Jagex, the company that owns RuneScape, introduced Membership as a way to cover the vast majority of the costs of RuneScape, such as in-game updates, extra staffing, server hosting, etc. As a benefit, members have many more privileges and usable features in the game and on the RuneScape website.
Many people's critiques of the game are due solely to the limitations of a non-member in the game, specifically at a higher level as content and areas becomes repetitive and dull. However, a large proportion of the community do not see this as an issue, arguing that free players aren't entitled to the same benefits as paying customers.
In order to become a member and access the pay-to-play version of RuneScape, players must first have a subscription. When players subscribe, they receive members credit which allows them to access the pay-to-play version of RuneScape. When you start a subscription by credit card, it will be paid monthly. Subscriptions through different payment methods may have varying lengths, although there is a minimum length of one month. Jagex is affiliated with several payment providers, each providing different subscription payment methods and prices. Different payment methods require different information to be given during a secure payment process.
Extra features
A player using the magic carpet transportation method.
Membership unlocks many features of RuneScape that are not available to free players: almost all recent updates to RuneScape have been for members, with the exception of a few major updates in the past months. There are very few quests available to free players, while new quests available to members are added at a rate of one or two a month. This is a condensed list of features unlocked with membership below:
Much larger explorable area (around 3 times as big).
More accessible servers (members can access free-to-play worlds and pay-to-play worlds, although they cannot access most members only features in free-to-play worlds).
A few more emotes such as air guitar (requires 500 unlocked songs), Faint (requires the completion of the mime Court Case) and Taskmaster (requires all tasks to be completed in the Task system).
Ability to post on the RuneScape Official Forums regardless of their character's level/experience (The only non-members who can post on the forums are those with at least 2.5 million XP total or have an overall skill total exceeding or equal to 350).
More efficient ways to make money.
The ability to access fullscreen mode on the main screen.
The ability to take a photo using the Photo Booth feature for use on the forums as an avatar.
The ability to fight many high level bosses like the King Black Dragon, God War Bosses and more.
The ability to fight a wide variety of other monsters, ranging from Yaks to Dragons, which drop items such as Dragon bones that are worth a reasonable amount of money on the Grand Exchange.
These benefits will only be available if the member logs onto a members server. If a members-only item is on a non-members server it will not be usable.
Although if you go onto a free server while membership is activated, the bank space will still be increased beyond the normal free limit, and you may still place things in even if there isn't one already in there.
Fullscreen mode is also available on free servers while membership is activated.
Members-only skills
Currently there are 10 skills in RuneScape that are only available to members out of a total of 26 skills. The members-only skills are listed in alphabetical order below:
There are many benefits upon unlocking these skills. Many members quests have members skill requirements. Agility allows run energy to recharge faster, allows players to run for longer amounts of time, and allows entry to certain areas and use of many shortcuts. With Construction, players can build their own player-owned house and erect God statues across the map which then become altars to recharge prayer. Farming allows players to grow fruits, vegetables, herbs, and trees that only they will be able to cut. Herblore lets players make potions to aid them in combat and the training of other skills. Hunter is a great money maker, and items from it help train several other skills. Thieving allows entry into certain areas as well as being an easy money source. Slayer unlocks new monsters and items, as well as the Slayer Dart spell, Broad-tipped bolts, and Broad arrows. Summoning allows members to summon helpful beasts that can aid the player by holding items, boosting stats, helping in combat, restoring health, among other abilities. Some familiars have secondary abilities such as the pack yak can bank items and the bunyip can allow you to eat raw fish.
Members-only areas
Free players have strictly limited access to the world of RuneScape. Free players can only access the kingdoms of Asgarnia and Misthalin, the north-eastern most point of Karamja, and most of the Wilderness. Instant Demo players can only access the kingdom of Misthalin which has extremely limited access. Membership allows full access to the entire world.
