. In RuneScape Classic, players could opt in to PvP in most areas outside of Lumbridge. Many player killers created "pures", which were min-max characters designed to have as low a combat level as possible by heavily training some combat skills and not training other skills to achieve a desired advantage in the combat triangle. However, in December 2007 the Wilderness was radically changed to prevent players from transferring in-game items for real-world currency. New creatures called Revenants were added to maintain adverse pressure on players in the Wilderness, and PvP was restricted to specific mini games and worlds, mentioned above and below respectively.

PvP worlds

On 15 August 2008, Jagex announced their intention to introduce special worlds where players would be able to fight each other almost anywhere, in a similar way to RuneScape Classic, as mentioned above. To prevent players from using these worlds to transfer in-game items for real currency, Jagex stated that rewards for successful kills would be generated by the game based on difficulty and levels of danger. This update went live on 15 October 2008.

On PvP worlds, players can engage each other in combat almost anywhere in Gielinor, as long as their combat levels are within a certain range of each other. However, there are various "safe areas", in which players cannot fight each other. When one player attacks another, the attacking player is temporarily "skulled" (represented by a skull symbol hovering over the respective character's head). If a player dies whilst "skulled", they will lose all their items, unless they have used the Prayer skill to protect one item. Upon killing an opponent, the victorious player can claim an item as a reward. The reward given depends on, amongst other factors, the combat levels of the combatants, the value of items lost by the defeated player, and the value of the items the victor is carrying.

Quests

Quests are series of tasks with a storyline that players can choose to complete. Quests often have prerequisites including minimum levels in certain skills, combat levels, quest points and/or the completion of other quests. A few quests require players to work together. Quests are grouped into five categories based on requirements and difficulty. Novice quests act as extended tutorials for new players. Intermediate quests challenge players on a basic level, while experienced and master quests challenge the more experienced players and often open up new areas of Gielinor. Currently there is one Grandmaster quest, which features especially high requirements to challenge experienced players. Once a player completes all quests in the game, another achievement cape, commonly referred to as the "quest cape", can be purchased from an NPC. The cape comes with a special emote peculiar to the skill. Many quests require players to kill particularly powerful monsters. Generally, a new quest is released each month.

Players receive various rewards for completing a quest. Rewards depend on the quest's difficulty and include gold, unique items, access to new areas, increases in skill experience and/or quest points. Quests form the storyline of RuneScape, and many are part of a series of quests that become increasingly difficult. The longest and oldest (the first part of this storyline was released in 2002) of these is an incomplete seven-part series known as "Plague City". The storyline takes players through a massive conspiracy and unlocks areas inhabited by elves. Jagex has stated that it is the closest thing RuneScape has to a central storyline.

Interaction

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The TzTok-Jad, an attackable monster in RuneScape, is available for players to fight after overcoming many other weaker creatures.

Many NPCs populate the realm of Gielinor. Some NPCs, such as shopkeepers and characters in quests, are unavailable for combat. However, most NPCs can be attacked and these are generally referred to as monsters, regardless of their race. Monsters range from common, low-level creatures, such as chickens and goblins to unique, and often much more powerful monsters such as the King Black Dragon, Kalphite Queen, TzTok-Jad, or the Corporeal Beast. Each type of monster has its own strengths and weaknesses. Demons, for example, have a weak defence against magical attacks, while most dragons have extremely high defence against magic. Monsters may either be aggressive or non-aggressive. Non-aggressive monsters simply ignore players unless they are attacked. Aggressive monsters may attack all players or may only attack players with combat levels below a specified level, depending on the circumstances or location. This can make certain areas throughout Gielinor dangerous or inconvenient to players with lower combat levels.

RuneScape also features independent mini-games, although most are only available to paying members. Mini-games take place in certain areas and normally involve a specific skill. Mini-games usually require players to cooperate or to compete with each other. Popular mini-games include Castle Wars, which is similar to the real-life game Capture the Flag, Pest Control, a highly combat-focused mini-game, and Fist of Guthix, a minigame where one player (the hunter) tries to stop the other player (the hunted) from collecting charges into a magical stone.

Random events

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A player participates in the Drill Demon random event, designed to deter macros.

