How I got my initial information, The Ren story Options

[Ren]

People recently asked me how I found out about MechScape in the first place, so I thought I'd share my story.

On the 25th of September 2007 I was looking at the profiles of Jagex employees on a business networking site and noticed one belonging to Oscar G which referred to "developing content for a new MMORPG, from the makers of http://www.runescape.com". It didn't provide me with the MechScape name, but piqued my interest enough to get me to look into it further. I mentioned this to a few friends on MSN at the time, but didn't feel I had enough verifiable evidence to be believed.

As well as looking at the profiles of other employees, I searched Google long and hard to find as many former and past employees of Jagex as I could to see if any mentioned working on a new MMORPG. Through this process I found John S and Thoams W, who both also claimed to have worked on some new Jagex MMORPG project (this led to the information that it was a space MMORPG and involved vehicles). But alas, none of these employees gave a specific name for the game.

The other part of my research revolved around trademarks, and through looking at the UK, EU and US trademark sites I managed to get a name (MechScape) and, later, a logo. By searching for this name on the Internet I found two old posts about it from different sources, both claiming that they'd heard from a Jagex employee (directly or indirectly) that they were making a futuristic RuneScape-like game called MechScape, but the responses they got were mostly dismissive due to lack of evidence.

As far I can tell the first public post regarding MechScape was made in May 2007. The user claimed that a J Mod had told them that a game called MechScape would be "a whole new RPG, as a sister RPG to Runescape", and the poster provided domain names and trademark information to support their claim. The second post was made in June from a different user who apparantly stumbled upon the trademark and didn't know anything about what the game was. The third post was from early September and claimed that they had heard from a Jagex accountant that Jagex were "making a futuristic version of rs", but provided no proof to back up their assertion. Apparently there was also some website which mentioned MechScape and this was taken down by Jagex, but I have no evidence or information regarding this - it does not appear to have been a fansite.

The final thread of my research involved going through a majority of Jagex's old and current job vacancies to find references to a space MMOPRG. This revealed they were advertising for people to work on an "undisclosed project", that they wanted people who had a general interest in sci-fi and anime (a lot of anime features big robots / mechs).

By the 22nd of October 2007 I decided I had enough information to prove it was real, and so posted a thread about it on my old forum. The following day I started the first MechScape fansite and wrote about it on Wikipedia. Since then, the results of my research has been posted all over the Internet, often unattributed.

[Lolly]

and the fansite would be this?
or a different one?

[Ren]

The fansite was MechScape Central which was used as the basis of MechScape World.

[frostguy]

Thank you that explains a whole lot on how you the know the game so well. =)

how is the wikipedia page going along?

[Ren]

Well, seeing as the MechScape article was deleted on Wikipedia its only the MechScape heading on the Jagex article at the moment. And since they don't like original research its generally a case of waiting until it is announced by Jagex or covered by the mainstream media.

[frostguy]

Oh I see .

Isnt there another major site like that you can post stuff like that?

[Ren]

Yes, MechScapeWorld.com ;)

[frostguy]

Oh haha. Touche.

[Arain]

So you were one of the first people who found out about mechscape?

[Arain]

whoa it looks like you found out about mechscape a lot earlier than all of us

[Ren]

So you were one of the first people who found out about mechscape?

whoa it looks like you found out about mechscape a lot earlier than all of us

Of course some Jagex employees knew way before me. A few other people posted about MechScape prior to me posting about it (mostly claiming to have heard about it from a Jagex connection), but as they didn't do the research and provide convincing evidence to back up their claims people basically discounted their assertions and it didn't for far.

[SupaKilla]

Thats very interesting. But I have a question ren. About how long did it take you to find this info? I mean its crazy how much you figure out within a couple months.

[Ren]

Thats very interesting. But I have a question ren. About how long did it take you to find this info? I mean its crazy how much you figure out within a couple months.

Dunno, at least 10 hours. I literally had to identify every Jagex employee with an online presence (which is tricky as Jagex don't even list employee names and Jagex employees are advised not to advertise that they are staff) and check out everything they'd said to see if it mentioned MechScape. Although I never posted it anywhere (IIRC), I did manage to also find a person who referred to a friend who worked as a concept artist for Jagex drawing robots during my research.

[frostguy]

ren is a very clever person =)

[unorclan]

I've always wondered but never took time to ask you, Ren.
On Mechscape Central (http://mechscape.googlepages.com/) under the "Will Mechscape be set in a Runescape Universe?" you mention the Gielinor Tribune - how'd you find that?

[frostguy]

I've always wondered but never took time to ask you, Ren.
On Mechscape Central (http://mechscape.googlepages.com/) under the "Will Mechscape be set in a Runescape Universe?" you mention the Gielinor Tribune - how'd you find that?

Thats the same thing I wanted to know I posted a thread asking about what the story line should be.=)

[Ren]

I've always wondered but never took time to ask you, Ren.
On Mechscape Central (http://mechscape.googlepages.com/) under the "Will Mechscape be set in a Runescape Universe?" you mention the Gielinor Tribune - how'd you find that?

I read the article prior to discovering MechScape and remembered it (not sure where I found it, tip.it perhaps). When I thought it could be relevant I Googled neoscape runescape and found it again.

[frostguy]

so what does that mean?

[unorclan]

I read the article prior to discovering MechScape and remembered it (not sure where I found it, tip.it perhaps). When I thought it could be relevant I Googled neoscape runescape and found it again.

Oh I see, just wondering since I'm the Manager of the Gielinor Tribune.

[Ren]

Just thought I'd point out that it is now over a year since I discovered MechScape. MechScape Central's birthday is less than a month away.