RuneScape Classic: Game to shut down after 17 years

After 17 years, RuneScape Classic, the original version of the online game, will shut down.

The creators have shared the news three months in advance so that players have time to say goodbye.

The multi-user game, set in a fantasy world, was released in 2001 and will stop running at 8am on 6 August, 2018.

Although there'll be no reboots for RuneScape Classic, the current and the 2007 versions, called Old School RuneScape, will remain online.

Newsbeat's been in touch with some of the earliest RuneScape Classic players, who got involved back in the noughties when most people still had dial up internet.

"I got in to RuneScape when I was younger because there were a bunch of boys playing it in the computer room of this play centre that I used to go to. They told me that I couldn't play because I was a girl, so I decided that I was going to anyway - and I really enjoyed it," Jasmine explains.

"I liked the fact that you started off in a tutorial world and you could practice and build up your different skills. I loved magic, I loved being the wizard and I liked making metal.

"I actually met my best friend through the game. He was one of the boys that didn't want me to play, but we just seemed to click in the game. We'd message in the game, help each other out and then we ended up becoming friends.

"I also had a RuneScape boyfriend temporarily, but we only spoke on RuneScape."

"I used to play it a lot with my friend Euan who was my next-door neighbour," says Oliver.

"It was a sort of virtual meeting place, we used to chat on there and do quests together and I really enjoyed the freedom because you can progress through the game however you want.

"Me and Euan would arrange what time to go online and then we'd meet."

He says he might have one last nostalgic visit to the game.

"Seeing as it's closing down in August, if I get the time between now, doing my dissertation and then, I might jump online and see if I can meet Euan."

"I used to play 10-15 years ago now, as long as you had access to a computer and the internet, you were good to go," says Grant.

"Me and a friend of mine, Craig, we used to meet up and then we'd have two computers there and just start playing.

"A lot of the time I would actually play it in the same room as my friends, so we wouldn't type to each other but we'd type to people in the game.

"Now that I know it's closing down, I'm going to have to send out a few messages and see if any of my mates want to give it a last play around send-off."

Some fans have already started "playing" their last goodbyes.

As well as saying their final farewells.

Jagex, the game developers behind RuneScape Classic, told Newsbeat they've taken the "difficult" decision to shut it down as advancements in technology mean their "tools are no longer compatible" with the game.

It's meant an increasing amount of bugs can't be fixed and bots have taken to playing it too.

In other words, RuneScape Classic is gradually breaking.

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