Search your game
Other Game
Blade and Soul
Buy Gold
Buy PowerLeveling
Buy CDKey
Aion
Aion Gold
Aion PowerLeveling
Aion Card
Aion Classic
Buy Gold
Albion
Albion Gold
Allods Online
Buy Gold
Anarchy
Anarchy Gold
Anarchy Items
Anarchy CDKey
Apex Legends
Buy Gold
ArcheAge
ArcheAge Gold
ArcheAge PowerLeveling
ArcheAge Items
ArcheAge CDKey
ASTA
ASTA Gold
Atlantica
Atlantica Gold
Atlantica PowerLeveling
Atlantica Items
Nexon Cash Code
Aura Kingdom
Buy Gold
Buy Items
Black Desert
Buy Gold
Bless Global
Buy Gold
Bless Online
Buy Gold
Buy PowerLeveling
Buy CDKey
Bless Unleashed
Buy Gold
Borderlands 3
Buy Gold
C9: Golden Continent
Buy Gold
Cabal
Cabal Gold
Cabal PowerLeveling
Cabal Cash
Cronous Online
Buy Gold
Buy Items
CSGO
CSGO Items
Dark and Darker
Buy Gold
DC Universe Online
Buy Gold
Dekaron
Dekaron Gold
Diablo 4
Diablo 4 Gold
Diablo 4 PowerLeveling
Diablo 4 Items
Dofus Touch
Buy Gold
Dragomon Hunter
Buy Gold
Dragon's Prophet
Buy Gold
Buy Items
Buy CDKey
Dream Of Mirror Online
Buy Gold
Dungeon Fighter Online
Buy Gold
Buy PowerLeveling
Eden Eternal
Buy Gold
ELOA
ELOA Gold
ELSword
ELSword Gold
Escape from Tarkov
Buy Gold
Eve
Eve Gold
Eve Time Card
EverQuest
EverQuest Items
EverQuest Krono
EverQuestII
Buy Gold
Buy Items
EverQuestII Krono
FFXI
FFXI Gold
FFXI CDKey
FFXIV
FFXIV Gold
Fiesta
Fiesta Gold
Flyff
Flyff Gold
Flyff Universe
Buy Gold
Buy Items
Forza Horizon 3
Buy Gold
Forza Horizon 3
Buy Gold
GrandFantasia
Buy Gold
Guild Wars
Guild Wars Gold
Guild Wars Items
Guild Wars 2
Buy Gold
Buy PowerLeveling
Buy CDKey
Hero Plus
Hero Plus Gold
Karma Koin Card
Buy Card
Knight
Knight Gold
Last Epoch
Last Epoch Gold
LastChaos
LastChaos Gold
Lineage 2M
Lineage 2M Gold
Lost Ark
Lost Ark Gold
Lost Continent
Buy Gold
Buy Items
Lotro
Lotro Gold
Lotro PowerLeveling
Marvel Heroes Omega
Buy Items
Metin2
Metin2 Gold
MIR M
MIR M Gold
MIR4
MIR4 Gold
Mortal online 2
Buy Gold
MU Legend
MU Legend Gold
Myth of Empires
Buy Gold
NeverWinter Online
Buy Gold
New World
New World Gold
New World PowerLeveling
Night Crows
Buy Gold
NosTale
NosTale Gold
Onigiri
Onigiri Gold
Palworld
Palworld Gold
Palworld Items
Phantasy Star Online 2
Buy Gold
Pirate101
Pirate101 Gold
Pirate101 Items
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Buy Items
Ragnarok
Ragnarok Gold
Ragnarok Items
Ragnarok M
Ragnarok M Gold
Ragnarok Transcendence
Buy Gold
Ragnarok2
Ragnarok2 Gold
Rappelz
Rappelz Gold
Rappelz Items
Ravendawn
Ravendawn Gold
ROM: Remember Of Majesty
Buy Gold
Rose
Rose Gold
Shaiya
Shaiya Gold
Shaiya PowerLeveling
Shaiya Items
Aeria Points
SilkRoad
SilkRoad Gold
SilkRoad Items
Silkroad Silk
SilkRoad R
SilkRoad R Gold
SilkRoad R CDKey
Skull and Bones
Buy Gold
SoulSaver
SoulSaver Gold
Soulworker
Soulworker Gold
Star Citizen
Buy Gold
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Buy Gold
Buy PowerLeveling
Buy Time Card
Star_Trek
Star_Trek Gold
Swords of Legends Online
Buy Gold
Temtem
Temtem Gold
The Elder Scrolls Online
Buy Gold
Buy PowerLeveling
Buy CDKey
The Secret World
Buy Gold
Buy CDKey
Tibia
Tibia Gold
Toram Online
Buy Gold
Torchlight Infinite
Buy Gold
Trove
Trove Gold
Trove CDKey
Uncharted Waters Online
Buy Gold
Undecember
Undecember Gold
V4
V4 Gold
Vindictus
Vindictus Gold
Vindictus PowerLeveling
Vindictus Items
Nexon Cash Code
Wakfu
Wakfu Gold
Wildstar
Wildstar Gold
Wildstar PowerLeveling
Wildstar CDKey
Wizard101
Wizard101 Gold
Wizard101 Items
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links
Duel Links Accounts
Home » Site News » RuneScape: Seventh annivers...

