Who was the first RuneScape player?

Nearly 300 million accounts ago, one player was the first to ever sign up to RuneScape and explore the world of Gielinor. But exactly who was this mystery player, and for how long did they stick around?
Massive thanks to CS1 for co-writing, NYChannel for the epic art, July the RS Historian for information and ImRubic for some epic gif-ing of RS gameplay.
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::::::: DISCLAIMER :::::::
I do not own Runescape or Jagex. The game can be played at www.runescape.com
Music by Jagex
/ yannvids (Player-made library)
Outro artwork by Hyper Stan
hyper-stan.devi...

[@rswillmissit]

A source in touch with Paul Gower contacted me after seeing the video and informed the the first 10 players on the list are all alpha testers. This means the first "real" player should actually be Ice Sabre!

[@MrMark28]

Wow, that’s nutty

[@dsouza8015]

So that makes Ashley the 2nd player? She's still very active!

[@Disgruntled_Asshat]

If you look them up on osrs high scores they appear to be missing a couple of skills like att, str, and def

[@cubesquared2291]

Who is the source? Any validity check?

[@rswillmissit]

@@cubesquared2291 The source is a legitemate source, though I had it confirmed with Paul himself afterwards.

[@brownehawk7744]

Was 15 in 2001 when I first played this. Just a few hundred people on the server. Still remember thinking to myself "oh man, must be 20 or more players on my screen!" Was cool just to be playing a game with so many people on a server. Cable internet becoming more available also made it pretty awesome.

[@rich667]

me too... except i was 13.. i mostly walked around asking people for free shit and my mom shouting at me to stop blocking the phone line... it all ended when I gave a friend my password and i lost my account. I do remember discovering that rainbow flashing txt shit.. and thinking it was amazing.

[@brownehawk7744]

@@rich667 Moms were the worst when it comes to getting that teenage game time in.

[@oooqlala8141]

Do you remember there was like 4 or 6 servers and you'd log out to log on the one with the most people lol... I remember seeing wow 56 people are logged on world 1 let's go!" .. this before the wildy days so you could just PK ANYWHERE right outside lumby lol

[@NKBlazer]

I always wondered if the first to sign up for things are ever aware of what they achieved.

[@p0rkypoo]

I'm on the list (towards the end) but still love the game dearly.

[@cameron.t]

My dude, all of humanity is built on saying “first.” Before comments could be left, there were less gracious ways of doing so... 😂

[@Serph..]

@Jebus Bhrist a war is about to start

[@dustyowl99]

achieved is the wrong word lol

[@spencerd6126]

Headcannon: superman3434 and Superman are the same person, and he just didn’t realize the name was available

[@OrangeYTT]

But he was active on both at the same time?

[@Kevster5]

Your content has been top notch recently, this stuff is amazing - I always love hearing about stories, achievements and the game's history. Keep up the amazing work my man!

[@rswillmissit]

Thank you so much!

[@XxEmptyAbyss87xX]

I agree I stumbled on his videos by algorithm and it's some high quality content and it feels so well researched.

[@MomThemeatloaf89]

Man seeing that loading screen takes me back... Almost 20 years later and I still love this game!

[@joecoolio6303]

That old login screen gave me chills

[@Beckwourth]

I am about 99% sure the dude who made superman3434 was like wait what am i doing! And instantly created Superman after.

[@somemong989]

But then we'd see Superman right after it.

[@jacobburr3570]

Lllooooll true!! X)

[@rogueObscura]

@@somemong989 Superman does come right after it in the clip.

[@duck5336]

I remember when having a D long in a F2P world was THE biggest flex of all time. Anything red for that matter was deemed cool as hell.

[@pcbangbros8350]

Dragon Chain Mail and Santahat. If you dared to have a prayer cape on top of that, you were THE GOAT.

[@petarjuric5828]

@@pcbangbros8350 Nah before skillcapes the Legends cape was the shit!

