Runescape Bonds - Why this is a HUGE step forward for Runescape

For the last 10 years, Runescape has always been that one game that everyone likes to roll their eyes at. It is arguably the most successful browser game and is considered very old (and some people even say horribly out-of-date). For those of us that are 15 years or older, we remember the grade school days when we would go on Runescape.com and fight Goblins, Trolls, and roam the Wilderness to find some unsuspecting newbie players. Even though Runescape still has a long way to go to compete against the biggun's (Guild Wars, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and SOON Elder Scrolls Online), it made an awesome decision when they introduced the Runescape Bonds system.

What makes Runescape an "old game", in some ways, is its out-of-date money system. A lot of free MMORPGs have a cash shop that they can use to make money. And while some online games like FlyFF and Maplestory take it to the extreme, other games like League of Legends keep the cash shop system as a cosmetic element to the game and have great success. Runescape, on the other hand, still has the Membership system, and without subscribing to membership a lot of players are cut-out of thousands of great and fun content.

However, with the introduction of the Runescape Bonds system, Jagex is taking a huge step forward for their game.

What are Runescape Bonds?

A Runescape Bond is a type of currency that can be purchased by players. Runescape Bonds can be used for extra spins, rune coins, and (my favorite) they can be used for 15 days of RUNESCAPE MEMBERSHIP. That's right - just for a bit of in-game gold, you can have 15 days of paid Runescape Membership. How neat is that?

Not only is the Runescape Bond a great F2P feature, but it was also created to combat against gold farmers and gold buyers. According to the Runescape SEO, Mark Gerhard, about 40% to 50% of the Runescape player base has purchased gold from a 3rd party website at least once during their Runescape career.

So is this good for Runescape? Absolutely, and I commend Jagex for making a great decision with this system.

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