RuneScape

2006-05-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

RuneScape is a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) implemented using Java, with over two million active players^[1] using over 120 servers. RuneScape was launched by Jagex Limited on 4 January 2001 and offers both pay-to-play (P2P) and free-to-play (F2P) membership options to players. RuneScape is designed to be accessible from any location with an internet connection.

Overview

RuneScape is a MMORPG comparable to Guild Wars and Everquest. Players set their own goals in the game, deciding which of the available activities they wish to pursue. Players can increase their experience, or "train", in any of the available skills, from combat to fishing, woodcutting, mining, and others, complete quests, develop skills, and hang out with friends and other players. Players interact with each other through chat, trade, mutual missions, and mini-games.

During peak hours, more than 100,000 players are often online simultaneously across the 123 international servers. The record number of players, 197,000 simultaneous players, was reached in March 2006^[3]. Each server is limited to 2,000 simultaneous players, allowing a maximum of 246,000 players online at any one time.The servers, or "worlds", are located in the United States (79), the United Kingdom (18), Canada (6), the Netherlands (6), Australia (6) and Sweden (5)^[4], making it the most popular online Java based game in the world. RuneScape is usually updated weekly, with the common addition of new quests and items. Larger updates are less frequent and can include additions of new locations, skills, items, or mini-games.

Developer(s)	Jagex
Publisher(s)	Jagex
Designer(s)	Jagex
Engine	Java
Release date(s)	RuneScape Classic - 4 January 2001 RuneScape - 29 March 2004
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Platform(s)	OS Independent (Web Based Java Applet)
Media	Web interface
System requirements	Low Detail : 64MB RAM + 300MHz CPU High Detail : 128MB RAM + 500MHz CPU
Input	Keyboard, Mouse

Combat

Combat is an important aspect of RuneScape, as killing monsters is one of the most direct ways of gaining wealth in terms of both cash and items. Combat is also needed to complete many of the quests in the game and can be used to fight other players. Combat levels are calculated using the seven combat skills: attack, strength, defence, hitpoints, magic, prayer, and ranged. Other skills increase players' total levels and overall rankings but not their combat levels. The maximum combat level in RuneScape Classic is 123, and the maximum in the current RuneScape is 126.

Combat is subdivided into three primary categories:

Melee - fighting with weapons
Magic - fighting with magic spells
Ranged - fighting with projectiles

Unlike many similar games, character classes do not exist in RuneScape. Players are not bound to a specific category of combat ,and they may freely change between the three forms of combat at any time simply by switching weapons, armours, and methods of attack. Players can even carry the weapons and armours of all three combat categories in their inventories and switch back and forth at will. Many players also combine combat types to a degree. Players may choose to wear ranger armour and wield melee weapons, as melee weapons are good against mages and ranged armour is good defense against mages as well.

Player versus Player Combat

Players often like to fight against other players rather than NPCs. RuneScape offers several areas where player versus player (PvP) combat may occur. The most common place is in the Wilderness. In the Wilderness, players risk their lives and, more importantly, their items, challenging other players. Another common area for PvP combat is Castle Wars, where players may simply have fun fighting others, risking no items. Other areas for PvP combat include the Duel Arena and the TzHaar Fight Pit.

Quests

Quests in RuneScape are one-time adventures that serve a variety of purposes. The novice quests act as tutorials to acquaint new users with the various skills and abilities they will need in the game and are usually linear in nature. The harder quests are designed to challenge the skills of experienced players to resolve a world conflict of some kind, which might just open up a new area to be explored and exploited for fun and profit. 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. Most quests also give the player a number of "quest points", usually dependent on the difficulty of the quest. A certain number of quest points is required to start some quests, as a demonstration of ability. 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 seven separate quests. On 15 March 2006, Jagex released the hundredth quest, Recipe for Disaster, which is a sequel to the first quest, Cook's Assistant.

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. There are servers that 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 and Lithuanian speaking players, which on some servers seem to outnumber the English speaking players.

Graphics

Although RuneScape currently has fully 3D graphics, some people argue that RuneScape's graphics are bad. However, 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 quality of the graphics cannot be further improved. Like many online games, RuneScape does not sport Next-Gen graphics, but players are quick to point out that the quality of a game does not depend solely on its graphics. 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 reach 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. Players may be transformed to frogs, eggs, mushrooms, and small animals such as chickens and pigs. Players wearing a ring of stone may transform into piles of stone, allowing them to avoid poison or weather effects such as desert heat. In Castle Wars, players wearing armour that conflicts with their team god will be transformed into imps, sheep, or rabbits. Players holding a monkey gree-gree from the Monkey Madness quest may transform into primates in specific areas.

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 players to express an emotion whenever they choose. Players will start with most of the emotes, but some of the emotes must be earned, either through quests or from random events. Some emotes, namely the "Scared" and "Bunny hop" emotes, were only obtainable during passed holiday events. If players did not unlock them during those events, they will never be able to obtain them.

Detail Levels

RuneScape can be run in high or low detail level. Choosing to run it on the high detail mode gives different things a more graphically intense texture and design. Choosing low detail gives everything a cleaner cut look and reduces in-game latency, commonly called 'lag'. Some monsters and landmarks will also appear less detailed in the low detail version of the game. Some objects that contain moving parts on high detail do not move on low detail, including the water spraying from fountains. Originally, the low detail version of the game was designed not to play sounds (for slower computers), but with a recent update,^[6] players using the low detail version of the game can now access sounds and music.

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, which includes the Port Sarim and Rimmington areas, had been graphically updated. On the 20 February 2006, Falador and the Barbarian Village were graphically updated, along with the Lost City of Zanaris. The change to Falador was criticised heavily, as many players complained there was too much white in the buildings. As of April 2006, Jagex has added wilderness graphics. There are also occasional, unannounced graphical changes to some places such as West Ardougne, the sewer underneath it, and many items. Jagex plans ultimately to improve the graphics of the whole free world without causing more lag for people using dial-up internet connections.