Has Runescape "Jumped the Shark"?

[LeonardMart 0]

Maybe in a sense of their attitude. Before, they brought up updates and that was it. Now, they organise events, give prizes and make contests. While some things are good, I think they have adopted the typical commercial attitude of "We are great, buy us" that makes me think they have jumped the shark. Before, they just did what they had to do. Now they put everything as it was perfect and pink.

Not sure if I made my point, but that is it.

[Blyaunte 279]

Maybe in a sense of their attitude. Before, they brought up updates and that was it. Now, they organise events, give prizes and make contests. While some things are good, I think they have adopted the typical commercial attitude of "We are great, buy us" that makes me think they have jumped the shark. Before, they just did what they had to do. Now they put everything as it was perfect and pink.

Not sure if I made my point, but that is it.

So -- you're saying it seems more like "smoke and mirrors" as opposed to content?

[Sir_Squab 280]

Where have I seen this thread before . . .

 

Oh, I saw it here. Last week. And the week before. And every week before that since the birth of Runescape. No, Runescape is not dying, getting worse, etc, etc, etc. It's more fun than ever.

 

/thread

He never said anything about dying. The OP's post is regarding whether or not RS has reached it's peak. in other words, now that RS has been updated so fiercely can the game continue to improve or will it stagnate or slowly decline. Nothing about dying buddy.

 

and your post doesn't end this thread ROFL. This is a valid discussion among the people that understand the topic like me. For people like you it's just another doomsayer post on RS coming to an end.

 

Ah, I get it. So the OP is saying that Runescape has reached its peak and will now begin its steady decline into stagnation and desertion.

 

You're right. Definitely not a ROONSCAPE IS DYING OMFG thread. :rolleyes:

 

The OP is not saying this. at all and neither am I.

 

In your opinion the OP and I both believe that middle aged men of around fourty are DYING OMFG.

 

The game has passed its peak and will start to decline slowly, just like you are dying the second you are born.

 

Bladewing, what I mean by people like me understanding this thread is that this thread is not about how many people join/leave/return to the game but the quality of the game and the evolution of the game. Sure, more people can join everyday. Hell the population on Rs could double tomorrow and Jagex still jumped the shark because of the radical game changing updates that they have recently implemented. With the addition of the fact that there are no more skills that could fit into the game, the only remaining outlet for updates is quests but many people don't even give quests a second glance, and that questing is not a huge timetaker. In general what the OP and I are saying is that in terms of the quality of the game and the development of the game, The shark has been jumped.

 

Here is a great example.

 

The terminator movie series jumped the shark with T2 even though more revenue was made with the terrible sequal T3 (The decline after the shark jumping)

 

That's why you people dont understand this thread. That pretty much sums it up. And bladewing how bout you start making arguments instead of quoting me and making one word statements.

 

See, see, THIS is what I don't get. How can you claim that they've "jumped the shark" if the numbers go UP? The way I see it, they've jumped the shark when the ratio of players entering the game vs players leaving the game is about 1:1. It's declining if there are more players leaving the game then entering the game.

 

The only other option is if you subjectively classify what counts as "jumping the shark" based off of what you think of the new updates, etc, in which case I could probably make a case for RS2 being jumping the shark because of the change to the PVP system. Classic RS was declining, ergo JaGex made RS2. Insert biased/sentimental/nostalgic rant/argument here.

 

Oh and counter-argument to half the "jump the shark" stuff on this thread to prove it really depends on point of view:

 

10k give away. Obviously means Jagex can afford to throw that kind of money away, so they are.

Free Trade/Wilderness. China disallowing gold selling or Jagex actually being able to back their claim on the whole bot catching thing.

More events/Less actual content: This is Jagex actually taking more of an interest in their community, quite a positive thing.

 

I will admit though, free trade/wilde coming back could be argued as a potential sign of "jumping the shark," but the most supportive I think a rational person can be of that claim is it's simply too early to tell. Personally, I blame the free trade/wilde coming back on gold farming being banned in China and the 10k give away just compliments that. Assume that RuneScape hasn't jumped the shark and has simply reached a state where, for whatever reason, they can safely bring back free trade and the wilderness. Why in the hell would they NOT milk it for every single penny and new/return customer you can get out of it?

