Ploonster Glitch

The Ploonster Glitch was a massive programming glitch that occurred on May 12, 2010. This glitch occurred when a player known as 'Ploonster' used bots and other illegal tools to reach the maximum levels and two hundred million experience points in every skill. JaGeX hadn't ever really thought anyone could or would be able to reach this level. When this happened, a strange glitch occurred: Ploonster reached a level thought to be unreachable. As a result, he was no longer bound by RuneScape's Code of Conduct. Ploonster could now kill anyone, anywhere, on any and every world and could easily switch to any location or world that he wanted to at his will. He also now could have unlimited bank and inventory space and items wherever he went. Ploonster altered every world, because now he could attack anyone in the worlds, which were all Multi-Combat, and Ploonster could kill freely without worry of being banned.

The Ploonster Glitch: Massacre, Part I
As a result of this glitch, he started to wreak havoc all over every world and location in RuneScape. He started off in World One and started using Red chinchompas, all of the 'Barrage' spells and five Dwarf Multi-Cannons at everyone in the Grand Exchange. In a mere six seconds, he killed 450 players. Players started panicking, as when they died, they lost every item they were carrying. Some players attempted to fight back by running at him and using what weapons the players currently had available to them. Ploonster then used his abilities and killed the rebels without taking any damage. Ploonster then killed everyone at the Grand Exchange at that time; even Player Moderators and JaGeX Moderators. Ploonster then collected all of the items dropped by his victims.

The Ploonster Glitch: JaGeX Patch Attempt
Within three minutes of the glitch appearing, the programming team was informed of the glitch and was dispatched in an attempt to patch the glitch. The appeal team also was dispatched and tried to IP ban Ploonster, but there was a horrific discovery: As he was not bound to the Code of Conduct as a side effect of the glitch, he was not able to be banned.

The Ploonster Glitch: Massacre, Part II
As Ploonster collected his spoils of war, his combat level had increased even more; it was soon discovered that he had a combat level of 550. Other players attempted to warn everyone logged in at the time early by posting on the forums and chatting in Clan-Chats. At first, nearly all individuals playing at the time thought this was a prank pulled by large amounts of other players, but this was falsified as Ploonster had terribly slaughtered all who were logged in. Ploonster also now had the ability to switch worlds and locations at his will. Ploonster, after his first massacre, then went to every Grand Exchange on every world and slaughtered thousands of players. In less than one hour, a horrific 170,000 players had been helplessly slaughtered and their items confiscated by Ploonster.

The Ploonster Glitch: Forum shut-down and JaGeX Inferno
Players, now seeing the danger of Ploonster, started posting on the forums. Within a mere two minutes, over 4,000,000 posts and threads had been created by various users. The stress of all the posting caused the servers to overload and the forums to automatically shut down. As a result of the extreme traffic, some of the hosting computers at JaGeX's headquarters where the forums were hosted overheated and violently caught on fire. JaGeX employees responded by pulling fire alarms, which triggered automatic sprinklers; picking up fire extinguishers, and spraying desperately at the host computers, which shut down the forums.

The Ploonster Glitch: A Faint Hope
As players watched in horror as they were helplessly slaughtered and lost their treasured items, Ploonster kept on collecting his spoils and getting stronger, now having reached an astonishing combat level of 5,000. Ploonster appeared anywhere and everywhere; players were not safe no matter how obscure or far away they thought they were from Ploonster. However, a clan known as R S Wikia devised a plan to kill Ploonster. They believed, that, if enough players joined forces and all attacked him at once, they could kill him and stop him. They started using their own site, RuneScape Wikia, and its sister sites, RuneScape Fan-Fiction Wikia, RuneScape Businesses and RuneScape Clans to plot Ploonster's downfall.
 * May 16, 2010; the fourth day of the glitch.

The Ploonster Glitch Battle Plans
The entire RS Wikia clan started plotting the assault. The plan was to have 1,500 people go after him, using all three sides of the Combat Triangle. 500 warriors, 500 rangers and 500 magicians would all bring their best equipment sets and prayers, then all attack Ploonster at one time.

The Ploonster Glitch: Newb Massacre
While the RS Wikia planned the main attack, a clan known as the Newb Clan planned their own attack to intercept Ploonster as well. They, being new to the game, and not realizing the danger, planned an attack on their own. The plan was to have 30 warriors, 50 rangers and 20 magicians. All the fighters in the Newb Clan were under ten combat levels. The Newb Clan leader then got all of his fighters to go to where Ploonster was, which was, at the time, near the Body Altar. They all launched a massive attack, believing that, with the sheer numbers they had, could kill him, not realizing the danger of the plan and how underpowered they were. However, before they even reached him, Ploonster cast Ice Barrage spells and threw Red Chinchompas at them. In within five seconds, seventy percent of the Newb Clan attack force perished. The survivors attempted to retreat, but Ploonster wanted no witnesses and killed them before they were able to run away.

