Yahoo News Classic online RPG RuneScape set to shut down
It's time to bury your dial-up modem because classic MMORPG RuneScape has finally died a death after 17 years. No revives. No spare lives.
The classic online game, which launched in 2001, was a favourite of the MSN Messenger generation in days of yore, when broadband internet and smartphones were either pipedreams or ridiculously expensive.
RuneScape Classic will cease to run on 8am BST on August 6, 2018, even though developer Jagex stopped supporting the game years ago.
Nevertheless the game still has around 1,000 players plodding around its servers, while gamers on YouTube and Twitch still make regular videos about it.
Explaining the decision in an official statement on their website, Jagex wrote: "It has been amazing to see such dedication amongst those of you who have kept playing RuneScape Classic over the last few years, some of you have even managed to reach max total!
"However, it's not all fun and games. With advancements in technology helping to further support both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, our tools are no longer compatible with Classic. This is particularly a problem with our community safety and macro detection tools. The game is now easily abused with the use of 3rd party macro tools, and botting has become an increasing issue."
The creators went on to explain that the various bugs that have developed over the years are unsolvable, as they're not actively supporting the game. That has also led to lots of bots playing, as well as issues with privacy, which aren't being policed.
RuneScape did go on to launch new titles, including a Hearthstone-style card game back in 2014. The company also launched RuneScape 2 and 3, along with a ported version for mobile phones just this year.
Jagex finished by saying: "Rather than have the game break indefinitely without any warning, we wanted to give everyone the opportunity to have their last goodbyes."
Adding that after the shut down date it "will no longer be possible to log in to the Classic game. You will, of course, be able to continue playing as normal up until that date. Thank you for your support over the years".
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