Runescape 2nd largest MMO - Official

ownedyou1

This is an exciting opportunity for a candidate with ambition and initiative to join a fast paced, rapidly expanding online games company based in Cambridge and help us achieve our ambitious goals for 2007 and beyond.



You will be working with our expanding Game Content Development department creating (design and script) new quests, skills and monsters for RuneScape.



We are looking for passionate gamers with a methodical approach, strong creative and artistic skills and deep motivation to create games, who can cope with the thrilling challenges of a development environment releasing new game elements almost every week.



Key duties include:

Create new game element ideas (quests, mini-games, skills, monsters etc.) based on pre-defined expectations for RuneScape;


Use our internal scripting language to write high quality script running the new game contents;


Work together with graphic artists, testers and other professionals to produce the best possible content;


Communicating complex creative ideas in a clear and concise manner;


Participate in large scale design decisions to establish the future of the game.



Requirements:


Good programming or game scripting skills (basic C++ or Java or game scripting);


Good creative writing skills and imaginative storyline ideas;


Clear understanding of game design terminology and realistic game design ideas;


Very strong and proven communication skills;


Experience of working to deadlines and/or in project based environment;


Keen interest in role playing games.



Also useful:


Previously written quests (levels) for CRPGs, MUDs or similar;


Game industry experience preferably in creative, game design or scripting roles;


A computer science degree is a plus but isn't essential if good programming and/or scripting skills can be demonstrated;


Having any one of -German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, French, Chinese or Japanese- language skills would be looked upon very favourably.



About Jagex Ltd and RuneScape

Jagex Ltd was founded in December 2001. The company now has more than 300 employees, making us one of the largest independent games studios in the UK. Jagex intends to become a significant operator in all the major gaming markets worldwide, developing and commercialising highly compelling character games that appeal to a wide audience.



Jagex provides a positive, challenging and rewarding working environment and in March 2007 achieved 59th place in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For.



Since its launch, RuneScape has grown to over 5,500,000 active free players, whilst the members’ version has over 1 million paying subscribers. This ranks RuneScape as the third largest MMORPG title in the world. The game is updated with new playable content almost every week, providing a constantly evolving gaming experience for all our players.























Oh well, I'm sure youll come up with some excuse to how these numbers are wrong , or how the game still 'sucks'

JestorRodo

Since its launch, RuneScape has grown to over 5,500,000 active free players, whilst the members’ version has over 1 million paying subscribers. This ranks RuneScape as the third largest MMORPG title in the world. The game is updated with new playable content almost every week, providing a constantly evolving gaming experience for all our players

 So 5.5 mil are playing for free , thats a real money maker.

ownedyou1

The company still gets money from it, without the 1,000,000 players that are members.

Jupsto

those 5mil f2p's are playing with adverts so jagex prolly get more money from that than the 1mil paying $5 a month.

Jagex has got to be the worst mmorpg. And one of the richest imo.

They are incredibly lazy since sticking with antique jagex system instead of good standard stuff the rest of the world uses. i guess their view is "if its not broke don't fix it" since they are reeling in cash, why bother improving the game. No adding a lame quest every month is not improving.

I still maintain that it could be a good game if they made some serious changes, but they never will. I'm ashamed to find out they are an english company.

nomadian

that would be a pretty cool job.

ownedyou1

Originally posted by Consensus


those 5mil f2p's are playing with adverts so jagex prolly get more money from that than the 1mil paying $5 a month.
Jagex has got to be the worst mmorpg. And one of the richest imo.
They are incredibly lazy since sticking with antique jagex system instead of good standard stuff the rest of the world uses. i guess their view is "if its not broke don't fix it" since they are reeling in cash, why bother improving the game. No adding a lame quest every month is not improving.
I still maintain that it could be a good game if they made some serious changes, but they never will. I'm ashamed to find out they are an english company.

First off, jagex isn't an mmo its a company.

Second, they won't update the game, why do they need to when they have the 2nd largest MMO thats continuously growing?

Third, How is adding a quest every month not improving? even though its more like 5-6 quests each month aswell and various updates.



fourth, they are an english company that has developed the 2nd largest mmo, I'm extremely proud of them.

rshandlon

I tried out Runescape and it is a POS.  The graphics are so outdated, even AC1 and UO look alot better.  The UI was a joke and lag even on a midrange machine with cable connection was horrible.  With the poor system resources that the game requires, it should have run like a top, but didn't because it is poorly optimized and very poorly written.



Also, a statement released by the company trying to recruit new employees should not be declared as "OFFICIAL". 



A recruitment statement is usually filled with half-truths and I have always taken them with a grain of salt.



To say they have 5mil players is totally ludicrous and even the industry standard site run by a well known analyst of MMO's shows thats not true

http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html



The site might be a little outdated now, but to say they gained 4mil since the last update is crazy.  I can see them as having over their lifetime 5mil free players and 1mil paying customers, but to say that they have it currently is stretching it to the limits of human imagination.







Ohh, check the chart, it isnt even close to the second biggest MMO and that isnt even counting the newest ones that have came out since the last update.

slicer92

Originally posted by rshandlon

I tried out Runescape and it is a POS.  The graphics are so outdated, even AC1 and UO look alot better.  The UI was a joke and lag even on a midrange machine with cable connection was horrible.  With the poor system resources that the game requires, it should have run like a top, but didn't because it is poorly optimized and very poorly written.



Also, a statement released by the company trying to recruit new employees should not be declared as "OFFICIAL". 



A recruitment statement is usually filled with half-truths and I have always taken them with a grain of salt.



To say they have 5mil players is totally ludicrous and even the industry standard site run by a well known analyst of MMO's shows thats not true

http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html



The site might be a little outdated now, but to say they gained 4mil since the last update is crazy.  I can see them as having over their lifetime 5mil free players and 1mil paying customers, but to say that they have it currently is stretching it to the limits of human imagination.







