Runescape: An On-Line Adventure Fantasy Game
When first joining, a person starts out by as an avatar with little experience in the many skills that one needs to learn. You can make some choices as to what your person will look like such as male, female, clothes, and hair. Once your avatar is set up you are taken to Tutorial Island. It’s important you don’t skip the tutorial because this is a very involved game. The tutorial covers just enough to get you started. When the tutorial is completed, you are taken to the town of Lumbridge, an ideal place for beginners.
Computer requirements: This program runs in Java, so that must be installed on your computer. Also you need a high speed connection such as broadband or DSL. The site contains more details about how to get started.
The land of Runescape is vast with deserts, forests, swamps, islands and wilderness. It’s easy to get lost. They do provide a map, which also runs in Java. The problem with this is that it does not run if you are logged into the game and there is no way to print it. It’s not difficult to log out for a moment, run the map and once you know where you’re going, log back in. Another method is taking screen shots of different areas of the map and pasting them into a photo editor. If you use the photo editor, you can leave it open to check the map while you are playing.
This game is interactive with other players as you can both see them and talk to them by chatting. Parents will be glad to know the chat feature is censored.
Use the tabbed menu on the right to check on inventory, skill levels, prayer points, quests, magic spells, friends list, weapon setting, to walk or run, and other various things for your character. Clicking on the treasure chest will display your inventory. Only so many items can be held here, but it is possible to go to a bank and store more items in your account. Almost everything you can pick up has some sort of purpose in this game�even seaweed and swamp tar.
You will need Runescape coins in order to buy things. Killing goblins in Lumbridge is the best way to get your first few coins. Once a goblin dies it will drop something. Sometimes only bones appear, but other times they drop coins or Goblin armor. Be sure to switch your sword settings to make your levels go up in all the sword levels, attack, strength and defense.
The skills you can learn are crafting, magic, mining, smithing, fishing, cooking, fire making, thieving, and archery.
Mining: This is the best skill to start out with. Various mining locations are placed throughout the world. At first you will only be able to mine copper and tin, so you must find a place with these rocks. The mining pit south of Varrock is the best place to start. You will need a pic ax, which can be purchased at a general store. General stores are marked by a pot on the map. Once you have obtained the ore you must take it to a furnace. There is one in Lumbridge. To make bronze take both copper and tin ore. When it is used with the furnace, the ore will change into bronze bars. Take the bars to an anvil, which can be found in Varrock. Here you can turn the bronze into weapons or armor, which you can then sell.
Part of the fun of Runescape is figuring out how to either make or acquire objects such as jewelry, oil lamps, armor, and various swords. It’s an enjoyable way for ages ten and up to have fun while learning. While building the skills of their character they are also learning skills as well. Chatting involves reading, spelling and typing. Quests involve problem solving and reading. Daily life in Runescape means careful money management, patience, social skills, learning how to negotiate a good trade between players and even learning how not to get conned into a bad deal.
There is one downfall to this game in that it can get repetitive if a player decides to work on the same skill over and over again to get their levels up. Points are earned for doing various skills such as mining. The more your level goes up the better materials you can mine and therefore make more money. For example in crafting, the higher level you achieve (through doing lots of crafting) the more expensive items you can make and therefore earn more money. Players can avoid this boredom by rotating what they’re working on. Quests also give you points in various skills and can be a nice variation.
You can’t lose by trying the free game, so why not give it a go?
