The year is 2004, a new family just moved
in across the street so we invite them over to have dinner. While the boring parents sit
talking about boring stuff, my brother and I bring the new kid, Mark, upstairs to play
video games. As were playing Mario Kart: Double Dash, Mark asks us,
Hey have you guys ever played Runescape? My brother and I looked at each other and
shook our heads, Runescape? Whats that? Mark jumped onto our computer, opened up Firefox
and he showed us. Runescape. it was a world to get lost in,
a world to explore, quests to complete, monsters to slay, wood to chop, ore to mine, and players
to kill. A world not separated by ANY form of pay wall. Well except for the membership
but well get into that later. A game playable on just about every browser so anywhere there
was internet, theres Runescape! Funny enough, this MMORPG is also coming to ios and Android
with PC cross platform play. Sh*t, you can play runescape on a tablet now! I mean, the
game was so accessible you could run it on your Grandmas computer! And just to be clear,
Im talking about Old School Runescape, the one we all know and love! And since I had
to start over and wont have time to grind my character alongside making this video,
Ill give a source for any footage I use that isnt mine.
Runescape was the first time many of us had ventured into online gaming, but this wasnt
like Starcraft custom games or Halo 2 matchmaking this was something different. This was an
entire world ripe for exploration and discovery. Looking at it now you might think wow those
are some ghetto ass graphics, Acting Male! But back then, Runescape something entirely
new, it was a living, breathing video game. The towns and NPCs would be the same, but
when youd log in, the people would be different. It was such an enchanting, mind-blowing thing
to experience. And it was all something you could share with your friends. But Man of
Acting, I didnt have any friends! BOO HOO! Well, then you could make friends, my friend!
There werent many games like it at the time, it didnt have much competition and thus many
players would discover this new type of online community RPG game.
But have you ever stopped to think, what was it that made Runescape so special? Why did
it become such a cultural phenomenon? Why Was Runescape SO AWESOME?! I aim to answer
those questions, and give a bit of my personal experience as well. Hopefully, you feel compelled
to share your experiences in the comments as well. So lets mine some copper, praise
Zezima, and buying gf straight into this! The story of Runescape, and I mean, the development
is something of a dream come true, for both the creators and the players. It was originally
going to be a text based game. Then the 1st public beta was released on January 4th, 2001.
At this time the creators, the Gower Brothers, were working out of their parents house.
Of course, since its first public release the game would have countless changes, updates,
and new content added. To think a game could be created by two brothers with nothing more
than passion, time, and an idea, could turn that game into a world-wide phenomenon, is
nothing short of a dream come true. Now Runescape Classic was the original version
of the game and was one of the first MMORPGs. Alongside it were other games like Asherons
Call, Everquest and Ultima Online. But Runescape 2 was really what brought this genre into
the mainstream. It broke and holds several astonishing records. Such as most users of
an MMO video game, the most prolifically updated MMORPG, most original pieces of music in a
video game. And of course, the most popular free MMORPG in the world.
Just the idea of what an MMORPG was, to many gamers was something theyd never seen or heard
about. So the appeal of Runescape was trimmed into stone.
Now for most of my game reviews, I always bring up the negatives so Im not just stroking
the games nuts for 20-30minutes. But with Runescape I will say, without a doubt,
I dont have many honest criticisms to make of it. Other than the shady people in it,
but not much wrong with the game itself. If something comes to me, you know, Ill mention
it. But any negatives this game had never really bothered me. I mean if you didnt like
the game, its free to play so no loss on your part.
And I think this lack of critique that is escaping my mind at the moment is partially
due to the fact that you could do whatever you wanted. Oh wait, there was one thing.
Was how annoying it was to be walking around doing stuff and see this, you need to be a
member to access this feature, message. Dude! IM 12 YEARS OLD! $5 A MONTH IS MY LIFE SAVINGS!!
That was always a tease that frustrated the hell out of me.
I mean, sure it mightve been a grindy type of game, but if you enjoyed that grind, then
thats all that mattered. It was always satisfying in my experience,
slowly building and working your way up, making a name for yourself, building and choosing
your talents, unlocking new features and areas to explore. The game was a dream come true
for kids and teenagers who didnt have any money to spend on video games or even a console.
