10 years later, Old School RuneScape is still breaking player records through nonsense that no other MMO can match

Over 10 years ago, Jagex released Old School RuneScape, a version of the MMO that resembled its hugely popular 2007 incarnation. After all this time, the evergreen game continues to grow, and even recently broke player records thanks to its newest seasonal event.

Old School RuneScape kickstarted its fourth Trailblazer League earlier this week, November 15 , prompting Jagex to share that a record-breaking 185,000 people were in the game at the same time. Just a few hours later, that concurrent player number had ballooned to 190,000. 

“Surreal to think that 10 years later we’re still breaking record numbers of members,” the developer writes on Twitter. “Thanks to everyone for playing and enjoy the dopamine over the next few weeks.” 

The current Trailblazer Reloaded League remixes an earlier season while introducing new tasks and additions that completely break the normal flow of the MMO, but that rerun strategy hasn’t muted player excitement. Jagex even added “another 18 Trailblazer Reloaded worlds” to celebrate the smashing numbers.

The huge influx of polygonal adventurers flocking to grind (and then grind some more) caused some server problems, however. “Jagex launcher completely breaking wasn’t on my bingo card, first for me,” one Redditor puts it. Others shared similar experiences with the launcher, although those server issues seem to have been ironed out over the last two days.

Jagex’s snazzy additions surely played a part in the game’s spiking success, but the community also deserves credit for their frequently wild and viral in-game shenanigans. One player grinded for over 200 days to collect a rare pet, winning a bet and forcing his opponent to quite literally “pour hot coffee on his butthole.” No exaggeration. Another player grinded “between 2,500 and 4,500” hours for one million fish. The community even extends beyond the confines of the game in heartwarming fashion, just recently bonding a flight attendant and a now-booze-loaded passenger.

RuneScape earns its place alongside the other best MMORPGs.