Random events are short interludes that occur during the game, requiring some form of player input. They were introduced to deter players from using automated programs, known as macros, autoers, or bots. When a player receives a random event, they will be teleported to a secluded area, and must complete the event before they are allowed to leave. Players are rewarded for responding correctly to random events, but are teleported to a random location in Gielinor if they fail.

Jagex revealed on 27 March 2008 that it intended to reassess the random event system because "the threat of bots and macros has been largely removed." These plans were revealed on 2 February 2009, and enacted on 25 February 2009, with several random events being altered or removed from the game. The likelihood of a player receiving a random event, and the reward they would receive for a correct response, would be based on the player's total skill level, and their previous success in passing these events.

Economy

RuneScape's economy is based around items. Raw materials collected with extracting skills, such as fishing or mining, are refined using other skills, such as cooking or smithing, respectively, or are sold as is to other players or stores. Refined products, such as armour or cooked food, are used by players in combat, quests, or other skills. Killing certain monsters for the items they drop can also be profitable. Some players engage in arbitrage, commonly referred to as merchanting, in order to turn a profit by buying and re-selling items. This became much less profitable as of January 2008, when restrictions were placed on unbalanced trades, and with the institution of the Grand Exchange: its price stabilisers and ability to match sellers and buyers across the entire spectrum of RuneScape have reduced price fluctuation.

Before the institution of the Grand Exchange, inflation and deflation caused some instability in the game economy. Inflation was caused by the large number of resources put into the game by macroing. Deflation occurred when more expensive items, such as certain weapons and armour, lost value over time because they became more prevalent and because newer items were introduced. Typically there was a huge impact on the day new items were released, with prices in the tens of millions for the first few hours, and then decreasing to a few million by the end of the day. The prices of rare items (items that were released in RuneScape Classic for holidays and can no longer be attained by any means other than buying from another player) tend to increase over time. For example, partyhats were relatively cheap when they were released and are now worth hundreds of millions of coins.

Chat system

RuneScape's chat system enables players to interact with each other more freely and directly. Players can talk with each other across different worlds in "clan chat" and "private chat". Public chat allows players to talk to anyone within a certain range, both by text appearing above the speakers head and it appearing in the message box, whilst private chat allows for one-to-one communication through a "Friends List" and clan chat allows a group of people to chat within a virtual channel. Every channel will have an owner, who can assign different ranks to people across the channel; a player's rank dictates their ability to remove other people from the channel, and to be removed themselves.

All the chat systems have safeguards in place to protect users from receiving verbal abuse, the most proactive of these safeguards is a word filter. The word filter replaces inappropriate words with asterisks (*), preventing other players from seeing the profanity. If a player uses symbols or other means to bypass the chat filter, they can be reported to a moderator for breaking a rule.
Players also have access to an "Ignore List". If one player adds another player to their Ignore List, the first player will not see any messages from the "ignored" player.

If a player is found to have used inappropriate language in the game, then they may be "muted" temporarily or permanently, either by a member of Jagex's staff or by a player who has been granted Player Moderator status. If a player is muted then they are unable to talk freely, but may still use the "Quick Chat" system. This system allows any player, including players who are not muted, to use preset common words and phrases which are displayed to other players like normal speech.

Any player who admits to being under the age of thirteen cannot talk freely on the RuneScape game, and can only use "Quick Chat" until their thirteenth birthday, unless they have parental consent to do otherwise. There are also special worlds in which all players can only use "Quick Chat" to communicate. This eliminates the possibility of any inappropriate language being read by younger players.

Graphics and sound

RuneScape can be run with high or low-detail graphics. High-detail mode enhances texture and design, whereas low-detail provides a cleaner look and can reduce lag on older or less powerful computers. RuneScape's graphics have gone through two major overhauls, the latter of which was released on 1 July 2008.

The second gradual overhaul began in February 2005 starting with several towns in the free-to-play area. When the engine was updated on May 16, 2006, allowing graphics of higher quality than before, the pace accelerated. As of 2008, most of the free-to-play area has been updated, as well as some member's only areas and a large number of NPCs.