Here is a list of some, but not all of the lands reserved for members:
Most of the minigames in RuneScape are members only. Minigames are interactive competitions between players and usually require or involve cooperation and communication. However, some minigames are just for players to play on their own. Minigames can also be good methods to gain experience in combat or non-combat skills, or to just invoke fun competition. Minigames are arguably one of the most enjoyable aspects of RuneScape, and a common reason that impel many to become Members as most of them are restricted to members. Random events can also be considered a form of a minigame, however, as given by their name, they are completely random and so the player cannot choose when to "play".
Here is an alphabetical list of the currently available members-only minigames, along with a short explanation:
Agility Pyramid - An excellent way for players to quickly train Agility, as well as a decent source of money.
Barbarian Assault - A fun team combat minigame which unlocks new armour.
Barrows - An enjoyable, challenging single player combat minigame which has valuable rewards, including the desirable Barrows equipment!
Blast Furnace - An efficient way to smelt bars of metal, as well as a good source of experience in several different skills.
Castle Wars - An extremely popular competitive game of combat Capture the Flag, in which two teams infiltrate each the enemy castle and fight to score. Tickets rewarded to the winners can be exchanged for decorative Castle Wars armour and capes. Complicated strategy and tactics have been developed as well!
Champion Challenge - Engage the titans of eight different races of monsters in special rules battles! If you defeat them all, you can face the gnome champion!
Conquest - A turn-based strategy game where two players command a squad of Void Knights and try to eliminate their opponent.
Duel Tournaments - Members can head under the Duel Arena to compete for millions of coins in tournaments.
Fishing Trawler - An interesting fishing minigame in which players sail along the sea trying to keep a leaking ship afloat while they fix their net and catch some fish! Rewards are fish up to your fishing level, so the higher the better!
Gnome Ball - A challenging Agility minigame where players try to pass and charge with a small ball towards a hoop to score a goal, while defending gnomes attempt to tackle them before they can throw it. Players earn both Agility and Ranging experience if they're successful!
Gnome Restaurant - Players try their hand at delivering food to hungry customers in record speed! A variety of unique items and other rewards are available.
Mage Training Arena - One of the fastest ways to earn Magic experience; the Arena offers four different minigames each involving a different type of magic. If you are successful in these games, you can earn Pizazz points to exchange for runes or the valued Infinity Robes!
Pest Control - This immensely popular team combat minigame involves protecting the vulnerable Void Knight while you fight incoming monsters. Commendation Points which can be exchanged for experience in any combat skill as well as a selection of items are rewarded to successful teams.
Pyramid Plunder - A source of extremely fast Thieving experience. Combat is interestingly integrated into the game.
Rat Pits - Players can train their cats to be a fierce hellcat or a clever Wily cat in these arenas of battle between cat and mouse, then show off their fully trained cats to their friends!
Rogue's Den - Players show their deft abilities as they navigate this tricky maze filled with traps and obstacles. Fail and be teleported out! Depending on success, players earn fair amounts of Agility and Thieving experience as well as Rogue Armour displaying their skill.
Shades of Mort'ton - Build up a temple and defend it from attacking evil spirits! One of the best ways to train Crafting, a good source of Firemaking experience, or a good way for players to test their prowess in combat and see how long they can last against the shades while they train up their combat skills! Shades of Mort'ton quest must be completed before you can play this minigame.
Sorceress's Garden - Players attempt to sneak around watchful elementals guarding their gardens to get the a Sq'irk Tree to pick Sq'irk fruits. If caught, they are teleported out! Excellent Thieving experience.
Soul Wars - A challenging minigame where you kill avatars with your team. Rewards combat experience and pets.
Tears of Guthix - Collect the tears of the God of Balance in a sacred cave guarded by his faithful snake servant Juna. The tears give the best reward of all - experience in the players' worst skill.
Temple Trekking - Escort citizens through the dangerous Mort Myre Swamp in Morytania to a temple on the River Salve. If successful, players earn tokens exchangeable for a random reward, including resources such as herbs or ores, or tomes exchangeable for experience in specific skills!
