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RuneScape

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File:RSthumb.jpg
Person fighting a highwayman in Runescape Classic

RuneScape is a 3D Java based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), launched by Jagex Ltd. in January 2001 as a free-to-play game.

There are often over seventy thousand players online at once, spread across its 39 free members' and 21 paid members' worlds (servers are located in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and The Netherlands), making it one of the largest online Java games in the world. There are also a few servers running the "classic" version of the game (split between free servers and member servers). There is a wide range of players in the game from across the world and of various ages.

Version Overview:

  • Orginal Runescape- Renamed Runescape Classic with the release of Runescape 2.
    • Runescape Beta- a non-public development version. No longer running, ended with public release of runescape.
    • Runescape- original game, name now for the series. No longer running under this name.
      • Free and Members-only Versions Runescape version
    • Runescape Classic- the first version of the game running with the old engine, not updated anymore but still playable.
    • Free and Members-only version running as of 2004
  • Runescape 2- The first major overhaul with redone graphics engine.
    • Runescape 2 beta- a beta version that ran prior to public release. No longer running.
      • Ran as memebers-only mostly.
    • Runescape 2- the latest version
      • Free and members only versions still running as of 2004.



Playing the game

File:Rscapethumb.jpg
Screenshot of RuneScape 2

The new player to Runescape comes to a tutorial island. Although initially coming to a tutorial island may seem boring to some, Jagex has determined this action to be imperative to understanding future gameplay. (This only takes about 10 minutes to people eager to learn), For those stuck, moving around is executed by left-clicking on a piece of land. While on tutorial island, players learn about fighting, communication, cooking, banking, doing quests, and other skills. Once a player has completed the tasks assigned on tutorial island, he/she is transported to the city of Lumbridge. From then on, players can upgrade their characters in the fashion that they want. They could travel around the "real-life" player's world between cities such as Varrock, Falador, Port Sarim etc. Players could also travel around by raising their magic level to a level high enough to perform a teleport to some of these major cities.

Skills

Skills are abilities that in both RS1 and 2 enable you do things in the game. Some skills are members-only and some skills are only in newer runescape versions. In alphabetical order (some skills may be missing):

Skills Overview

  • Free/Standard Skills
    • Cooking (Skill) There are various types of food you can cook. By eating food, you regain lost HP [health point]. How much HP is healed depends on the type of food that your character eats. As your cooking level increases, you will be able to different kinds of food, for example trout, pizza, cake, manta ray, swordfish, different kinds of pie. To cook food you can use ranges which can be found through out Runescape in houses. Also fires can be built and food can be cooked on it (some foods, such as cakes and pies cannot be cooked on a fire). Food is burnt less with higher levels of cooking.
    • Crafting (Skill) you can at first make pottery and then some leather and at higher levels jewlery. you can use the magic skill to enchant some jewlery.
    • Firemaking (Skill)Firemaking is considered a very worthless skill by many players, but many others see it as a simple way to raise the total numbers of levels on a character statistics. The firemaking level is increased by burning logs that have been cut down. Now
    • Fishing (Skill)
    • Mining (Skill)Mining is one of the most superior ways of making money on runescape. The high level mined ore such as adamanite and runite can be sold for large amounts of money as they these ores can be smithed (yet another skill) into high level armors, weapons, or other items. The higher the level in mining the more rare the ore is. Also as the mining level increase their is the ability to wield different varieties of pick axe, the stronger the pick axe the faster the rock is mined. Gems such as sapphires and diamonds can also be found randomly while mining.
    • Magic (Skill)
    • Prayer (Skill) Prayer is a skill based on burying of bones. Each bone you bury gives you a certain amount of experience points. For instance when burying a regular bone you get about 4 exp to prayer. Gaining prayer levels enables you to use special prayers. Such prayers as Protect from Melee, and Protect from Magic.
    • Ranging (Skill)
    • Runecrafting (Skill)
    • Smithing (Skill)
    • Woodcutting (Skill)
  • Member-only Skills
    • Agility (Skill)
    • Herblore (Skill)
    • Fletching (Skill)
    • Thieving (Skill)

Fighting

Fighting is a particularly important skill in Runescape, as monsters abound in this fair world. Many people train their characters in dungeons, castles, and sewers. The monsters in between cities are generally unaggressive. More powerful monsters with valuable treasures can be found in the wilderness. Other players can also be fought there, and are often even more dangerous. Fighting is divided into three main skills in which to gain levels: Attack, strength, and defense. You need a certain level of each to use better weapons or armor. What level you gain experience in depends on the style of fighting you choose.

