Chopping Logs in RuneScape

Some people spent whole weeks of their lives chopping trees in a browser game and called it a lifestyle. That game was RuneScape, a free online fantasy game that ran right in a web browser, made by brothers Andrew and Paul Gower and released by their company Jagex on January 4, 2001. You made a character, trained skills like woodcutting, fishing and mining, and spent hours with thousands of other players in a huge medieval world. It was free to play, with extra areas for paying members, and it became one of the most popular online games among kids and teens in the 2000s. RuneScape is still running, and Old School RuneScape, a version based on the 2007 game, came out in 2013 and is still hugely popular.

A game that ran in the browser

RuneScape didn't need a disc or a powerful computer. It ran on Java in a web browser, so you could play it on the family computer, at the library or in the school computer lab, at least until the school blocked it. That is a big reason so many young players found it.

You started in Lumbridge, a little town with a castle and a cow field, and after a short tutorial you were free to go anywhere. Nobody handed you a path. Some people fought monsters. Others spent weeks chopping trees and called it a lifestyle.

Why was RuneScape so addictive?

RuneScape was addictive because every skill had a level to raise, and the next level always looked close. Chop enough trees and your Woodcutting went up. Level up enough and you could cut better trees: oak, willow, maple and, much later, yew and magic trees. Each step took longer than the last, which only made you want it more.

There were skills for nearly everything, including cooking, fishing, crafting, smithing, magic and prayer. People called the repetitive training "grinding," and a lot of it happened while chatting with whoever was chopping the tree next to you. If you wanted a bigger world to lose your evenings in, World of Warcraft was waiting after 2004.

Trading, the bank and scams

Every big town had a bank, and the bank was where everyone gathered. People stood around shouting trade offers in yellow text over their heads, like "selling lobbies" for cooked lobsters or "buying logs." Some of the messages were jokes, like "buying gf," which became one of the game's most famous lines.

Scams were common, too. "Free armor trimming" was a classic trick where someone convinced a new player to trade over their armor, then logged off with it. Most players lost something to a scam at least once and learned to read every trade window very carefully. Experienced players warned newcomers, and "never trade your stuff to a stranger" became the first lesson a lot of kids learned about the internet. It was the same suspicion that AOL chat rooms had taught an earlier crowd.

In 2007, Jagex added the Grand Exchange, a big marketplace where you could buy and sell items without standing around shouting. Your throat thanked you.

Party hats and the rarest items

At Christmas in 2001, Jagex gave out holiday crackers. Pulling one with another player gave out party hats in different colors. Jagex never gave them out again, and party hats became the rarest and most expensive items in the game. Seeing someone wearing one in Varrock was like spotting a celebrity. Rumors about how to get one spread through every school, and almost none of them were true.

The Wilderness and the 2007 changes

The northern part of the map was called the Wilderness, where players could fight each other and take each other's items. Going in was risky and exciting, and plenty of players lost their best gear there. Everyone remembers the one time they brought something they couldn't afford to lose.

In December 2007, Jagex made big changes to stop people from selling game gold for real money. It removed free trading between players and changed the Wilderness so players couldn't fight there the same way. A lot of players were furious. In 2011, after players voted on it, Jagex brought free trade and the old Wilderness back.

The Falador Massacre

On June 6, 2006, a glitch let a player attack other players in the city of Falador, where fighting normally wasn't possible. Players were knocked out and lost their items, and the moment became one of the most talked-about moments in the game's history. It's still remembered as the Falador Massacre.

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Is RuneScape still a thing?

Yes, RuneScape is still running and still getting updates. It had a big graphics update called RuneScape 2 in 2004 and many more after that. In 2013, after players voted in a poll, Jagex released Old School RuneScape, a version based on how the game looked in 2007. It became hugely popular, and plenty of people who played as kids went back to chop the same trees as adults.

Overheard in the Lumbridge cow field

• Getting lost in the Lumbridge cow field on your first day
• Typing "selling lobbies" for an hour at the bank
• Falling for a trade scam, then never trusting anyone again
• Hearing about party hats and never seeing one in person
• Leveling up and watching fireworks shoot over your character
• Playing in the computer lab until the site got blocked

Friends, clans and the friends list

RuneScape had a friends list that showed which world your friends were on, a lot like a buddy list. People hopped between worlds to meet up, did quests together and formed clans with their own rules and meetings. Some of those online friendships lasted for years, with people who'd never met in person sending each other birthday messages long after they stopped playing.

Plenty of players also learned to type fast in RuneScape. Chatting while chopping trees was good practice, and it paid off the first time you had to hold three AIM conversations at once.

A game that felt like a place

RuneScape felt like a place you visited every day after school, a lot like checking on your Neopet. You saw the same people at the same bank, chopped the same trees and made friends you only knew by their usernames. If that sounds like Flash games at lunch with a much bigger map, that's about right.

Your RuneScape friends might not remember your username, but your crib can. Make one and post your highest skill level in your About Me.