me

ME too, Feb 2001 Correct. I first started playing RuneScape back in February 2001. :shades:

According to the Official credits Andrew is Jagex's Lead Developer, Paul is a RuneScape Content Developer, and Ian is a Stellar Dawn Content Developer. Andrew works across most/all of Jagex's projects, probably mostly on the technical side.

Good times. Thanks for your article and nice meeting you at RuneFest Cabbage Man.

Cool. What's the address so I can try to get in on it?

Where have they asked people? Can anyone apply or only people who have been asked? Were you just the victim of a scam?

"Secret RuneScape device"?

This isn't Thirdscape. ThirdScape was cancelled as a standalone project by MMG and was integrated into RuneScape as Dungeoneering. The MMO mentioned in the OT is what we at Stellar Dawn Central (formerly MechScape World) call FourthScape and was first mentioned in an interview back in January 2010.

That's because the article is incorrect and Sony never invested in 2005, they nearly invested. In the end it was Insight Venture Partners who invested in October 2005. The article is just misleading but not incorrect, "Was willing" doesnt mean they have done it. Ah, I had assumed Omali was referring to the Massively article which incorrectly states "Ultimately, Jagex was able to parlay their success into an investment deal with Sony". The article from gamepolitics is indeed merely potentially misleading.

That's because the article is incorrect and Sony never invested in 2005, they nearly invested. In the end it was Insight Venture Partners who invested in October 2005.

If Jagex planned it all from the start that they'd pretend to make it cost money but that it'd actually be free then I can see why it would be valid to argue that it wasn't the best plan in terms of rewarding the most ardent players. However, Jagex have said that it was only later that they decided to refund people so I don't see any problem - it's a good gesture from Jagex and is of course looks good in publicity. And in terms of people not knowing the location I don't really see why that was a problem - Jagex made it clear it'd be a central London location and people won't need to be that close the to the venue unless they really hate waking up in the morning or something. In terms of the flag I'm more sympathetic but I find it hard to get riled up over it as I don't see it as any more unfair than non-tradable holiday items but I do think it would've been a good idea not to announce it until after the tickets had sold out so people couldn't get a ticket just for the flag. Disclaimer: I don't whether my views are biased by the fact that I am actually going to RuneFest.

Congratulations on achieving Platinum Fansite status! I first visited the site in the very early days and think you guys really deserve it for all the work you've put in over the years to ensure tip.it is a helpful fansite and a pleasant forum.

To quote the April iPhone live twitter Q&A in relation to games: "@MechScapeWorld We're definitely looking at Android and other mobile platforms but no firm plans as of yet. mod_juzzy" (source).

Good point Ring_World. Yes, the economy and combat is much more controlled than it used to be but there's also so much more to do. Generally when you are exploring a game for the first time it is more of an adventure as everything is new and the unknown can be very exciting. It's easy to think that changes to the game have made it lose its mojo, but in many ways it is just your familiarity with the game which makes you lose that sense of adventure. Plus when you're older you perhaps don't quite have the same feelings of wonderment as you once did, e.g. Christmas is no longer as exciting.

I reckon that Jagex's technology is pretty cutting edge and that we won't see what it's truly capable of until Stellar Dawn is released. And yes, they did re-brand Jagex to mean "Just About the Gaming Experience", probably because they've moved into publishing non-Java games and want to be flexible for the future (which isn't to say they are abandoning Java, just that they aren't limiting themselves to it).

Yes, I agree it is less focussed on Roleplaying than I anticipated. My four premises and two assumptions all seem to have been correct, but Jagex's implementation wasn't how I'd imagined it because the "Dungeon Master" trademark made me think more of D&D and thus roleplaying. Sure - credit where it's due ^_^.

I called it. Nice one!

I believe Evony's argument is that Evony LLC only has two or three employees and pretty much everything is licensed/sub-contracted. I guess the argument then moves onto whether the people who work for the other companies "count" as employees and/or whether Evony LLC are "affiliated" with those companies.

