Five things you didn't know about 'RuneScape'

 

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When the game was first launched, one of the original quests players encountered asked you to go to a farm and shear sheep. In order to give a reason why the farmer couldn't just do it for himself, "The Thing" was created - something so scary a farmer wouldn't dare go at the sheep-shearing task alone. At the time, the developers had no idea what this could be and it wasn't until a number of years later that "The Thing" took form in the shape of penguins dressed as sheep. What exactly the penguins were up to was still a matter of debate both among the game's developers and the wider community.

The penguin situation wasn't fully explained until 2007, which revealed the penguin's diabolical plan to take over Gielinor, the world that "RuneScape" is set in.

Playable on almost any computer

"RuneScape" is considered one of the most accessible games as it can run on almost any Windows, Mac or Linux setup that has access to the Internet. One of the key reasons for the game's instant popularity was that it was "cloud"-based long before any one had ever thought of the term.

The game has been developed using Jagex's own "thin client," which is so small it would fit onto a floppy disc and runs in the background so players won't even realize it's there. This also means there is no download time when players enter the game. What's more, the game is completely scalable and is automatically optimized to run on anything from a 10 year-old PC to a top-of-the-line gaming computer.

Contact Saltzman at techcomments@usatoday.com.