RuneScape's minimap is often the victim of persistent glitches. The first reports of players experiencing glitches with the graphical interface of the minimap came roughly around 21 November 2009.

The most frequently-occurring glitches include:

• Misplacement of map chunks, causing a certain side of the map to become displaced from the real position, with black space separating areas. Sections appearing to be flatly "blacked out" is simply due to a map piece out of view.
• Background fully turning black, with the dots and icons still visible. Can happen when one's internet connection is lost, then reestablished.
• Icons having a black rectangular background. Believed to be certain bits of game code rejecting the icons' transparency.
• Map's edges leaking out of its border.

All of the above are almost always loading errors, not nonexistent files on the server-side. The first two glitches can usually be temporarily fixed by "reloading" the minimap, via methods such as teleportation, logging out and back in, entering an entrance to another map and returning, open the world map and close it immediately, or simply moving a distance and returning. Changing RuneScape's graphics display mode might help as well.

Less common glitches:

• Minimap not appearing at all.
• While having a Summoning pet out, right-clicking the summoning icon will sometimes show an "Attack" or "Cast Spell" option. This glitch has not yet been fixed.
• A white background.
• Landscape being misplaced and shrunk in areas other than the RuneScape surface.

The collective glitches have no effect whatsoever on the actual location, and typically do not pose harm to players, unless a player is disoriented by the minimap issues in a dangerous/competitive area that may or may not rely on the minimap. Still many players have become accustomed to the graphical glitches and so tend to ignore the problems.