A little back history to the story.
The humble beginnings
In 
1998 one Gower brother, know as Andrew Gower, created an RPG known as DeviousMud. Up until that point Andrew had not 
created any game of that size. Andrew and his brother's would often create small java games and other smaller versions of already created games. Later in 1999 the game was greatly improved with the help of Paul and Ian Gower. DeviousMud saw limited release in a one week beta for a few of his real life friends. Only two screen-shots of DevouisMud exists outside of andrew's computer. This is all I could find that was confirmed to be the real deal.
(DeviousMud Picture)
1998 one Gower brother, know as Andrew Gower, created an RPG known as DeviousMud. Up until that point Andrew had not 
created any game of that size. Andrew and his brother's would often create small java games and other smaller versions of already created games. Later in 1999 the game was greatly improved with the help of Paul and Ian Gower. DeviousMud saw limited release in a one week beta for a few of his real life friends. Only two screen-shots of DevouisMud exists outside of andrew's computer. This is all I could find that was confirmed to be the real deal.From a Mud to an MMO.
After the 
small success of DeviousMud Andrew, and Paul Gower together began work on a new version of DeviousMud which would later be renamed to Runescape. This new version would be using 2d and 3d graphics. Work began in 1999 and the first official Runescape beta was released January 4, 2001. Runescape was originaly operated outside of their parent's hosue in nottingham. But as the game grew in popularity they could not hope to continue to host it. Almost a year later the two brothers, along with Constant Tedder, created the company known as JaGeX. Using Jagex they would now be able to continue hosting Runescape and updating it.
But one thing was still missing. Jagex could not afford the server upkeep costs. So many new players were joining that the servers they had were always being maxed and they could not afford any new ones. It got so bad that Runescape was on the verge of shutting down if they did not get money soon. There were two options to fix this. Introduce in-game advertisements, which is currently still here today, or create a membership feature. Jagex agreed on the membership plan and in February 2002 it went live. They received over 2,000 subscribers within the first day and by the end of the first week had over 5,000. This brought in enough money to keep Jagex afloat and money no longer became an issue.
Finally for several years while Runescape classic was the prime game Jagex held " Holiday drops ". These were special days of the year such as Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. During these three days there would be a holiday item dropping. The Christmas of 2001 saw the drop of the Christmas cracker, which when opened would give one player a random color party hat and the other would receive a random but somewhat valuable item. The Christmas cracker and most of the party hat colors would lat
er become the most expensive items in the entire game. With the exclusion of the pink party hat. It used to be the rarest of the hats but there was a glitch where players were able to duplicate items and most players choose the pink Phat because of how rare it was. It would later become worthless for several years.
small success of DeviousMud Andrew, and Paul Gower together began work on a new version of DeviousMud which would later be renamed to Runescape. This new version would be using 2d and 3d graphics. Work began in 1999 and the first official Runescape beta was released January 4, 2001. Runescape was originaly operated outside of their parent's hosue in nottingham. But as the game grew in popularity they could not hope to continue to host it. Almost a year later the two brothers, along with Constant Tedder, created the company known as JaGeX. Using Jagex they would now be able to continue hosting Runescape and updating it.But one thing was still missing. Jagex could not afford the server upkeep costs. So many new players were joining that the servers they had were always being maxed and they could not afford any new ones. It got so bad that Runescape was on the verge of shutting down if they did not get money soon. There were two options to fix this. Introduce in-game advertisements, which is currently still here today, or create a membership feature. Jagex agreed on the membership plan and in February 2002 it went live. They received over 2,000 subscribers within the first day and by the end of the first week had over 5,000. This brought in enough money to keep Jagex afloat and money no longer became an issue.
Finally for several years while Runescape classic was the prime game Jagex held " Holiday drops ". These were special days of the year such as Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. During these three days there would be a holiday item dropping. The Christmas of 2001 saw the drop of the Christmas cracker, which when opened would give one player a random color party hat and the other would receive a random but somewhat valuable item. The Christmas cracker and most of the party hat colors would lat
er become the most expensive items in the entire game. With the exclusion of the pink party hat. It used to be the rarest of the hats but there was a glitch where players were able to duplicate items and most players choose the pink Phat because of how rare it was. It would later become worthless for several years.Runescape in 3D!
In 2003 Jagex announced it would be working on a graphical over-haul of the game. Shortly after that release they planned not only to rework the graphics of the game but to also rework the engine of the game to meet the new quality standards of mmo's. After almost an entire year of development Jagex released a Runescape two beta in December of 2003 for paying subscribers.
During these few months Jagex put the game in a series of tests such as stressing the servers and constant character resets. In March of 2004 the official Runescape 3D game was launched and was renamed to Runescape. The original Runescape was then renamed Runescape classic.
All was good until 2005. In 2005, Jagex announced they banned over 5,000 accounts in Runescape classic for using cheats such as botting. Shortly after they also announced they were closing Runescape classic to new accounts and now you had to be a member to play it. This was the final step to turn Runescape 2 or Runescape in to the main game.
Cheating again became a huge issue in 2006-07 with the threat of RWT-Invasion. RWTing or Real world trading was when sweatshops in 3rd world countries hired hundreds of people to play a mmo like Runescape to collect the currency that game uses and sell it to ordinary players for real cash. The bad part is that they were stealing credit card information to pay for the hundreds of accounts that they were making members. Jagex tried to help the victims by giving them refunds but several banks were threatening to stop doing business with Jagex if this did not stop. After using all remaining opitions for the remainder of 2006 and most of 2007 they only had one plan left to stop the threat of RWTING destroying runescape.
During these few months Jagex put the game in a series of tests such as stressing the servers and constant character resets. In March of 2004 the official Runescape 3D game was launched and was renamed to Runescape. The original Runescape was then renamed Runescape classic.
All was good until 2005. In 2005, Jagex announced they banned over 5,000 accounts in Runescape classic for using cheats such as botting. Shortly after they also announced they were closing Runescape classic to new accounts and now you had to be a member to play it. This was the final step to turn Runescape 2 or Runescape in to the main game.
Cheating again became a huge issue in 2006-07 with the threat of RWT-Invasion. RWTing or Real world trading was when sweatshops in 3rd world countries hired hundreds of people to play a mmo like Runescape to collect the currency that game uses and sell it to ordinary players for real cash. The bad part is that they were stealing credit card information to pay for the hundreds of accounts that they were making members. Jagex tried to help the victims by giving them refunds but several banks were threatening to stop doing business with Jagex if this did not stop. After using all remaining opitions for the remainder of 2006 and most of 2007 they only had one plan left to stop the threat of RWTING destroying runescape.
In December of 2007, Jagex removed the old style of pking, old staking, and unbalanced trade. All these efforts were put in place to stop the RWTers and hopefully save the game from dieing off. Below are two imagines that compare the old-style pking and the new style currently in the game today.
Runescape in H.D!
Runescape in H.D!
In July 2008, the Runescape graphics were updated again to rejoin the competition with WoW. For the first two weeks only current members were aloud to try the new eye candy and report and bugs. After the two week period, as promised, free to play were aloud to test the graphics out as well. This is where we are currently at today in the year 2010. Sure new quests have been added but nothing major has happened that is worth putting in this blog. I will continue to update this when more events in Runescape take place. Until then thanks for reading and have a good one!
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