Trouble Brewing - Two teams compete as each try to brew the most bottles of rum! Experience in a variety of skills can be earned for performing the many complicated tasks needed in the process of rum production.
TzHaar Fight Cave - Players fight alone against an army of Tzhaar monsters! If they can withstand the masses, and defeat the dreaded TzTok-Jad, the third most powerful monster in the game, they can earn the coveted Fire cape! Winners as well as less fortunate participants earn varied amounts of the Tzhaar currency of Tokkul.
TzHaar Fight Pit - Players are thrown into pits where they fight an every-man-for-himself battle to the death! Deadly alliances and betrayals are all a part of the game. Tokkul is rewarded to the winner of each round
It's highly recommended that if a Member were to ever be bored or not happy with the current Membership, they should at least try out various minigames just for the fun of it.
Unlockable capabilities in skills
Free players are limited in their access to the skills available in RuneScape. Since areas and training methods are also limited, it can be difficult for free players to obtain high levels in much of the free-to-play skills. Free players cannot use members items for combat and cannot use some of the abilities or items reached at higher levels in the free skills. Many guilds are also located in members only areas. Membership brings full access to not only several members skills, but also the free skills. Prior to the Evolution of Combat update, it also gave special attacks to specific weaponry.
The vast majority of quests in RuneScape are restricted to members. These quests unlock many important features, new areas, various transportation systems, and many new skills. There are currently 19 free-to-play quests, 150 members-only quests and 1 tutorial quest. A complete list of members quests is found here.
Some quests granting useful abilities are listed below:
These quests are highly recommended to finish, as this allows access to a larger variety of weaponry and armour and just as important, faster and easier transportation.
When you become a member, some of the first things you should do are the "Easy" parts of the Task System. The rewards are listed below:
Varrock: Easy - Possibility to mine 2 ores and smith 2 bars instead of one, access to the EdgevilleFurnace, and the ability to buy 16 Battlestaves from Zaff.
Morytania: Easy - Double fungi when casting Bloom, 5% extra Temple Trekking rewards, 50% chance of a Ghast ignoring you rather than attacking you.
Extra servers
Members can access and log into servers reserved for the pay-to-play version of RuneScape. If members wish to, they may also log into free-to-play worlds, although on these servers they can't use any in-game features that are accessible only in pay-to-play worlds. There are 86 members-only worlds out of a total of 171 worlds.
Additional website features
Players who opt for pay-to-play are given access to a few sections of the RuneScape website that are unavailable to free players:
The forums - Free players may use the official forums if they have more than 2.5 million xp or a skill total of 350+. This makes it more difficult to use a valuable method of communication, which can limit contact with other players in the Marketplace, Game, RS-Classic, and Community forum sections for trading, clan recruitment, clan discussion, game discussion, or other reasons, as well as removing the only easy way to contact Jagex: the Support section of the forums, which allows for suggestion of updates, rants, complaints and feedback.
The Hiscores (Previously members and free players could use this. After 31 March 2014 by the power to player, it is open again to free players.)
Membership strategy
In order to save money, some players will pay for a few months of membership and then cancel or end payments. Before becoming a member, they will prepare for the new features by obtaining items that will allow them to quickly train members only skills and do members only quests. After they have completed their desired goals, they will cancel their membership and begin preparation again. While most members do not choose to switch like this, it is a good idea to obtain items that new members will need in large amounts before beginning membership.
Soon-to-be member checklist:
Regular, oak, and willow logs to quickly train Fletching.
Food such as cakes or lobsters to train Agility and/or Thieving with less chance of dying.
Enough coins to pay for all the equipment and skill items that you plan to buy once you are a member (this may seem difficult due to the limiting method and efficiency of making money in F2P).
Items to utilise new capabilities in free skills that come with membership.
Items required to do basic member quests you plan to complete.
Moderately high levels, as this removes possible time wasted while training F2P skills in Member's worlds as you could have trained these without a subscription.
