Most MMOs lead you on a campaign that introduces the main RuneScape gold, activities and areas, and only then do they simply take the leash off and let you do whatever you want. That last piece is where Old School Runescape begins. It's a sandbox MMORPG that is deliberately grindy and intimidatingly hands-off.
You go through a five-minute tutorial that teaches you the absolute bare minimum and you're unceremoniously dropped to the hometown of Lumbridge. It is the type of game in which you have to bookmark the wiki until you can get everywhere. But if you are willing to push through the harsh learning curve, and should you discover Runescape's freewheeling sense of adventure liberating rather than overwhelming, you might well find your eternally game.
Part of this reason Old School Runescape is really bad at explaining itself comes down to its own heritage. A decade ago, there wasn't any Old School Runescape. There was only Runescape. However, following a major update totally overhauled Runescape and turned it into what is now colloquially called buy RS gold, Jagex conducted a poll to determine if players desired independent servers where they might play Runescape as it had been back in the day.
Nearly 500,000 people said , and Old School Runescape was first born. So, the threadbare tutorial is more than enough for those who've played Runescape before (like myself). Nevertheless, Old School could still stand to guide new players somewhat better, because it is completely unlike other MMOs.
