
This week… was a weird one. A weird and rough one. And it’s going to get a tiny bit personal – some might say full of excuses – but I promise I’m going to tie it all together and ultimately explain myself: I’m going to explain why I didn’t subscribe to RuneScape as was ordered by the polls. I’m going to explain what my husband and I did (naturally). And I’m going to come to a conclusion about what I feel would be my experience if I did subscribe to the game.
And no, I didn’t stop myself from buying in for the reason that you might expect, actually. Let me explain.
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been fighting off a plague in our apartment. Mercifully, it wasn’t that plague; we tested negative. But I’m a man of routine, and so when illness lays me out, that routine is halted with the immediacy of a handbrake lever pull, and everything that kind of makes my household hum in the background begins to go to pot. I appreciate how arrogant that reads, but I promise it’s true. Also, my husband was too damned sick and tired to join me even for a less intense game like RuneScape.
That was all bad enough, but on top of that, the world decided to throw another curveball at me in the financial sense of the word more recently. I’m going to spare the intricate details for what I should think are very obvious reasons, but overall I was just not able to buy in to a subscription like I wanted to. My husband would have handled himself and he probably would have done the same for me if I had asked, but I insisted that he not do so on principle.
So as you can imagine, time and focus was diverted away from playing RuneScape for the most part, and when things finally started to get better from a physical health standpoint, I was left without too many options available to me. Or at least none that I had actually planned for.
With play time basically ruined and not much to show for it all, what were we to do? At the point when both of us were capable, we decided to at least split the difference and follow at least half of the will of the polls. I told my husband that we were going to Al Kharid to wrap up the quest line we started and assured him that I would explain why we didn’t follow through with the subscription plan. It will be fine. We’ve got some time together in-game regardless, and hey, maybe Al Kharid will have more things for us to explore after we’re done!
Well…
First off, the rest of the quest that we picked up from (which had us chasing down the kidnappers of the kingdom’s prince) offered my first taste of what I assume to be the Agility profession, as my character shambled her way up ladders, tighrope-walked across clotheslines, and did some sick rolls and flips across rooftops. It was the slowest, jankiest session of parkour I had ever borne witness to, let alone performed in a video game.
Then, it ended with a weight puzzle that I’m pretty sure I immediately failed, but it didn’t matter because the storyline that we were following went forward unimpeded all the same. The emir of the kingdom had died, the prince was still missing, and the chase to find him would pick up after a certain point.
Except that it didn’t; the quest in Al Kharid were once more locked behind a subscription fee.
Crestfallen, I started scouring the nearby areas for any quest indicator that would be open to us as free players and fell upon a quest line at an abbey to the east of the desert city. What unfolded ended up being one of the more intriguing tales this MMORPG has ever woven.
This quest started like a few others had in terms of trope-laden hooks: I was the adventurer that a divine vision had ordained, and so I must help, brave adventurer! However, the moment I talked with the Abbess, what unfurled instead was a murder mystery involving one of the order’s most devout sisters.
I’m pretty sure the ending of it all was already pre-written so my choices might not have ultimately mattered, but the investigation, the reading of clues, the talking to suspects, and the entire bit of trying to come to conclusions was extremely arresting. We were wrapped up in this thing from start to finish.
That’s about when it hit me. I very nearly missed out on this quest because my initial scanning of the area suggested that this place was for members only. This writing was actually really damn good. I was invested in this mystery and the resolution. I wanted to solve this case. So how much more good stuff in this game is paywalled?
I’m not going to suggest that RuneScape has the best writing in any MMORPG, but there is clearly a lot of fun, whimsy, charm, intelligence, and surprise that’s hiding in this game, and having what feels like the majority of that stuffed behind a subscription – especially when the free stuff is fun – is kind of disappointing. I was immediately reminded of how open and complete Elder Scrolls Online felt when I had a sub to it. The locks were off, the chains broken, and so much was available and possible now. And I get the sense that RuneScape would feel exactly the same way.
Above and beyond getting more Necromancy buttons to push, I suddenly had a sense that not being able to subscribe to the MMORPG was keeping the wider game out of my grasp. And while I don’t pretend like I explored the entirety of Gielinor, I still can’t shake the feeling that things are a bit more stingy here. Even if I’m forming this opinion without all of the hard data, the sensation I get is that this game really requires a subscription to really experience.
RuneScape is extremely old and it shows. It looks ugly. It has one of the worst control schemes I’ve ever used. The UI is the definition of clunk. The combat is pretty much non-committal or non-existent. But man does it have some neat stories hiding in there, and now I can appreciate why it’s lasted so long even without any of the nostalgia that likely powers most people. This is one charming title. I’m glad I played it. I just wish I didn’t feel as if I had to buy in to get swept away. If circumstances were different, maybe I could be.
In any case, it’s time to close the book on this one and press forward with our next adventure. So naturally we have to choose.
What game should I play next? Choose My Adventure!
- Aion. Spread your wings. (28%, 10 Votes)
- DC Universe Online. Be Bartman-adjacent. (17%, 6 Votes)
- EverQuest II. Let's continue to keep things classic. (25%, 9 Votes)
- Champions Online. Play that other superhero MMO. (17%, 6 Votes)
- Skyforge. Become as a god. (14%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 36

Polling will once again close up at 1:00 p.m. EST on Friday, February 7th. I’ll be waiting and watching with keen interest. And of course, hoping my world lines back up and stops ruining my routine.
