But in 2007, Jagex made a blunder by making the player-vs-player Wilderness safe and adding trading restrictions.
The community revolted, marking the end of Gielinor's golden era.
In 2013, Jagex split the game into Old School RuneScape (a 2007 snapshot) and RuneScape 3 (a modernized version).
Last year, they released a spin-off, RuneScape: Dragonwilds, an online survival game. Now at 25, the game has regained trust by listening to players.
For Old School, every update is decided by democratic vote. The community manager regularly engages on Reddit, and Jagex staff even attended Amelia's in-game wedding.
Associate creative director Ryan Philpott, who started as a fan and play tester, says nostalgia is part of the model but not the goal.
"It's not about going backwards necessarily," he explains, "but understanding what we did so well, or what people loved, and using that to take us forward."
The team's Road to Restoration project addresses longstanding grievances.
Rather than demanding more time, Philpott says the team aims to accommodate players' changing lives.
"It is that choice to play RuneScape alongside going through school, getting a job, having kids," he says.
"We have a famous phrase: 'You never truly quit RuneScape, you just take a break.' I've never met anyone who has truly quit."
In a landscape dominated by Fortnite and Minecraft, RuneScape has found equilibrium with its players. "I want to keep it going for the next 25 years," Philpott says.
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There are, it seems, many more weddings to come.
