Runescape is in a strong position against other leading MMO competitors but there is a growing diversity of online games as Jesper explains "I think we are seeing a divergence in terms of online games in different sizes. You have WOW, you have Runescape, but you also have Club Penguin. We are seeing a bigger range of game types."
How does Jagex keep on top is down to their future developments of the game to keep game players interested, Adam says "we update every two weeks and the future for RuneScape looks great, we are always looking to improve all aspects of our games but sadly that is all I can say, we keep our cards very close to our chest."
Game players enjoy the new updates that are released "I think it's great when they just regular update with a great rate of diversity. Kinda like they do now . Something for everyone to do and I'm always very excited when the really big updates are announced."
Although they have a few ideas of their own for example; Offline skill trainer, improved membership payment system for overseas players. Some of these ideas have been implemented from players who put their ideas onto the Runescape forum.
Chris discusses from a game developers perspective, the problems that can affect the development of a new computer game:
The Runescape game developers have a massive challenge ahead of them when creating new content to keep the game players captivated, "RuneScape is a game which appeals to a large demographic of players in terms of age, sex and experience so our challenge is to constantly design content which appeals to all of our players and which helps us to attract new ones."
However there needs to be a balance in 'innovation vs. tradition' as Jesper mentions that "players want something new, but they also want something they recognize."
Runescape is played on a PC and when Jagex was asked if they would consider making Runescape available on other consoles or portable devices they believe that the PC still has a lot to give "we actually believe that more games will be played on the PC as the technology improves to console quality."
This is supported by game players who believe that the PC is the best option to play online games on as it would be hard to control without a mouse or keyboard. Although there are players who are open to the idea of a new console which can cater for a new style of playing such as the Nintendo DS but for the time being many are happy with the PC.
Future developments may be affected by the current recession that game companies are faced with but Adam is positive about RuneScape's future "We are relatively lucky in that our games, our online and low costs so we have not been affected so far."
Jesper highlights a recent article from cnet.com 'Is the video game recession-proof?' which discusses the concerns of the video game industry. Despite a dip in sales for video games there is still a demand for the product.
"We do believe that the continued popularity of our products, even during these tough economic times," said Denise Kaigler, the vice president of corporate affairs for Nintendo America, "are evidence that consumers are judging us as a good value and a great way to engage in social interaction." Cnet.com (November 25th 2008).
Go to topI started to write everything down in a notebook about each skill and what the items was worth in gold and xp, how to make things etc. I couldn't wait to get home to turn on my laptop to play the game; I bought a 2nd monitor and made an excuse that it was for some design work when I actually wanted to have the Runescape help site on one screen while playing Runescape on the other.."