RuneScape
| RuneScape | |
|---|---|
| File:Rslogo.gif | |
| Developer(s) | Jagex |
| Publisher(s) | Jagex |
| Designer(s) | Jagex |
| Engine | Java |
| Platform(s) | OS Independent (Web Based Java Applet) |
| Release | RuneScape 1 (Classic) - January 4th, 2001 RuneScape 2 (Modern) - March 29, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | MMORPG |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
RuneScape is a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) implemented in Java, with over two million active players[1]. RuneScape was launched by Jagex Ltd. on January 4, 2001 and offers both pay to play ("P2P") and free to play ("F2P") membership options to players. Being implemented in Java, RuneScape requires no installation and can easily be accessed from the official site.
Overview
RuneScape is an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game), similar to Guild Wars and Everquest. The object of the game is to operate in a three-dimensional online "world" by taking the persona of a character, represented visually by a customisable avatar, and developing various abilities. Players may do a variety of quests, "level up" by developing skills, make new friends, interact with them via chat, trading, mutual missions or quests, etc. The max level in a skill is 99, which takes a considerable amount of time to reach. The higher the level number, the better the player's character is in that particular skill. Available skills range from combat to fishing, woodcutting, mining, smithing, etc, which can allow the production of items which can in turn be sold for gold pieces (GP) and used to buy a variety of items, such as better equipment to further the players' skills. The maximum combat level achievable is 126. Andrew Newbrook loves Lewis.
During peak hours, it is common to see around 170,000 players online across the 125 international servers located in six different countries, with a peak in excess of 197,000 simultaneous logged-in players reached in March 2006[2]. Up to 2,000 players may be on one server at once, allowing a maximum of 250,000 online players at any one time. These servers are called "worlds" in RuneScape. Servers are located in the United States (79), the United Kingdom (18), Canada (6), the Netherlands (6), Australia (6) and Sweden (5))[3], making it the most popular online Java based game in the world. RuneScape is usually updated once a week, with the addition of new skills, quests, or items, as well as many other types of updates. In RuneScape Classic there are now only 2 worlds because only a few loyal member accounts are able to play today's classic version.
History and development
Version 1: The first version started out as a one man project. The developer (Andrew Gower), started working on the original game in 1998. This version was very different to the RuneScape of today. It had isometric graphics, and was originally titled 'DeviousMUD'. This version was never released to the public, and only a few people ever saw it.
Version 2: The developer scrapped version 1, and started work on a complete rewrite in 1999. Despite being a complete rewrite, this version was very similar to version 1, with the same graphics and name. This version was released as a public beta for about 1 week, and then withdrawn.
Version 3: The developer started yet again with a third attempt in October 1999. This time, Andrew had some help from his brothers Paul and Ian. The isometric view was replaced in favour of 3D graphics and 2D sprites. The game was renamed RuneScape and released to the public on January 4, 2001. This version is still online today but only for limited RuneScape Members. It is currently called RuneScape Classic. On January 12, 2006, 5,000 RuneScape Classic accounts were banned. Additionally, play was restricted to members who had logged in at least once since August 5, 2005. No more accounts for this version can ever be created.[4]
Jagex Ltd formed: In December of 2001 Jagex Limited was founded as a commercial operation to take over the running of RuneScape. Jagex acquired RuneScape and all related technologies, and continued to develop the game further. Andrew Gower joined Jagex as its lead developer.
Members launch: On February 27, 2002, Jagex launched a new optional "members service", allowing players to pay $5 USD a month to obtain access to constant updates on a mostly weekly basis. Paying members had a far greater choice of things to do, but it was still possible to play the game for free, and the amount of free content was also increased. While not a new version as such (the game still ran on the same version 3D engine), this update did significantly change the focus of the game.
Version 4: Jagex went for yet another complete rewrite. Version 4 changed the graphics to full 3D and made many other significant improvements. While in development, this version was called RuneScape 2, but when launched was just called RuneScape (version 3 would later be renamed RuneScape Classic). An incomplete beta of this version was available to members on December 1, 2003. The finished version was launched on March 29, 2004. This is the current version of the game being promoted by Jagex, and is the version most people think of when one says RuneScape.