[@thebook2335]

love the editing in this one. Great stuff man

[@rsnW_X_L]

interesting video! Just looked up Mutant Mount, and they are actually still on the hiscores as a member with about 5m total xp. would be sick if it's actually them.

[@LiveTwinReaction]

I remember talking to him in pm's (the rsn was Rab so it was him) around 2013 or so. Cool guy. Irrelevant but I was standing in castle wars lobby at the time lol. I was more surprised that he logged on at all and replied.

[@GameDevRogie]

Love it Will! I learned a bunch from this too, interesting stuff.

[@Chxnces11]

I love your videos. They bring me back to the good days. No bills.. no deadbeat job... just.. waking up and hopping on Runescape.. skilling and questing with my friends.. some I met in game. We use to make RSMV's.. or.. we tried 😄

[@theskuge]

I quit Runescape and OSRS a few years ago but love these kind of vids. Keep it up!

[@NvrFinal]

Next year my account will hit 20 years. Just came back to the game not too long ago. Classic will always hit the hardest for me. Great memories

[@jacobburr3570]

Wow that's awesome dude! What are you doing in oars rite now? Cool that you came back to visit!

[@p0rkypoo]

I'm on the list of the first 2000 and still play :) Few breaks in-between but always come back

[@jacobburr3570]

Heck yeah that's so cool!! Do you play rs3 now?

[@TelxRS]

I love these type of videos. So interesting!

[@rswillmissit]

Not as interesting as YOUR FACE OOOOOOH

[@TelxRS]

Oh, stahp it!

[@jacobburr3570]

@@TelxRS you gotta admit tho... He did getcha :^)

[@miltonwarrenjr5486]

Currently fucking up my KZbin algorithm

[@00monkeydude001]

RS3 character creation is nightmare fuel.

[@Wildm0use]

Didn't expect to see Chris Hansen in this video wow

[@_nom_]

Wherever there's kids and strangers, Chris Hansen is just around the corner.

[@trank3517]

Always excited to see videos from early RS, hope you will make more! :) maybe if something interesting happened when RS2 released?

[@rswillmissit]

I have surprisingly little to pick from in the 04-era... I wish I had more!

[@stormynn]

Your content continues to impress. Awesome job Will!

[@ryanfischer4004]

I love these story styled vids! Especially with the nostalgic music!

[@ImEmix]

45 seconds into the video: "we will see how rab was the first to step into runescape" me: oh ok... well that answered my question.

[@BeyondThaDeepWoods]

i love that your channel has recently blown up! keep up the good work, these videos are awesome and I hope you can make more of these interesting themed videos! hopefully your channel becomes more successful :-)

[@elibrooks1662]

Superman3434 realized after making his account, "I could have left off the 3434..." and made a new one

[@thepiedish903]

Dude you just set out not only to take us down memory lane. But you cannoned balled us down it with the AIM sounds. Well played sir.

[@_-HK-_]

It must really be a weird experience to be on of those first 100 or so players in an MMORPG. Massive world, but only a few players and you know most of them simply because they're the only ones there. In that sense, it's kind of unfortunate that most games, that end up becoming anything, now launch to thousands if not millions of players on day one.

[@jestonxi6391]

yeah the slow buildup is the key to longevity than the normal blowout

[@str82lumbridge36]

who remembers the clan messiah gange pking you on the road to varock back when it was pvp everywhere but banks. who remembers that you could kill all the guards and pk in the bank too.

[@jacobburr3570]

I don't but that sound really funny x)

[@Cyb3ric]

I used to be in the sabre clan, I remember that I had to create a new account with the name "Sabre" as a suffix after my nickname. Damn we were cool back then. :D

[@deussalt8108]

I was never in the clan but i remember seeing them and wondering why the hell they all had sabre in their name. I didn't know what clans were back then.

[@tomwarner1070]

What was your sabre name? I'm sabre chilli, I was in TS for 8 years

[@jpesicka492]

I remember when I started it must have been around 2006. There was runescape classic and runescape 2.0. I come back 15 years later and its old school runescale or runescape 3.0. Simplicity always wins.

