RuneScape turns 12, celebrations and new content plans for 2013

RuneScape, the free-to-play adventure game from Jagex, is celebrating its 12th anniversary with various community competitions and in-game events.

Launched via a public beta on January 4, 2001 RuneScape is one of the longest running online games, and the community is still thriving: the 200th million account was activated in July 2012.

During 2012, players clocked in excess of 486 million hours of playtime, and 3.2 billion players were "put to the sword."

“2012 was filled to the brim with game updates both large and small," said design director Mark Ogilvie. "Last year saw flurries of graphical reworks of the popular areas of the game, bigger and better boss monsters, an overhaul of the combat system, new starting areas as well as the challenging task of introducing voice acting into the game.

"For me, the highlight of the year was undoubtedly witnessing the creation of the 200th million RuneScape account, which secured the game’s place as the most played online game of all time. But 2013 is going to be even better.”

As the game begins year 13, the development team has plans in place to ensure 2013 is "bigger, better and more ambitious" for players.

Plans for a faster, pure HTML5-powered RuneScape experience are in the works, as well as the planned release of two new skills along with; a Grandmaster-level quest, Wilderness Warbands, a Construction skill rework; an improved grouping system; and the ability to customize the screen/interface.

The RuneScape community team will kick off the celebrations with the first of 12 player events which will run throughout the birthday weekend.

For more information or to sign up to play, head over to the official website.