Combat
Combat is an important aspect of the game, as killing monsters is one of most direct ways of gaining wealth in terms of both cash and items. Combat is also needed to complete many of the quests in RuneScape, and can be used to fight other players. Combat levels are calculated using seven skills: attack, strength, defence, hitpoints, magic, prayer and ranged. The maximum combat level in RuneScape Classic is 123, and the maximum in the current RuneScape is 126. Other skills, while beneficial, will not increase one's combat level (though it will increase one's total level, or all of one's levels combined).
Combat is subdivided into three primary categories:
- Melee - fighting with weapons
- Magic - fighting with magic spells
- Ranged - fighting with projectiles
Weapons
There are many types of weapons in RuneScape including swords, scimitars, battle axes, warhammers, daggers, maces, and 2-hand swords(2h's). There are also a host of other members only weapons, such as hammers and halberds. Strong players generally use more powerful weapons—such as the rune scimitar for free players or the abyssal whip for paying members—than weaker players. Weapons are generally ranked by attack bonus and speed, but may also be considered for their special ability, or ability to be covered with poison. Players may also choose to fight with magic spells or projectiles, such as with a bow and arrows.
Monsters
Monsters in RuneScape are Non-playable characters (NPCs) that can be attacked. Not all NPCs are monsters, though, as many are special characters that cannot be attacked, especially among the human NPCs. There are many monsters throughout RuneScape, with major groups including humans, goblins, elementals, gnomes, elfs, dwarves, giants, trolls, ogres, undeads, dragons, mammals, arachnids, beetles, and demons. NPCs can be found all over the map, in cities, countryside, dungeons, or the Wilderness.
Skills
Skills are abilities that enable players to perform activities in the game. Some skills are available only to members, such as fletching, and some can only be utilised by completing a specific quest. Many of the high-level abilities in most skills are reserved for members only. Players gain experience in a skill when they perform activities that utilise that skill, for instance mining a rock would raise the mining skill. In general, the higher level it requires to perform a task, the more experience points the performer receives. The combined skill level of a player partly symbolises the player's status in the game.
In RuneScape, there are currently 21 skills including:
- Primary/extraction (such as mining and woodcutting)
- Secondary/processing skills (such as smithing and cooking)
- Combat skills (such as strength and range)
- Tertiary skills (such as agility and thieving)
Quests
Quests in RuneScape are one-time adventures which serve a variety of purposes. The novice quests act as tutorials to acquaint new users with the various skills and abilities. Quests may be started in several places around the RuneScape world. All quests include some kind of reward such as money, rare or valuable items, or an increase in skill experience. Each quest also awards a certain number of quest points, which may be required to access areas or begin other quests. Some quests are part of an overlapping storyline, the most famous of which is the Plague City story line, which has been in RuneScape for several years and currently contains 7 quests. On March 15, 2006, Jagex made their hundredth quest, a Recipe for Disaster, which is a continuation of their first quest, Cook's Assistant.
Mini-games
RuneScape has a number of mini-games. Mini-games are fun activities, which are somewhat like quests which may be done as many times as the player wishes. Located within the overall game of RuneScape, they take place in a certain area, and normally involve a certain skill, such as fishing, agility or combat. Currently, the most popular member mini-game is Castle Wars. This is followed by the Duel Arena for members.
Mini-games can also be a good way to make money. An example of this is the Barrows minigame, which can allow lucky players to make millions of GP relatively easily.
Community
Players of RuneScape represent a wide range of nationalities, and ages. However, the user base is predominantly English speaking, because the game itself is currently only available in English. However, there are also many servers which are mainly Spanish speaking, so people who prefer to speak Spanish can interact with other Spanish speaking players on those servers. Recently there was an increase of Dutch speaking players which in some servers, seem to overwhelm the amount of English speaking players (this mostly happens on Dutch servers).
