What keeps you coming back?

[jin_89_rc]

For the most part, anyone who finds these boards has some roots established in Runescape that go back, but what keeps Runescape in your mind after all this time?  Don't be afraid to go deep with your convos!

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Runescape was a big part of my life when I was growing up.  I do regret some of it, like the clan wars that expanded into weekend long events to fill looters banks while emptying mine, but the memories are what really makes it stand out.  I know OSRS has brought a lot of change since it's been around, but the bones of the game we grew up playing are still there.  I love being able to log into digital nostalgia and spend a few weeks revisiting old "places" I used to hang out, kill some monsters, and make a little loot.  Then I forget to log in for x amount of months/years before doing it all over again.

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It's definitely a yo-yo experience though since the community aspect has shifted to other mediums like discord/reddit/twitter/etc that really feel like their lacking that cohesiveness that allowed the game to flourish.  Runescape the game would not have existed in the same way without the boards that served as a true hub for the playerbase, and without that place to belong I think it really raises the turnover of people going in and out of the game.  

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I'm somewhat obsessed with various forms of media, how people interact with them, and the effect it has on a person.  We're definitely down the rabbit hole these days with everyone being increasingly involved via social media.  My opinion is the social aspect has been lost upon much of social media, and I'm hopeful that as people start breaking out of their curated algorithms they might trust themselves to have thoughts about what they enjoy instead of being suggested what something thinks they might enjoy.  I won't go too ham on this train of thought because I will literally write you a paper on the subject(and I may have written more than a few in college lol).

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There's the everlasting generational refrain "Back in my day," and maybe Runescape is a part of our aging experience.  It could just be that as part of a digital generation we're lucky enough to have memories kept not in diaries, but behind a login and password.

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What brings you back?  Why does the habit never really die, but just take exceedingly extended breaks?



For S****s & gigs: If you died tomorrow, and your whole life flashed before your eyes in your final minutes....how much of that would be Runescape related?

[n_n]

For me it just boils down to the fact that there's really no other games these days that are like this. There's so much to do on OSRS (and RuneScape) and isn't plagued with time gated stuff/daily chores like all modern MMORPG games these days use to make up for lack of content/drip feeding. I also love that you can take a break at any time without having to worry about falling behind. Some modern games these days feel like a huge treadmill and by the time you get back from your break, all the progress you made/equips you've obtained becomes very outdated and have lost all of its value... =/

I would also add that the community and social aspects of the game is what kept me coming back and playing during the years of 2005-2012. I remember spending many, many, MANY hours just hanging out with people in house parties after Construction released in 2006. Met a lot of great friends during this period. All of which I've unfortunately lost contact with over the years. But I'm not sure if that's the same case nowadays. I feel like social interactions on the internet have taken a massive hit for the worse in recent times. To make it short, modern internet just sucks and so does social media for changing how people interact with each other.

It's definitely a yo-yo experience though since the community aspect has shifted to other mediums like discord/reddit/twitter/etc that really feel like their lacking that cohesiveness that allowed the game to flourish.  Runescape the game would not have existed in the same way without the boards that served as a true hub for the playerbase, and without that place to belong I think it really raises the turnover of people going in and out of the game.

Completely agree with this.

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Anyway, I have to say that I had an extremely hard time getting into OSRS once the nostalgia wore off. I played my original RS account a ton and maxed it before EoC hit in 2012, so I just couldn't see myself doing the same thing all over again... I kept trying since 2013, but couldn't stick around for over a few weeks at a time. And also because the community is pretty different now and no friends. However, when I decided to try Ironman Mode in 2018, that's when the game completely revived for me and I actually began to enjoy it. Instead of just grinding stats to spam the same 2 brain dead money makers (Zulrah & Vorkath) to afford everything, I found myself doing far more things. It's interesting that without the ability to trade, many pieces of content become very useful. Fast forward to today, I'm still actively playing the game and really enjoy this play style. So yeah, huge thanks to Jagex for putting this account mode into the game.

As for the question at the bottom... I would say at least half of my life is playing RS... and I don't regret it at all.

[Robert]

It's a fun game. There is something to do in this game for whatever mood I'm in. The 2000's graphics and sound effects make the experience more fun for a reason I can't explain. I just enjoy it all.

[Suzuna]

Nostalgia is probably a pretty big part. I kinda find myself ignoring most of the new content and playing the game with the same mentality I would have played it with back in ~2004-2006. That's not to say the new content is bad or anything, it just feels like a totally different game that's meant to appeal to people whose mentality is completely different from mine.

It's nice having a game that doesn't feel too set-in-stone in terms of what you have to do. Being able to progress in your own way makes the game feel a lot more like a cool, unique world where you can do whatever you want, rather than something where the goal is to get it over with. Or a product to be consumed, which is how most modern games feel to me (although maybe I am just old and cynical).

Something that appeals to me in games is trying to do things that are somewhat unique. I think playing an alt account to make GP helps a lot with that. Being able to make money through something I think is fun without being miserably inefficient is nice. I think if I had to go back to only playing one account, I'd end up doing the same exact things that a lot of other players are doing. And even if they're fun sometimes, I just can't stand it in games when every player does the exact same thing.

[jin_89_rc]

For me it just boils down to the fact that there's really no other games these days that are like this. There's so much to do on OSRS (and RuneScape) and isn't plagued with time gated stuff/daily chores like all modern MMORPG games these days use to make up for lack of content/drip feeding. I also love that you can take a break at any time without having to worry about falling behind. Some modern games these days feel like a huge treadmill and by the time you get back from your break, all the progress you made/equips you've obtained becomes very outdated and have lost all of its value... =/

Yes!  I've played various games over the year, but they've all been very...Blandsome(They look pretty, but they're boring).  Runescape always feels approachable & it's so easy to load up a new account and relive that first f2p playthrough time after time.

It's a fun game. There is something to do in this game for whatever mood I'm in. The 2000's graphics and sound effects make the experience more fun for a reason I can't explain. I just enjoy it all.

Agreed, I started on runescape classic waaaaaaaaay back in '01/'02 & to this day...never completed everything in the game.  Not even close, and even if I did have time to invest...there is so much content I could go in any direction with.

Something that appeals to me in games is trying to do things that are somewhat unique. I think playing an alt account to make GP helps a lot with that. Being able to make money through something I think is fun without being miserably inefficient is nice. I think if I had to go back to only playing one account, I'd end up doing the same exact things that a lot of other players are doing. And even if they're fun sometimes, I just can't stand it in games when every player does the exact same thing.

I was never a super affluent player with a loaded bank aside from hitting it big at barrows in the early days of it, but I definitely agree that once you hit a certain level/completion with one account the end game content/social/economic experience can narrow a bit.  I don't think I played enough to manage multiple accounts though.  A friend of mine, that I suspect still plays, was pretty intense and would be managing 4/5 separate accounts split screen at once.  Fishing, mining, questing, training, cooking,...who knows...I think he just loved doing it all.


Thanks for sharing your experiences, would love to drop in again in another year to see who else replies.

Last runescape login prior to today was 218 days ago.  Just finished Below Ice Mountain.  Might consider P2P again and clock out a little bit of the mid level content my account is at

[mattgunit101]

RSC & OSRS are such well made mmorpg's that i'll likely on/off play them til death.. More or less.. I guess ranging anywhere from training periodically weekly to A FULL BLOWN MANY HOUR PER DAY HABIT DEVELOPED FIEND !

[45chris2]

Nostalgia