Welcome to the Introduction Guide! This guide can be very useful to new players of the massive online adventure game. First off, a little history lesson about the company that makes RuneScape and the game itself
History[edit]
Jagex[edit]
Jagex Limted is a company based in the United Kingdom. One of it's creators, Andrew Gower, says that Jagex stands for Java Gaming Experts.
Jagex Limited was created by three people. Andrew Gower, Paul Gower, and Constant Tedder founded Jagex in December 2001 to run their game RuneScape. Even before 2002, RuneScape already had over 1 million accounts.
Jagex has grown greatly since 2001. They now have two offices, one in Cambridge, and the other in London. Over 100 people are employed as staff. Many servers have been created across the globe and many are still planned.
RuneScape[edit]
RuneScape has gone through many stages to come to the great game it is currently.
RuneScape started out as a 2D game known as DeviousMUD. It was not released to the public and very few people saw it. Jagex later came up with what is now known as 'RS Classic' in the December of 2001. Just a few months later, on February 27, 2002, Jagex launched it's members. Before the member launch, RuneScape was a game that players could play for free. When players could become a member, they were able to subscribe and pay about $5US a month. Being a member allowed players more updates and a world at least twice as large as the free worlds.
RuneScape was completely re-written during the latter part of 2003 and early 2004 allowing 'RuneScape 2' to be launched in March 2004. Originally only a beta for members, it was quickly released to free players.
Since the launch of RS2, which is now RuneScape, Jagex has vastly increased the size of RuneScape. Over 150,000 players almost everyday. Over 5 million accounts have been created. Over 100 servers have been placed around the world. RuneScape has become one massive online adventure since it's small start.
Starting Out[edit]
RuneScape is a game available to all. However, if a player wants continual updates, then they're recommended to become a member.
To play the game, players have to go to RuneScape's homepage and make a new account. Creating an account takes hardly any time. You'll be asked for your email address, (you don't have to confirm the email to play) your age, (RuneScape is intended for ages 13+) a password, and to accept the terms. You will automatically be logged in and the character customization screen will appear. All of these settings, even your username (if you are a member) can be changed later. See "Characters and Levelling" for more info on how to recustomize your character once you arrive ingame.
When you are done choosing what you want to look like, you will be asked to rotate your camera and talk to Explorer Jack, who helps you start the Lumbridge tasks, and then you are free to go.