Language
Many RuneScape players speak a RuneScape-slanted version of Leet (commonly known as '1337 5p34k'), which can be incomprehensible to outsiders and difficult for newcomers to learn. This consists mostly of the proliferation of in-game terminology and the abbreviation of commonly used words. Players will also frequently use common Internet slang when allowed by the language filter. The use of slang and abbreviations allows for easier communication between established players despite the small space available in the in-game messaging system. For example, an established player might say "i sell u r (g) plate ardy world 2" While this would be incomprehensible to new players, established players would know it means-"I will sell you a gold-trimmed rune platebody in Ardougne, in world 2."
A word filter is used both in the RuneScape game and in the RuneScape forums. The filter is used to block out words and phrases defined by Jagex as "offensive language". Over the history of this word filter, more and more combinations of letters are being censored. When a string of characters is censored, it is replaced by a series of asterisks. This constant evolving can cause many normal phrases to be censored. For example, players cannot say the internet slang word pwn, as the "pw" in the word is a common abbreviation for password. Since advertising websites is in violation of RuneScape rules, all URLs are automatically censored as well. In order to combat this, players may resort to a modified version of leetspeak, although dodging the censor is a violation of Jagex rules. Some symbols are automatically removed from phrases as well, including ^, _, { and }, ~, ¬, < and >, /, and any non-English characters (for example, Cyrillic.)
Fashion
Rare items, such as Santa hats, Halloween masks, various coloured party hats, and other past holiday drops are fashionable because they are somewhat unique and because their scarcity has made them extremely expensive. Their price has also made these a symbol of wealth and status in RuneScape.
Most armour in RuneScape requires that a player meet minimum levels before they can be worn. As players achieve these required levels, the best armour available to them becomes desirable both for combat and to communicate their level. The best armour, only available to members, has the additional appeal of communicating membership when using free servers, even though the combat bonuses they provide only work on member servers.
Some armours are ornamentally trimmed with colour. Rune, Adamant, and Black melee armours may be trimmed in gold or a colour similar to the armour. Rune may also be trimmed in the colours of the three main RuneScape gods. Kiteshields may also be trimmed with heraldic designs in opposite quadrants. Trimmed armour combines the communication of wealth with the functionality of armour.
Graphics
RuneScape currently has fully 3D graphics. Although some people argue that Runescape has "bad" graphics, the game is developed using Java, which focuses on having graphics compact enough to be loaded quickly in a browser, and as such, there comes a point where the graphics can be improved no longer. The game does not sport Next-Gen graphics, as many online games do not, but players are quick to point out that "graphics aren't everything". Since the game does not require a download or a CD to play, and it is played entirely on the desktop explorer, the game's graphics will never be the same standard as modern PC games.
Character appearance
A lot of emphasis has been placed on allowing players to customise their character. Players are given a wide choice in creating character models, from hairstyle to facial features and gender. Appearance can be further optimised by wearing or wielding different items, with each different weapon having a unique image.
In addition to these small equipment changes, players may also change their appearance radically with special equipment, or during certain events. All morphs are temporary, and players may not attack while morphed. Some major morphs include:
- Free World morphs
- Mushroom - Malignius Mortifer may turn the a player's character into a mushroom if they follow a specific chat path.
- Frog - If a player does not talk to the frog prince/princess, the character will be teleported to the frog homeland, and turned into a frog.
- Egg - As of April 10, 2006, completing an Easter "Holiday Mini-Quest" can give a character the ability to turn into an Easter egg with the help of a "Easter Ring" given to them by the Easter Bunny.
- Members only morphs
- Stone - Wear a ring of stone. This makes the player immune to any non-combat form of damage. This includes poison, and most hazards. The effect ends if the player enters combat, tries to move, or removes the ring.
- Imp, Sheep, or Rabbit - if the character enters a castle wars portal wearing certain god items that contradict the god of the team the player is on, such as amulets, god trimmed armour, and mage arena god staffs the character may be morphed into one of these.
- Various - Players visiting Zanaris (Lost City) may be temporarily morphed into various creatures like pigs and chickens.
- Various Primates - During or following the Monkey Madness quest, players may morph into various primates on ape atoll and Ardougne zoo by wielding special greegrees. This also conveys the benefit that no NPCs on Ape Atoll will attack the player.
