Being a RuneScape player since 2002, I've seen the changes and despite the fact that I enjoyed the game more before than I did now, MMORPGs as a whole have evolved into something more involving, time-consuming yet today people immerse themselves more into the game than they made have did years ago. RuneScape is no exception.

Looking at where RuneScape started for many of us, it was a 2D Java game where you couldn't run and had a "debuff" of sorts known as "fatigue", and the only way to get rid of it was by having your character take a break for a few minutes. This debuff prevented you from getting full XP from skills you would be training and should fatigue reach 100%, you would be unable to train completely. This, of course, was an annoyance to legitimate RuneScape players. However, this was one of Jagex's first anti-bot mechanisms. Looking at this any way you like it was also a way for me to know it was maybe time to grab a drink or some food and take a break. Today, fatigue is no longer in the game (and hasn't been for a while).

A big factor in almost every MMO is the grinding. Hitting rocks for hours or watching your character chop trees. Getting 99 cooking used to be a strain on the fingers, clicking each individual food and then on the fire to cook it, today we have cook-x, fletch-x, smelt+x and so on. Today we can run an not only be able to run the length of Varrock with no problems, but a stat which previously required you to bring energy potions has become easier to manage with "resting" and of course, recent improvements ot the amount of energy regained from a potion.

I recall a time in my youth where I would have to spend hours mining these rocks, smelting and smithing them to get the best in slot gear. I recall having to fish my own food and cook it because 10,000 gold back then was probably valued at what is one million gold now. This was done to save money and it was also somewhat more efficient than "Buying 100 trout press 666!".

Today however, I find myself almost never having to farm my own resources, instead relying on the Grand Exchange. Very rarely do I fish for money or my own food. The skill now merely serves as either a quest requirement (for example: Swan Song) or to raise my total level to become a higher ranked player. What Jagex has created here is an economy.

However, this new economy has side effects. Players can happily kill the same bosses daily now for loot and sell this loot for money to spend on whatever they wish (which in the most case is skills like Herblore and Prayer). Whilst this has encouraged interaction, it has phased out many of the original reasons as to why you would level a skill. That raw shark you bought in the Grand Exchange last night, it probably wasn't fished by someone who was fishing for money, it was fished by someone levelling the skill who just happened to not need his own produce. It's not a definite, because I too have fished some monkfish in my time whilst being strapped for cash, but it is unlikely you will see many people fishing for money these days.

Amongst a new economy based of the auction house which has been strengthened by free trade's return, there has been a severe graphical overhaul of the game itself. I sometimes find it hard to believe I am playing the same game that I logged onto for the first time in 2002. The game is gorgeous, there's no two ways about it, Jagex have seen the competition they are surrounded with and are rising to it quite admirably. With full screen, high definition and I'm quite sure I've seen some hotkeys introduced now aswell, I can see this game becoming one of those games that is no longer ridiculed as it was back in it's slightly more buggy low-definition graphical state.

Do many people welcome these changes? It doesn't seem like as many as one would expect. I, personally, am happy RuneScape has remained a free browser game. No other browser MMORPG can boast the quality of 2011 RuneScape. I can log in and play this game from anywhere, and that's why I like it. I have played many other MMORPGs and they are mostly large downloaded clients which I have to re-download wherever I want to play it.

People frequently ask "can we have the old RuneScape back?". This would of course, be financial suicide. The reason this game has been developed so much is because if it didn't move forward, we would all be pretty bored by now. If RuneScape still looked the way it did in 2005 today there would be little reason that anyone would choose to play it over one of those larger, more graphically enhanced MMOs.

I admit, it has been "babied" somewhat in that it is much easier to play, but you need to remember Jagex need to keep the players they already have plus bring in new ones. Nobody actually likes grinding, chopping logs sure can be enjoyable with a good book or some music - but it's not something many enjoy getting all the way to 99. Firemaking is still a pain, log to tinderbox rinse and repeat. New players need to be able to join the game and get right into it straight away, if it feels too slow they may not want to play it. RuneScape is one of those games you need to get some decent looking levels before you can fully enjoy it. Of course, the end-game is still lengthy with many hard master quests requiring plenty of mid/high-level skill requirements and quest points ensuring that despite the skills becoming slightly easier on the hand and easier to level in general - you still have a hell of a long way to go to become a completionist.

The evolution of this game is going to continue and no-one can really stop it.