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Mining in Runescape 2

Mining

Mining is one of the widely used skills as many other skills run into it. Mining is used to get raw materials for making armour,weapons, nails, and crafting supplies. As a player's level in this skill increases, he will be able to mine more different types of "ore": clay, copper, tin, iron, silver, coal, gold, mithril, adamantite, and rune. Players need a pick in order to use this skill. The picks can be made of different metal with better ones offering and advantage in mining. The pick and mining are effected by various random events, such as the pick head flying off which must then be recovered or explosive gases coming out of a rock.

Smithing

Smithing is another of the widely used skills in runescape. It can also be the most profitable. By making armour and weapons your levels will increase. As a player's level increases he is able to make bronze, then iron, followed by steel. After many levels you can then smith mithril. This is when smithing comes to your advantage, as it starts to get quite profitable. Adamantite follows on from this, becoming increasingly difficult to gain levels and also giving players more of their money's worth. Finally there is rune. This is the best free skill to play armour and weapons in the game. Few people have 99 smithing or level 99 skills in general. Smithing allows players to smelt the ores they mine into bars with a furnace. Then players will use the bars to create armor, weapons, wire, and dart tips. Here is the list of combinations of ores.

copper + tin ore = bronze bar (100% chance) iron ore = iron bar (50% chance) steel ore + coal = steel bar (100% chance)

Game Economy

Runescape has a complex economy for a browser based game. The main purpose of the game is to accumulate expensive items and money. The supply of these expensive items is mostly dependent on a limited number of high level players. But as the number of players with sufficiently high levels increase, so does the supply and amount of rare and expensive items. As a result, these rare and expensive items decrease in their value. To prevent saturation, a supply of new players is necessary.

The supply of money in runescape is not limited, which means there is a general inflationary trend. There is generally more money going into the game than out. Again, this is countered by the supply of new players.

Communities

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Screenshot of the Runescape 2

RuneScape has many communities within it. Many players have grouped together to form groups known as 'clans'. These clans often have alliances, and occasionally go to war with each other; meeting in bloody clashes often with many participants. Sometimes players enter the war zone to pick up leftover items, such as enchanted amulets and armor.

This takes place in the Wilderness area, located in northern RuneScape. The Wilderness has great rewards, but also great risks. This is also where player characters can fight and kill each another, known throughout the game as PKing(Player Killing). As one gets deeper into the Wilderness, they can fight with other players further and further away from their combat level. So a Lvl 60 player in Lvl 30 wilderness can attack players Lvl 30-90. When a player attacks another player in the wilderness, that player is given a skull over his head. If a player with a skull over his head dies, then he loses all of his items (Normally a dead person would lose all of his items except for his three most expensive items, but if he has the prayer power "protect items" and uses it, that person will keep his most expensive item). Half of the wilderness only allows 1-on-1 battles, whilst the other half allows multiway combat and the potentially huge team based wars mentioned above. There are many different weapons, spells, and potions available to assist fighting in the wilderness.

However, the Wilderness isn't only for Player Killing, there is some other activities like killing monsters and collecting items. There are places to mine, smith, cook, train, fish, collect items, and more. The wilderness is abundant with monsters, most of which are more dangerous than monsters outside of the wilderness. And the deep member's only Wilderness contains the dangerous Mage Arena. Also lurking in the Wilderness is a lever that teleports a character to the King Black Dragon, (often known as the "KBD"), the Second most powerful monster in RuneScape. Even deeper in the member's wilderness is a quick escape to a members town, where a person can teleport to Ardougne by pulling a lever. In the northeastern area of the wilderness lurks some of the fabled greater demons. These massive beasts are very strong and very hard to train on if there are a lot of PKers.

