> RuneScape was what led me to become a software engineer (through the private server communities)

I have the exact same story. Mopar, RuneServer, then SoulSplit (look at what the founder of SoulSplit is doing now...)

I wonder how many people have the same background?

The software doesn't work on the live game - it's designed for a "private server" / fan reconstruction based around the 2004 version of the game.

Jagex almost certainly knows of lost city, but it's not really comparable to OSRS these days. People are likely to play 2004scape and then move to the live version of the game once the nostalgia wears off.

Jagex's lawyers have been absolutely decimating botting communities in the last 6 months, if they wanted Lost City gone, it would be gone already.

I wouldn't surprised to see them reach out for the valuable data he's collecting on the SDK's main server.

There were two paths in the 2000s some people went with Runescape, others went with Habbo Hotel. The amount of insanity that was done to Habbo since its inception to date, is astounding. To the point that because the Habbo community kept tinkering with Shockwave, Sulake made Habbo Origins from the fruit of their labor.

I too got started because of RS. Writing scripts for SCAR to automate RS :)

Jagex is an interesting finance story if you look into how they're passed around between private equity as one of the UKs largest game studios.

As a product the inside scoop is that the recent success of the game is in large part due to the community itself. The community development of Runelite, the OSRS wiki, the 117 HD plugin, and YouTube personalities.

I don't have high hopes that the status quo between Private Equity and the community will sustain itself.