Runescape hits user jackpot

Three days of in-game celebrations have begun as Runescape finally reached 200 million registered accounts.

The game already held the Guinness World Record as the world's most popular free MMORPG, with around 10 million active accounts per month.

Mark Gerhard, chief executive of the game's publisher Jagex, says it has succeeded far beyond what anyone had ever expected.

"When the game was first released, nobody could ever have expected it would reach such high levels of popularity largely by community word of mouth.

"It has been an incredible journey to get to where we are today, and by continuing our tradition of constantly innovating, evolving and lovingly crafting Runescape we are certain to continue to break records by creating on online adventure like no other.”

If you haven't heard of Runescape, you probably haven't played an MMORPG before; the fact that the game can be accessed directly through a web-browser makes it incredibly easy to start an account and begin playing.

Released in 2001, the game has grown in popularity in over 150 countries with Jagex creating an infographic containing some impressive statistics.

If Runescape were a country, it would have the fifth largest population of the world, equalling 63% of the United States and more than three times the size of the United Kingdom.

More than 443 billion minutes of game time have been clocked up since the game's launch.