Username
An account's Username, also known as its Login, is the name or email which uniquely identifies the player's account within Jagex's systems. Players must choose a login as part of the process for creating an account, and they currently cannot change it at any time afterwards. Accounts that were created before November 2010 will have a login name that is the first ever character name the account had (the original username upon account creation). Any account created after November 2010 will use a login email. The login email may be different than the registered email.
A username can only be used to access one account.
Choosing a login
In general, it is a good idea to maintain a unique login email that is specific only to your RuneScape account. This adds an extra layer of security, making it less likely to appear on leaked database lists and reduces the risk of potential cyber attacks. If the login email will also serve as the account's registered email, it is highly encouraged to enable two-step verification with your email provider to further improve security.
Using the same login email for multiple accounts
Some email providers allow you to use a variation of your email address that all deliver to the same inbox. This means you can create multiple RuneScape accounts with a slight variation in the login email and still have all RuneScape emails sent to the one email account. Note that the account's Registered Email will be unaltered.
To do this, you can add a plus (+) after your username followed by any number or word. Some examples include:
- examplelogin@provider.com = examplelogin+846@provider.com
- examplelogin@provider.com = examplelogin+RandomWord@provider.com
In these examples, all mail will still be delivered to examplelogin@provider.com. Most major email providers support plus addressing, such as Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, or Yahoo. To keep your account secure, make sure the additional text is not used elsewhere and would not be obvious to an attacker.
The ability to use the same login email for multiple characters circumvents players needing to continually create new emails in order to make alternate accounts.
Third party created accounts
It is possible to create a brand new account from a third party provider. If a user creates an account from a third party source such as Steam, Google, or Game Center, they will not have a username or password set on their account. In this case, it's strongly encouraged to add a login email and password to this account so it can be more secure.
To add a login email to your account:
- Log into the RuneScape website
- Visit your "linked account settings"
- Follow the on-screen prompts to set a login email and password
Character names
A player's character name, or display name, is the name seen by other players. This is the name that appears on Friends Lists and Ignore Lists, on the in-game chat and on the website (such as the Forums and Hiscores). On 1 October 2009, Jagex released an update allowing members to change their account's display name. The player's username (which is used to log into the game or website) remains the same. Keep in mind that the display name might be different than the login name.
Once a user has chosen a new display name, their old one will be reserved for at least 35 days. For the first 28 days it isn't possible to change the display name without using a bond, so players have at least a week to return to their old name if they wish to do so. Once 35 days have passed, the old display name will no longer be on hold and can be taken by others.
When a player changes their character name, an icon will appear next to their name on the Friends and Ignore lists. When hovering the cursor over this icon, a player can see the previous names of people on their Friends or Ignore Lists; the icon will disappear once the player's previous name becomes available again. There is no such feature for the Clan Chat or website.