Scale theory

The Temple Trekking minigame, an example of scale theory. Locations depicted in the minigame cannot be visited by the player outside of it, but canonically exist in-universe. This is because Morytania is much larger than it appears to be while playing the game.

Scale theory is a term used by Jagex and players to describe the apparent contradiction between the size of Gielinor in-game and its actual canonical size as confirmed by official lore.

For practical reasons, the size of the game world is considerably smaller than the land depicted is actually supposed to be. A journey that may take the player a matter of minutes would actually take an in-universe adventurer several hours to complete. Likewise, cities throughout the game are truncated in size, explaining the apparent contradiction between large cities like Varrock and Falador appearing as small towns.

Although initially a fan theory, it has since been confirmed as canonical by the developers.

Examples

• Cities such as Ardougne, Falador, and Varrock are far larger than depicted in-game, being home to several thousand people each. This is also why these cities appear to contain more NPCs than there is housing available for (e.g. Guards).
• Temple Trekking features ordinarily inaccessible areas of Morytania while depicting an extensive journey through the swamplands.
• The Ratcatchers Mansion is located near Ardougne, but cannot be visited outside of the Ratcatchers quest due to it being in an area that is not depicted in-game.
• The Misthalin Manor from the Misthalin Mystery quest is located south of Lumbridge swamp, but does not appear on the world map.
• When failing to unlock a new route for the balloon transport system, the player can crash down at one of two Balloon Crash Sites – both small barren spaces meant to represent a random spot in the world's extended natural environment.