Being free-to-play and accessible through just about every computer, meant anybody could
make an account and play. A game not restricted by a rating system, that people of all ages
could immerse themselves in. To be honest, booted up Runescape for sh*ts
and giggles. I hadnt played it in YEARS. Thought it would be fun to try it again. I thought
Id record some gameplay get bored within 30minutes, and then that would be the end of it. But
I was hooked again. That wondrous exciting feeling I got back in 2004, I felt once more.
But this time, with a lot more nostalgia. What was most impressive about Runescape was
just how big, open, and free it was. My friends and I were always enthralled by Morrowind
when that came out. And this was like playing Morrowind, and seeing other people playing
Morrowind! After doing the tutorial you could go and do anything you please. Course, youd
have to level up to stand a chance against higher level enemies. But hey you want to
go do quests? You can go do quests! You want to spend 3 hours chopping wood and light fires?
You wanna rock out above a pit and pretend youre a king? You could do anything at any
time. There was no main quest, and you werent forced to do anything except the tutorial.
Maybe you wanted to level up your prayer for a bit, then youd go and kill cows, cook some
meat, sell some stuff, whatever you wanna do baby!!
The game had several Events and Festivities which gave players more reasons to keep coming
back! It kept the game fresh and added new things for players to do. Even for this last
December they had a Christmas event. Its kinda crazy to think theyre still adding new stuff
to this game! Like a free to play quest and a new area to explore. Guess that shows the
level of dedication Jagex has for Old School Runescape, despite its age.
This medieval themed world was different, unique, with memorable towns, NPCs and quests
to do. Al kharid was my favorite. And if you were the wild, or CRAZY sort, you
could go to the wilderness for some PVP action. Anytime I ever went there I got my ass kicked
so I never f*cking went to the wildy after that. But I always heard legends of the great
plunder that could be found there. I heard tales about sneak attacks, horrifying stories
about players who lost the most valuable gear they had. Wake me up! Wake me up inside! Cant
wake up! Wake me up inside! SAVE MEEEEEE! I heard many things about the mysterious and
deathly lands known, as The Wilderness. And thats such a cool idea, to have a part of
the world be specifically about PVP combat, and you could go there anytime! Now one thing
that was tedious was navigating through the world. I mean once you got teleportation runes
and spells and stuff like that it was a lot easier. And it was pretty gay for Jagex to
make an ability allowing you to travel the world faster. But made that a member ability.
It was pretty tedious at times but that wasnt a huge problem for me.
Whats funny is coming back to this game, things have changed since the last time I played.
But I remember the world, I remember the names, points of interest. I remember the good spots
for leveling up your skills. I remember the routes I used to take. I remember the world
of Runescape like it was the city I grew up in. I think thats a sign of a truly memorable
game. I mean Ive played World of Warcraft and The Old Republic, some other MMOs but
none of them had the charm or were as interesting to me as Runescape was. I was never so immersed
in a world where I could forge my destiny, as I was with Runescape.
Alright! I actually have another negative thing to say about Runescape, the combat!
Could be pretty frustrating at times. I mean how many god damn times do I have to hit this
chicken and do NO DAMAGE?! ITS A FUCKING CHICKEN! DIEEEE YOU PIECE OF SH*T!! Yea the combat,
and movement in general was always kinda clunky but that was part of the charm. It was a simple
game at its core. But there was so much more to it than just combat. That was just one
piece of the puzzle. You could honestly beat the tutorial and just spend all your time
fishing or cutting wood without even fighting enemies!
You progress through the game how you choose to progress! And that sense of freedom is
something almost entirely exclusive to Runescape. But there is something about this game that
just keeps me coming back even as I write this I wanna go play. Wanna know what that
is? Buying girlfriends like a f*cking pimp! Come get money with me if youre curious to
see how it feels to be with a P.I.M.P. Roll in the benz with me we can watch some TV.
From the back seat of my vee Im a P.I.M.P. Girl, we could pop some champagne and we can
have a ball. We can toast to the good life, girl we can have it all.
