RuneScape was my favorite game of all time when I was a kid. I’d play it for at least 8 hours a day every day, and never get bored. Now, RuneScape is RuneScape 3, terribly infested gambling microtransaction mess that looks like a really bad early access game, or Oldschool RuneScape, which is really fun, but is infested with bots. It’s honestly so bad. I tried to play it and it feels so… good, but also low effort. The worst part, however, is the corporate greed. Jagex, the company that developes Runescape, has been sold numerous times. This time, it’s owned by some Venture Capital or investment firm, the kind that kills games off to gain their IP and then sell them for huge amounts of money (CVC Capital Partners and Haveli Investments). The first thing they’ve done is raise the subscription of Runescape to nearly $15, which is truly nuts. This game used to be like $8 a month previously, some are still paying that much…

It’s sad to see corporate greed kill such a great game. Idk what to even play now…

  • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    $8 in 2001 is about $14 now. Kinda seems like the same value is there, it’s just adjusted for inflation.

    • Buttflapper@lemmy.worldOP
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      3 months ago

      No, it’s adjusted for corporate greed. World of Warcraft has never once raised their subscription. Also, they shouldn’t have had to raise their subscription because they introduced microtransactions in both RS3 and OSRS which further boosted revenue. You’re comparing two very different times in the game. There’s no excuse whatsoever.

      • Velonie@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        The only microtransaction in OSRS is the ability to buy membership with in game gold. As someone who is normally staunchly against all MTX it’s a very reasonable tradeoff

        • Buttflapper@lemmy.worldOP
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          3 months ago

          It has unequivocally ruined old school RS. Not only do people still buy gold for real life money. They also real world trade, too. some very popular streamers have RWT permanent bans. So the bond has solved literally no problem it claimed it would. It really just allowed people to buy gear for money in real life which is really sad. I get you can buy membership with gold. But that was never a thing back in 2007 and shouldn’t be allowed now. That sort of insane feature is directly fueling the bot industry

          • Velonie@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            People buying gold for real life money has literally always been happening behind the scenes (yes in 2007 as well), so again I have no issues with this. With membership bonds it even removes gold from an inflated economy. It seems to me though that you want a version of the game exactly how it was in 2007, in which case you’re SoL

    • GluWu@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      OSRS was in the $4 per month range for me when I played it when it wasn’t OS. I never got it.