The Ploonster Glitch: Battle Plans, Part II
Hearing news of the massacre, R S Wikia finished preparing the plan. At 7 o'clock Eastern Daylight Time on May 19, 2010, the attack began. The paramilitary forces used a low-levelled scout to spot his location, which was, at the time, the small Summoning Obelisk with the Black Knight at Draynor Village. The scout reported the news via the clan chat. All at once, the R S Wikia paramilitary forces marched to Ploonster. The magicians and rangers attacked first, launching the strongest spells and ranged equipment they had with them. Ploonster, however, managed to resist most of the damage by using the Ancient Curses. The players did, however, manage to inflict 333 damage out of the 999 health he had. The warriors went next, rushing to attack. They attacked Ploonster mercilessly and ignored how much damage they took themselves. Ploonster was outnumbered and overwhelmed with everyone attacking him with all sides of the combat triangle. The magicians casted the best curses and damaging spells they had to weaken and damage him. The rangers also used the best weapons that they had and used specials or poisons when they could. Ploonster was not so easy to defeat, however. He used rocktails and various potions to increase his stats and heal himself. As much as they damaged him, he was quick in healing himself. Ploonster also fought back using magic on warriors, ranged on magicians, and melee attacks on rangers.

The Ploonster Glitch: Ploonster's Last Breaths
Within 5 minutes, 70 people had already died in battle. The clan members didn't care at all and ran back as fast as they could, fighting unequipped if they had to. Ploonster launched a massive assault on the magicians, and, within 20 seconds, fifty-five percent of the mages either perished or were grievously injured. The rangers, all at once, countered the attack with the Special Attacks their weapons had. The results of it were devastating to Ploonster's health and stats. His health now only 2300 Life Points. He launched a brutal assault on the warriors using the best magic he had. In within 45 seconds, 40 percent of the warriors were either dead, while the others were grievously injured. The rangers, knowing they were the only hope, again, all at once, used the Special Attacks and managed to reduce his health down to 500 Life Points. Ploonster, however, as a last ditch effort to kill his aggressors, turned on Wrath and prepared to go out with a 'Bang'. The magicians, however, used binding spells so he couldn't move and everyone took this chance to run. Once everyone had gotten far away enough, the mages and rangers launched a final attack everyone using Special Attacks and the best things they had on him. At 10 o'clock EDT, May 19, 2010, Ploonster died.

The Ploonster Glitch: Death of Ploonster
Once Ploonster was killed he dropped only bones. Another interesting glitch occurred when he died; when he was killed, his character and account was deleted and removed permanently from RuneScape. The R S Wikia clan had finally defeated him.

The Ploonster Glitch: Aftermath
Once he was finally defeated, the entire clan started to rejoice, congratulating everyone and remembering those who had died during the epic battle. The glitches caused by Ploonster had ended, so there were no more Multi-Combat worlds. The entire clan went to the Grand Exchange of the world Ploonster was defeated, which was World 29 and informed everyone of the defeat. Within three hours, the whole RuneScape community knew of the defeat. Over 120 videos of the defeat and battle with Ploonster were uploaded on YouTube, MetaCafe and weGame so everyone could see. Because it was the magicians and rangers who were able to defeat the Ploonster, it struck a chord with JaGeX and the community, players now being more proud of rangers and magicians. However, not all was good, as it was estimated that over 96 quadrillion gold pieces worth of items had been lost in the wake of Ploonster's brutal massacres. The effects were felt for years to come. However, for the most part, players were just glad to be free of his tyrannical hold over RuneScape.

The Ploonster Glitch: JaGeX Repercussions
Once the Ploonster was deceased, JaGeX quickly introduced patches for the game so a that a glitch on this major of a scale could couldn't ever happen again in RuneScape. The forums were down for four weeks after the computers crashed and caught fire. One JaGeX employee suffered second degree burns on his chest from putting out the fire. He later left JaGeX for unknown reasons. A month later, JaGeX released a statement explaining what had happened and how they were taking steps so something as major as the Ploonster Glitch wouldn't ever happen again.

The Ploonster Glitch: Memorials
To remember all those who had perished at the hands of Ploonster, JaGeX erected a memorial statue in Varrock at the centre where the fountains were. The statue was a statue of an angel holding a small baby. The memorial read "This memorial is dedicated to those honourable players who fought for and lost their lives at the hands of Ploonster." JaGeX also erected a similar statue on the battlefield where the R S Wikia clan had worked together to defeat the Ploonster. The statue was of a combat triangle and it read "To those who honourably fought Ploonster and aided in his defeat, we honour you, will remember you, and cherish you." The statue also contained a list of everyone who was at the epic battle. JaGeX Also released a statue for the Newb Clan that had died near the Body Altar. The statue was the default character design with a khaki shirt and forest-green pants. The sign read "70 7|-|3 |\|00B5 \/\/|-|0 d13D \/\/3 r3/\/\3/\/\B3R j00Z".

Trivia

 * Thousands of rare, irretrievable items such as Santa Hats and other holiday items were lost. As a result, the prices for these went up so rapidly to the point where they are impossible for anyone to buy.
 * The glitch did have some good effects for the economy. At the time, there was a massive inflation of gold pieces in RuneScape and the massive losses ended up making people have to spend large amounts of money to regain the losses. Often, players had to simply buy from stores and work their way back up.
 * There have been rumours that people have seen sightings of Ploonster in World 82.