# RuneScape - Work: MMORPG - Date: 2001 (browser beta, January 4) - Made by: Andrew Gower (Creator & original programmer) - Houses: Jagex - Platforms: Web browser (Java), Windows, macOS, iOS, Android - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/works/runescape/ > Two brothers' Java game, launched from a family home in Nottingham, became a free online world in a browser tab and the MMO with the most users on Earth. **Why it matters:** RuneScape brought the online role-playing world to anyone with a web browser and no money, pioneered the free-to-play-plus-membership model in the West, and became a generational touchstone and one of the longest-running live games in the world. ## Quick answers **When was RuneScape first released?** RuneScape was first released in 2001 (browser beta, January 4). **Who created RuneScape?** RuneScape was made by Andrew Gower (creator & original programmer). **Who published or developed RuneScape?** Jagex. **What kind of work is RuneScape?** RuneScape is a MMORPG in the MMORPGs tradition, released for Web browser (Java), Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. **Why is RuneScape important?** RuneScape brought the online role-playing world to anyone with a web browser and no money, pioneered the free-to-play-plus-membership model in the West, and became a generational touchstone and one of the longest-running live games in the world. ## Overview Most online worlds of the 1990s and 2000s asked for a boxed disc, a capable PC and a monthly fee. *RuneScape* asked for a web browser. Released on January 4, 2001, as a Java game written by [Andrew Gower](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/andrew-gower/) with his brother Paul, it placed players in the medieval fantasy world of Gielinor and let them do almost anything there: chop trees, mine ore, cook lobsters, fight [goblins](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/goblin/), trade, chat and quest, all free, with a paid membership for more. That combination made it the online world of a generation of schoolchildren who could not buy [*EverQuest*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/everquest/) or [*World of Warcraft*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/world-of-warcraft/). [Jagex](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/jagex/) says more than 300 million accounts have been created, and Guinness World Records lists *RuneScape* as the MMO with the most users. ## Origins Andrew Gower first conceived the project as a text-based [MUD](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/mud/), but graphics were added early in development, placing it among what were then called graphical MUDs. The first public version, a beta released on January 4, 2001, mixed three-dimensional environments with two-dimensional sprites and ran from the Gower family's home in Nottingham. It grew fast: within a year more than a million free accounts had been registered. The game was meant to live on advertising, but the dot-com crash thinned the market. In December 2001 the brothers and Constant Tedder formed Jagex to run the business, and on February 27, 2002, they launched paid membership, which gained 2,000 subscribers in its first hour and 5,000 in its first week. By December 2003 *RuneScape* had 65,000 paying members and Jagex had 29 employees. Jagex then rewrote the engine. *RuneScape 2*, fully 3D, opened to members in beta from December 1, 2003, and replaced the original in 2004, which survived as *RuneScape Classic* until its servers closed on August 6, 2018. ## How it plays *RuneScape* has no [classes](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/character-class/). Progression is by skills, each leveled by use: [grinding](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/grinding/) Woodcutting by cutting trees, Fishing by fishing, Smithing at the anvil, and so on, with the combat skills forming a triangle of melee, magic and ranged. High levels unlock better resources, gear and areas. Quests supply the stories, and completing them all earns a Quest Point Cape. The world is a [sandbox](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/sandbox/): players set their own goals, whether a maxed skill, a rare item or a fortune. The economy is player-driven, and for years trade happened face to face in crowded spots around the game's banks. The Wilderness, a lawless region in the north, allowed open [player killing](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/player-killer/), and it became the game's most feared and most storied region. Game servers are called worlds, each historically holding up to 2,000 players, and free and members' worlds were kept apart. ## Reception & impact By May 4, 2007, *RuneScape* had more than six million active free accounts and more than a million paying members. Its size made it a target for [gold farmers](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/virtual-economies/) selling coins and items for real money. On December 10, 2007, Jagex struck back: it removed Wilderness PvP and unbalanced trades and introduced the Grand Exchange, a centralized marketplace meant to make illicit transfers of wealth harder. Players revolted on the forums, and subscriptions fell by 60,000, though Jagex never said how many belonged to farmers. In a December 2010 referendum, 1.2 million votes were cast and 91 percent favored restoring the old ways; free trade and Wilderness combat returned on February 1, 2011. Later that year, an anti-bot update Jagex code-named ClusterFlutterer banned an estimated 1.5 million bots in a single day. The game has its folklore. On June 6, 2006, shortly after the Construction skill added player-owned houses, a bug let some players leave a player-owned house with their combat privileges intact; the resulting Falador Massacre, in which they killed players in a normally safe city, is one of the best-known bugs in MMO history. In August 2008 Guinness named *RuneScape* the world's most popular free MMORPG. The live game kept changing, not always popularly. In 2012 Jagex overhauled combat with the ability-based Evolution of Combat and began selling spins on the Squeal of Fortune prize wheel, the start of years of criticism over microtransactions. *RuneScape 3* arrived on July 22, 2013, a new C++ client in 2016, and releases on Steam (2020) and phones (2021). ## Legacy In February 2013, responding to player nostalgia, Jagex opened a poll on reviving an August 2007 backup of the game. Nearly 450,000 votes were cast, comfortably clearing the threshold Jagex had set, and *Old School RuneScape* opened to members on February 22, 2013. It has become a major game in its own right, with most new features added only if more than 70 percent of voting players approve. A mobile version followed in October 2018, the game won the 2019 BAFTA Games Award for EE Mobile Game of the Year, and on August 3, 2025, it set a record of more than 240,000 concurrent players. Its gold trade reached as far as Venezuela, where players farmed coins for income during the country's economic crisis. Together the two games had earned more than US$3 billion by January 2026. Jagex, sold several times among investors, has moved toward player consent: in January 2026 it removed the Treasure Hunter loot-box system from *RuneScape* after a community vote. From a family home in Nottingham, the Gowers built what may be the most widely played fantasy world ever made, and showed that the online role-playing game did not need a boxed disc or a monthly fee to find its audience. ## Facts - The first public version ran from the Gower family's home in Nottingham; Jagex as a company came later, in December 2001. - Paid membership launched on February 27, 2002, and drew 2,000 subscribers in its first hour. - In the Falador Massacre of June 6, 2006, a bug let players keep PvP powers after leaving a player-owned house and attack people in a city. - An anti-bot update on October 25, 2011, banned an estimated 1.5 million bots in one day. - Old School RuneScape is rebuilt from an August 2007 backup that Jagex found in its archives. - Guinness World Records has credited RuneScape with the most original music in a video game: 1,198 tracks as of July 2017. - Guinness recognized RuneScape in 2008 as the world's most popular free MMORPG. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuneScape) - [Official site](https://www.runescape.com/) - [Old School RuneScape official site](https://oldschool.runescape.com/) - [Wikipedia: Old School RuneScape](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_School_RuneScape) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.