Player Demographics

In March of 2004 a poll of the age and gender was done on the official website. The poll was only open to members, so it is potenially not as indicative of the total player base. Also, since it was not controlled in anyway people could put false answers. People who are unable to become members would be under-represented and the potential making up an answer does exist. Either way it is one of sources of information on the player base, whether it is correct or not.

The poll results:

  • The poll question: "Which of the following Age/Gender group do you belong to?", and the results
  • Male under 15 years of age  : 5492 votes
  • Male between 15 and 25 : 3918 votes
  • Male between 26 and 40 : 533 votes
  • Male over 40 : 264 votes
  • Female under 15 years of age  : 237 votes
  • Female between 15 and 25  : 357 votes
  • Female between 26 and 40  : 302 votes
  • Female over 40  : 270 votes

Developments

On February 27, 2002, Jagex launched a new optional 'members service'. This allows players to pay $5 USD a month to get access to new quests, features and skills. Paying members have a far greater choice of things to do, but it is still possible to play the game for free, and there is in fact still more free content available than ever before.

Over the past three years, players have attempted to develop a variety of RuneScape cheats. When Runescape first opened, cheating was at an all-time high, and was rarely prevented. However when Jagex introduced the pay-to-play members service the additional cash revenue meant they were able to start enforcing the rules better, and they implemented many macro detection routines and protections to ensure that an actual human was playing. Currently cheats are only prevalent in the less protect RuneScape Classic, as evidenced by the occasional mass banning of "worst offenders".

On December 1, 2003, Jagex released a beta version of an improved version of the game, which had been rewitten from the scratch (temporarily called "Runescape 2"). Featuring a new 3D-engine and revisions to gameplay, this beta was initially only available to paying members. Jagex claimed that this will make RuneScape the most advanced java-based game in the world. On March 17, 2004, Jagex released the beta to non-paying players.

Just in time to keep their Q1 promise, Jagex took the new game out of beta, and finally released it to everyone on March 29, 2004, which gave everyone playing RuneScape (paying or not) the opportunity to play on the new gaming system.

RuneScape 2 overview

RuneScape 2 includes a whole new player interface, which separates the main-view, game-options, minimap, and chat into four different screen areas, allowing tasks to be performed more efficiently and conveniently. These areas are:

  1. The main-view - Which now enables players to zoom up and down in order to see the world more clearly.
  2. A game-options area - A new panel on the side which combines all the gaming functions into one space (Level Status, Attack Style, Prayer, Magic, Quests, Armour page, Inventory page, Friends list, Ignore list, Music player, Player controls, and log out function)
  3. The minimap - Now permanently visible in its own area and has extra icons indicating the location of important locations, such as: shops, quest-points, ranges, furnaces, dungeon-entrances, etc..
  4. A dedicated chat / message area
  5. Lots more updates, often weekly

Graphics

Much improved graphics have been included, the new graphics are now competitive to other popular role playing games, such as Diablo. Shopkeepers and Bankers are no longer jammed when another player is dealing with them. Instead, players can now even trade with them straight away without any conversation at all. Navigation is improved, since clicking on a location now displays a tiny red flag on the minimap indicating the destination, until the player arrives or changes their mind. Magic, prayer and ranging now all include much improved animations alongside with different animations for each kind of action too. Weapon attacks now each have different styles, although these still correspond to the three familiar combat styles from before: Accurate (trains the 'Attack' skill), Aggressive (trains the 'Strength' skill) and Defensive (trains the 'Defense' skill). In addition, players can adjust the angle that they are looking at their character with the arrow keys.


