It's an MMORPG where botting and gold buying/selling has been almost completely wiped out thanks to their updates. What other MMO can say that about themselves? They are plagued with bots of all kinds and constant cheaters.
- Low membership fee.
At only 5 dollars a month, it's much more affordable compared to the average MMO fee of 15 dollars.
- Lots to do.
There are hundreds of quests/miniquests/games, thousands of items, and a wide variety of skills. This ensures that there's a good chance something will catch your interest and give you something to do.
- Rulebreakers eventually get banned.
The report abuse system works effectively. If someone is being abusive to you, saying profanity every line and telling you they're glad your mother died, you don't have to stand there and take it or ignore it. Just press report and rest assured that one day that level 110 account will be banned or permanently muted.
- No download, play anywhere Just don't play on any public computers (especially the library!); these are infected with viruses often designed specifically for stealing your account.
Bad aspects:
-Immature community?
Many of Runescape's players had some of the lowest maturity levels found in any game. Where else would you see the word "noob" in every other sentence, or get called a noob for training your defense?
The good news: when the 2008 updates came out destroying bots and gold-buying, many of these immature players threw temper tantrums, in-game riots, and after the dust settled they had either quit the game or decided to grow up and reform their attitude. It's not every game where the players openly riot because they can't cheat anymore.
- Bad graphics?
The graphics aren't as horrible as they could be, but they're certainly nothing to drool at in today's gaming industry. They've been slowly improving all of their models over the past 6 months, but if you're looking for a full 3D game to melt your eyes over, you'd best look elsewhere.
The verdict: I think the good outweighs the bad here, and the strongest point they have going for them is the lack of gold sellers and bots. I don't know about you guys, but knowing that I work for my expensive armor while someone else just cheated for it really kills my desire to play a game.
Positive discussion is welcome; negative discussion or flames will be logically responded to.
Well, sadly enough, botting is still active but at a very small fraction of what it used to be. It's refreshing though to see that one can play and not be trampled by hundreds of bald green guys banking their ill-gained goods. Nowadays its just adbots advertising powerleveling and accounts to buy with gold already on it.
I've played alot of MMO's plagued with bots to extremes and most of them just give a notice about how they can steal accounts through infection, not threatening account banning or action. At least Jagex is taking a proactive stance on the matter. Would personally rather the restrictions over a continuation of what it was turning into. A simple stroll on F2P for example yielded seeing enough bots to out-number players 2:1.
I would agree with you on the community, it isn't that great either. I still remember the fond days of when I'd started during the RS2 beta testing period. The community was respectable and it wasn't hard to find someone willing to lend a hand to the unknowledgeable. If I recall correctly, was a level 84 that had aided me with the utmost respect and knowledge. I continue in their footsteps since then by returning the kindness they too had shown me to others. Takes only one person to help make a difference to many (pyramid effect).
Graphics are a plus as far as java is concerned. The java platform is still technically maturing and never was intended purely for full-blown gaming, unlike what jagex is doing. They are pushing the engine and pushing it in the right direction whilst keeping requirements relatively low. From a personal standpoint, graphics are just gravy... gameplay is what counts. The opposite would be like having a game you need latest hardware to play, but can't play it because there is all graphics and no game[play] (like watching an interactive movie). The greatest advantage to the java platform is being mostly operating system independant, unlike the more popular ones that run only on windows (and in rare cases, *nix as well).
As far as your no download comment, believe it or not but there is SOME downloading involved. If running a windows system, this is notable by poking at the directory '.jagex_cache_32' in your windows directory. It saves core files and temporary map sections to reduce the need for downloading fresh [unchanged] content everytime you load the game. A typically well seasoned cache runs around 42mb. Funorb also takes advantage of the same caching structure and stores every games cache files in there as well.
Being one that has also played legitimate in any game, seeing cheating turns my stomache as well. However, more 'bragging rights' and pride to show off what you have and show it better than those who had to cheat to get where they are.
I for one tend to be a lil harder on myself though as I still play to some traditional standards in runescape. I collect all of my own materials and never buy it unless from a general store in passing. Runecrafting all my runes, mining all my essence, pickpocking rather than plunder, using magic offensively to level it rather than ,'port, curse, charge, etc all my magic exp, using talismans to enter ruins rather than tiaras, or aglity in brimhaven rather than the goblin, monkey, or wilderness course (a few examples).
Thanks for your reply (even though I'm over a year late). This is all definitely some good reading.
I'm bumping this discussion back to the top of the list, since it appears to be the only actual discussion that abides by Ebay's rules here. Anyone reading this who ISN'T interested in buying/selling accounts, feel free to contribute to the Runescape neighborhood.
Must use Buy It Now and PayPal.
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