They don't have as many Dbags as Wow, its only $5 instead of 20, and they work on slow internet.

I'm required to say Runescape sucks donkey dick.
They pay because of the addictiveness factor, and bearing in mind they are normally 13 year olds anything that can increase the size of their e-penis is worth its weight in e-gold, and oddly enough e-gold can be made using real world money thanks to the majesty of proffessional farmers.

Because they clearly don't think the game sucks just because you think it sucks doesn't mean others will.

I think its a good chance for people who are new to RPG's to start out with something simple and free

Smoke Wraith:
to shatnershaman: not tring to brag for gw but it is like a normal PC game buy it and never pay a again and i know of very few Dbags on there and as for slow internet whats the point in playing any MMO in slow internet?

You only have access to slow internet but you still want to play one.

Runescape's free. I don't know anything about Maple Story, but I know you can go a long way into Runescape without paying a cent. Once you've run out of stuff to do in the free world, you're hooked. Well and truly hooked.

Oh, and the game is so bewilderingly simple that anyone can play it.

For all its flaws, Runescape has some real fun quests. There was more to them than simply collecting animal pelts or whatever. Boring quests are actually what put me off of WoW.

I'm still trying to get my friend to start wasting his life on something awesome like Diablo, but he just keeps on Mapling.

He says he likes it, because his friends play it.

Sib:
I'm required to say Runescape sucks donkey dick.
They pay because of the addictiveness factor, and bearing in mind they are normally 13 year olds anything that can increase the size of their e-penis is worth its weight in e-gold, and oddly enough e-gold can be made using real world money thanks to the majesty of proffessional farmers.

I may have my frunstrations against Runescape but your words touch a bit close to home, having both of my bigger brothers playing it. Alot. Like, both of them are over level 110. Against my better judgement. (In the context of Runescape and/or lack thereof)

I have a sad story to tell.

My best friend's brother absolutely loves Runescape, but that's not the sad part. He's a member and makes his parents pay the $5 a month for him, that's still not the sad part.

Here's the sad part, he got hacked 3 times and each time he started a new character he made his parents pay the $5 a month each time. Every time he got hacked he just thought nothing of it, saying "So?" to me and his friends and just kept on playing it only to be hacked again and the same thing happens.

My friend and I tried to get him to a more "healthy" (if you can call it that) addiction like WoW, we even threw in the free month of play to see if he didn't want to play it after that, but still no avail.

I used to play RS until about level 20, that's the average level i usually get out of MMOs

i'm not playing any MMO's right now.i played runescape until about level 50 something.i gave the account to my friend,he got the account to about level 97,gave it back.i finally beat most of the quests,and quit.then i started WoW.i found it fun.until it was time to update patches.it took the better part of THREE DAYS to get them on.i quit after that.

Eugh.

Depressingly enough, I have played Runescape, WoW and Maple Story at one point.

Thing is, I played them for a week and un-installed them.

There's something about MMO's that switches me off.

To answer the Question Above: Don't waste your money either way. We all know MMO's are a scam aimed at pre-teens.

For me, it was a phase I grew out of. I used to be addicted to Runescape when I was about 12, but then I kinda stopped and played other games. Maybe the big appeal factor is the social aspect, and the general addictiveness of MMOs.

Lord Krunk:
Eugh.

Depressingly enough, I have played Runescape, WoW and Maple Story at one point.

Thing is, I played them for a week and un-installed them.

There's something about MMO's that switches me off.

To answer the Question Above: Don't waste your money either way. We all know MMO's are a scam aimed at pre-teens.

Im curious as to how you un-installed Runescape.

It's cheap and fun for a while. Why pay $20 on up for a game and expansions, $15 a month subscription, and more for extra characters when you can download and go (or just play in browser?) The whole 'play for free, pay for extras' gig is quite beneficial if you ask me. It allows casual players a chance to experience the game while hardcore players or those who enjoy the game enough can actually invest in it for goodies. Also seems to give some false sense of elite status among some players.

I know a strong point for me was the solo campaign. Ironic I know, playing an MMO to play alone but I tend to not have the tolerance to deal with people inhibiting 'teamwork' based game. I played FFXI briefly, but once you hit level 11 you are pretty much in or seeking a party for the duration of the rest of the game.

