At one point, I was employed in a position that gave me 3 hours of work for an 8-hour day. What did I do with all of that free time? I played
RuneScape. The game was already four years old at that point. Here we are six years later and
RuneScape is turning 10.
Plus, it is still going strong. Jagex Game Studio recently held a vote regarding two in-game things: unrestricted trade and the Wilderness. Over a million people responded to that vote and indicated they wanted both back. As a result, players will once again be able to trade anything and everything in-game and will also see the return of the Wilderness.
I am still amazed that over 1,000,000 people responded to this survey. How many more that didn't respond are playing the game, too? According to Guinness World Records, RuneScape is the world’s most popular free-to-play MMO. I'd be interested to see some numbers, but I'm actually interested to
hop back in and see what all the fuss is about.
Are any of you still playing this one?
MORE THAN ONE MILLION RUNESCAPE PLAYERS VOTE TO REINSTATE THE WILDERNESS – “THE ULTIMATE RISK VERSUS REWARD MMO EXPERIENCE"
1.2 Million Players vote in the first RuneScape referendum with over 91% supporting the campaign to reinstate Free Trade and an enhanced Wilderness experience
Cambridge, UK –17th January 2011 – Jagex Games Studio, developer of RuneScape, the world’s most popular free-to-play MMORPG, today announced that the RuneScape community has voted overwhelmingly in favour of restoring the Wilderness and Free Trade to RuneScape. As a result of the phenomenal level of support Jagex has announced that both features will be added to RuneScape on the 1st February.
Jagex launched the online referendum on 24th December as part of their 10th anniversary celebrations for RuneScape, giving players the unique chance to directly influence and shape the future of the game. Over 1.2 million votes were cast in just under three weeks, with more than 91% of players voting in favour of bringing back the Wilderness and Free Trade demonstrating how passionate the community are and how quickly they can mobilise support for their cause.
“We have the most incredible community of gamers and we wanted to demonstrate how much we value them by handing this game changing decision over to them,” said Mark Gerhard, Jagex CEO. “I firmly believe that the Wilderness represents the ultimate risk versus reward experience in any MMO and the incredible support for the campaign demonstrates that our players agree. It has been fantastic to watch the community mobilise in support of the update and we can now introduce these features certain in the knowledge that they are what our community want.”
Christoph Vietzke, Head of RuneScape followed by saying: “The RuneScape community have sent us a very clear message and the development team has started work this morning. The entire Jagex team have been glued to their screens watching the votes fly in and it has been great to see the community vote with such enthusiasm.”
As a result of the referendum unrestricted trade will be released into the game on the 1st February, meaning that players will once again be given the freedom to gift their wealth to their friends or trade items with the wider RuneScape community.
The Wilderness will also reclaim its place as the most dangerous area in RuneScape, offering players the chance to stake their armour, weapons and resources to defeat others and loot their remains once victorious. With numerous new features added to RuneScape over recent years including: summoning creatures, new curses, more powerful weaponry and armour, making the new Wilderness the deadliest place in RuneScape.
To create a free RuneScape account and prepare for the return of the Wilderness please visit: www.RuneScape.com.
About RuneScape
RuneScape is the world’s most popular free-to-play MMO (as recognised by Guinness World Records), from multiple award-winning independent British development studio Jagex. Set in a richly detailed, medieval fantasy world of epic scale both geographically and historically, RuneScape proudly draws its inspiration from classic role-playing games to deliver a contemporary, innovative and original experience for millions of players across the globe as a fully featured free-to-play game, with a popular subscription option of even greater scale and ambition, both running directly within almost any computer’s browser.
Thanks to its character-class-free skill system and elective gameplay, there are no limits to the hero players can become, no quest you cannot complete and no requirement to collaborate with others or face them in player-versus-player combat unless you so choose. RuneScape’s distinctive role-playing style rewards players who think strategically and play smartly. Its witty, intelligent tone, finely balanced gameplay, epic questing and myriad in-world diversions combine to create a game that has earned its place as the most popular free massively multiplayer online games of all time and continues to push the boundaries of online role-playing as it enters its glorious tenth year.
About Jagex – Just About the Game Experience:
Jagex Games Studio is a multi-award winning games developer and publisher based in Cambridge, England. Jagex specialises in the development of high quality browser-based games and is the largest independent games developer and publisher in the UK.
Jagex has a long-standing reputation for creating the world’s best online games and for developing hugely popular, high quality, accessible, free-to-play games and for providing an unbeatable community experience for millions of players around the world. Jagex has developed and self-published over 40 online titles including the world’s most popular free online multiplayer game, RuneScape.