Nah nah nah its the progression, kids! As I said, the game can be pretty grindy, and
when you start off at level 3 youre at that point where you have the fewest options for
what to do next. But as you level up you can fight stronger
enemies, take on harder quests. As you increase your skills you can craft new items, you can
sell and trade more. Chop down more valuable trees, or smith better armor. The more you
played Runescape, the more there was to do in Runescape. I guess thats what made it so
addicting! It offered a huge variety of tasks, quests, minigames that it never really got
boring! And that feeling of, whats next? What can I do next? What ore can I mine now? That
feeling of progression was just so satisfying. I mean, youd start off with some sh*tty ass
Chefs hat and a bronze blade, youd look like sh*t and then youd see some dude walking around
with crazy ass Dragon armor and you be like, mmmmm I want me some o dat! MMMM I want me
some o dat! Because the items had value, and players could see that, itd give them something
to strive for! Because YOU wanted to be that guy walking around in Dragon Armor looking
like a badass. Another thing that made the gameplay and progression
so fun was back then, my friends and I didnt really use the internet to learn everything
about the game. In those days we just played it and discovered everything on our own. Nowadays
I feel like people just look up everything about a game and to me that kinda ruins the
experience. Runescape was also a ground to compete with
others, yeah in PVP, but also in buying, selling, trading. The higher your skills the more you
could do than the other people in the game. You could set goals like, Im gonna mine till
I hit level 30 then Im gonna make some dope ass armor! And it was always rewarding to
reach those personal goals you had. Again, having friends to play with, youd be competing
with them. And at the lunch table youd be able to either talk sh*t or hear someone else
talk sh*t. It was something of race between you and your
peers, kinda like how being really good at Halo or getting a nuke in Call Of Duty was
something that gave you bragging rights. I want to ask you, you watching this video
right now. Have you ever played a really long RPG, then you stopped playing it for a few
weeks or a month and found you couldnt get back into it? You just couldnt? For some games
its hard to jump into playing them after taking a break, because you might forget what was
going on in the story, or what you were supposed to be doing. But with Runescape you could
easily take breaks and log back in where you left off! Without feeling like you forgot
what the story was about or how to play. Above all else, Runescape was a fun way to pass
the time! For middle schoolers, kids in elementary if you finished all your homework, youd get
on Runescape because why not grind a few levels before you go to bed?
The game had a lot of classic RPG mechanics, no matter what you were doing you were always
building skills, building your character to be better. It may have had a fair share of
cliche medieval tropes, but it was the way Runescape incorporated all these ideas to
make a truly unique and satisfying game. But above all else the graphics in Runescape
were groundbreaking! That-that was a joke. YOURE SUPPOSED TO LAUGH! There we go!
Runescape had something that many games dont or try to fake, and thats charm, the graphics
are timeless in my opinion. Its style is like a Medieval game, but with comedic elements.
Its a chill kind of game, doesnt demand a whole lot from you. Its just-its classic as
f*ck! You see someone playing Runescape and you know exactly what it is! Theres no other
game that looks and feels like this. And it doesnt take itself too seriously which
would be hard to do anyways when your eyes are black slits and youve got a pink freaking
beard. The armor, weapons, equipment might not have been as HIGH RES as Skyrims ULTRA
HD MOD 2017 BLEH BLEH BLEH BLOO! But it looked cool. It looked interesting. Runescape showed
that graphics arent everything, it showed us that you can have a simple visual style
and make it work. And that what matters more is the heart and soul of the game.
I mean, Runescape does look hilarious. All the emotes and the sheer ridiculousness of
the way the characters look, the running animation. The NPCs were always pretty goofy and funny.
You never knew what sort of random nonsense youd hear when you talked to an NPC. They
all had character and in a world as vast as Runescape that is quite impressive.
Even if you hate this game and think its the worst thing ever, nobody can deny that Runescape
has character. Its funny and creative. It parodies several of the medieval cliches like
Romeo & Juliet, and separates itself from becoming a cliche medieval game. Every single
quest is packed with jokes and brilliant writing, its glorious to be able take a break from
all the grinding and get a few laughs while questing and talking to NPCs.
