RuneScape is a massively multiplayer on-line role-playing
game (MMORPG), it is also the name of a virtual world with monsters to kill, quests to complete and treasure to win. RuneScape is more than just a
game: it is an evolving world of remarkable depth and flexibility. Players control a character and
train them to improve and become more powerful, or simply to become more skilled. A
player may even decide not to improve at all, and simply trade goods in one of RuneScape's many markets. What a
player does in RuneScape is entirely their decision: nothing is predetermined.
RuneScape allows its players to decide what is important to them. Many players enjoy fighting in the heat of close combat, hunting out ever more powerful beasts. Others prefer to destroy their enemies from a distance with magic or missile weapons. But the
game is not limited to combat: you might prefer to make the weapons of
war, rather than wield them, and labour over a furnace and an anvil, or whittle arrows from wood -- all civilisations need their craftsmen, after all. Other players enjoy simply wandering across RuneScape meeting other players and characters, looking at the scenery, or completing quests.
The
game is hugely
popular and has a vast number of players you can meet, trade with and play alongside if you choose. RuneScape has a strong community who like to
work together on quests and minigames. Like everything else in RuneScape, you can choose to interact with people as much or as little as you like by setting up a list of your friends and shutting out the noise of public conversation.
The skills that you can develop in RuneScape are as varied as the life you might lead: from the combat skills of Strength and Magic, the domestic Cooking and Woodcutting skills, right through to Crafting, Fletching and Runecrafting, and many more. Many players choose to specialise in
one skill, and it is not uncommon to find them cluster together in the very best places for practising their chosen skill.
Quests and minigames within RuneScape promote problem solving skills and teamwork as well as rewarding dedication. There are many problems to overcome and puzzles to unravel, testing your knowledge and perseverance. The longest of these quests might take you several days of
brain-straining, while the simplest can be completed in an hour or less. The quests are also scattered quite liberally across the world, so that wherever you are you can be sure that there is at least
one quest somewhere close by.
Quests can be one of the most rewarding things you do in RuneScape, as they encourage you to travel and to meet new characters, to use skills you might otherwise neglect, and, of course, all quests come with a literal reward as well. There are over one hundred quests in RuneScape, and that number is constantly growing. You may be required to do something as simple as bake a cake, or something as complex as resolving diplomatic relations between warring states.
RuneScape is constantly expanding and improving. In addition to the free version, we have a Members version that players can subscribe to so they can enjoy new quests, minigames, areas and skills that we add to the game on a regular basis. The size of RuneScape, combined with the constant stream of updates, means any
player will have hours of enjoyment and challenge as they battle their way through the
game.
---taken directly from www.runescape.com