General Discussion

MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh was at the recent E3. While there, she spoke with Henrique Olifiers, Head of Games Content at Jagex. Jagex is the company behind the quiet hit MMORPG, Runescape.

Runescape. Everyone's heard of Runescape. Or at least, everyone who reads about the business side of the gaming industry. Runescape boasts six million registered players and one million paying subscribers. An MMOG with one of the largest player bases. So what exactly is Runescape? Not much has been written about it here on mmorpg.com since 2004. So I spoke with Henrique Olifiers, Head of Games Content at Jagex to get a quick run down of the game and where it is going.

The original Runescape launched in 2001 was little more than a 2-D interface for a MUD (Multi-User Dungeons) game. Remember those text based MUD games? The precursors to MMORPGs? Maybe not. Not if you are under 35. What this basically means is that Runescape is story and quest heavy. It is a high fantasy world populated by knights, wizards and dragons. It is not fast paced by any means, but the underlying storyline is quite involved and important. Several gods in this world are striving for supremacy and your actions in game can tilt the scale towards any of them.

Read the whole thing here.

Missing the "Here" link.

Under 35? Come on, many of my friends play MUD. And I'm 19. It's not dead yet !

Man remember when runescape was a joke in the genre, crazy how it's gotten soo popular just because it's free.

so, what does the "full" game cost in US dollars

seems to be a secret until you create an account

Calling this game free-to-play is a real stretch.   You can start out as free-to-play to sample some of what the game offers, but you really have to suscribe to this game if you want to do anything beyond the demo stage.

This game limits free-to-play audience to only a very limited portion of the actual game, very much unlike other free-to-play games. 

Originally posted by gatheris

so, what does the "full" game cost in US dollars

seems to be a secret until you create an account

 

 

around $6.00 a month I think not too sure.

Runescape has really come a long way from when I used to play it, to when I quit (around level 95, give or take) in the discovery of other MMOG's out there. It's nice to come back to see one of the first few games I played nearly non-stop and see how much it's developed among the years and the success it has , regardless of the constant negative thing said about it nearly everywhere. Hopefully it'll continue it's growth to the point when we see a full fledged client and all the goods that come in MMO's today. :)

I actually never got into runescape ,i am pretty sure i did load it up at one time but didn't like it.I don't think i stuck around for any actual game play it was merely the graphics that turned me off.

I will give them credit for revamping the graphics with more detail,that takes some work.The difference is quite noticeable.It is a very old game and it still survives.good for them.I just don't have  the time anymore to try every single game,but i think this old game is at least worth a try and costs nothing.

As an example,look at all the money WOW has made,you think they'd show some respect and give that game the makeover it badly needs and the player base deserves?no way,they figure they got a ton of suckers who are willing to pay for anything.I don't care what anyone tries to say WOW graphics and models are terrible and Blizzard most deff has the money to re vamp the looks.

Good to see some small guys can still hang in the big boys market.I never even heard of JAGEX until now lol.

I remember back when it started in Classic when you could PK anyone anywhere... Didn't last long haha.