But its the music that really nails it for me. I mean, you go to the comment sections
of some of these Runescape songs and its all people reminiscing. All people that loved
the game. The music was fun, it was joyous, unique and catchy as hell! Even better is
the game allows you to play which songs you want to hear! Again, I dont remember any other
game giving you an option like that! The simplistic sound effects are pretty funny as well, they
get the job done. It almost feels like something out of an old Atari game. Again reinforcing
that classic feeling. Part of Runescapes charms were its quests.
Other MMORPGs and a lot of other regular RPGs just throw a bunch of sh*tty, pointless quests
at you that you could care less about. But not Runescape! Again, choices, you had to
seek the quests out yourself! You didnt have to do them. You werent forced to do them,
and you werent thrown a million quests in your face. Other RPGs and MMOs create this
endless cycle of grinding fetch quests. Kill X number of monsters or talk to this guy then
that guy, and that gets boring and tedious real fast.
Runescape was special because its quests were better than that, and they had meaning behind
them. They were all unique, they demanded different things from you. Whether you had
to collect a buttload of random items or you had to be this combat level or be this good
in mining. You could rescue a desert prince, or make balls of wool for a crazy farmer.
Remember those penguins pretending to be sheep? Like what the f*ck was that about? You could
kill the local vampire threatening the townsfolk and all of these quests could be done in any
order you damn well pleased! Runescape was special and unique for a variety of reasons,
not the least of which were its charm and quality quest design.
Over the coming years Runescape would spread like wildfire through word of mouth. My brother
and I found out about it through our neighbor at our moms house and when we were living
at our Dads house, we told all the neighborhood kids about it. We showed them this incredible
world that they could play for free. And soon enough, all 10 kids in our neighborhood, at
the time between the 1st and 8th grades were all playing! We had our own community! It
was like our neighborhood clan. Even the girls liked playing Runescape thats how great this
game was. So often wed play outside during the day, then when it got dark wed go inside
and get on Runescape and just do whatever. We all had stories to tell about our travels.
One inside joke was our friend claimed she died in the tutorial, and we discovered that
was impossible. One of my buddies used to lead the younger kids into the wild and kill
them to take their loot. And this one time his mom got pissed at him for doing that to
his sister. Another great memory I have is me and Act
Bro and one of my best buds and I all conspired to make an account called Sexy Poop Monk,
which wed use to harass other people in the neighborhood. Ahhhh good times.
But it didnt stop there, word spread and soon enough everyone at school either played or
at least knew about Runescape. Wed brag at the lunch table about our highest skills,
or about the secrets we discovered, how good our armor was. Runescape was something we
all had in common and I made so many friends through playing and talking about the game
with others. I guess the point Im trying to make is the
best things in life are those you share with others. And that might be a bit cheesy in
regards to a video game, but its honestly true! Runescape wouldnt have been nearly as
fun if it werent for all the people I knew that I was playing it with. And Im sure the
same goes for most other Runescape players. That nostalgia, those memories from years
ago is why some people just cant leave the game for good. Even if you play like an hour
a month, its hard to leave a game you invested so much time in and had so many great memories.
Of course, as with all trends one by one we all just stopped playing. All us neighborhood
kids are still good friends to this day. And even though we dont play it anymore, every
now and then we bring up the glory days of Runescape. We bring up the nostalgic memories,
and all the stories and fun that came along with it.
One of the best and worst things about Runescape was its community. Sure there were always
people looking to take advantage of younger, more naive players, I myself lost my 1st account
that had level 55 mining and a combat level of 42 to the stupidest f*cking trick in the
book. Some guy said, hey if you type out your password it censors it. And I was like, NO
WAY!!! Lemme try that! Next time I tried to log in, poof. Gone. And that might not sound
like a lot of big stats to some of you but for a young kid who didnt know sh*t about
this game and did things in the most inefficient ways possible, I was damn proud of that.
But even then, I wasnt discouraged because my friends were down to give me some new gear
on a new account. Again, that circle of friends pulled through for me and helped me out. Though
it sucked to lose my account, I did learn a valuable lesson that day.
I mean, sure that guy who wanted to trim your armor just fucking stole it from you, that
girl probably isnt a real girl and is using you for free shit. But if you know about those
shady tricks then you never fall for em. Since so many people played Runescape back
in the day, the game of course is the subject of countless, beautiful memes. You might think
its silly bringing up the importance of memes to Runescape, but I think it goes to show
the love people have for the game. These memes wouldnt have been posted or made if a lot
of people hadnt played Runescape and understood the memes.
