Lag

Lag is the delay of data transmission between two digital devices.

Lag is considered a glitch by many but is not exactly the same. Lag may be caused by a glitch or person but typically, it is to do with the server space and a player's own computer. Players experiencing lag often become impatient and attempt to deal with the situation.

Causes of Lag
Lag may be caused through one of three methods:
 * Lag may be caused when an area or server within RuneScape becomes crowded. This causes players in that area to experience slowness of the game, as the computer that the server is running on has to deal with so much in a small area. Typically this does not affect a player much, but it will vary with just how crowded an area or server gets. This is the only cause of lag that will be the fault of Jagex.
 * Lag may also be caused (although very rarely) by your service provider. Information is sent from RuneScape to your computer in packages, if these packages become "lost" or corrupted on the way, it may take the RuneScape server a while to realize this, and attempt to correct the error. This form of lag is not the fault of you, nor Jagex, and is typically unavoidable.
 * Lag may be caused when your computer, or your connection to your provider slows down (often due to you doing too much on the internet, or running a virus scan). This is typically the fault of you and your computer, and is probably the most likely cause of lag.

What to do when lagging
If you are experiencing lag, you should...
 * Log out of RuneScape and play other games for a while, then you run RuneScape again. This is mainly because your computer was either just booted up or that your computer hasn't finished its processes and other refreshments yet.
 * Close any memory and/or CPU intensive programs you have running (including web browsers showing animations like flash).
 * Pause any downloads you have in progress.
 * Be patient and wait.
 * Try to log out and be patient.
 * When logged out, reload the page or wait.
 * Try switching to a less populated world.
 * Choose low detail to reduce the memory used by the game.