It’s no secret that Old School RuneScape boasts a far higher player count than its more modern counterpart. Jagex is hoping to change that by introducing a returning membership promotion to entice previous players back to the game. For $1 USD players who meet the strict requirements will receive 14 days of RuneScape membership and 24 hours of double XP.
Previous RuneScape members will be able to take advantage of this offer from February 27, 2024, to March 27, 2024. If you are wanting to take advantage of this offer, you will be able to find the link here when it goes live.
But there are some rather tight stipulations as to who is eligible to partake in the promotion. Each returning member will have to meet the following requirements:
- Character must have been a Member in the past.
- Character must not have had an active Membership for 30 days.
- Character must not have been active RuneScape in the last 30 days.
- Character must not have completed the Old School RuneScape tutorial.
Jagex has stated that this promotion aims to specifically increase RuneScape membership numbers, as they have a lot of inactive accounts. With the ability to use one account for both RuneScape and OSRS, it means that a lot of people who would potentially be interested in trying RuneScape again will be locked out due to having touched OSRS in the past. This is a rather controversial decision on Jagex’s part as it does lock out many potential members.
It is also true that the majority of RuneScape players have played for some time or end up in a cycle of quitting and returning. But that doesn’t mean that new players to the game do not exist. By only limiting the promotion to players who have been members in the past, there is still a subset of people out there who may have been interested but are not eligible to partake in the promotion.
If you are a returning member who has not played for some time, you will be happy to know that the double XP you will receive no longer operates the way it did in the past. It is no longer sweaty work. When you log in after purchasing you will receive 24 hours of double XP playtime. So, when you log out, the timer stops as opposed to the Double XP weekends of yesteryear. The promotion will allow you a month to use up the double XP from when you first purchased it.
The double XP addition to the $1 promotion is a good idea. RuneScape is a large game, and it can be overwhelming coming back to it after years, even months away. It is also a grind, so getting additional help catching up is welcome.
The promotion is sound, and as a longtime RuneScape player, I hope it encourages more people to return to RuneScape. It could potentially be expanded in the future which could entice new players to the world of Gielinor. There’s a rich history there, and a reason why it has survived all of these years when other more modern games have entered the market, and I hope that it remains successful for many years to come.
