Membership subscription
Membership subscription is the process of a RuneScape player paying the fee to become a member and access the pay-to-play version of the game. When players subscribe, they receive members credit that allows them to access the pay-to-play version of RuneScape. 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 which each provide different subscription payment methods and prices. Different payment methods require different information to be given during a secure payment process. Some subscriptions continue automatically unless the player cancels it, so that they can enjoy uninterrupted membership. Other payment methods require the player to renew manually when it expires if they wish to enjoy members' benefits.
Member credit
Member credit is obtained by paying for a subscription. Member credit is essentially the number of days remaining in a subscription. When member credit expires, the account will revert to free-to-play, and all extra features available only in the pay-to-play version of RuneScape are inaccessible again. Remaining member credit is displayed when members log in. Membership cannot be frozen unless bank actions are taken, and a day of member credit is used each day until it runs out.
Starting a subscription
Players can subscribe for membership by clicking the 'Start a new subscription' option in the 'Membership' section of the sidebar on the RuneScape website. The site will then attempt to automatically detect the player's home country. If it can't detect the country of a player, it will bring them to a page where they will be prompted to select their home country. After a country has been determined, a page listing a variety of payment methods available in that country will be displayed. Players can then select a payment method of their choice from those displayed, and will be prompted for information (different depending on selected payment method) in the following pages during the secure payment process.
Cancelling a subscription
Subscriptions can be cancelled by selecting the 'Cancel an existing subscription' option in the 'Membership' section of the sidebar on the RuneScape website. Players will be offered various cancellation options:
- Players may log into the site by entering their RuneScape username and password. After logging in, players will be taken to a cancellation page where they may choose from a list of reasons for cancellation and go to the cancellation confirmation page or they may choose not to unsubscribe. The cancellation confirmation page requires a final confirmation of the cancellation of the account's subscription and also provides a final option to choose not to unsubscribe.
- Players who have forgotten their username and/or password may cancel their subscription by providing their credit card number and expiry date as well as the username and email address provided when the subscription was taken out. Players are given the option to "Leave unchanged" or "Cancel subscription" for each account currently linked to the card. Furthermore, any previous accounts tied to the card which were cancelled can still be viewed. After submitting the information, players are taken to a final cancellation confirmation page where the credit card number and expiry date entered are displayed and there is an option to confirm cancellation.
- Players who have subscriptions using alternate payment methods through the payment provider PayByCash can cancel their subscriptions on the PayByCash website.
When a subscription is cancelled, players will continue to have access to members only worlds and features until their member credit expires. When a player's membership expires, they will be teleported to Lumbridge if in a members area, to prevent them being stuck in a members-only area. Players that have cancelled their account will be subject to the limits of Free-to-Play players, including a restricted bank allotment of 78 items for F2P accessible items. If you have more than 78 items, not including Members Objects in your bank, you cannot put any more items into the bank until you have reduced your bank size. If you have one kind of item already in bank, you will also be able to deposit more of it (example: more maple longbows can be deposited into bank as long as one bow is already in bank, regardless of bank space) It is advisable to use withdraw all-but-one order to access bank safely. Plan carefully, as you cannot sell or trade "Members Objects" on a F2P server once your account is cancelled.
Note: It was once possible to cast the high alchemy spell on members' items such as yew longbows however Jagex changed this after players would 'stock up' on nature runes and yew longbows and spend weeks/months training their magic meaning Jagex lost membership revenue.
Controversial Note: This whole Lumbridge teleportation thing might no longer apply to membership ending. A test conducted by a member on 29.4.2011 proved that he could be online for over 4 hours after member credit had expired. The reason for logging out after 4 hours was the infamous '6 hour log' which is a countdown timer after which every character is logged out automatically regardless of being in combat or not. None of the membership functions on the RuneScape website such as the adventurer's log worked after the credit expired, however.
Extending a subscription
Several payment methods are not ongoing, and need to be extended in order for payment to be continued. In order to prevent member credit from expiring, players must extend subscription. RuneScape subscriptions may be extended by clicking on the 'Extend an existing subscription' option in the 'Membership' section of the sidebar on the RuneScape website. This will bring players to either the normal page displaying payment methods for their detected country or the country select page if the country is undetectable. From this page, players may extend their subscriptions by choosing a payment method and entering their payment information as normal in the secure payment process.
Payment methods and subscription prices
There are various payment methods for RuneScape. Several payment providers who have agreements with Jagex process the transactions, and compete to offer better prices and availability. Sections below contain information from Jagex on all available payment methods.
