RuneScape

Genre:

MMORPG

Status:

Released

Release date:

3/29/2004

Developer:

Jagex Ltd.

Publisher:

Jagex Ltd.

Overview

RuneScape is a 3D or 2D multiplayer game by the company Jagex and that has a player base of thousands of people that play this game all around the whole world. When you manage to advance any skill of 99 you can get a skill cape that has an emotion come with it. There are 25 skill capes and 1 quest cape. You can make friend's from all over the world from RuneScape's friend system which lets you add players you would like to keep in touch with. You can get your skill cape trimmed with a gold or silver color.

RuneScape takes place in Gielinor, a fantasy world that has influences from Medieval times, Middle Eastern Cultures, High Fantasy, Transylvania, and others. RuneScape is a game based mainly on training a variety of skills in order to open up new areas and abilities. But like most MMO's you can also buy items, trade with other players, hang out with friends, take on quests, slay difficult monsters and partake in various PvP games. Depending on your subscription status, there are 2 versions of the game that coexist together. The free version of the game contains access to most of the skills, however the most beneficial skills, and most of the maps and quests are omitted. The member's version of the game gives the player access to all RuneScape has to offer. Members get the full benefits of RuneScape such as those previously mentioned, and also the ability to play the game in full screen without advertisements. Members are also able to post in the forums, and also hold priority status with customer service. In general, the free players only receive roughly a quarter of the game and are substantially hindered in their skill training or money making efforts.

RuneScape received steady growth after its debut, and hit its peak about a couple years ago with about 250-300k players online at any given time during the weekends. Due to the nature of the game, players who have played longer have vastly higher skills, equipment and status than people who have just started out, and the gap between these players isn't easily mitigated, thus deterring new players from really committing to the game. Despite all of this, Jagex, the developer/publisher of RuneScape reports a healthy growth rate of about 33 percent a year, and is a competitive company against much larger brands in the browser MMO market such as Sony.

RuneScape has an active community and development team, receiving large updates every 1-2 weeks. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, RuneScape is the most popular Free-to-Play MMORPG in the world with over 10 million active free accounts, and about 1 million active member accounts.