Besides, what had me on Runescape for so long was the massive amount of unique crafting available. Likely to have changed in the six or so years since I've last played. Also tried maple story but got so tired of the tedious quests and pointless grind. "Go bring me 50 slimes." "Now bring me 100 slimes" "Now get 100 slimes and 50 feathers" Ugh. Killing things is entertaining to a point but just loses its value after a short while.

Its mainly popular with kids who play it in the library during lunch. I tried getting into it and i COULD NOT figure out the control lay out, so just ditched it

GenHellspawn:

Lord Krunk:
Eugh.

Depressingly enough, I have played Runescape, WoW and Maple Story at one point.

Thing is, I played them for a week and un-installed them.

There's something about MMO's that switches me off.

To answer the Question Above: Don't waste your money either way. We all know MMO's are a scam aimed at pre-teens.

Im curious as to how you un-installed Runescape.

Sorry, typo there. I meant that I un-insatalled Maple and WoW, but I simply stopped playing Runescape.

EDIT: It may have been changed, but WoW in Oz is actually $30 a month. The US$ is nearly equal to us now, so it shows how much we're being ripped over here.

Smoke Wraith:
i mean both games graphics are bad

Hypothetical scenario: you're making a free game to appeal to a wide range of casual gamers, most of whom don't have high end gaming PCs.

Will more people be able to play it if it has amazing graphics or simple graphics?

Furthermore, would the money you make from micro transactions really cover the production values of adding superior visuals?

I have played runescape I got to 70 something because I was playing with friends but then I discovered WOW I heard of it on a camping trip when i got back i checked the website and started playing that now im a 61 hunter

as for maple story I played that until lv20 it was a simple 2d kind of game and a good stress reliver but then i forgot my account password and stopped playing

also WOW is not $30 it is only $15 CA and thats about $14 us so I dont know were you got 30 from

I started playing Runescape when I was without console and wanted something free to play.As I went along,I did quests and grinding to past the time.Then I gave up on it for a few years.It was however an awesome stepping stone to get my girlfriend intrested in playing games.It's simple mechanics were easy for her to pick up and play.She loved it so much, she got us the subscriptions to finish more quests.So, I would play online with her,regardless if she was home, or out of town on business.Granted, its filled with dregs of children who are trying to one-up one another, but I've come across parents playing online with their children as well as even older players(retiree's mostly)questing and grinding as well.Graphics aren't anything when you compare it to WoW, but not everyone is concerned with graphics when your satisfied with your gameplay and game community.I'll admit I love all the flashy eye-candy that my ps3 dishes out on the widescreen.But I sure we've all played a game that looked awesome, but they gameplay was horrible.Now that I have my girlfriend playing more on the ps3, I'll often revert to playing Runescape online if she's off playing a one player game, just to pass the time.If I didnt have a console or a computer, you would find me playing chess or monopoly.Not exactly visually stunning, but the gameplay is awesome.

I played World of Warcraft first, and I attempted to play Runescape for a while when Blizzard was doing one if its usual unexpected server fixing sprees that takes the whole game down for a day or two. Man, Runescape is just....boring. Boring and ugly. And the whole 'there are more douchebags on WoW than anywhere else' argument is a load of crap. Within an hour of playing Runescape I ran into just as many douchebags as I would have in an hour of WoW, but without the ability to silence them (since I didn't know the controls....I don't even know if you can silence on Runescape). Anyway, Runescape was boring and I have no idea what Maplestory is.

I was reading what the OP said about "Why would someone be willing to pay for this trash?" and I found that I agreed completely. I have a friend who plays the game, but actually tricked his grandmother to pay for it. I tried to convince him to play a better game, but he refused, until he discovered WoW and got trapped in that slightly less run-down crack house of a game.

Ehhh, at least he wasn't paying with his own money. BTW, just to show the absurdity, he is a college student old enough to get wasted and he still plays RS during his WoW breaks.

I've played Runescape since 2002. It is addictive as sin.

Wargamer:
I've played Runescape since 2002. It is addictive as sin.