Magic

Magic requires a certain amount of Runes (Air, Mind, Water, Fire, Earth, Body, Chaos, Cosmic, Nature, Death, Blood and Soul; or requires optional staffs such the three different staffs of the three Runescape Gods: Saradomin, Guthix and Zamorak, or the "Iban Staff" for "Iban Blast") and the four elemental staffs: Fire, Air, Earth, and Water. Newly available in RS2 for both paying and non-paying players is the added ability of "Runecrafting", which allows players to craft their own runes. Players can also still choose to buy their own runes from the witch Betty or from Aubury in Varrock, or, (the fastest way), to buy from another player who already has thousands of runes. A new feature has been introduced recently from Jagex to mages. Now mages have their own armor made from split bark. You can get it by cutting a hollow tree and presenting the bark to an odd looking wizard in the wizards tower.

Note:For split bark armor you need to be a member to cut a hollow tree and you also need to bring lots of money and lots of bark.


Equipment

For armour, the nine materials of weapons and armours are still kept (Leather, Studded Leather, Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, Mithril, Adamantite, Rune and Dragon), but the rare Black and Rune items are no longer as valuable as before, since new items were added - especially to the Dragon family. Available weapons include: daggers, short swords, scimitars, long swords, two-handed swords, hatchets, battle axes, maces, throwing knives, arrows, halberds etc. Available armour includes: chain-mail body, plate-mail body, skirt armours, leg armor, medium-helmets, large helmets, woodden shields, square shields, kite shields, etc. Most of these items are available in each kind of metal.

Combat Mechanics

Players in Runescape generally fall into three major classes: warrior, ranger, and mage. There is no actual definition of those classes; people generally level up their statistics in the statistics respective to these classes. However, all of these classes use Prayer. Warriors are possibly the most common class; fighting in melee mode increases Strength, Attack, and Defense. Wizards are the second most common class and emphasize magical spells. In RS2, magic use has greatly proliferated due to significantly increased damage. Lastly, there is the Ranger, which emphasizes skill in archery and projectile throwing.

RS2 has a class triangle, whereby a Warrior defeats Ranger, Ranger defeats Wizard and Wizard defeats Warrior (analogous to the rock, paper and scissors triangle).

Some people have chosen to train each of their combat skills to the same level. There is no way of defining their exact class, although it is suggested by the armor they wear. If they have a significant level of each of the three class's skills or none then there is no way of making a definitive classification.

Warriors will usually wear armor such as platebodies or chainmail. Common warrior weapons include scimitars (which some players call "skimmys"), battleaxes, longswords, and the infamous 2h sword (2h is short for two-handed.) Also, leather gloves and boots are a must. To wield and wear better weapons and armor, players must train attack levels and defence levels respectivley.

Wizards will wear wizard's robes, wizard's hats, and anything else that has the word "wizard" in it. Recently JaGeX released a new mage armour, this is obtained by completing one of the many quests throughout the game, which one, you'll have to find out. Also, some wear priest's or monk's robes, for the religous look. Staffs are a must-have, magical or not (but more likely magical.)

And last, but not least, rangers. Of course, they'll have a bow with them. Oak, willow, long, short, any kind. Leather, and dragonhide armour gives you ranging attack bonuses, so don't be surprised to see a ranger with a coif or cowl, gloves or vambraces. There are lots of types of dragonhide armour, including green dragonhide, blue dragonhide, red dragonhide and black dragonhide, only obtainable from the colour of the dragon. Green Dragon Hide being the only that is obtainable for free players

Real world economics

There are many players who will play mainly to train characters and then sell them on auction sites. Some high level accounts go for up to $300+ in U.S. currency. However, such transactions are prohibited by game rules, and both parties involved can be banned from the game. In game items and players that are somtimes listed on internet marketplaces's such E-Bay, where they are sold to the highest bidder despite the games rules. The rules are often avoided by not actually selling the item, but by selling the time the person has happened to spend developing a item or character.