Ohh, check the chart, it isnt even close to the second biggest MMO and that isnt even counting the newest ones that have came out since the last update.

The graphics arent outdated,the reason UO and AC1 look alot better is because they arent run in Java via web browser.Thats one of the reasons Runescape has such a large player base.Nearly any computer,even on dial-up can run Runescape from anywhere in the world which appeals to alot.Also the fact that leveling is very fast,new content every week,and fun PvP(if your in a clan) makes Runescape alot better then most of the garbage out right now.

Heres 2 decent pvp videos.

Di vs Rot(p2p)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hjt7CoI14mQ

Di vs Rsd-Probaly one of the greatest f2p wars ever.

Liliane

Active players OR active accounts?



Because there is HUGE different. If game can have free accounts people don't ever need to close them, when they stop playing.

ownedyou1

It said Active players at the bottom, read carefully next time ;D

Zikiel

Those numbers are accurate. I knew they had that many p2ps, but I didn't realize there were quite so many free leeches.

Liliane

Originally posted by ownedyou1

It said Active players at the bottom, read carefully next time ;D

I did read it, but is it?



Lets put it in test, how many servers Runescape have and how many players per servers, they have in prime time?

shae

I'm always amazed at Runescape and what it's done with itself since 1998. People tend to forget that it started as a MUD called DeviousMUD made by Andrew Gower of Atari fame; eventually going to Java Browser based. To have gown and have contributed so much to the online gaming community coming from such humble beginings is really amazing.

We should all take a page from these peoples books, you don't have to have a multi million dollar deal or a team full of artists to creat a game people play and enjoy.

Gre4t

Originally posted by Liliane

Originally posted by ownedyou1

It said Active players at the bottom, read carefully next time ;D

I did read it, but is it?



Lets put it in test, how many servers Runescape have and how many players per servers, they have in prime time? There are around 150 servers, and at prime time there are atleast 250,000 people online.

baff

Originally posted by JestorRodo


Since its launch, RuneScape has grown to over 5,500,000 active free players, whilst the members’ version has over 1 million paying subscribers. This ranks RuneScape as the third largest MMORPG title in the world. The game is updated with new playable content almost every week, providing a constantly evolving gaming experience for all our players
 So 5.5 mil are playing for free , thats a real money maker.

All my mates who work there get paid. If it was going to go bust it already would have done years ago.

Liliane

Originally posted by Gre4t

There are around 150 servers, and at prime time there are atleast 250,000 people online.

Usually one server holds between 500 to 3000 players. Except some games like EVE.

So 1650 players in prime time per server seem like nice normal thing for active game.



So now count some other P2P MMOGs. How many servers they have and compare them to they active account numbers to they server numbers. You will find out that the active account number compared to server numbers are usually between 1 server to 3000 - 10 000 active accounts or same number is about 1 active player to 5 -10 active account in prime time per server.



So lets count that every Runescape server would have 10 000 active accounts. It's still just 1,5 Million active accounts.



So question is how come Runescape has so little servers and active players in prime time if they have 5,5 Mil active players?



It seem like there is 4 Million unactive players to compare to other games. Maybe it's because they aren't counting the players, but active account, even if the players don't play the game anymore? It would make sence. Compare it to WoW's numbers, how many active account they have compared to they numbers of servers and how many players they have in prime times per server.

GreenChaos

Originally posted by rshandlon

I tried out Runescape and it is a POS.  

Point of Sale?



pos

baff

Point of sale is that it works on internet explorer. You can play it at work.

skuba

POS= piece of shit

Mr.Wizard

Originally posted by GreenChaos

Originally posted by rshandlon

I tried out Runescape and it is a POS.  

Point of Sale?



pos

A piece of Sh... well you can guess the rest.

i played it too (and payed for a membership for a while as well) but now i dont give a damn about it anymore. People told me Runescape was a crappy game.. At first i didnt believe and kept on playing, now i just agree. Sure i hop on to it now and then (last time i touched it is a month or 2/3 ago) but its just boring and has the ugliest graphics you can find anywhere.

montin

Originally posted by nomadian


that would be a pretty cool job.

I got offered a job with them last year but had to decline due to my life going in a different direction. Love or hate the game aside. The company, their offices and even the people there seem really good. I wish things had been different and I'd taken the job because they sure did seem a good company to work for. If you live near Cambridge (UK) and want to work in the industry then contact them. And no, I'm not affliated with em. I've just been there and think they run a decent business. I also think the game sucks But 5.5 million people must disagree with me!

Ferretman26

Pretty much the only reason a sane person would play this game is if they hadent played any other mmorpg.

GrimReapez

If you think Runescape doesn't deserve respect because of the visual side of it, you're either really new to MMO's or you have no idea about what makes a good game.



I suggest trying more then just a couple of MMO's before speaking so ignorantly.

Devony

Originally posted by GrimReapez

If you think Runescape doesn't deserve respect because of the visual side of it, you're either really new to MMO's or you have no idea about what makes a good game.



I suggest trying more then just a couple of MMO's before speaking so ignorantly.

Well in this day an age a line has to be drawn somewhere.. most people won't become immersed in an MMO with really poor graphics these days.



Sure 10 years ago it would have been great but times change.



Lots of people play Runescape because lots of people in other countries who can't afford good computers play Runescape.

Gre4t

Runescape is a fun game. There is just something about the game that gets you hooked. I don't know what it is.



I haven't played the game for quite a while now, but I don't regret putting a lot of time into it when I did play.

Ferretman26

Its not just the graphics its every asspect of the game that doesnt deserve respect it just a horrible game.