[Slayer_Jesse 23]

updates may have gotten generally smaller, but are still about the same quality. (medium low to medium high on a good day.) so unless we have a ton of climbing boots type updates in a row, we've got a ways untill the shark jumps and the fridge gets nuked.

[Blyaunte 279]

See, see, THIS is what I don't get. How can you claim that they've "jumped the shark" if the numbers go UP?

 

Because you don't understand the origins of the meme ...

 

When Fonzie jumped the shark on Happy Days, the programs that followed that episode lost a certain "quality".

 

After the shark jumping episode, the show itself remained immensely popular and lasted for six more seasons -- rating in the top 25 shows for 5 of those seasons. But after that particular program, there was a considerable drop in the quality of each of the programs. The focus of the show, itself, changed considerably after Ron Howard ("Richie") left the show. Then they spun off that awful "Joanie Loves Chachi" show ... :P

 

It's not that the game's numbers are declining, or its profitability, but rather the actual quality of additions and contributions made to the game of late.

 

The re-addition of Free Trade and the Wildy are not "new content" but rather a redux of old material. Not unlike Hollywood's current trend not to release any "new" or "risque" material, but rather offer up remixes, remakes and/or sequels of the same stupid movies, over and over and over again.

 

Looking back at the "quest arc" of the game, for example, there's been a serious decline in the quality of quest material since "While Guthix Sleeps". Nomad was something of an upswing in terms of "epic boss battle", but even that paled in comparison to WGS.

[Ginger_Warrior 689]

10k give away. Obviously means Jagex can afford to throw that kind of money away, so they are.

We'll be drawing 10 lucky winners each month throughout the year and entry couldn't be simpler: for each day in a given month that your account has membership credit, you'll automatically be given one entry into the prize draw. For those of you who aren't members, you can still enter for free by sending us a postcard, giving you one entry into the draw.

Why make it so leaned towards people who have given their money already? For the price of sending a postcard first class every day, you might as well buy one month's credit. The answer's pretty obvious: it's better from a commercial perspective to keep paying players hooked rather than players who don't contribute anything to the company other than ad revenue.

 

If they feel as though their membership credit is an investment which could earn $10,000, they'll stay. Question is, why don't Jagex trust the content of the game to do this already?

[iiLy 0]

10k give away. Obviously means Jagex can afford to throw that kind of money away, so they are.

We'll be drawing 10 lucky winners each month throughout the year and entry couldn't be simpler: for each day in a given month that your account has membership credit, you'll automatically be given one entry into the prize draw. For those of you who aren't members, you can still enter for free by sending us a postcard, giving you one entry into the draw.

Why make it so leaned towards people who have given their money already? For the price of sending a postcard first class every day, you might as well buy one month's credit. The answer's pretty obvious: it's better from a commercial perspective to keep paying players hooked rather than players who don't contribute anything to the company other than ad revenue.

 

If they feel as though their membership credit is an investment which could earn $10,000, they'll stay. Question is, why don't Jagex trust the content of the game to do this already?

Good question deserves a forum topic on its own, ill go start one.

[Ts_Stormrage 66]

I'll tell you when RS 'jumped the shark', and I'm quite sure most of you will agree with me:

 

Jumping the Shark (or Nuking the Fridge) is when "a particular production effort has surpassed its relevance and reached a point of decline in quality that it is incapable of recovering from". (direct wikiquote)

 

I believe I first felt that RuneScape had started to go down this path of lesser quality updates when they felt they had to update the ever-popular-due-to-its-simplicity minigame that almost everyone has played at some point:

 

[spoiler=Click here to get your mind blown]Castle Wars

 

 

/thread

[Ginger_Warrior 689]

...I miss 2006 CW. :-(

 

http://www.runescape...d/themed_worlds

 

"You don't have to do these things in these worlds, but you might find it both easier and more enjoyable to do so - imagine a game of Castle Wars with over a thousand other people!"

Why-oh-why? What was wrong with thirty people per team...?

[lagatag 0]

People say RS is dead or will die every update, for the past 8 years...

[iiLy 0]

People say RS is dead or will die every update, for the past 8 years...

 

Once again somebody fails to realize the actual discussion on this thread....