Quests

These are some of the quest available in Runescape 2, although many of these were orginally for and are still available in Runescape Classic

  • Standard/Free Quests
    • Novice Quests
      • Rune Mysteries
        • The primary developer of the quest was RuneScape worker 'James B'. The quest is availbe to non-members and is classified as novice level. A quote from the website talking about the quest: "Recent research at the Wizards Tower has found a way to create Runes for the first time in centuries. Assist the head wizard Sedridor in his research and he too may teach you these secrets!" Quest Information- Start point: Lumbridge, To start: Speak to the Duke of Lumbridge, Quest length: short, Minimum requirements: None, Members only: No
      • Cook's Assistant
        • The primary developer of the quest was the Developer Paul Gower, and had a converstion done by Andrew Gower. It was one of the original quests in Runescape Classic and is in the Runescape 2 as well. The quest is availbe to non-members and is classified as novice level. A quote from the website talking about the quest: "The Lumbridge castle cook is in a mess. It is the Duke of Lumbridge's birthday and the cook is making the cake. He needs a lot of ingredients and doesn't have much time." You need one egg, a bucket of milk and a pot of flour. Quest Information: Start point: Lumbridge Castle, To start: Speak to the Cook, Quest length: short, Minimum requirements: None, Members only: No
      • Sheep Shearer
      • Witch's Potion
        • Witch's Potion The developer of the quest is the RuneScape developer Paul Gower, with a coversion done by Simon B. It was one of the original quests in Runescape Classic and is also in Runescape 2. The quest is available to non-members and is classified as novice level. A quote from the website talking about the quest: "Become one with your darker side. Tap into your hidden depths of magical potential by making a potion with the help of Hetty the Rimmington witch." Quest Information: Start point: Rimmington, To start: Speak to Hetty, Quest length: Short, Minimum requirements: None, Members only: No
      • Romeo & Juliet
        • The developer of the quest is the RuneScape developer Paul Gower along with Rob L. A conversion was done by Simon B with a coversion done by Simon B. It was one of the original quests in Runescape Classic and is also in Runescape 2. The quest is available to non-members and is classified as novice level. A quote from the website talking about the quest: "Romeo & Juliet are desperately in love, but Juliet's father doesn't approve. Help them to find a way to get married and live happily ever after. " Quest Information: Start point: House west of Varrock, To start: Speak to Juliet, Quest length: Short, Minimum requirements: None, Members only: No
      • Pirate's Treasure
        • The developer of the quest is the RuneScape developer Paul Gower with conversion was done by Graham B. The quest is available to non-members and is classified as novice level. A quote from the website talking about the quest:"Redbeard Frank knows where secret pirate treasure is hidden, it may require some work to persuade him to let you know where though." Quest Information Start point: Port Sarim To start: Speak to Redbeard Frank Quest length: Medium Minimum requirements: None Members only: No
      • Ernest the Chicken
        • The developer of the quest is the RuneScape developer Paul Gower with conversion was done by Graham B. The quest is available to non-members and is classified as novice level. A quote from the website talking about the quest:"Veronica is very worried. Her fiancee went into the big spooky manor house to ask for directions. An hour later and he's still not out yet. " Quest Information Start point: Gates of Draynor Manor To start: Speak to Veronica Quest length: Medium Minimum requirements: None Members only: No.
      • Imp Catcher
        • The developer of the quest is the RuneScape developer Paul Gower along with Simon B. The conversion was done by Simon B It was one of the original quests in Runescape Classic and is also in Runescape 2. The quest is available to non-members and is classified as novice level. A quote from the website talking about the quest:"The Wizard Grayzag has summoned hundreds of little imps. They have stolen a lot of things belonging to the Wizard Mizgog including his magic beads." Quest Information Start point: Wizard's Tower To start: Speak to Wizard Mizgog Quest length: Medium Minimum requirements: None Members only: No
      • Prince Ali Rescue
        • The developer of the quest is the RuneScape developer Paul Gower along with Rob L. The conversion was also done by Paul Gower It was one of the original quests in Runescape Classic and is also in Runescape 2. The quest is available to non-members and is classified as novice level. A quote from the website talking about the quest:"Prince Ali of Al Kharid has been kidnapped by the scheming Lady Keli. You are hired to stage a rescue mission." Quest Information Start point: Al Kharid palace To start: Speak to Hassan Quest length: Long Minimum requirements: None Members only: No.
      • Goblin Diplomacy
      • Doric's Quest
      • The Restless Ghost
      • Shield of Arrav
      • Vampire Slayer
      • Demon Slayer
    • Intermediate Quests
      • Black Knights' Fortress,The Knight's Sword
    • Experienced Quests
      • Dragon Slayer
  • Member-Only Quests
    • Novice Quests
      • Murder Mystery, Observatory Quest, Gertrude's Cat, Dwarf Cannon, Druidic Ritual, Fishing Contest, Sheep Herder, Plague City, Monk's Friend, The Hazeel Cult, Biohazard, Elemental Workshop, Priest In Peril, Nature Spirit, Death Plateau
    • Intermediate Quests
      • Clock Tower, Jungle Potion, Merlin's Crystal, Witch's House, Sea Slug, Tribal Totem, Tree Gnome Village, The Tourist Trap, Digsite Quest, Big Chompy Bird Hunting, Tai Bwo Wannai Trio, Shades of Mort'ton, The Fremennik Trials
    • Experienced Quests
      • Waterfall Quest, Scorpion Catcher, The Holy Grail, Fight Arena, Lost City, The Grand Tree, Watch Tower, Shilo Village Quest, Temple of Ikov, The Underground Pass, Hero's Quest, Family Crest, Legends Quest, Troll Stronghold, Regicide Quest, Eadgar's Ruse, Horror from the Deep, Throne of Miscellania, Monkey Madness