[@xkhokokox]

Aaah yes finally, I've been looking forward to this video! Amazing!

[@brettellis5840]

Pretty cool to play Open RuneScape Classic these days. Open source for the past two and a half years and has an authentic world to pick from. Even two bot-friendly worlds.

[@StickFiguresMaster]

and only a new of years ago (less then 10) Jagex gained 200 Million accounts, that is wild that in a bit less then 10 years, they would someday have almost 300 million accounts. So many runescape players I used to be friends with in the game although quit, there is still a few that have played all the way back from 2006 up until now, I took 2 pics of being in the duel arena with a friend of mine at it, 2 days before it was going to be replaced. I was trying to get a last day until replaced picture, but I was concerned about forgetting to do that lol, so I have an image that has 2 screen captures added together. We said "Bye duel arena" in the 2 images

[@Phulesmith]

Subbed..RSC dude. I remember the old times. man lots of flashbacks in this video. So many familiar names.

[@surebrecdnuoh2774]

I bet Rab 1st used his name in old school arcade machines hiscore list

[@raymondsykes2954]

There's a LOT of firsts in this game, but you can never replace the first player of the game. They had no idea what they where logging In to or even that it mattered to be the first in a very low player count game (player count of 0). Only for it to be such a historic moment in all of our lives 10-15 years later.

[@ColeHastings]

God Tier editing

[@23mrcash]

Great video

[@robotwars666]

Awesome video my man keep on going the great work :) realy love to see things about the begings of runescape

[@nickywh1t3]

i started runescape in 2001 and what you all call runescape classic is the real runescape to me.

[@82spoon82]

It's f****** weird 20 years later seeing your name on a high scores list from a game you played in 2002

[@2pacisdagoat213]

Glad i found this channel love videos like this subbed and keep it up Peace :)

[@odiumimbues]

if RS1 had that camera view, it wouldve been dope!

[@danb596]

an absolute legend i grew up with said his mum was friends with Andrew and being the only person with herbalism before "runescape 2" ( known as "classic Runescape" today) i always beleive him and even tho im not 10 years old anymore i honestly still believe him idk its the only "my dad worked at nintendo" story i still believe. he was die hard playing the game for years by the time i got into highschool

[@talkinghead00]

He spittin

[@LegacyFTW]

So technically, “Everdread” 99 wc guy had to cut 2150 logs every day for 8 months. Manageable :p

[@leethenpc7683]

Honestly? He probably botted.

[@LegacyFTW]

@@leethenpc7683 this was well before that kind of thing was going on

[@drewbleooble2588]

@@LegacyFTW well before anyone KNEW it was going on

[@VoicesFromTheDark]

I love this type of content, keep it up 😍🔥

[@adrianerickson153]

So was it Rab's big brain that also came up with putting anvils 1000000 miles away from furnaces?

[@jacobburr3570]

Lmao

[@niikasd]

Actually there is a mistake. Until fletching was released, woodcutting xp worked on the following formula: 25+(level*1.75) At level 80 you gained 165 XP per log. It was made much slower after new trees were released and the formula was released. Firemaking worked this way all the way up to the end of classic.

[@rswillmissit]

Interesting! Thanks for the clarification! :-)

[@irva5762]

Your content has been fire lately!

[@AlderDragon]

I'm still friends with one of the Sabres! She played RSC until it was gone (sadly) and moved to OSRS.

[@rswillmissit]

Nice! Which Sabre?

[@AlderDragon]

@@rswillmissit Ore Sabre. When I played RSC, she helped smith me some high level rune items.

[@v1ncent111]

Glad I found your channel

[@CampaynYT]

this will be an interesting one. Already know its 10/10 vid haven't even watched yet. Thumbs up

[@nitewish51]

Great video!! More videos about rs past pls!

