Why RuneScape's Membership Survey Has Everyone Logging Out
Logging into World 302 last night was weird. The Grand Exchange, usually packed with players spam-clicking flowers or showing off their latest raids gear, looks like a ghost town. Something's up in one of gaming's oldest MMOs, and it's not just another server hiccup.
Turns out Jagex dropped a survey that's got the whole community losing it. Picture this - you've been playing both Old School and RS3 with one subscription for ages, maybe grinding out Vorkath on OSRS in the morning and hopping over to RS3 for some AFK Archaeology in the evening. Now imagine that getting split into two separate memberships.
But here's where things get really wild. The survey, done by some company called SKIM, floated ideas like throwing ads at lower-tier players and cutting AFK timers unless you pay extra. Let that sink in - having to pay more just to fish at Barbarian Village without getting logged out every few minutes.
The reaction? World 302 tells the whole story. Between the empty banks and the flood of "quitting" posts filling up r/2007scape, it's looking like the Evolution of Combat drama all over again. Remember that mess? The update that literally split RuneScape in two back in 2012?
Jagex jumped in pretty quick with the whole "guys, it's just a survey" line. They're saying there's no solid plans for ads or messing with basic features. But here's the thing - just floating these ideas has longtime players reaching for the logout button.
The timing's pretty wild too. MMOs are actually popping off right now, and RuneScape's been doing its own thing with that "one sub, two games" setup forever. Throwing that away? Doesn't exactly scream "reading the room."
Load up any RuneScape stream right now and you'll see the same thing - empty worlds and angry players. Between the ongoing account security headaches and customer support issues, this survey feels less like market research and more like the last straw.
No one knows if any of these changes will actually happen. But watching those usually packed worlds sitting empty? That's sending a pretty clear message about how the RuneScape community feels about subscription splits and tiered memberships.
For a game that's survived nearly 20 years of gaming history, this membership mess might be its biggest challenge yet. The real question isn't about subscription models anymore - it's about whether Jagex remembers what made RuneScape special in the first place.
