RuneScape was a giant reason I got into programming and has a special place in my heart.<p>I was about 13 years old at the time. I recall reverse engineering the client, modifying existing Java private servers and interacting with a range of hackers that have taught me lessons that I still remember until this day. The race to see who could reverse engineer the client and implement a feature the fastest was amazingly exciting.<p>I remember the day I was messaging someone to send me the packets for spells in the game. They sent me the packet id, how to supply x,y,z coordinates for the opposite player, and I was suddenly shooting fireballs in my private server. Amazing!<p>I&#x27;m now working at a game development company and teaching at a local college (I did not finish high school.) and I&#x27;m thankful for the entire RuneScape botting and private server community