Recommended members quests
If you plan to do members quests, it is a good idea to get any Free Player levels before you become a member, so you can spend more time doing members-only quests or skills without wasting membership credit for something you could do in free player worlds.
Immediate Quests (these quests open the members world to you):
Elemental Workshop I - Basic members quest that gives good experience and is required for further quests.
Fight Arena - Short quest which rewards a quick 12,175 Attack XP.
Contact! - A new bank deep in the desert, and a powerful dagger.(Keris)
Desert Treasure - One of the hardest quests in the game, gives access to the Ancient Magicks.
While Guthix Sleeps - Unlocks new monsters, and equipment. You can only start after completing most of the other quests (requirement of 270 quest points).
Love Story - Gives the ability to chip House Teleport Tablets to teleport you to any house portal, not just your own.
Preparing for an ending membership
When going from Pay-to-play to Free-to-play, there are many things you want to consider before your membership ends. Along with being restricted by the smaller free world area and limited to the free skills, bank space is an important aspect to consider. Non-members are mostly limited to 103 bank spaces whereas Members have 468 extra bank spaces (for a total of 571 bank spaces).
Even if you are planning on becoming a member again you will have to sell most of the items. If you still have more than 83 (or 103) non-member items in the bank after your membership ends, the extra items will still be in the bank, but you cannot deposit anymore items unless duplicate of the item is already there. To see how many extra F2P items you have in your bank move your mouse cursor over the number that indicates how many members items you hold in your bank.
Member items are not usable and equipable in the Free-to-play servers, but you may keep them in the bank. You may consider selling every valuable P2P items if you are NOT willing to become a member again. Less expensive ones and some quest-related items are more worthy to be kept, and more importantly, don't take up F2P bank space. These cheaper items may quicken your process if you subscribe again.
Using bank tagging is useful for sorting out the items, you may also see some convenient tools like Pot, which is barely useful inside F2P playing. Disposal of these cheap items would lead to efficient bank sorting.
When the membership ends and you still have members armour equipped, you will still be wielding the armour, weapons, shields, etc., but they will have the special abilities & stats disabled. You cannot train Dungeoneering if you wish to keep these items equipped. Once unequipped you cannot reequip them until you log into a members world. For skillcape wearers(including Max cape), dropping and selling all other capes will lessen the hazard of accidentally unequipping the cape. A questing cape is not recommended as it will unequip when the next quest is released. Also, a completionist cape(or even trimmed) is strongly NOT recommended as it will unequip when new content is released.
Keeping useful Free-to-play items and armour might be an acceptable idea. Some of these items/armour include, but are not limited to: Rune/Blue d'hide equipment(from crafting/smithing or kept before starting membership), cooked/raw Swordfish (eventually as rewards from the Managing Miscellania minigame or kept before starting membership), Attack potions, Strength potions and/or Defence potions (from training Herblore), etc.
Players can only initate a trading request on top-left and top-middle slots in Grand Exchange inside free worlds. However, transactions can be completed in all slots even if a player has terminated subscription.
If a member has logged onto RuneScape Classic in the last 6 months they can play on the RuneScape Classic servers.
Trivia
Jagex reached the one million member count mark on 4 May2007.[1]
If you train combat and you are wielding a members' item on a free to play world in the weapon slot, this will result in 'you are wearing an item which prevents you from attacking' and you cannot fight unless you unequip it. When the free version of RuneScape Classic existed, members' weapons would automatically become unequipped when the player logs in to a free world.
In the God letters, members were referred to as 'nobility' while free players were peasants. It was also said that they paid taxes to the counsel.
Paul Gower stated that the first members benefit was being able to login any time players wanted.[2]
There are currently ~500,693 members as of Febuary 15, 2014, as seen in the hiscores.
Members will have all their members' skills drained to 5 on a free world, and slowly recover on a member's world, except for Summoning which must be recharged on a summoning obelisk.