Guilds

If players attain a high enough experience level in a skill (or done enough quests) they can often gain access to a guild. A guild in the game is simply a building the player can enter into, which offers some game items and features. They were first present in the original Runescape starting with the guild for if you completed enough quests, followed by the mining guild. This feature was continued in Runescape 2 and now there are many guilds - some of which are not in runescape classic. Also, some guilds are member-only since not all skills are avaible to free/standard play.

  • The guilds as of 2004 include The Champions Guild (32 quest points), The Cooks Guild (32 cooking), The Crafting Guild (40 crafting), The Fishing Guild (68 fishing), The Heros Guild (completed the heros quest), The Legends Guild (completed the legends quest), The Magicians Guild (66 magic), The Mining Guild (60 mining), The Prayer Guild (The second floor of the Monastery)(31 prayer), The Ranging Guild (40 ranged)

Mini-Games

There are some other tasks besides the usual quests and skill leveling, which are essentially games within a game. These include for example Fishing Trawler, Treasure Trails, Mage Arena, Agility Arena, Gnomeball Games Room and Castle Wars. Most of the these mini-games however are only for member players, with the exception of fishing trawler.

File:Treespirit.JPG
Tree Spirit Random Event

Random Events

Random events can happen in the game, these are mostly bad things that happen randomly. While most people like the few positive random things, the unlucky ones are largely hated. They can have some benefit but can also do annoying things and harm the player (such as teleporting across the map). Whether future versions will continue to have the annoying negative random events is a matter of debate, given the amount of hate that exists for having unlucky things happen.

  • Guardian- Potentially dangerous and annoying: River Troll, Rock Golem, Watchman, Zombie, Tree Spirit, Shade, etc. River trolls generally attack you when you have been fishing in the same place for a long time. The same goes for the Tree Spirit and Rock Golem. Zombies and shades appear when you have buried a lot of bones.
  • Inconveniences- random breakage of eqipment such as pickaxes's when mining and hatchets when woodcutting.You can generally avoid these by not clicking to mine on a smoking rock, trying to cut down an Ent, or not fishing where there is a whirlpool or 'Big fish'.
  • Dangerous and Annoying: Swarm, Ent, Whirlpool, Exploding Rock, Poison Gas
  • Gift Givers: Drunk Dwarf, Genie, Mysterious Old Man, Maze, Strange Box, Strange Plant (Members only), Mime

Game Credits

A abridged list of some of higher ranked development and managment team of RuneScape. The Jagex Team:

Development Team

Publishing Team

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