# Old School RuneScape

22 Hacker News commenters recommended Old School RuneScape and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Players recommend this nostalgic, passion-driven MMO for its regular community-voted updates and long-running player base, though critics say some balancing changes erode progress.

## Why people recommend it

- Regular updates keep game fresh (5 comments): "the community voting system they have for introducing new content keeps the game alive and fresh" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47827002)) "they dedicated a team to it and they ended up doing some pretty great things given time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50141020)) "Even OSRS, which was born on nostalgia, also gets significant new content updates" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47263411))
- Nostalgic feel and lasting passion (5 comments): "OSRS as a product is unique in the MMO space because it really is a product of passion." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49954198)) "I love the comeback of old school RuneScape! The good kind of nostalgia." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47331584)) "I love the visual, music and the feeling of first exploration" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48637777))
- Players shape development decisions (3 comments): "follow the lead of the OSRS team, make the old game and add new breadth, listen to your players not your shareholders" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47832693)) "the community voting system they have for introducing new content keeps the game alive and fresh" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47827002)) "players having veto power over almost every single decision" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49611451))

## What people warn about

- Balancing changes erode player progress (2 comments): "For every good update there is a landslide of terrible balancing that erodes 100s of hours of progress." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49962735)) "I wish there was a way to exclude the OSRS updates" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46877571))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [World of Warcraft](https://hackerapproved.com/p/world-of-warcraft.md): 67 recommend
- [EVE Online](https://hackerapproved.com/p/eve-online.md): 52 recommend
- [Ultima Online](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ultima-online.md): 44 recommend
- [RuneScape](https://hackerapproved.com/p/runescape.md): 35 recommend
- [Aardwolf MUD](https://hackerapproved.com/p/aardwolf-mud.md): 15 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Old School RuneScape", https://hackerapproved.com/p/old-school-runescape/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).