Old School Runescape Timeline (2013-2023)

Hey guys, in this video I attempt to give an accurate general timeline of events from old school Runescape's inception in 2013 to present day 2023. I hope I did a halfway decent job, and I know I forgot a few things (as with most videos covering large stretches of content).
Discord: / discord
Sources:
Graphs and population information
www.misplacedi...
Other sources are listed on screen where applicable.

[@therunescapehistorian]

Discord: discord.gg/DZS39S5Fxj I know I missed a few things: Motherlode mine, the clue expansions which released beginner, elite, and master clues, and the steam release. I'm sure there are more things that I missed which will be obvious to some (its to be expected in content using information spanning a decade or so). Apologies for that! Also the record of 172k players or so that hasn't been surpassed yet was referring to OSRS, not Runescape in general where player peaks hit over 200k multiple times in the past.

[@tomerik112]

Damn, The Historian actually looks like he is from 2003 himself.

[@TheSethywethy]

That was the first thing I noticed lol. :) with the Justin Bieber hair and everything

[@shottysteve]

very cool to see the avg player count per quarter to put into perspective how each update affected player count. great job!

[@Koshaan]

new dust 2 boys

[@lukegrim3858]

What I want to know is how many of those "average players" are bots. Like yes OSRS is more popular than RS3 but they also have a MUCH worse botting problem

[@ivanmilat6775]

Wake up babe, the rs historian just uploaded

[@therunescapehistorian]

Loool

[@Kreptic]

Okay honey

[@fieldmousefarms]

Good significant other you got there.

[@chrispeters1020]

My ex girlfriend used to watch runescape videos with me. She had no clue what was going on & thought the game looked stupid but she would still watch.

[@brandonmunsen6035]

Ew someone kill me

[@Joshybabee]

Everytime I start playing this game I go harder and harder. I look back thinking I was grinding, yet I was a mere rookie. I’m addicted af.

[@therunescapehistorian]

same, same.

[@JohnPoopsTV]

Great video. I remember disliking the graphical updates in 2008, I wasn't so upset about the Wilderness like everyone else back then because I wasn't a major pker, but it definitely made the game feel less dangerous, and the risk vs reward just wasn't there anymore. I hated free trade restrictions the most because my friends and I often gifted things to each other. I played for a bit longer til about 2012 where I just stopped playing competitively overall. The EOC is what made me switch off entirely and at that point the game was already beyond unrecognisable. It just wasn't RuneScape anymore, but rather a WoW clone. I'm so glad OSRS happened.

[@ollyve5070]

?x ? ?? X

[@_Professor_Oak]

It wasn't just wildy, they took away free trade too. Jagex are honestly pretty lucky their game bounced back at all.

[@BluebortOSRS]

I had exactly the same experience with EOC, I just switched off at that point!

[@JohnPoopsTV]

@@_Professor_Oak Yep, like I said sucked for a lot of us because my friends and I often gifted each other things. Shame that these game changing updates punished us for doing nothing wrong.

[@lightbusta9255]

Great video. I started in summer 2007 and watched all the updates that slowly killed the game. Found out about osrs in 2015 and still playing today. There’s a ton of content I haven’t experienced yet.

[@kylethedalek]

So the new content? But you said those new updates where killing them game?

[@wazup3333]

​@@kylethedalekI think he's saying he didn't like the updates but for some reason he likes 2 year old "osrs" however I don't know why he likes osrs in its current state if that's the case

[@chewybacaking]

I was there on release in 2013. Sitting on campus at my college's chick-fil-a. Sweet tea and chicken minis on hand... what a glorious morning.

[@reginald6451]

I could only imagine

[@k2a2l2]

u just keep putting out bangers non stop

[@therunescapehistorian]

[@TheBossOcats]

nice job, love the level of depth to this one. really puts into scale the updates i missed before i got hooked again in 2017 haha

[@austinwilburn1772]

I remember seeing a chart of the Sub count of the day EoC. I have Never seen a chart show a 90* angle, going down, before. Like it make a perfect pixel line straight down.

[@sethshaw4830]

Love the nostalgia trips your vids give me and interesting info. Great as always brother!

[@thepossieguy]

glad you mentioned 2006scape, seems to get brushed over a bunch in these types of videos

[@_Professor_Oak]

I remember this! It was probably the most popular private server right? 🤣

[@therunescapehistorian]

Agreed!

[@therunescapehistorian]

​@@_Professor_Oak to my knowledge yeah

[@chrissypoo69]

I literally saw a vid on these yesterday out of nostalgia. Perfect timing for this release!!

[@demon10205]

Absolutely amazing video! Also, I loved hearing Stella being called a, “known scammer” :)

[@SkyStream-lu4jk]

The sad part is... them adding things to 07 ruined it for me :(

[@att6att]

2006scape was goated. Ps. FUCK MOD VAULT

[@Gills420]

i love it when you come back to making time lines and how jagex destroyed our childhoods lmao!