Character animations
There are many different animations in the game for the variety of things players can do, from combat to the numerous quests. There are also "emotes", which are animations that allow a player's character express an emotion whenever they choose. A player will start with most of the emotes, but 8 of the emotes must be earned. The Goblin emotes requires getting to a certain point of the Lost Tribe members quest; the other 6 are from random events that can happen to both free players and members. The remaining two, however had to be gained during a specific holiday period (the 'Scared' emote was from Halloween 2005 and the "Rabbit Hop" emote was from Easter 2006).If the player was unable to acquire that particular emote, they will never be able to get it.
Detail Levels
RuneScape can be run on high or low detail level. Choosing to run it on the high detail mode gives different things a more graphically intense texture and design, as well as producing sounds; low detail gives everything a cleaner cut look, removes sounds and reduces in-game latency. Some monsters will appear also less detailed than others in the low detail version of the game.
Area appearance
Since February 2005, Jagex has put a massive effort forward to update the RuneScape free world cities, beginning with Lumbridge and Draynor Village. In September 2005 they announced that Thurgo's Peninsula (Port Sarim and Rimmington areas) had been graphically updated. On the 20th of February, 2006, Falador and the Barbarian Village were graphically updated. The Lost City of Zanaris was updated as well. Jagex plans to ultimately improve the graphics of the whole free world without causing more lag for people using dial-up internet connections. However, as RuneScape is Java-based, its graphics engine will always be limited in capability compared to a lot of modern games.
Random events
A variety of both positive and negative random events can take place in RuneScape. Random events are used to prevent the use of "macros" (automated scripts which play RuneScape with little or no human interaction). Random events can also add variety to some of the more repetitive activities in the game.
Players must respond to most of these in the correct manner or they will receive a negative effect such as being teleported across the map, having their inventory emptied onto the ground, or even death. For example, if a random event requires a player to talk to the Mysterious Old Man, that player should respond, or they may receive a negative effect. Another example of a random event is a mime, where a player is teleported to a stage and must mimic the actions of a non-playable character. After completing the challenge the player then receives a reward which can vary from clothing resembling that of a mime, to emotes that resemble mime movements.
Moderators
There are three types of moderators in RuneScape, each given different abilities.
Jagex Moderator (J-Mod, JM, Staff)
Jagex Moderators are employees of Jagex. Each employee of Jagex has an ingame counterpart. In RuneScape, they are identified by a gold crown beside their name, visible during public chat. On RuneScape's official forums, the gold crown is shown beside their, and their posts appear highlighted yellow. In a previous version of RuneScape's official forums, their posts were highlighted green, with the addition of the words "Jagex Mod" beneath their name.
Jagex Moderators also have a number of additional abilities for playtesting purposes. It is confirmed that J-mods may change their skill levels at whim and may generate items within their inventory. They are also known to possess a special "J-mod teleportation ability" which enables them to appear anywhere on RuneScape. However, their accounts do not engage in either combat or trade, and do not appear in the high score tables.
Player Moderator (P-Mod, PM)
Player Moderators are a team consisting of regular players who are handpicked by Jagex. They serve to help maintain RuneScape, keeping it safe and free from rule-breaking. Along with all a normal player's account features, player moderators are given the option to mute that person for 48. P-Mods are not employees of Jagex and they receive no tangible benefits. They are not expected to spend anymore time playing RuneScape than a normal player would nor even expected to make use of their special abilities. P-Mods are identified by a silver crown beside their name in both public and private in-game chat systems, but are not identified on RuneScape's official forums. The silver crown of a Player Moderator cannot be removed for as long as the player is still entitled to moderator abilities. Player moderators also have use of a Player Moderator Centre, which contains tools and information which allows the Player Moderators to perform their role more effectively in the game.