RuneScape: Seventh anniversary retrospective

Tags :     

Although RuneScape officially launched in 2001, today marks the seventh anniversary of the end of the RuneScape 2 beta. This was a complete gameplay and graphics overhaul that signaled the rebirth of the game, and it's a date well worth celebrating. The past year has been filled with massive content updates that added clan support, upgradeable clan citadels, a new website, and countless new quests. Player-made battlefields put game design in the hands of players, who have used the system to produce ton of content.
Understandably, most people will likely remember this year for one thing: This was the year that RuneScape beat the bots. Following the momentous Bot Nuking Day, players logged in to find a distinctly emptier world but one filled with real people. RuneFest 2011 was a success, with presentations from the game's developers and a special focus on breaking the bots. This year also saw the interesting story that the Dutch Supreme Court ruling that stealing RuneScape items is the same as theft of real life goods.
In this anniversary retrospective, I look back at some of RuneScape's top news stories and game additions of the year.
Breaking the bots
In October of last year, we heard the unfortunate news that RuneScape was losing the war on bots. Servers were being overrun with botters, and illicit RMT markets had exploded with RuneScape stock. Developers would spend days making changes to break the bots, only to have each patch countered within hours. Just as all seemed lost, developers unveiled an unholy deathstar of a weapon: The Cluster Flutterer. In a single day celebrated across RuneScape as Bot-Nuking Day, over 1,350,000 free accounts and 150,000 paying members were banned for botting. The company did this despite losing $750,000 per month in revenue from banned member account bots.
Player activity on the servers dropped by 60%, and an estimated 98% of all bots were rendered ineffective, but Jagex didn't stop there. The company took the fight to the legal stage and threatened to file a class-action lawsuit against botters. Jagex showed that botting software violated the company's copyright under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the studio released a letter to all players suspected of botting offering a one-time amnesty. "If you ignore our offer and instead continue use botting software," the letter warned, "we reserve our rights to pursue statutory damages against you for between $200 to $2,500 per act of past, present, and/or future botting." This year will forever be remembered as the year Jagex beat the bots.
Clan Citadels
Clans have always been a huge unofficial part of RuneScape, originally formed by players back in the game's first incarnation as a way to team up against people in the wilderness. Clans were officially implemented in April with a massive clan patch that introduced clan chat channels, mottos, motifs, and cape colors. New clan-only features were introduced, including rated clan wars, private clan forums, and a full stats page for tracking membership. The patch caused a horde of new clans to appear, but it was just the start of what would be one of RuneScape's biggest and most exciting sandbox features to date.
With the Clan Citadels expansion, every clan got its very own castle on a floating island. While many other MMOs were getting updates with new dungeons or a slightly higher maximum levels, RuneScape got flying castles! Clans work together to build and maintain their citadels and use special rooms like drop party halls, auditoriums and dance floors.
Although RuneScape officially launched in 2001, today marks the seventh anniversary of the end of the RuneScape 2 beta. This was a complete gameplay and graphics overhaul that signaled the rebirth of the game, and it's a date well worth celebrating. The past year has been filled with massive content updates that added clan support, upgradeable clan citadels, a new website, and countless new quests. Player-made battlefields put game design in the hands of players, who have used the system to produce ton of content.
Understandably, most people will likely remember this year for one thing: This was the year that RuneScape beat the bots. Following the momentous Bot Nuking Day, players logged in to find a distinctly emptier world but one filled with real people. RuneFest 2011 was a success, with presentations from the game's developers and a special focus on breaking the bots. This year also saw the interesting story that the Dutch Supreme Court ruling that stealing RuneScape items is the same as theft of real life goods.
In this anniversary retrospective, I look back at some of RuneScape's top news stories and game additions of the year.
Breaking the bots
In October of last year, we heard the unfortunate news that RuneScape was losing the war on bots. Servers were being overrun with botters, and illicit RMT markets had exploded with RuneScape stock. Developers would spend days making changes to break the bots, only to have each patch countered within hours. Just as all seemed lost, developers unveiled an unholy deathstar of a weapon: The Cluster Flutterer. In a single day celebrated across RuneScape as Bot-Nuking Day, over 1,350,000 free accounts and 150,000 paying members were banned for botting. The company did this despite losing $750,000 per month in revenue from banned member account bots.
Player activity on the servers dropped by 60%, and an estimated 98% of all bots were rendered ineffective, but Jagex didn't stop there. The company took the fight to the legal stage and threatened to file a class-action lawsuit against botters. Jagex showed that botting software violated the company's copyright under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the studio released a letter to all players suspected of botting offering a one-time amnesty. "If you ignore our offer and instead continue use botting software," the letter warned, "we reserve our rights to pursue statutory damages against you for between $200 to $2,500 per act of past, present, and/or future botting." This year will forever be remembered as the year Jagex beat the bots.
Clan Citadels
Clans have always been a huge unofficial part of RuneScape, originally formed by players back in the game's first incarnation as a way to team up against people in the wilderness. Clans were officially implemented in April with a massive clan patch that introduced clan chat channels, mottos, motifs, and cape colors. New clan-only features were introduced, including rated clan wars, private clan forums, and a full stats page for tracking membership. The patch caused a horde of new clans to appear, but it was just the start of what would be one of RuneScape's biggest and most exciting sandbox features to date.
With the Clan Citadels expansion, every clan got its very own castle on a floating island. While many other MMOs were getting updates with new dungeons or a slightly higher maximum levels, RuneScape got flying castles! Clans work together to build and maintain their citadels and use special rooms like drop party halls, auditoriums and dance floors.