[@therunescapehistorian]

haha

[@TheDylan4755]

Wow best Rs vid i have scene in awhile! Very good thank you!!!!

[@catlover5998]

Thank you for the video I started old school RuneScape three days ago I'm having fun so far and the people have been friendlyer than the experience I had with rs3.

[@Free_BMJ]

We need another old old old school

[@zfatjesus]

Some of this timeline is wild how much it stands out from eachother. "Woox got an inferno cape that was pretty dope, there was a homophobic riot in the streets of Gielinor, oh and then revanant caves dropped :)"

[@TylerPutnam2.0]

My first time actually seeing what you look like, good video too 👏

[@j_mes]

3:40 I never thought I'd see Vault's manuscripts on youtube. There was so much controversy on Rune-Server, Moparscape, Runelocus & every other forum that shared the same members across outdated forum websites, I hope one day someone will offer serious awareness for the work blakeman8192 & Graham have done to make the memories we've all shared for a decade. I mean it too, there's a history that has been completely overlooked by our community; EOC pushed a lot of us into this side of the game no one acknowledges

[@Nerbss]

Brilliant video. Super interesting with great pacing and attention to detail. Thank you for the content!

[@datube5913]

Yowza that haircut… 😂 TONIGHT WILL BE THE NIGHT THAT I WILL FALL FOR YOU

[@VGInterviews]

This is a great video to send to people who vote "no" to any update without even reading the posts about them because "keep OSRS oldschool'"

[@chrisjferro7808]

The whole addition of runelite and 3rd party clients i think also contributed to the player counts rising drastically, mostly due to the QOL they offered, also i think twitch and content creators on youtube really got a lot of players invested as well as influenced a lot of what jagex did and their direction with the game

[@luisgarza4410]

Fire mod trident

[@descuddlebat]

I'm fairly new to the game still, this is really helpful for forming an image of the game's state and health

[@InfurnalBork]

A big reason why I imagine the release didn't get so much players/staying power was.. so many didn't know it came out, thought it was a private server deal, and had moved away from Runescape News areas like myself. I had no clue it came out until much later around the mobile release. Some issues I could see was as soon as player count drops it was harder to get items/sell items and reduce scams.

[@wazup3333]

Another reason is, it didn't come out with f2p and no mobile app too long ( how are they suppose to get new players?)

[@Catrenza]

Great job. Love this

[@chrisbrister4250]

Good video really enjoyed it! very interesting

[@treesplzz2505]

i call bullshit on randomly finding a backup from 07, im sure they have backups from all years

[@RSxMVxSN]

I remember boaty had his one man army series or whatever it which was his iron man mode before iron man mode came out. That had to be the big reason jah ex brought into into the game. A LOT of people were watching that back in the day.

[@tronwah]

So weird to think that the release of EOC worked out

[@CODxxPROxx]

Honestly even tho the rs timeline is a bit overdone this has a alot of details passed over in the usuals great content as always brother wish u well

[@fakerzdan]

funny that 60 percent said that they dont want pride events in the game yet they continue to do it to this day.

[@stefanabramian5038]

This video about to blow up, and I’m here for it

[@SmokinSkillerz]

You’re joining history yourself buddy. Out here doing God’s work.

[@nerdicusdorkum2923]

Lol! That Gerhard Quest 2 thing has got to be one of the most stereotypically British things I have seen in a while. Only thing that was missing was tea and crumpets with a picture of the queen on the wall. Oh, and hilarious!

[@djjordan9696]

Wintertodt the most intellectual and thought provoking conversations in all of osrs 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@delagoldx6013]

I wish they would do a new 2007 server. I know the complications that come with it, but this makes me wish I was around to experience it in 2013 :(

[@brolidis]

2013 it was wonderful till G.E come out, after that my personal interest and enjoyment fell. Sr bad english

[@delagoldx6013]

@@brolidis I get it buddy :)

[@dannysha6458]

Same here, I quit rs in 2010-2011 then when osrs dropped I remember my friend began playing it and singing it’s praises but I was 17 in my highschool party phase and didn’t play many games at that time in my life, so I missed out.

[@wazup3333]

​@@brolidisSame man. Played like 2 weeks after release, first 3 years of osrs was the best. Quit shortly after ge. Not the same. Looking at the current state it's just pre eoc. Lol the only thing "old-school" is the graphics. Everyone using their hack clients. I Remember Flipping rune scimitars 5-10k each and getting hooked to merchanting moving up to the god tier items at the time (whips, d chain, dfs, etc) quit shortly after ge. Nothing about osrs is old-school anymore. All old-school items are useless. All updates cater to the top 1% players that play too much to begin with. What stunted osrs growth after release imo, was not releasing f2p, bots, too late with mobile app and catering to elite playerbase as opposed to getting new players. Perhaps a toggle graphical improvement to attract new players. Apparently the 07 version of rs doesn't have enough content. We can thank sparc Mac for him pushing 24/7 on stream and KZbin to get the ge poll passed.