Credit card payment
The cheapest subscription payment method is via credit card. Credit card payment is available to customers worldwide. When a subscription is paid via credit card, each month the payment is taken from the credit card account and a month of subscription is credited to the player's account. This is ongoing, and payments will continue to be taken from the credit card account a few days before the player's membership credit runs out until the subscription is canceled or if your credit card expires. You must resubscribe if you renew your credit card. Credit card payments are processed immediately. Payments from the credit cards Visa, Visa Delta, and Mastercard are accepted from all customers regardless of location. The debit cards JCB, Visa Electron, Visa Debit Switch/Maestro, and Solo are also accepted from customers in the United Kingdom. Subscriptions started prior to the 18 August 2008 update via credit card cost $5.00 USD, £3.20 GBP, 5.00EUR, or the equivalent in the customer's local currency. Post-update subscriptions via credit card cost $5.95 USD, £3.50 GBP, 5.95EUR, but after 12 months the cost drops to the original pre-update price. Further information is available during the secure subscription payment process (instructions for beginning above). Currently the cost for new subscribers is $7.95/4.95GBP/6.95EUR a month.
PayByPhone
The PaybyPhone payment method is available from payment provider Surfpin to players in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, and more. Players wishing to subscribe via PayByPhone call Surfpin's PayByPhone service and receive a PIN redeemable (after a processing period of 15 minutes) for one month of member credit on the RuneScape website. Subscription is paid for by the cost of the call, which is added to the caller's phone bill and is dependent on the country the caller is calling from. Players who subscribe via PayByPhone can unsubscribe simply by not calling again to resubscribe. No longer subscription lengths are currently available through PayByPhone. Costs for PayByPhone payment method are $7.99 USD, £5.00 GBP, 6.95EUR. Further information is available during the secure subscription payment process (instructions for beginning above).
PayBySMS
The PayBySMS payment method is available to players in the United States,<ref>New Payment Option - US PayBySMS/Text. Website Updates. Jagex Games Studio (2006-11-02). Archived from the original on 2010-01-30. Retrieved on 2010-01-30. “We are pleased to announce the launch of payment by SMS/Text Message in the United States! This service is in addition to the existing Pay by Phone option and allows a quick and easy way to get our optional "members game" for those without a credit card.”</ref> Canada,<ref name="PayByPhone" /><ref>PayBySMS now available in Canada.. Customer Support updates. Jagex Games Studio (2009-04-20). Archived from the original on 2010-01-30. Retrieved on 2010-01-30. “We’re pleased to announce that our Canadian players can now pay for membership of RuneScape or FunOrb by SMS. This means that you can purchase or renew membership using your mobile telephone.”</ref> France,<ref name="PayByPhone" /> Germany,<ref name="PayByPhone" /> the Netherlands,<ref name="PayByPhone" /> Switzerland,<ref name="PayByPhone" /> the United Kingdom,<ref name="PayByPhone" /> Australia,<ref name="PayByPhone" /> Belgium,<ref name="PayByPhone" /> Singapore,<ref>PayBySMS available in Singapore. Customer Support updates. Jagex Games Studio (2009-07-10). Archived from the original on 2010-01-30. Retrieved on 2010-01-30. “We’re pleased to announce that our players from Singapore can now pay for membership of RuneScape by SMS. This means that you can purchase or renew membership using your mobile telephone.”</ref> Estonia<ref name="estonialithuania">PayBySMS available in Estonia and Lithuania. Customer Support updates. Jagex Games Studio (2009-06-01). Archived from the original on 2010-01-30. Retrieved on 2010-01-30. “We’re pleased to announce that our Estonian and Lithuanian players can now pay for membership of RuneScape or FunOrb by SMS. This means that you can purchase or renew membership using your mobile telephone.”</ref> and Lithuania.<ref name="estonialithuania" />
Players subscribing via PayBySMS send a text message from their cellphone to Surfpin and receive a message in reply with a PIN redeemable (after a processing period of 15 minutes) for one month of member credit on the RuneScape website, very similar to the PayByPhone payment method. PayBySMS is only available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada and is generally the most expensive payment method, costing $11.96 USD, £6.00 GBP, 6.90 EUR, $16.60 AUD or $11.50 CAD plus any charge made by the subscriber's mobile phone operator. The subscriber's network provider may also charge for the text message sent. The cost of the message is added to the subscriber's telephone bill if the subscriber has a contract or removed from the credit on the subscriber's phone.
PayBySMS currently supports the following telephone networks:
- Networks in the United Kingdom:
- 3 (Hutchison 3G UK Limited)
- O2 (O2 (UK) Limited)
- Orange
- T Mobile
- Virgin Mobile
- Vodafone
- Networks in the United States:
- Alltell Wireless
- at&t
- Dobson
- Nextel
- Sprint
- Networks in Canada:
- Bell
- (Fido) Microcell
- MTS
- Rogers
- Sasktel
- Telus
- Virgin Mobile
Players who subscribe via PayBySMS can unsubscribe simply by not sending another text message to resubscribe. No longer subscription lengths are currently available through PayBySMS. Further information is available during the secure subscription payment process (instructions for beginning above).