Well, yeah, but how old are you? The younger ones have an excuse since they're at school a lot and they have something to do in the computer lab, but us guys who have a job/college and the ability to choose all our own games have no excuse.

I'm 23 this year.

The reason I love Runescape is quite easy to define; it feels like a proper RPG. For those who are completely oblivious to REAL roleplaying (which makes up 99% of World of Warcraft players), an RPG is not about hacking through endless monsters in order to get that precious +2 Dildo of Antioch drop.

RPGs is about playing a character role. One of the reasons I feel Runescape aids this style of play is that you can do a hell of a lot of non-combat stuff. I'm not saying I don't do ANY combat (I am a die-hard Quest nut, and beat them within a few days of release), but most of the time I'm happy farming; I enjoy planting trees, and selling the crop to fund whatever insane projects creep into my head in the meantime.

Many people harp on at me about how bad Runescape's graphics are, but these people also tend to be the insufferable retards who insist the best GTA is GTAIV, when any sane individual knows the series nose-dived into the pavement as soon as GTA2 came out and has never climbed since.

I have played games all my life. I grew up on Lemmings, Chocks Away, Alien Invasion and Bug Hunter. Newer consoles and more powerful computers may produce superior visuals, but that is a means to an end; a game can look as stunning as it wants, but without game-play to back it up I'm not interested.

So, to explain why I hate World of Warcraft... I already own it. The difference is my version is called "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance." My friend owns World of Warcraft as well, only HIS version is called "Champions of Norrath." Neither of our copies have online capability, but we only had to pay for them once.

World of Warcraft feels so bloody generic it hurts. I cannot in good conscience play that pile of crap when there are many superior titles out there, most prominent being the mountain of 3.5 Ed D&D books in the corner of my bedroom.

Runescape doesn't feel like a D&D clone. Runescape has a very distinct feel to it. Combined with the fact you don't need to download anything except Java (which is rather less demanding than asking a console gamer to buy a second controller), Runescape ticks all the boxes.

In case anyone reading this is one of those annoying little spunk-monkeys commonly known as "Pures", I don't play Runescape for it's PvP elements. If I want to play a PvP game, I'll boot up Metal Gear Online. RPGs are not, and should never be, about trying to slaughter the other player. That isn't the point. That was NEVER the point. If that's the only reason you play an MMORPG, you need to piss off back to Halo 3 so the rest of us can get on with playing our games properly.

Sorry I missed this guy the first skim through, but he brings up points I really need to hit home on.

DeadlyYellow:

I know a strong point for me was the solo campaign. Ironic I know, playing an MMO to play alone but I tend to not have the tolerance to deal with people inhibiting 'teamwork' based game. I played FFXI briefly, but once you hit level 11 you are pretty much in or seeking a party for the duration of the rest of the game.

I agree COMPLETELY with this! Other MMORPGs have been spoiled for me because in order to progress, you need to progress as a team. Yeah, getting a dozen mates (or even complete strangers) and blitzing a Level 700 Cyberdemon is awesome, but between these epic battles I'd like to be able to go off and train, earn cash and hone my battle skills. If I can't do that without five friends backing me up, I'm going to be losing interest very fast.

Everything in Runescape, except the "Boss Monsters" can be taken one-on-one. In many cases, you MUST take them one-on-one (you can only team up in a Multicombat area). I'm not saying it's always easy, but if I want to bring my best armour, best food, a super-set and go it alone, I should be able to so long as I don't propose killing something that was designed to challenge five top-level players.

Besides, what had me on Runescape for so long was the massive amount of unique crafting available. Likely to have changed in the six or so years since I've last played. Also tried maple story but got so tired of the tedious quests and pointless grind. "Go bring me 50 slimes." "Now bring me 100 slimes" "Now get 100 slimes and 50 feathers" Ugh. Killing things is entertaining to a point but just loses its value after a short while.

Oh yes, I hate those quests too. Fortunately, Runescape has virtually none of them. Yes, it does have something similar (the "Slayer" skill, where you are assigned a task of killing X of Y, occasionally needing Special Item Z to do it), but you're much more likely to be sent to Kill the Troll General so the Eternal Guard can launch an assault on Death Peak than "Kill 40 wolves. No reason, just do it."