[@Mercules77]

You sound EXACTLY like a dude that does car story videos on Facebook and I really just need you to confirm or deny if you're him.

[@ChaseLancaster]

Such an underrated channel.

[@BilllFisher]

Still to this day, the greatest petition I’ve ever signed. Solidarity brothers!

[@xvvxvvxvvx4804]

Great video. The average player count is really interesting, thanks for including that in. It does worry me that EoC is currently on 22k players, that seems incredible low when you factor in bots too? If EoC was to die, I wonder what would happen to OSRS

[@BamBuddhaBigger]

I enjoy your vids alot, very wellput. Nr 2 OSRS youtuber for sure

[@therunescapehistorian]

Tyty

[@kek7159]

I came back to RuneScape after a 6 year hiatus in 2020 after playing for 8 years prior and didn't start playing osrs until 2022 fully and this video is blowing my mind 🤣🤣 damn I didn't know some of this content was that old

[@dk9]

What hat is that? I think I had the same one! Also, great videos! Thanks for the content!

[@BanjoGate]

Great video!

[@Zack-dv6rz]

miss your osrs classic series

[@thenewworldiscomming5884]

Great video once again

[@cjwsolo]

i like your self portrait in the background very hot

[@meangrizzgreen]

It's true I had 4 or 5 99's on before i quit after EOC came out. I finally came back and now I'm on old-school.

[@kiptaylor3567]

Great stuff m8

[@wentoneisendon6502]

Love your content

[@Kindofsavvy]

I see one thing that hasn't updated was your hairstyle 😂. Love the vids btw.

[@sygos]

22:19 2 years later still no official RuneScape HD, still barely even any official Runescape plugins lol. Jagex is going the same path as in 2008 ignoring player polls, adding in unpolled content, and telling players they're not welcome if they don't support one specific event.

[@wazup3333]

Hopefully we can get another 07 reset in a few a years or so

[@zoox101]

I had that exact hairstyle you have in like 2008 as well

[@leosi5888]

And here iam hoping they will also put some love in rs3

[@fuzzypurp1386]

3:40 it actually had close to 800k registered users by that time. trust me i remember

[@IAmStayingAnonymous]

In a weird way I kind if wish old school never got the GE

[@robotwars666]

nice video :) and about eoc it sucked alot for the first few years nowadays its alright if it was like how its now expect later released abilty's i wouldn't have received as bad as it was because yeah back in 2012 i hated it alot too

[@steve8802]

00:00 don't jump scare me like that

[@ivycutler1907]

They need to get better customer service and also bring back dungeoneering!!!

[@dannysha6458]

I know alot of people liked dungeoonerring but a lot of people hated it to so I think it’s better that it stay dead

[@wazup3333]

Dungeoneering is not old-school

[@YellowTissueBox]

awesome video

[@xCoffeeNWeedx]

i hesitated with osrs because i didnt want to start over. I dpent my childhood on my character..... Took me a year or so to really invest my time into osrs. Hardley touched rs3 since it released.

[@jcthivierge6623]

Twisted league 2 is what got me back in

[@martinzendejas8423]

I think that one thing I will always remember are the songs.

[@Ninehusss]

I remember the trading post it was a straight copy of the trading post in the old Ikov private servers 😅

[@markjefferies2544]

Love it!

[@offgridRC]

damn and i never finished F2p content in 07. I got a lot of catching up to do.

[@SinDragon]

Ayo let’s go!!!🎉🎉

[@HughWanztino]

i switched from rs3 to osrs full time in 2017 because of mobile

[@guitarbass22]

I’ve said this once, I’ll say it a million times. I’ll scream it from the mountains if I have to. Jagex. Is. Stupid. They are dense. They are not a good company, and the fact that they can be compared with how 343I has handled Halo is 1000% NOT a compliment. This has been proven time and time and time and time again over the years. Lol. But in the case of OSRS, someone in the company had a brain. The original dip in player count after the novelty of OSRS wore off could have been all the proof they needed to justify shutting down the game, shelving it, and telling the player base, “Well, I guess you didn’t want it that badly! Look at how low your numbers are! If you truly don’t want us investing into this game, then good riddance!” But, what did they do? The complete total opposite. lol. They worked to make the game better, add original content, improve it, and went from a dedicated team of 2-5 people to a whole heckuva lot more. In a lot of ways, OSRS has redominated itself as RuneScape in general, with 3 being what pales in its shadow. So of all the stupid things Jagex has done since 2001, culminating in the release of EOC and all the bs that has happened since, the hands down smartest thing they’ve ever done was OSRS, and realizing it’s potential beyond just the player counts. “If you build it, they will come,” and oh boy is that true for OSRS.

