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!
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