My understanding is that Gerhard made a written affidavit (signed statement under oath) and was then available via Skype for cross-examination. It seems like the nature of his statement, which amounted to just over a dozen paragraphs, was that in his professional opinion Evony would need more than nine employees to operate the game. This is significant as under Australian defamation law companies can't sue with the exception of "those not for profit or those with less than 10 employees and not affiliated with another company".

"Ren" is a handle of mine and the one I am best known by as I use it on MechScape World and other fan sites (hence why I use it in my signature). "Me" is my RuneScape account/display name and my display name on tip.it. I am not related to the tip.it user "ren".

Everyone who is part of the "instance" share the same experience but others don't. I believe this technique is already used in RuneScape in some quests and mini-games. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instance_dungeon for more details.

Yes, the implementation is key. I'm not sure of an awesome way for such a thing to be implemented in a unique way that integrates well with RuneScape, but if Jagex does then that's all the is required.

But if I'm right in WoW it isn't a skill and the players don't have control over the adventure (I've never played WoW).

Do you think singing/chanting would work as the game dynamic to a whole micro-transactional MMO and fit with the other premises?

More adventures = more xp = more levels = better quests.

The purpose of this thread is to present my guess on what the new skill is alongside my perhaps more useful evidence base. If you want the new skill to remain a complete surprise then don't read on. General Premises - Known Facts about the New Skill This section deals with three premises which should be taken into account by everyone who is trying to get an idea of what the new skill is The first premise is that the new skill is for both F2P and P2P (see evidence for second premise). The second premise is that the new skill is based on the key gameplay mechanic of the cancelled micro-transactional MMO ThirdScape, which means that whatever the new skill is it would have to work well as a gameplay dynamic behind an entire MMO. Evidence (RSOF QF 13-14-746-60289341, Mod MMG Q&A, question by The 39th Guy + MechScape Post #30 + statements like this one): The third premise is that it does not have to begin with "B" and is not sailing. Evidence (RSOF QF 13-14-745-60279545, Mod MMG Q&A): The fourth premise is that it is completely different to existing skills, current popular lines of thinking and nobody has done it before. Evidence (RSOF QF 13-14-745-60279545, Mod MMG Q&A): Specific Assumptions - Extrapolating from known information which might not be about the new skill The first assumption is that Jagex's trademarks for Never Ending, Infinite Dungeon and/or Dungeon Master relate to the new skill. Evidence: The first two were trademarked in March 2009 (source) prior to their announcement of ThirdScape's cancellation in May 2009 (source). Mod Korpz was asked if those two were related to FunOrb and said "Not to my knowledge, in truth I don't know why these are trade marked" (FOOF QF 7-8-674-36116). The second assumption is that Jagex's plan from March 2004 for "Randomly generated scenarios, where a new adventure is generated for you and your friends each time you go on it. Form an adventuring party and go on your own personal quest" (source) relates to the new skill. Evidence: None really, but as the game engine is shared between RuneScape and MechScape/Stellar Dawn it is possible that improvements made for one project has allowed for stuff in RuneScape which weren't previously feasible. The Roleplay / Dungeon Master theory - My guess on how it all ties together What could this mean? Well, possibly something to do with questing in instanced worlds which are generated dynamically. It would mean groups of players could go on custom dungeon quests, possibly with the skill being that needed for a game master to be able to control the adventure. As such the skill would be for the "dungeon master" or adventurer/roleplayer to be able to better control the adventure (maybe it'd allow more people in the adventure, higher level enemies, better loot, etc). This would also tie in with MMG's line that "the community would love this" as it is very community-focussed, but he could just have meant that players would like it. ...So, what are your thoughts on the premises, the assumptions and the resulting theory? I've tried to keep them separate so people can discuss the merits of the three separately and come up with their own ideas based on them.