The RuneScape world feels tiny, and this is why

The community have rallied for an increased distance between landmarks in RuneScape as the release of drawing distance and character speed have made the world feel tiny. But this might not be the only contributing factor to the issue at hand.

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::::::: DISCLAIMER :::::::

Music by Jagex
Soundtracks in the video: Big Chords, Wander, Yesteryear, Mellow and Horizon.

Outro artwork by Hyper Stan

[FirstnameLastname-fnik]

I remember when I was young deciding I wanted to train my agility on the Gnome course. It took a solid chunk of time planning out the journey, then actually getting there took what felt like hours. Prior to this I had never been as far as even the front gates of Taverly and mostly spent my time in Lumbridge/Al Kharid Castle/East Varrock, so this was like a full-on Lord of The Rings travel distance. The Gnome city felt like a super alien and foreign land, and I was thinking I had better do all the agility I want now because this was a once in a lifetime trip lol.

One of my fondest RS memories and eventually being back at the Lumbridge castle courtyard after an equally long return journey felt very comforting. I even remember the second time I decided to make that same trip, felt like I was going to film the sequel to a movie haha.

[grahamyodude]

Increased draw distance and the fact that we have all memorized the entire map to the point we know it in our sleep is definitely why it feels smaller.

[luximperium]

I only play OSRS, but I remember back in the day when I was a kid playing this game, I'd literally just go on adventures with random people where we'd just follow each other everywhere on the map talking to each other or doing roleplay stuff. The game felt so much more centered around finding new things and traveling the world, and really felt a lot more social. Everyone focuses on grinding now, bossing, getting a ton of GP, making their accounts impressive, and it's not like people weren't doing that back in the day, but it feels like a lot of people forgot how this game used to be.

I miss the days of house parties being actual parties that people would spontaneously have and invite others to. People would come to your house, especially if you had a combat ring which was always my goal, and just have fun talking and fighting in the ring. Now people use POHs in the house party world for nothing but teleporting, pool of rejuvenation, prayer training and the occasional other skill related thing.

This is the game that taught me so much of the internet culture I grew up with and know to this day. I learned "noob" and "lol" and so much more basic parts of the internet's vernacular just by people either using them around me a lot, or me explicitly asking what it meant, and people usually would tell you because terms like that were fairly newer opposed to today. This game also got me really good at typing with one finger (cause I didn't know there were other ways), which translated into me being decent at actual typing nowadays when I figured out how to actually type (admittedly, I don't type perfectly to how they say you should, as I only use my index finger, middle finger and pinky for shift and enter on my right hand, but use my entire left hand). And I even learned a lot of just English vocabulary from playing the game.

My point is, this game was a whole different thing to me back in the game. It was like another world to explore to me, while I was kind of just stuck in an apartment complex with not many friends I'd do things with outside. It let me be social while there wasn't much socialness in real life at the time. And it gave me a sense of working towards a goal for the first time. I remember days of spinning flax for money and I remember really wanting an obby maul, so I was constantly leveling up my range by crossbowing tzhaar people by getting them stuck on the other side of heat vents. I remember doing the holiday events because I thought the items looked cool sometimes and wanted to have cool stuff to wear, not to mention just enjoying the events themselves. I remember that one Halloween event that was like an obstacle course, and grinding that for a bit to get stuff from it.

And it also is what got me into watching YouTube. I can't recall many YouTubers at the time who uploaded RuneScape videos, but I remember watching all sorts of different PKing compilations and people killing bosses that I wish I knew how to kill or even get to. I remember all the RSMVs and the impact that had on my music taste at the time. I remember the funny skit type videos people would make. I almost spent as much time watching stuff on YouTube as I did playing the actual game.

I also had an obsession with reading all the cool stuff they'd add to the game on the RuneScape website. They had like a wiki built into the website if I remember correctly, and I'd have fun just going through all the cool items, weapons, monsters, places, and other stuff just to see what was all in the game. There were so many things I didn't ever experience until now that I'm an adult and willing to actually try at them. I couldn't have ever imagined getting a fire cape and killing what was the hardest boss in the game, TzTok-Jad. Now it's like an expectation for you to do that in the current game, and seems really easy now that things like switching prayers and inventory management are just basic parts of the game to learn and master. Used to be I'd just marvel at it and watch people do it on YouTube because I was scared of trying it myself or didn't think I could do it. I probably couldn't have given that I didn't really have any sense of strategy for the game.

But yeah, this game has impacted me so much growing to be who I am now. I remember going to the house party world for the first time as an adult and expecting to see people having actual parties, but now it's all just the big wigs who probably run some RWT underground shit who just constantly host for people to use their to standard maxed houses for its resources.

I miss the days when we were all just kids, and this was our first nerd thing we were all big into. I sometimes wish I could relive that kind of forgotten way of playing the game, but maybe it's best to move on.

[Fortior.]

Back in the days when those musicians on the side of the road weren't just there for decoration, but a viable way to quickly regenerate run energy and make your trips across the map slightly faster.

[angiedefreitas]

Ah, the good old days when you didn't leave your chosen 'hometown' unless you were prepared for the hike, or needed to....lumby to varrock to buy a wanted item....not there? Then join a 'player train' to walk to Seers. Especially useful for newbies who didn't know the route by heart and could get a guided tour....Varrock to Ardougne with stops in Falador, Taverly, Catherby and Seers

[rachaelregier]

I do think that the requirement of Underground Pass to access the elven lands is a good thing. No matter how easy it is to teleport there, the ptsd of that four hour quest for the first time sticks.

