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RuneScape is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by British developer Jagex and is programmed in Java. Nearly five million active players and counting, and 800,000 paying subscribers make RuneScape one of the top online video games in the world. RuneScape was launched on 4 January 2001 and offers both pay-to-play (P2P) and free-to-play (F2P) accounts. RuneScape is designed to be accessible from any location with an internet connection, to run in an ordinary Web browser, and to be undemanding upon system resources.

mutual missions, playing combative or co-operative mini-games, and visiting each other in their player owned houses (Referred to by most players as "POHs").

RuneScape takes place in the realm of Gielinor, which is divided into the Kingdoms of Misthalin, Asgarnia, and Kandarin, as well as the tropical island of Karamja, the Kharidian Desert, and the Wilderness, among others. Players can travel throughout the world by walking, by riding in vehicles (such as boats, mine carts, or gnome gliders), or by teleporting with magic spells. Each kingdom, island, or forest area offers different types of monsters to fight, different materials to process into usable commodities, and different quests to complete.

RuneScape is usually updated weekly by Jagex. Although the majority of content updates are accessible only to paying players, updates can bring new areas to explore, new quests to complete, new items to collect, new skills to train, and new monsters to conquer.

RuneScape servers

RuneScape usually has more than 100,000 simultaneous players online 24 hours a day, every

See also: Mini-Games Knowledge Base Page

RuneScape has a number of mini-games, which are activities somewhat like quests but that can be done multiple times. Mini-games take place in certain areas and normally involve a specific skill. Many mini-games involve cooperative efforts or allow players to compete with each other. Popular mini-games include Castle Wars, Pest Control, Duel Arena, Tears of Guthix, The Stronghold of Security and Barrows.

Community

Players of RuneScape represent a wide range of nationalities and ages; however, because the game is currently only available in English, almost all players speak English to some extent. Players who speak languages other than English tend to gravitate to worlds that are populated by other players who speak the same language. For example, some worlds have a greater percentage of players who speak Spanish, Dutch, or Lithuanian. It is not uncommon to see many languages on the chat screens throughout RuneScape.

RuneScape forums

A group of official forums created entirely by Jagex programmers is available to players on the RuneScape website. By accessing the forums, paying members are able to participate in game discussions, post support queries, make arrangements to buy or sell items, and interact with the community. F2P players can read the forums but are unable to post messages. The RuneScape forums are quite diverse, allowing thousands of players to access them at any given time. The forums have their own Code of Conduct; each forum also has its own specific list of rules. These rules are enforced by forum moderators. Forum moderators are not moderators in the actual game (although they can access the forums without membership).

Letters

Players can submit questions to any NPC in the game. Selected letters are answered in an update called Postbag from The Hedge at the end of each month. This feature of the site started on 26 September 2005 and has since become one of the most accessed pages of the site. From September 24, 2002 through December 9, 2004, players could also submit questions to the RuneScape gods; however, the gods will no longer communicate so directly with mortal beings.

Graphics

Character appearance

RuneScape places a lot of emphasis on allowing players to customise their character by supplying a wide choice in character models. Unlike many games in the genre, all characters must be human; however, players can choose their gender as well as their hairstyle, body type, and facial features while on Tutorial Island or on the mainland. Appearance can be further optimised by wearing or wielding different items, with each different item 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. Players can be transformed into frogs, mushrooms, and small animals such as chickens and pigs. Players wearing certain rings can transform themselves into piles of stone or eggs, allowing them to avoid the effects of poison or desert heat. All such morphs are temporary, and players cannot perform any activities other than chatting while morphed. In addition, players wearing armour that conflicts with their team god in Castle Wars will be transformed into imps, sheep, or rabbits while in the swfiodasdhajkfhlasjkhdlasjk;dhklsjdklsjdkl;ajsnmakBNfoashduioaypsiodhas'd===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. The "scared" and "rabbit hop" emotes were only obtainable during past 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. High detail mode gives different things a more graphically intense texture and design, while low detail gives everything a cleaner cut look and reduces 'lag'. Some monsters and landmarks will also appear less detailed in the low detail version of the game.

Area appearance

Starting in February 2005, Jagex is updating the graphics in the RuneScape cities and the wilderness. Some of the changes have been met with player dissatisfaction. Jagex plans ultimately to improve the graphics of the whole free world without causing more lag for people using dial-up internet connections.

Economy

{{successful attempt at countering inflation than anything else attempted in the past.

Criticisms

Players of RuneScape usually have strong feelings about the various aspects of the game. They may criticise one aspect as they praise another, but few players are neutral on all topics.

• Graphics: Some people argue that RuneScape's graphics are substandard. Because RuneScape is designed to run in a web browser and download quickly, it's graphics will never compare particularly well with desktop PC games. Some people disagree with this comprimise, wheras others argue that the quality of a game does not depend solely on its graphics, and point out that the graphics actually compare quite well with other browser based games.
• Speed: RuneScape sometimes runs slowly and in-game latency ("lag") can occur. This is usually caused by playing RuneScape on older computers or using slow Internet connections, although straight after weekly updates it is common for other players to also get poor latency.
• Gameplay: Tasks in RuneScape are criticised for being repetitive, requiring users to click repeatedly in the same pattern to train skills. Jagex designed the farming skill with this criticism in mind, but their efforts to make it less repetitive were criticised for making the process of levelling too complicated.
• Cheaters: Attempted scamming is common in RuneScape, although this exists throughout the MMORPG genre. Scammers use diverse methods to trick players into trading items for much less thancustomer support team and has expanded the online Knowledge Base in order to take some stress off the customer support team.

Footnotes

1. [whj9e01u=10230202102019000100101001010100`38`4785`2781525-`28964`289634-1895-891235y78913658 12648 1728946129-8ogchart.com "www.mmogchart.com" - Retrieved 1 July 2006.
2. "Virtual gamers reveal themselves" - BBC News, 7 October 2004. Retrieved 15 June 2006.
3. RuneScape world map - RuneScape.com, retrieved 15 June 2006.
4. http://www.runescape.com/lang/en/aff/runescape/varrock/letters/lettersindex.ws
5. "New Improved Game Guide Released" - RuneScape.com, 13 March 2006. Retrieved 24 July 2006.

External links

• RuneScape – The official RuneScape website.
• Jagex site – The official Jagex site.
• Knowledge Base – The official RuneScape guide.
• Forums - The official RuneScape forums.

Wiki

• RuneScape Wiki

Official affiliates

• Miniclip (runescape.com)
• Mofunzone (runescape.com)

Fansite

• Rune HQ - Fansite with the most traffic

• RuneScape
• Massively multiplayer online role-playing games
• Java platform games
• Miniclip games
• Browser-based games