The community of this game was truly something special, youd be mining for a bit and just
say,hey whats up, to some guy. Start having a conversation with random people, sometimes
youd make a friend, or youd find someone who had just what you were looking to trade for.
Sometimes it was just so fun to try and trade with a random person and see what they had
to offer. Oftentimes Id try to trade with super high level players, and theyd put up
all this super expensive shit. Adament trimmed armor, 100K Gold and Id offer to trade a f*cking
pot or something. Watching their reactions was always priceless. It was fun to troll
people as long as it was harmless, you know? The world was your oyster and you were free
to make it in any way you could think of. You couldve been that one douche who convinced
some nublet to follow you into the wildy where you then proceeded to penetrate his tight
noobling anus and take his gear. The gods of luck could smile on you, maybe
youd be walking around and see someone dropping gold, runes, or other useful items just because
they felt like it. As I was killing cows I saw this studded armor and since I had like
20 gold, selling that stuff for 600 gold was like a mini miracle. While I was killing cows
this guy came up and offered me a Rune Dagger for free. I put up 300 gold and then he offered
a gold ring. And just gave it to me like that! Later on in the same area, same day, some
guy just gives me a Rune Scimitar, the best free-to-play weapon in the whole game. That
wouldve blown my balls away if I was still a kid.
Some people in Runescape were really, really nice. I remember I made a friend online, whose
name Ive long forgotten, and he was someone I always talked to. Wed give each other free
stuff just because we enjoyed the game and helping each other out.
The idea of having multiple worlds or servers was awesome too! If you wanted a more lively,
popular experience if you liked to see more people running about or wanted to trade you
could go to one of the big servers. Or if you wanted to make sure you could mine all
that good ore, wood or whatever by yourself, you could log into a less populated server.
Unfortunately Runescape had a huge problem with bots and I think to this day it still
does, but you can hardly blame the game for that. Maybe Jagex couldve cracked down on
that harder to make the world more authentic. But Jagex also added polls allowing players
to vote democratically on new updates, features and thats a really cool way to get players
involved in the game and updates themselves! I mean what other game actually does that?
Allows players to vote on future content? I dont of any!
Its kind of crazy to think a game like this would have its own economy. You could trade
whatever for whatever and it was up to the players to decide what had value and what
didnt. So you could find out you got a really good deal on some armor, or you paid twice
the price for an item. Each trade making you wiser and more knowledgeable about the economy.
Certain items were given out for special events like the Party or Santa hats and those became
valuable collectors items. In fact, Runescapes economy was so powerful some items and accounts
were worth real money! Loads of money too! Not to mention if you saw someone with a party
or santa hat, you knew they were either a longtime player or were rich as balls.
And you couldnt make a Runescape video without mentioning the god himself, Zezima. The first
e-celebrity Id ever known about and the paragon of Runescape. This dude was top of the charts
for so many consecutive years. He had lvl 99 in EVERYTHING! This one time I was lucky
enough just to SEE him, just to get a glimpse of Zezima. And he was being followed by like
50 freaking people. Just all asking for stuff, just shouting, oh my god its Zezima!
And I was just hoping that a slight bit of his greatness might rub off on me. If you
were good enough at Runescape, you could basically become a god. Thats another thing, the forums
and leaderboards surrounding this game was always fun to look at. You could brag about
being on the leaderboards for a particular skill, or get some tips from other players.
Even now, 12 years since I last played I could talk to some of my new friends, people Ive
met through my channel, bring up Runescape and hear about all the memories they had,
what they liked most about it. This sharing of experiences and memories, is what gave
the game such a deep personal connection. And in the spirit of Community, I invited
some of my friends and Patreon supporters to come give their brief thoughts on Runescape.