[@cherylhuhn6180]

Loved this video! Tyvm🤗

[@Pod-Z]

Blurose was related to jagex? Has a few friends back then bluerose was one of them, scrote, workingirl . I still remember them and recognize a few names off the list

[@soulseeker1651]

The adam and eve story of rs. Now I have seen it all.

[@notkirill6991]

I actually recall seeing rab in classic. Good times

[@manic4300]

In the beginning was Rab, and the Rab was with RuneScape, and the Rab WAS RuneScape.

[@dinky3426]

Awesome video man! Very creative and informative

[@bostonnate4024]

I started in 04 too, used to spend hours playing but not doing anything productive lol, going into Wildy with rune battle axe, my buddy with a 2h thinking we could kill people lol

[@fearandloathingmedia2051]

Games Domain was lit, I remember playing several games from there not really understand exactly how to play then being born in Jan 93'

[@desertbeast51]

RSwillmissit: "Andrew needed someone he could trust and he needed him fast" Me: *Calo ad starts* "And that is why andrew contacted Calo for some nice healthy food he could trust".

[@rswillmissit]

Don't make me get sponsors purely for these jokes

[@desertbeast51]

@@rswillmissit Now that would be an interesting segway to both see and cash out in one go.

[@azazeldeath]

I vaguely remember being punished by either moderator or one of the Gower Brothers for apparently swearing, I could only say cabbage for a week.

[@jacobburr3570]

Looollll that's fking hilarious x) what the heck kinda punishment is that :p

[@jacobburr3570]

Oh sorry what I mean to say was "cabbage cabbage cabbage cabbage" :p

[@azazeldeath]

It was a pretty normal punishment back then. I couldn't tell you what I said it cause it other than I apparently swore. Knowing very young me was probably something like bloody hell, being an Aussie.

[@azazeldeath]

@@jacobburr3570 I think it was some kind of attempt at, hey follow the rules if you can't be civil then just say only this one word. My guess anyway

[@jacobburr3570]

@@azazeldeath haha a very creative punishment might I say. We're you again to swear after that? I didn't play that early but being a young one I'm sure I said a few words that we're not called for. Playing recently again I've really noticed there are all typed of players and some really awesome people. The community is one of the things I love about the game. We are all on our own path and have different lives day to day. But we can all come together on RS and find fun and great conversation :)

[@blacksheepx3176]

I joined runescape when it first came out literally the very first beta version bro I miss it so much

[@drewbleooble2588]

Hey man fantastic video! Just out of curiosity, is there a place to access that archived herblaw highscore list? I am a veteran player of that time and curious where/if my first character shows up on it! Thanks!

[@rswillmissit]

Hey! You can find it by googling for the first 2000 RS players. :-)

[@jacobburr3570]

@Drewble Ooble did you ever find out :o

[@unblnding4302]

ah yes we all remember the "Evolution of the Romeo and Juliet Quest"

[@JRBanana]

This one was intresting not gonna lie

[@rswillmissit]

The previous ones weren't?! :((

[@JRBanana]

@@rswillmissit they all are :)

[@RyanSpegal]

It is crazy for me to finally find out who was behind some of those names. I was one of the very first people to begin playing the game, and interacted with MANY of the top players over the years. Was a very active and semi-famous forum poster for a while, so I was known pretty well out of game as well. Finding out that Shark was one of the Gowers?!? Mind blown! Were on each other's friends list and hung out regularly.

[@Oneofthemones1]

Famous on forums … please go outside you sad guy

[@pcbangbros8350]

@@Oneofthemones1 Don't be toxic to him. A lot of famous forum posters tend to be the most influential RS players.

[@pcbangbros8350]

@@goldster100 I don't know, just the insult "go outside" sounds hilarious since quarantines. Like, damn bro. Come up with something original at least, y'know? So I have to laugh at him, just out of principle.