 

Its about quality of the game not the amount of people playing it.

[Will H 46]

Is it really possible to judge that while the game is still going strongly in terms of numbers of players? People come and go, very little of the players nowadays are the people who joined, and they may have become more mature or later on left to be replaced with less mature players. Runescape could have 'jumped the shark' multiple times for all we know, for an MMO the concept doesn't apply. There is no shark.

 

EDIT: Is 'Nuking the Fridge' a reference to that Indiana Jones travesty of a film?

[Fools_Taco 1]

 

 

Was that the last attempt of a company hoping to stop the rot though? I'm not so sure. The thing is, we all know 120 skillcapes are coming. I can picture a scenario where Jagex don't add any content from 100-120, they just release the skillcapes as another achievement to tick off the list. In which case, they're clearly using it as a hook to keep the players who have already maxed out or are near that stage from leaving. That would be the last act for me, but it hasn't come yet.

 

 

That would cause even more people to quit. maxing out could only be done by a handful of people. Setting the bar THAT high would make even powergamers give up. You do realize that its a very small section of the runescape community that has maxed out.

 

120 in all skills would be like maxing out 7 times over currently. It would be impossible for any normal person to do.

 

Back on topic. I dont think they have jumped the shark. I have been playing MMORPGs for well over a decade and this is the FIRST TIME EVER i have seen a development team admit the screwed up and rolled back the changes they made. It just dosent happen. Usually large sweeping changes like what they did with fair trade are perminant. Developers never admit when they are wrong.

 

This was a breath of fresh air. Now we know if they screw the pooch on a future update they have the shuzpa to take their lumps, listed to the players and do what needs to be done.

 

I applaud what they did.

 

Oh ya and the only MMORPG i can think of that has ever closed up shop was horizons.

 

Ultima online is still up and running and people still play diablo 2 and everquest.

 

 

Runescape wont close the doors for decades. There will always be people willing to play and there will always be people re subbing for the nostaliga. Even i get the itch and fire up everquest for a month or two every so often.

[Bladewing 1]

however it would be very possible for 7 normal people to do

[Uzamak1 0]

Hey ob, how's it going?

 

I'm at work still, but later you can have your divine back, cos i got my Pernix top now :D

[Uzamak1 0]

They need to introduce a Slayer monster that requires a level of 125 to kill, and drops a chestplate that is a combination of pernix, torva and the mage thing, with a second special bar, that, when activated, allows your next hit to be power by stone of Jas and ignores all defence and prayers :-)

[Uzamak1 0]

Then i'll get one, sell it to Woox16, so he can solo that bad girl under GWD.

[iiLy 0]

Then i'll get one, sell it to Woox16, so he can solo that bad girl under GWD.

Its called an edit button on your OP, and furthermore this is an actual discussion thread, if you feel like saying random things then go make a random things thread.

[Bladewing 1]

Then i'll get one, sell it to Woox16, so he can solo that bad girl under GWD.

Its called an edit button on your OP, and furthermore this is an actual discussion thread, if you feel like saying random things then go make a random things thread.

Good question deserves a forum topic on its own, ill go start one.

[Low C 49]

Then i'll get one, sell it to Woox16, so he can solo that bad girl under GWD.

Its called an edit button on your OP, and furthermore this is an actual discussion thread, if you feel like saying random things then go make a random things thread.

Good question deserves a forum topic on its own, ill go start one.

 

Please do.

[Nathaninch 0]

Thread has jumped the shark

[iiLy 0]

Then i'll get one, sell it to Woox16, so he can solo that bad girl under GWD.

Its called an edit button on your OP, and furthermore this is an actual discussion thread, if you feel like saying random things then go make a random things thread.

Good question deserves a forum topic on its own, ill go start one.

 

I dont see a question here???

[la la la 22]

Just because you've grown out of it doesn't mean that RS has lost its luster to everyone. When you quit playing with action figures, did you decide that action figures had "jumped the shark" and would only go downhill from there? Obviously not - the next generation will fill in where we leave off.

[Ts_Stormrage 66]

EDIT: Is 'Nuking the Fridge' a reference to that Indiana Jones travesty of a film?

 

Yes

[Pirkka 63]

RuneScape jumped the shark when EvilPrayers were deleted.