Whenever I look back and I think of the best memories of Runescape, its probably questing
with some of my friends that I had back in the day, really. My fondest memories were
getting into a world that was like a fantasy setting for the first time ever. It was such
an experience that I had never seen in any other games cuz I only played linear, single-player
games on like PS2 at the time. My most fondest memories is just the adventure and like, the
exploration of Runescape. Like this whole new world that I could explore. Discovering
new places, discovering whats there. One of the things that pulled me to Runescape
when I was younger is that the world was still very mysterious. I didnt know like, the most
efficient ways to level stuff. I didnt know the most efficient money-making guides. I
didnt know the best gear. I just sort of-it felt like a true adventure because I was sort
of just going off on a limb and doing what I thought was best. I dont have a specific
memory in particular, like one event. But I think its more a collection of time spent
with the friends I made on Runescape. This was kinda before the day where Internet forums
were really big as far as discussing, you know, your favorite games and all that. So
all your, you know, your interaction came from the people you met in the game. And I
can just remember countless nights staying up way past my bedtime, chopping stupid trees
or catching shrimps or whatever, just chatting about little 12 year old life with my Runescape
friends. And you know, that was, I think important. You know, for my social development. But it
was also just, you know, really fun times. Probably the best thing about Runescape, as
a kid, I started playing Runescape when I was in the 7th grade I think. And as a 7th
grader you dont have any money. And so just the idea of theres this free game, that is
relatively fun, and I can come back to every single day. And theres always something new
to do. And its free! That definitely had something to do with it.
For even a little kid like me to find my way, to level up and to max out whatever I wanted,
do like whatever I wanted to do. Its something thats always going to be special to you. Its
always going to have that nostalgia. Just, talking about it makes me wanna go play it
again and actually do more. Back then, people didnt care about efficiency. People didnt
care about making money or xp gains, that kinda thing. Its just such a casual adventure
game. Back then, people just didnt care because no one knew what to do either. And that was
the fun of Runescape, was that, you didnt know anything and its just, discovering all
these new things was part of what made it such a great game.
It was how I-I mean, I met friends on Runescape. Me and my friends from school back before
Skype existed and even MSN was a thing-a popular thing at least. We used to get home from school
and just talk to each other on Runescape. World 15 was the thing back in the day. Everyone
from my school would get on world 15 and wed just talk all night on Runescape. For me,
Runescape is the one MMO that Ive played where Ive genuinely made friends on the game that
have lasted. Looking back, I think Runescape was a game
that taught me more about a lot of things than any game really has any business doing.
It taught you about how economies work. It taught you about how friendships work. It
taught you about, you know, saving your money and setting goals and having aspirations.
And so I think the best thing about Runescape as a whole was just the lessons you could
take from it. Overall, Runescape is a game that is truly
one of a kind. I admit without the nostalgia of playing it all those years ago I probably
wouldnt have ever touched it. But its because I had such fond memories that I thought it
worthy to return, that it still holds a place in my heart. AS GAY AS THAT SOUNDS! Runescape
was so awesome in part because it was simple to understand, free, and easily accessible.
The game had a great community and an economy that made the world feel alive. It was the
first time many players had experienced an MMORPG and discovering what that was. It had
so much charm in its graphics, sounds, music, quests and characters. The world was so expansive
and free! With so many things to do and so many things to see! Last but not least, the
core gameplay was fun as hell.The grind was enjoyable, satisfying and the progression
addicting! After all this time, I never thought Id touch Runescape or get back into it, but
I think Ill keep this new account. I think Ill keep playing, at least every now and then.
And who knows? Maybe some of you will make a new account or remember your old one, youll
hop on and hit me up. Maybe I can experience Old School classic Runescape the same way
I did 13 years ago. With all these friends and buddies playing it and sharing it with
me. Its hard to describe a game that has impacted
so many lives, and made so many people happy. But I hope I was able to describe how you
had been feeling all along. And that is Why Runescape WAS SO AWESOME!!
Id like to give a big shoutout to my Patron, Squeegliees. Who has just become a $50 Patron.
That is incredible, my dude! If you enjoyed the video leave a like and subscribe to The
Act Man for more AWESOME content! Alright everyone, thats all Ive got for today. This
is The Act Man signing out. PEACE!
Love the act man great vids
Just watched that video. That was a really good summery of why runescape got so popular, and is still remembered so fondly to this day.
There was things in that video that are newer, to feature how stories and new content are still in motion. It is still awesome and full of charm to this day.
Hey I'm in that video!
I'm Tommy lol