[FPinPantz]

I remember when I was 10 in 2006, I received The official handbook for Runescape as a Christmas Gift. There was a map section of all of Runescape in the handbook, and I would use that handbook to explore around Runescape and map out of journey. Such Nostalgia.

[nickbrodeur]

One point that I thought of while watching this video was the world map. It was not available in game until 2008. Previously you had to open a separate window with the general map and really plan out how to get to a destination. Definitely added to the adventure feeling. It was a real pain though with the speed of computers and the internet at that time.

I can also remember using the map provided by the Lumby general store to find my away around the basic F2P cities. I felt so lost when I died and lost that map haha!

[setosorcerer]

And here I thought it was going to be a video about scale theory, like how all of elite dungeon can fit on a tiny island.

[merten]

I remember my first time getting membership because I told my parents that I beat Dragon Slayer, I walked my ass all the way from Lumbridge to Ardougne just to see that Zoo, and I finally got to see all the membership-only land that I only fantasized about looking on the map.

[mattatkins]

This is part of the reason I think the nostalgia factor is so high in OSRS. I can teleport around the entire map of RS3 without ever really experiencing the world whereas I’ve only recently restarted on OS, and having to walk everywhere helps to build the at sense of ‘adventure’ and the amount of interaction with the world.

[Hektors]

I only recently found your channel but man, you have instantly become my favorite RS content creator! Love your essay videos as well as the history ones, you have the ability to make it so entertaining.

Regarding the topic at hand, I actually have the opinion that the world in RS3 is still insanely large. It's just that previously the world was unfathomably enormous, impossible to grasp the full extent of it. I still remember the first time I visited the Tree Gnome Stronghold after I became a member. I honestly walked for hours just because there was so much to explore on the way - it felt like the longest trek ever. And there was still like 80% of the world left to explore.

Now, with every single pixel explored, I certainly prefer the ability to use quick teleports/travel options to almost every place of the world. It's because I put in so many hours exploring and getting familiar with the world. And I do think that it's okay, seeing as I'm an experienced adventurer (I'm a World Guardian, after all...). Unfortunately, ultimately I don't think that RS3 is a great game for new players. Even if we change some requirements (e.g. lodestones region quest-locked), the new player is generally forced to play the game through our experienced player efficiency lense, and thus might see those additional requirements as a huge drawback. I don't think it can ever be possible for a new player to experience the same (or just comparable) feelings we did when we started playing, and that makes me a bit sad ;(

[neversleep]

It's interesting players had an issue with the lumby home teleport. If I remember correctly I believe the home teleport was originally released as a way for players to get out of places if they encountered a bug and were stuck somewhere. Prior to this, players who experienced bugs like getting stuck outside the map had to contact a Jmod to teleport them back to the mainland which sometimes could take an incredibly long time(and this actually happened a lot back then). This was a simple fix that helped everyone and especially new players that got lost.

[Iamjustherek]

I remember feeling SO cheated when they created lodestones! Half of the reason I trained magic was to collect all of the travel spells. I think I made it to Ardourgne before they added lodestones. Now it doesn’t mean anything that I have to travel from one side of the map to the other :/

[SummoNerd]

I play RuneScape some days now. 18 years of account and still not nearly maxed I had 14 years at that time in 2004 and played only f2p. But sometimes I pass around some places and memory just hit me hard. Like Al kharid, specially the mines where I grind my lvl 85 minining and dropping iron ores right there, or someone else just come around and you trade them your ores and they will go and bank it (faster then drop everything). When I used to cut and light long lines of willow (could be oaks not sure) near the varrock entrance. When we have to run back to lumbridge to get the 30 coins to go to Al kharid, or even worse before I learned that there was a bank in the third floor I did the whole path for the upper entrance (near the mine). I remember to theorize with my two other friends what the members skills could do, and we came up that with slayer you could kill every player depending on your lvl. I remember one time I saw zezima (or maybe I just saw a screenshot of it) in the fally bank. I remember to play my early days of RuneScape with a dictionary near by so I can interact with other players and sell my itens (I'm from Brazil and thanks to RuneScape I've learned English). I remember in 2006 to send an email to jagex asking if they want me to translate the whole game to Portuguese, they laugh at me that time.
I love this game and I hope it never die!

[Piraja]

I remember Jagex talking about making the map larger eventually back with NXT update. Guess they just bandage fixed it by putting mist on top of oceans

[jonadams]

When Lummy was as busy as the GE and going to the Gnome village was a journey you would prep and plot. As you went out if felt like you were wondering out of civilization.
It was really neat back when Lumbridge felt like a central hub, you could actually see the large amount of players coming and going on their own adventures.

[mystic-malevolence]

I used to advocate for scaling up the world, I do think it's running out of space for more quest locations.
But I wouldn't mind if they made a new game set in the world of Gielinor which featured a larger world. It would be a more feasible effort than actually pushing such a huge change as an update.

[DEEOOZ]

9:05 the nostalgia hit me. I remember going through goblins, chickens, cows... Then being attacked by a bear near Varrock (Idk if it was aggressive or I just attacked it for no reason :D). Just goofing around, picking random trash, and having a blast

[Knuffeldraak]

My biggest gripe was essentially the LodeStone Network. The LodeStone Network literally ruled out so many teleport options that players might consider acquiring, while it's literally FREE to obtain too. All you had to do was walking to them...