On 1 July 2008, Jagex released a major graphical update. The most noticeable changes are a full-screen mode, the addition of textures and shadows, and an increased level of detail. During the first two weeks of July 2008, this version of the game was still a beta and only available to members. On July 14, the HD version came out of beta and became available to free players. To avoid causing difficulty for players with lower-performance computers, there is an option called "RuneScape", which combines the previous "Low Detail" and "High Detail" modes, and a "RuneScape HD" option. The July 2008 update is advertised as "HD" and is the first time RuneScape has used hardware acceleration, using Java's implementation of OpenGL as part of its rendering.

RuneScape features a character-customisation system. Unlike many MMORPGs, player characters are always human; however, players can choose the gender and a variety of hairstyles and colours, body types, facial features, skin colour and clothing options. Appearance is further complemented by wearing or wielding items. Standard weapons of the same class, such as swords, use the same set of animations in combat; however, a few special weapons have their own, distinctive animations.

Players can be transformed temporarily into objects, plants or animals, depending on the circumstances. These "morphs" sometimes allow players to avoid negative gameplay effects or access otherwise unreachable areas; however, they restrict certain normal activities. Players can also express emotions through the use of specialised animations called emotes, some of which are standard and others earned through gameplay or released during holiday events.

RuneScape has music, sound effects, and ambient noises throughout Gielinor. The music is designed to define the underlying cultures of the various locations accessible. Sound effects, such as the "sploosh" heard when a lobster trap is submerged in water, are heard as players train their skills. Ambient noises, such as the cry of seagulls flying over the ocean, occur in logical places. As different locations are visited by the player, new music for that area is unlocked and can be played back later.

Community

A set of official forums is provided by Jagex on the RuneScape website. On the forums, members are able to participate in game discussions, play player-made forum games, arrange to buy or sell items, post suggestions for further game improvements, vote in polls and otherwise interact with the community. Free players can read the forums, but posting is reserved for paying members. Unlike many MMORPG official forums, the RuneScape forums have very limited features. User profiles do not exist and a user cannot set an avatar, signature, or separate display name. Users cannot use text formatting, post URL address links, nor display images. A topic is automatically and permanently deleted after it surpasses the fiftieth page, so in the busier forums a topic can be deleted within a day or two unless it is constantly "bumped".

Players can submit email questions to any non-player character in the game. Selected letters are answered in a monthly update called Postbag from the Hedge. This feature began on 26 September 2005 and has since become one of the most accessed pages of the site.  Beginning 24 September 2002, players could submit questions to the RuneScape gods; the last edition of these letters was published on 9 December 2004. Players can also submit original RuneScape related artwork, some of which is displayed in a gallery on the RuneScape website. Media featured has included sculptures, comics, drawings, and paintings.

Every Easter, Halloween, and Christmas, Jagex hosts a holiday event in a specific location in the RuneScape world. Players who successfully complete the required tasks during the event receive an exclusive reward. Holiday items released after Christmas 2002 can be retrieved if lost. Earlier holiday items such as Party Hats and Santa Hats can be traded between players and sell for large amounts of gold on the player market. Many holiday events also reward the player with access to a new emote that allows the player to perform a gesture designed to show emotion or action.

Many RuneScape fansites have been established by players, none of which have been supported or significantly recognised by Jagex. Although in the early days of RuneScape the official website had a links page which listed several fansites, this is no longer the case. In order to provide players with an alternative, official site to get the information they want or need, Jagex introduced the Knowledge Base, which offers information on gameplay, the main RuneScape rules, and account security. For account security reasons Jagex discourages the discussion of fansites within the game or the official forums - and a rule specifically prohibits sharing web addresses. A major fansite has criticised Jagex for not recognising fansites' contributions to the development of its game. However, as a result of the announcements of 2009, Jagex has promised to rebuild its ties with fansites. This has been greated with a "wait and see” attitude from the communities.

Rules and cheating

Jagex has put in place a number of rules for player conduct, such as rules against offensive language, scamming, and bug abuse. To enforce the rules, RuneScape uses three types of moderators: Jagex moderators, who are actual Jagex employees; player moderators, who are trusted ordinary players that enforce the rules within the game; and forum moderators, who are trusted players who police the game forums. On the forums, Jagex moderators are identified by gold crowns and backgrounds on their posts while forum moderators have green crowns and backgrounds; in game, Jagex moderators have gold crowns next to their names in chat while player moderators have silver crowns. In addition, any player has the ability to report rule-breaking using a "report abuse" feature; misuse of this feature can result in action being taken against the reporter.

