Digital Case Study – Old School RuneScape Economics
Quinn Toner 300294521
February 1, 2022
CMNS 340 - 001
Key Relevance Statement
- The relevance of economics in Old School RuneScape is that the game holds many similarities to real world economics where players can earn profits from trading and money-making.
- Old School RuneScape players spend long periods of time in the game building their accounts, obtaining items, and earning gp, the currency in Old School RuneScape. According to HowLongToBeat, dedicated players spend between 1,224 – 4,678 hours on the game (HowLongToBeat, 2022).
- The amount of time and effort developing skills and collecting items creates value within the game. With the evolution of technologies, and growing popularity in cryptocurrencies and NFTs, it is interesting to see how economics in games could evolve into a redeemable value and translate to real world economics.
Context/Background
- Old School RuneScape is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Jagex (Wood, 2021). The game is based on the 2007 version of RuneScape as many players wished to play a nostalgic version of game as it was originally designed before major updates to graphics and gameplay (Wood, 2021).
Figure 1 - (Steam, 2021)
- The game offers a variety of activities, the main ones including: completing quests, increasing skill levels, minigames, and PvP combat (Player vs. Player). Two activities that are used to support all other activities in the game is money-making and obtaining items which generates the economy in the game. Quests, skills, minigames, and combat all require funding and certain items to progress and complete tasks. There are various ways of obtaining items and earning gp in Old School RuneScape.
Discussion of Process/Techniques/Media
- The main addition to the game that created a market similar to real-world trading is the Grand Exchange (The RuneScape Wiki, 2022). The Grand Exchange was introduced in November 2007 as a way for players to buy and sell tradeable items within the game (The RuneScape Wiki, 2022). Similar to the real world, the Grand Exchange prices of items are dependent on the supply and demand of that specific item with exceptions such as trade restrictions in place by Jagex (The RuneScape Wiki, 2022).
Figure 2 - (OSRS Wiki, 2022)
- Trade restrictions in the game include buying rates and non-tradeable items. Buying rates are dependent on each tradeable item and the rates are based on quantity every 4 hours (The RuneScape Wiki, 2022). Jagex claims they will intervene only in the case of potential price manipulation as a last resort as they want to maintain a player-driven economy (The RuneScape Wiki, 2022). Certain items in the game are non-tradeable due to rarity or are needed for specific objectives and must be obtained individually (The RuneScape Wiki, 2022).
- Real world trading is prohibited by Jagex which includes in-game items, in-game gp, and personal accounts due to issues with cheating, account hijacking, and scamming (Jagex, 2022). Players who take part in real world trading of Old School RuneScape content risk permanent bans on their accounts. For players who have put countless hours into the game this is a large penalty.
Figure 3 - (The RuneScape Wiki, 2022)
- As players continue to pursue real-world trade regardless, Jagex could use these transactions to their advantage by allowing and monitoring these trades. A platform could be implemented that allows real-world trade of items, gp, and accounts where Jagex takes a flat fee (ex. 10% per transaction) and use it to increase their own profits.
Conclusions
- The economics in Old School are interesting because they are accurate to the real world and allows players to generate accounts that hold a large amount of value. With real-world trading being prohibited in Old School RuneScape it makes it difficult for players to ethically make money through the game. Although, both Jagex and players could benefit from allowing real world trading by implementing a real-world trade platform and take a fee per trade. If players we’re able to have the option to do trading in-game and also real world, there would be more incentive for players to build accounts to increase real world value, while Jagex can earn addition profits in the process.
Works Cited
HowLongToBeat. (2022, February 1). RuneScape. Retrieved from HowLongToBeat: https://howlongtobeat.com/game?id=8024
Jagex. (2022, Febraury 1). Rules of RuneScape. Retrieved from Jagex: 2022
Steam. (2021, February 25). Old School RuneScape – Stuck? Find help here! Retrieved from Steam Lists for Gamers: 2021
The RuneScape Wiki. (2022, Febraury 1). Ban. Retrieved from The RuneScape Wiki: https://runescape.fandom.com/wiki/Ban
The RuneScape Wiki. (2022, February 1). Grand Exchange. Retrieved from The RuneScape Wiki: https://runescape.fandom.com/wiki/Grand_Exchange
Wood, A. (2021, February 24). Old School RuneScape Review. Retrieved from PCGamer: https://www.pcgamer.com/old-school-runescape-review/
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