How RSPS Voting Works (and How to Get Vote Rewards)

Log in to almost any private server and within minutes someone will ask you to vote. There's usually a ::vote command, a reward waiting and a message about helping the server grow. Voting takes less than a minute, but what happens behind that click decides where servers rank, how new players find them, and whether your reward actually arrives.

This guide explains why servers ask for votes, how to vote on RuneIndex step by step, the rules every vote follows, how rewards reach your character, and why the way a toplist counts votes matters more than most players realise.

Why servers ask you to vote

Toplists rank servers, and most of them rank by votes. A higher rank means more visibility, more visibility means more new players, and new players are what keep a server's economy moving, its Wilderness busy and its raids full. For a small team without a marketing budget, toplist votes can be one of the main ways new players discover them.

Vote rewards are the server's side of the deal. Many servers give something back for each vote — vote points, supplies, cosmetics or a temporary boost — which makes voting one of the steadiest free sources of progress available. It costs you nothing, and it directly supports the servers you enjoy.

How to vote on RuneIndex, step by step

1. 1Open the server's RuneIndex listing from the rankings or a category page, or follow the server's own ::vote command or website link.
2. 2Click Vote to open the vote page. You don't need a RuneIndex account.
3. 3Enter your in-game username exactly as it appears in the game. Letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens and underscores are allowed, up to 20 characters.
4. 4Complete the captcha if one is shown, then submit your vote.
5. 5Read the confirmation. When the server has vote rewards set up and the delivery goes through, the page tells you your reward has been sent and should arrive in-game shortly. If your vote came through a VPN or proxy, it says so here too.
6. 6Log in to collect it. Some servers deliver rewards straight away, while others hold them until you next log in or ask you to claim them with a command.

The rules behind every vote

Every vote on RuneIndex follows the same rules, and they're enforced by RuneIndex's servers rather than in your browser:

How vote rewards reach you

RuneIndex doesn't hand out rewards itself — the server does. When you vote, RuneIndex sends a message called a callback to the game server with your username and a unique vote ID. The message is signed with a secret key that only RuneIndex and the server share, so the server can check it's genuine rather than someone trying to give themselves free rewards. The server then credits your reward.

If the server's endpoint is briefly down, the reward isn't lost straight away. RuneIndex retries the delivery several times over about four and a half hours, and because every attempt carries the same vote ID, a properly built server pays it out once however many attempts it takes.

If your reward doesn't arrive

• Check the name first: a typo or the wrong character name means the server can't match the reward to you.
• Look for a claim command: some servers queue rewards until you're online, or ask you to use a command such as ::claim.
• Check the Trust Report: every listing shows whether the server gives vote rewards at all, and what share of its reward callbacks were delivered over the last 30 days.
• Give it time: if the server's endpoint was down, retries continue for a few hours.
• Ask the server's staff: owners can see every delivery attempt and its result in their dashboard.

Why VPN votes get rewards but don't count

VPNs, proxies and hosting networks make it easy to appear to come from many different places at once, which is exactly what vote manipulation needs. Blocking those votes outright would also lock out ordinary players who use a VPN for privacy, so RuneIndex takes a middle path: the vote is recorded, the server still receives it — marked as flagged — so it can reward you, but it doesn't count toward the server's rank.

Every listing's Trust Report shows how many of its votes were excluded this month. If you want your own vote to count, switch your VPN off before voting. Either way, the vote is passed to the server so it can reward you.

Why monthly resets and vote screening matter

Not every toplist counts votes the same way, and the differences change what a rank means:

• Lists that never reset: when rankings use all-time totals, servers that were popular years ago keep their place long after their players have left, and new servers can never catch up.
• Lists that don't screen votes: without cooldowns by IP and by name, and screening for proxies, whoever runs the most scripts wins, and the rank measures effort spent gaming the list.
• Lists that sell rank: when paid placements sit unlabelled inside the ranking, you can't tell earned positions from bought ones.
• Lists that trust typed-in numbers: a player count an owner can edit by hand only tells you what the owner wants you to believe.

RuneIndex ranks servers by counted votes this calendar month, resets on the 1st, keeps sponsored placements labelled and outside the ranked list, and only shows player counts that the game server reports itself. Whichever toplist you use, check that it publishes its rules — a rank is only as meaningful as the rules behind it.

Frequently asked questions

Does voting cost anything?

No. Voting is free, and you don't need a RuneIndex account — just your in-game name. Servers reward it because it costs players nothing and helps the server grow.

Can I vote for more than one server?

Yes. The 12-hour cooldown applies per server, so you can vote for every server you play, each once every 12 hours.

When do votes reset?

Monthly counts reset at 00:00 UTC on the 1st of each month, and every server starts the new month level. All-time totals are kept on each listing.

Can two people vote from the same connection?

Not for the same server within 12 hours, because the limit applies per IP address as well as per username. You can each vote for different servers, and the same server can be voted for again from that connection 12 hours later.