PayPal
The provider PayPal offers players a variety of credit card payment options, being you have an existing account with PayPal. PayPal subscriptions are available globally. Price via PayPal payment method are 1 month from USD$7.50 / GBP£4.50 / EUR6.50 2 months from USD$12.99 / GBP£7.99 / EUR10.99 3 months from USD$17.99 / GBP£10.99/ EUR15.99 6 months from USD$34.99 / GBP£20.99 / EUR29.99 12 months from USD$66.99 / GBP£39.99 / EUR55.99. There is a processing time of less than 1 minute.
By taking advantage of the "Secure Cards" feature provided by the Paypal Plug-in, one can generate a multiple-use virtual Mastercard linked to their Paypal account and use it with the credit card payment option, thus paying the cheaper credit card membership fees at $6/month rather than $7.50/month. This however is only available to those who have the card before the plug-in was removed.
GiroPay
Offered to German players only, GiroPay is a real-time bank transfer subscription process. When you complete your payment, the cash will be removed from your bank account and paid directly to Jagex. All payments are "One-off" meaning monthly renewal of membership is required, unless you purchase a package which gives you 1,2,3,6, or 12 months at a lump charge. The cost for the GiroPay payment method is 1 month from 6.45€ 2 month from 12.25€ 3 month from 17.40€ 6 month from 32.25€ 12 month from 58.05€
PayByCash
The provider PayByCash also provides a wide variety of payment methods. PayByCash offers different costs for different lengths of payment, with discounts available for longer payments. Considerably due to the vast amount of options available, please view the link below for a detailed explanation of possible payments options.
One payment option is the Ultimate Game Card. It is a prepaid card sold in the U.S. in $10 or $20 amounts, which can be redeemed on the paybycash site.
Ultimate Game Cards are sold at the following stores in the U.S.:
- Walgreens
- 7-Eleven
- Walmart
Pre-pay cards
Pre-pay cards are sold at Target, 7-Eleven<ref>NEWS - 18th June 2009 - Membership cards in 7-Eleven</ref>, Wal Mart, GameStop, and Rite-Aid stores in the United States, and are available in Britain at Game, Gamestation, Sainsbury's and Boots. There are 2 types of cards:
- 30-day subscription (USD $7.95) (GBP £4.99)
- 90-day subscription (USD $22.50)(GBP £12.99)
Paysafe-card
In United Kingdom, Mexico, Europe, and more, players can pay with a PaySafe-card.
| PaySafe-card | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Price's correct 16/10/08 | |||
| MONTHS | GBP | EUR | Mex $ |
| 1 | £3.99 | € 7.50 | $91.3555 |
| 2 | £6.99 | € 15.00 | $159.941 |
| 3 | £9.99 | €21.95 | $228.586 |
| 6 | £19.99 | €28.50 | $458.389 |
| 12 | £36.99 | €87.328 | $848.565 |
Lifetime subscription
Lifetime subscriptions are awarded to players that win a competition where Lifetime Membership is a possible prize.<ref>Mod Hohbein (2010-01-29). RuneScape Machinima Competition 2. Customer Support updates. Jagex Games Studio. Archived from the original on 2010-01-30. Retrieved on 2010-01-30. “The first machinima competition was pretty straightforward: make a short machinima using RuneScape. This time, however, we're introducing a theme to spice things up a bit. We want you to make us an advert for something within RuneScape! ... The winner will receive lifetime membership to RuneScape, a tour of the studio to meet the people who make RuneScape happen, and an invitation to a Jagex event to be held later this year. ... Meanwhile, four runners-up will each receive lifetime RuneScape membership.”</ref> Lifetime subscription was also once awarded to a player for revealing the mechanism behind the Partyhat duplication glitch, though most were then permanently banned afterwards.<ref>Jagex. "Duplicated items in game". 7 November 2003. RuneScape News. *</ref>
Free week of membership
As of 5 July 2010, free players that have never been members before can take advantage of the Midsummer special, whereby they can get up to 7 days of membership, for free. Players must use a credit card to sign up, and then "cancel within the trial period otherwise you may be charged".<ref>https://secure.runescape.com/m=weblogin/members/trial.ws</ref> However it is actually signing an agreement that the user deposits single month worth of cash (5.95 US dollar) in Jagex account but freely available to retreat the money, terminating the membership trial at the same time. Any players not cancelling the membership within the 7 days is considered to automatically subscribe for one month of membership and the deposit money is used as the members fee.
Premium membership packages
As of 9 May 2012, a newspost on the official RuneScape webpage announced that on the MCM Expo in London membership packages will be sold. These include bonus xp for a certain amount of time, vanity items that are already in-game but can't be obtained anymore, membership, discount on some exclusive concept art and a unique T-shirt.