Forum Moderator (F-Mod)
Forum moderators are also a volunteer team consisting of regular players that work to carry out the tasks of managing RuneScape's official forums. Like player moderators, forum moderators are handpicked by Jagex staff, and are not employees of Jagex, so they receive no monetary benefits. Forum moderators are given the ability to move and lock threads, hide posts or entire threads, edit titles, and temporarily ban players from posting. Like player moderators, they are also given a set of forums that are primarily used to help perform their role more effectively. Forum moderators have a green crown beside their name, as well as a green background when they post on the forums. Forum moderators are not identified by a crown beside their name in the game area of RuneScape.
Economy and money
The RuneScape economy is similar in many ways to real-world economies, as supply and demand play an important role in determining the price of items. The currency used in RuneScape is Gold Pieces, mostly referred to as "GP" or "Coins". Unfortunately, the RuneScape economy is plagued by inflation, as the number of Gold Pieces in circulation is unlimited, and ever-increasing due to NPC drops and alchemy. Conversely, many valuable items decline in price as more of them appear from NPC drops.
Criticism
RuneScape is criticised for a number of reasons:
- The game's graphics are limited by the fact that RuneScape is designed to be downloaded quickly and run in a web browser.
- RuneScape has a mandatory chat filter, which often blocks things with no relevancy to swearing or bad language. In addition, it is easy to use misspellings of filtered words to bypass the filter. The filter also makes it hard to talk in other languages than English as it blocks various types of words.
- Some players are dissatisfied with Jagex's automated customer support, and the lacking support for non-paying users.
- Some tasks in RuneScape are very repetitive. Certain skills can be leveled by repeatedly clicking in the same pattern.
- Efforts to make skills less repetitive have been criticised for making the process of leveling too complicated, especially in the farming skill.
- Announcing trade in-game between players is usually done by going to a major city in the game and repeating offers to buy or sell in the chat window. It leads to highly congested chat channels and difficulty selecting trade offers.
- The official marketplace forum is available to members only, which makes it hard to arrange deals without resorting to repeatedly shouting out offers in the chat.
- Some players criticise the game for not having enough content and updates for non-paying users.
- Some players criticise RuneScape for stopping the rare item holiday drops from being tradable.
- Some players criticise that the "Pure Rune Essence" made the Runecrafting skill harder and longer.
Membership
Some players may choose to pay for extra content. The monthly fee by credit card is, GBP£3.20, USD$5, CAD$7.30, or EUR€4.60. Players who pay to play RuneScape are given special status on their account. This "member's status" gains them many advantages both in and out of the game, such as:
- Over four times as much of the map to explore
- Over four times as many quests
- Exclusive worlds
- Transportation advantages, i.e., may take short cuts when traveling and canoe down rivers
- Hundreds of additional items, such as the Dragon and Barrows weapons and armour
- 360 bankspaces (More than double the bankspace allowed to free players)
- 200 spaces on friend's list (Double the space allowed to free players)
- Six new skills (herblore, fletching, thieving, agility, slayer, farming)
- Huge amounts of additions to the original skills (e.g.: Dragonhide in crafting, Baked Potatoes in cooking, Sharks in fishing)
- Mostly Weekly updates
- Access to posting on the official forums
- Better customer support
- Access to voting in polls
- More in-game music (high-detail only)
- Several mini-games, such as Castle Wars and Barrows.
- More Random Events
- More player vs. player features (e.g. Duel Arena, Games Room, Castle Wars)
- More team-based interactions (e.g. Dagannoth Kings, Kalphite Queen, Pest control minigame, Blast Furnace)
- Access to the first RuneScape game, commonly known as RuneScape I
References
- ^ RuneScape new concurrent and active player records - (article is dated 22 December, 2004) accessed March 5, 2006.
- ^ "5 new worlds in Stockholm,Sweden" - RuneScape Technical News, access March 4, 2006.
- ^ "6 new Australian servers online!" - RuneScape Technical News, accessed March 4, 2006.
- ^ "Nearly 5000 RS-classic accounts banned" - RuneScape Customer Support News, accessed March 4, 2006.
External links
- RuneScape – The official RuneScape website.
- Jagex site – The official Jagex site.
Official affiliates
Selected fansites
Note: None of these sites are owned by, affiliated with, or have anything to do with Jagex Ltd. They are all unofficial, and some information may be opinions rather than facts.