[@MMMAX013]

I played the original classic rs. Good times. I was 14 back then

[@oatmongen4263]

@rswillmissit The Sabres are still around today. They merged with the Wilderness Gaurdians, which is now Runescapes oldest clan. One of the current leaders (there are two at the moment) is both a Sabre, and a Wilderness Guardian member. Source: Am a member of the Wilderness Guardians.

[@rswillmissit]

What do they do these days?

[@oatmongen4263]

​@@rswillmissit These days we are a Pking and a social clan.

[@michaeld-1237]

@@rswillmissit We have a website and forum where events are organised on a calendar. There are usually about 1 or 2 a day. Pking occurs with a similar ratio, but is often spontaneously organised over discord, unless there is a practise session on, or a war with another clan. The clan chat is wg_cc, which you can take a look at if you wish. There is also the Wilderness Guardians Wiki, which has most of our history recorded. My clan has asked that I provide an invite to our discord, and our clan forum. So here they are and the wiki: discord.com/invite/wg www.wildernessguardians.com/forums/ www.wildernessguardians.com/w/The_Sabres A clan member named Kiwi mentioned that if you wished to know more about the Sabres or the Wilderness Guardians, then the people you should contact are clan members Mojo or Vio, as they know our history very well. Please keep us in mind if you need ideas for a video.

[@oatmongen4263]

These days we are a Pking and social clan. We have a website and forum where events are organised on a calendar. There are usually about 1 or 2 a day. Pking occurs with a similar ratio but is often spontaneously organised over discord, unless there is a practice session on, or war with another clan. My clan asked that I provide an invite to our discord, and forum. So here they are and our wiki: discord.gg/wg Www.wildernessguardians.com/forums/ Www.wildernessguardians.com/w/The_Sabres A clan member named Kiwi mentioned that if you wanted to know more about the Sabres or Wilderness Guardians, then the people you should talk to are the clan members Mojo or Vio, as they know our history very well. Please keep us in mind if you need ideas for a video. (Btw, sorry if this was sent multiple times, there was a glitch on my end where it didn’t send. This version was hand typed on mobile.)

[@K1W1Z]

@@rswillmissit We are an all around clan that values honor and integrity, we've been around since 2003 and have a crazy amount of documented history. Our clan chat in-game is "WG_CC" and we have the discord vanity url discord.gg/WG if you would like to come get in contact with us.

[@1512125]

3:30 That's the best swedish accent I've ever heard

[@kukifitte7357]

It was spot on

[@arkthecat9212]

Jesus christ you've been playing runescape longer then I've been alive

[@jacobjacob8381]

Cool video man. Very interesting

[@MZZenyl]

Hehe, I think I can see myself in the clip with the mass of players running towards Mune, south of the Elf Camp. :P

[@jacobburr3570]

Lol that's awesome! A little piece of history your in!

[@RedDeadRanger]

I think Superman3434 made that account and realised what he had done so immediately created another called "Superman" 😂

[@alexjewitt7650]

love vids like this , thank you

[@deussalt8108]

Jeeze seeing that original character creation screen makes me feel old..

[@AndrewWebb1]

I started my account in 2001 and it's still active. I wonder if there's anyway to check when it was created.

[@LegacyFTW]

You wonder? If it’s active I’m surprised you are not aware of the adventurer’s log. Since your account was made in 2001, go to the RS3 website and log into your account. Then you should be able to find total playtime within your adventurer log.

[@JoeyyPlays]

@@LegacyFTW Talk to hans outside lumbridge and he will tell you when you arrived and how long you've spent in game :)

[@LegacyFTW]

@@JoeyyPlays I thought that was only for OS

[@LegacyFTW]

@@JoeyyPlays in either case, I check my playtime through the adventurer’s log nowadays if ever I do check, lol.

[@AndrewWebb1]

@@JoeyyPlays hans only goes back to when RS membership began in 2002 so accounts created before that all show 2002

[@AnimationsN1]

I'm 3 seconds in and the nostalgia is absolutely popping

[@sil-zk8061]

I wish Andrew Gower would offer some guidance to the guys who are making the game "Foxhole". In alot of ways it's the spiritual successor to runescape

[@scrizvevo7660]

Classic Server!!! Allow everyone on!! Not just members this time!!

