Yes, I know that for a large portion of us older gamers, this word is considered obscene.
But hear me out for just one moment. Listen to my plea.
There had to be some reason that so many of us committed hours upon hours of our youth to this game.
And I think I know why.
All in all, Runescape is a wonderful introduction to the realm of MMOs. It's like a gateway drug: cheap, easy to learn, and all-consuming. The desire to make more money, buy better gear, and level up skills can devour hours of time on weekends. Its simplistic, non-linear nature is easy to follow, and there are enough possible things to occupy oneself with at any point in time that it rarely gets excessively boring for those with a desire to advance in rank.
Starting off as a level one in almost every skill, one can decide what exactly they're going to pursue. Want to start any production skill? All you have to do is make some cash and buy the item that correlates to that skill. Nodes to acquire resources are spread throughout the world and are relatively easy to access, and as long as the server isn't too populated, there's little contest to gain maximum output.
If production isn't your thing, you can begin in any of the three disturbingly simple combat trees. Simply find or acquire a weapon (a sword, bow + arrows, or some basic runes), and you can begin fighting monsters and leveling up.
The lack of complexity makes this game incredibly attractive to young gamers who have little to no exposure to the procedures of an MMO. And leveling up is fun! Rewards are tangible or noticable, and progress always results from time commitment. The amount of profit directly correlates to the amount of time put in - no skill is required to click on a tree to chop it down.
As many of us grow older, however, we come to realize how tedious this game truly can be. Sure, you can put in tons of time to cut down half a million trees and reach level 60 woodcutting...but after that many point-and-click repetitions, things become unentertaining. We realize that the acquisition of resources - whether they're wood, minerals, or cooking items - takes so long that it isn't near worth the commitment. Combat becomes a repetetive point-and-click drawl as well, with little variation besides 'oh no, I'm low on health, let me click on this food'. The repertoie of available quests is dull, and they lack variation: "Run around the world for X hours, doing pointless tasks, and you can prevent yourself from spending 10 gold every time you want to cross through this gate," or something similar. After the novelty of material progress wears off, the lack of depth and intriguing new content drives many players away.
Becoming a member lengthens entertainment for a short amount of time: sure, there are more places to travel to, and more skills to advance, but they're essentially all the same thing: point-and-click for X hours until you reach the next level.
While RuneScape was fun for a couple of years, I haven't returned to it since...it's grown old, and needs to grow up or accept its demise.
Have fun, good gaming, and remember:
don't feed the trolls.
-Toast