[@wazup3333]

I like your 343 halo reference, but I have to disagree with osrs. The game is not old-school anymore. It's pre eoc, which has led to pretty much the entire rs3 playerbase transferring into old-school. Rather than have updates catering to the elite players that play too much to begin with, they should have tried getting new players. 07 was released barebones without f2p, bot support, etc... The current state of game is too overwhelming and op. I hope and anticipate another 07 version reset being released in another 5 or so

[@AbduCola]

15:05 slayed me 😂

[@bugsbugsbugsbugsbugsbugsbugs]

i only play deadman now bc its like easy scape plus hardscape its fun

[@BloodDripss]

the only thing id like to see return that was in pre eoc is item lending. ill never be rich enough to afford a tbow, and ill certainly never meet anyone willing to loan me one on trust alone. i really enjoyed getting lended a rune 2h back when it was like 75k and i was too broke to even afford a full set of armor.

[@wazup3333]

Well that's why those items shouldn't be in the game anyway. The game is unhealthy. The actual 07 osrs had a pretty good economy and wealth distribution. The best piece of armor was d chain at 10m, dfs 25m. If we add gwd it pushes that a bit further.

[@birdbrid9391]

forgot about sowr3cked lol. dude got gigacancelled

[@PkersDemise]

Quest speed running?

[@socratesAurelio]

Great video. I just hope jagex wont fuck this again with sailing or bounty hunter / new op items - fucking nerf korasi it should have a smaller accuracy

[@unknownodin]

Does anyone wonder if EOC was like newcoke

[@daltonhayhurst8501]

You do realize old school RuneScape goes back to 07

[@doughnutholer]

yes ???

[@HawkAnomaly]

OLD SCHOOL Runescape is a brand name of runescape. OSRS didnt exist in 2007. it was created in 2013 for the playerbase that didnt want to play EOC Runescape

[@wazup3333]

​@@HawkAnomalyand "Osrs" in 2024 is actually a piece of garbage pre eoc

[@kylehanz1230]

YES

[@TheBaldster]

The hat is real

[@NaikmeansTruy]

Notification squad

[@ninizeldav7174]

Yeah !

[@hussein1361]

best time i play runescape in 2012 need jagex make 2012 runescape

[@wazup3333]

Osrs in 2024 is basically 2012 rs lol it sucks

[@jordanatkin6607]

So people complained about eoc and asked for the return of on old version of the game and then when they got that, they didn’t play as the game was dead asf in the first few months 😂😂

[@Litepaw]

Wtf you look just like me

[@Borchert97]

I’m upset Jagex canceled the new Prayers. I was looking forward to truly embracing RuneScape 2’s pre-EoC era with something similar to Curses but Jagex is simply too afraid to powercreep anything.

[@applesauce8902]

The pride event being removed is still pretty sad. great video though, I eat this shit up.

[@matheus-kirchesch]

Having people defend this bullshit is pretty sad, it goes to show there are human beings so stupid that they struggle to understand the difference of things, how to separate stuff. Nobody cares for what you do with your a**hole you little maggot.

[@Tuatha_De_Gaming]

Gotta love bigots

[@Tuatha_De_Gaming]

@@matheus-kirchesch Actually commit. Your homophobic shit isn't welcome. "Maggot" say what you really feel, tiny dick.

[@Tuatha_De_Gaming]

@@matheus-kirchesch Homophobes like you don't deserve to live

[@darksile]

No reason for that stuff to be in video games. Get over it

[@mi6hael690]

Yayyy

[@Lakobas]

Ah now that's the homophobic gaming community we've grown to love! Bruh we've grown up we can handle a little politics in our game bunch of babies

[@RiseAgainstDisciple]

New release w/o ge is the only resolution

[@KasaneRS]

😊

[@jeffhough7460]

There seems to be an insane 😢number of toxic/racist/hateful people in rs especially the past 5-10 years I don't understand the constant hate and cognitive dissonance/ bias that is more and more frequently manifesting in my old home

[@dannysha6458]

As someone who played in 2006-2011 there was plenty of toxic players in game from assholes to scammers

[@hcironman9196]

I bet there is an increase in toxicity as the internet gets older, and as the game gets less casual and more intense. Also, I bet it's easier to notice toxicity when you're older and wiser compared to when you're young and hopeful.

[@goobah1389]

Welcome to the internet.

[@jeffhough7460]

@@hcironman9196 truth

[@warchiefv5207]

wish this was old school still, hasnt been for years :(

[@harrylane4]

If this has taught me anything, it’s that OSRS players will riot over the dumbest stuff.