[@samlanson8]

02:37 is that catherby? I never played classic just played since 05 as a kid but still currently playing, osrs that is. Still no 99s haha

[@superuser8636]

"Did you literally pause the video to read this?" @10:35 xD

[@uc_217]

Plot Twist: 2 players joined at the first moment :D

[@paulhelfrich682]

Great content !

[@Kris_Toffer]

I have a question for you. I mean, yeah I could google it, but I'd like to see your video on it if you find it interesting as well. What was the post popular skill at the time of release? Meaning the biggest percentage of active players playing that skill the first week or so? Seeing as you seem to enjoy looking at old hiscores.

[@rswillmissit]

Good question! It's actually a very interesting one. Runescape was an *extremely* popular PvP game in its early days. Clans were reigning and any skill-based account were doing it mainly to support the clan members. You could in theory call Runescape a medieval army simulator. This is also partly why Bluerose13x was so extremely important at the time... She was the only one producing rune armour for everyone, a luxurious set of armour only a few could afford. Based on that information, I'd say the most popular skills were either mining/smithing or cooking/fishing, excluding the combat skills - which were far more popular than any ordinary skill.

[@Hamesteroy]

My man looking cuter and cuter irl every vid

[@aaz1992]

Oh baby

[@9HPRuneScape]

Imagine being able to pick the VERY FIRST username in Runescape! ...'Rab'? .> What username would you lads have picked? I'd ironically have went with '1' or '9' if I could have read the future for 9HP's! xD Very creative video Will! You really did your research on this one!

[@jacobburr3570]

Hmmmm that's a good question! And good pick to 1 or 9 would be totally sweet! Back then I was so young I probably would have picked something like "dark magician" or "exodia" lol

[@_nom_]

I'm an original RuneScape player. I quit around 2007. Tried again in 2018 and found it to be bad, really bad. The quests are rubbish, the game just feels slapped together and there's also now loot boxes. 🤷 It's more scifi than medieval now.

[@oizy1760]

OSRS is back now though, so you'll get that 2007 experience back. Don't play RS3 if you're looking for nostalgia.

[@Puddspanker]

Osrs my dude

[@Rock_Appreciator]

Loved the video keep it up boii

[@cherylhuhn6180]

Wow.I LOVE RUNESCAPE!👍🤗😊

[@cherylhuhn6180]

Magic is my fave skill...only 74...level.. 10,ooo or so xp for 75. Sooo excited

[@jacobburr3570]

Yay I'm sure you made it by now :o what's your magic level now?

[@cherylhuhn6180]

85👍😊

[@cherylhuhn6180]

I don't get to play it but like a day or two out of the week cuz of work so. I've been working on range to get to 75 I finally got there I'm able to use my tb I also got my brophyta staff I've been killing her a little bit trying to get some of that essence, lol hru👍✌️😊

[@coreysm8098]

oh lord I love your videos

[@ronlivingstone1634]

I remember some old runescape players, Like Pave, Creationesss, Luke Starwalker, and XXJutXX

[@beatsbybrazy]

i just know superman3434 was like wait a second, and quickly made superman

[@martinhill9561]

I remember the room. Trolls reporters wet dream

[@Beriorn]

But does this make Rab the first Pmod or Jmod, given that he worked on a few quests?

[@rswillmissit]

P-J-Mod..? Hmm

[@Sayyian]

Yes

[@rabrhee]

In technical terms, Rab was always just a player. Not even a player mod. But Moderator would be considered a full Jmod, that account had mad powers;) . The first Pmods were board moderators who, with a little help from me, discovered they had limited in-game powers (coincidentally the same ones I had as a moderator of Games Domain :D) mute for a short while (5/10 minutes?) was almost it. Moderator appeared a while after i wrote R+J, i was just a player who had written a quest until then.