20 years of MMO history comes full circle as Old School RuneScape reveals official "community servers" that give players "full control over gameplay modifiers"
Sep. 7, 2024The ghost of Moparscape, is that you?
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MMOs and private servers go together like peanut butter and legally questionable jelly, and few MMOs can match RuneScape, now the resurrected and retrofitted Old School RuneScape, for the sheer volume and variety of unofficial fan-made variants. These “private servers” usually boiled down to amuchfaster way to obtain rare items and high levels compared to the actual game, but they came in all shapes and sizes, from imbalanced PvP badlands that had worse economies than the 1930s, to serious role-playing and quest hubs that were legitimately thoughtfully designed.
The most iconic RuneScape private server may be Moparscape, its 2000s-tinged black-and-white launch screen ingrained in the minds of countless OSRS players. If I shut my eyes,I can still see the car. But we may see a new server claim the throne in the years ahead, because OSRS developer Jagex has just revealed official “community servers” under the banner of Project Zanaris, which would give the MMO’s player base “full control” over the rules of the game.
A Summer Summit blurb additionally teases ways to “search and play different experiences” and “recreate beloved game modes or invent your own.” It also reiterates that “you make the rules,” hinting at the hands-on approach to iteration and creation.
The main game is due for some major updates of its own. Speaking of Leagues and Deadman Mode, Leagues 5: Raging Echoes promises “a new system that gives greater control of your battle buffs,” as well as souped-up superbosses with new mechanics and better loot, all set for late November. One idea from Deadman Mode is slithering into the mainline game, too: inspired by the “breaches” in the latest Deadman, the world boss “Wrathmaw” is coming to the Wilderness in November.
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