There are also rules prohibiting the use of third-party software to play the game, known as macroing, and the sale of game items for real money through real-world trading. In an attempt to stop cheating, Jagex made direct interaction with the client very difficult, and established rules against the practice. In response to continued gold farming—exploiting repetitive elements of a game's mechanics—Jagex issued a statement condemning real-world trading. In the statement, they also claimed that they were seizing billions of gold and banning thousands of accounts every week for cheating. Nevertheless, real-world trading and macroing activities still continued.

From October 2007 to December 2007, Jagex began a war on real-world trading by releasing a series of drastic updates to restrict unbalanced trades. These updates established the Grand Exchange, limited the value of items staked in duels, removed player killing from the Wilderness, made valuable player drops invisible to other players, introduced gravestones for the items of dead players, and instituted the LootShare, CoinShare, and player-assist systems. Collectively, these changes were designed to make it extremely difficult for real-world money sellers to distribute gold and items to players.

In other media

A store selling various RuneScape merchandise has been established by Jagex. Included in this merchandise is the book Betrayal at Falador, written by T.S. Church and published on 25 July 2008. The book uses the setting of Gielinor in the story.

Reception

RuneScape has been praised for its free play abilities. JustRPG summarised the game with "In short, the game of RuneScape is a fun, addictive game, and while the graphics may not be perfect, for a game written in Java, they aren't bad. The skills are varied, the community is alright, and it'll eat up your time if you aren't careful," giving it a score of 83%. The Yahoo! Buzz Log states that "while it may not be as easy on the eyes as some other popular online RPG games, like World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, or EverQuest, RuneScape is still a lot better way to kill time than pushing around cells in a spreadsheet." PC Gamer UK stated in December 2003 that while the "traditional RPG values of questing, slaying monsters and developing your character in a familiar medieval setting" won't "have the big boys trembling in their +2 Boots of Subscriber Gathering," this is offset by the game's accessibility through a web browser, "compounded by a version of the game that allows free adventuring player the opportunity to upgrade to a members' account," describing the game as "an unsurprising success."

In its 2008 intellectual property profile of the game, Developermag.com state that Jagex's recent changes to curtail real world trading resulted in "a wave of user criticism, although growth is understood to have resumed since". Its analysis posits that "RuneScape’s mass-market appeal lies in its simplicity and accessibility (both financial and technical). It has tapped into the vast market of games players unwilling or unable to spend premium prices on PCs capable of playing the latest, expensive, processor-intensive games. Its core gameplay concepts are very similar to its retail-distributed RPG and MMORPG analogues".

Guiness World Records has recognised RuneScape as the most popular free MMORPG in the world for the second year in a row. At the 2008 Leipzig Games Convention Jagex was presented with a certificate to commemorate the achievement.

However, aspects of RuneScape have been received negatively by RuneScape's users. In late 2007, an update by Jagex removed two popular parts of the game — free player-vs-player combat and free trading — in an attempt to rid the game of unbalanced trades involving real money being traded for virtual goods. The updates also affected legitimate players, mostly player-vs-player oriented, who were angered about this, resulting in many of them actively complaining on the forums and in-game via "Riots" - virtual protests in which disgruntled players congregated in RuneScape's main cities and spammed the screen with messages of objection to the changes. Jagex issued a Customer Support News article explaining that the updates were a tough decision, admitting that the updates may not have been an ideal replacement for what was removed, requesting patience, and promising to remedy potential problems with updates in the future. After the changes subscription numbers fell by 60,000, although no figures were given as to how many were legitimate players and how many were those accounts involved in the trading of goods that Jagex intended to stop.

Additionally commentators have criticised RuneScape's in-game community for being unfriendly to new comers, although they have said that the Fan-Forum community is more approachable.

External links

Official sites

• RuneScape – The official RuneScape website
• RuneScape German – The official German translation of the RuneScape website and game
• Runescape French - The official French translation of the Runescape website and game
• Jagex site – The official Jagex site

Wiki

• RuneScape Wiki

Major fansites

• RuneHQ
• RuneTips
• Zybez Runescape Help