Genuine question, no intention to offend anyone. Why do you play this?

[DaniTheHero]

I just can't imagine how anyone, unless playing on a computer built in from the windows XP age which can't do anything else, would decide to play this over literally any other option.

Is undying nostalgia the only reason?

If we're talking strictly from a F2P perspective, in 2021, there's so many other games that would provide far more content.
If we're talking about the full "paid subscription" experience, why would you ever consider it worth it?
Paying 10$ dollars a month to play a game that was made 15+ years ago and plays like it.
The majority of the content is the most busiest work possible to anything grindy.

There is no visual appeal (other than the initial appreciation of the classic artstyle).
there's no voice acting of any sorts to establish character.
The OST although very nostalgic for someone who has played this as a kid; is nothing special.
There is no "combat" you mouse click on a target and wait for it to die. sometimes changing passive buffs or a weapon during the fight or opting to click somewhere else on the map to run away.
The bits of content that you could consider enjoyable are locked behind a long journey of trial and error and grind.
I doubt anyone plays this for plot/story.
Although the game is an 'MMORPG', as to my knowledge, the "PARTY" mechanic is very very limited. Most content , unless designed specifically to hold more than one player, revolves around you only and other people just exist around you completing tasks for themselves in the same location.

So there's no graphical appeal. No sound appeal. No combat appeal. No story or characters to be attached to.
You have to pay money MONTHLY ( or grind even more to pay) for more content. The gameplay loop IS the grind.

I don't see how any person who just wants a new game to play would look at this ancient creation and think this would be something worthy of his time.

It may sound hypocritical as a gamer myself to use the words "waste of time" as any gaming is technically a huge waste of our time, but playing this literally feels like wasting your life away.

[⛧ Innsmouse ⛧]

Because this game, OSRS/RS2/RS3 combined has had a grip on my life for 18-19 years.

[Xuse]

It's a Fairly decent game, and I love the newish Hardcore Ironman modes, The Seasonal Events the Last one TrailBlazers are amazing. Can't wait for the Group Ironman update. I will say tho without RuneLite I most likely would not play again.

[gwTheo]

same reason anyone plays WoW or any other MMORPG. They are all literally the same thing 24/7. You find one you like and you play it, then you get new content and play that. Same reason anyone plays any fps. They are all the same, but you find one you like. same reason with literally any game genre. you find some games you like and you play them. Why do people play valheim, graphics are dog crap, no debate about it, people play it. People cheat in games, why play those? they enjoy cheating in games. Why are you eating the same food when theres other food?

Not sure why you even asked this question.

[oldcracks~-]

nostalgia, ironman mode and cause I hate my life ( :

[_Odinh]

the game keeps evoving through the vote of the player, you can pave yoyr own path throughout the gamr and experience so many things. the most griping part for me is that you can obtain litterally everything, items pets and gear even membership.
oh and than we have the quests, a regular mmo quest is kill x monster x times, the quests in osrs are like multiple singleplayer storylines as the quests

The graphical appeal for me lies within the new areas, prifdiniss or the Soul island to name a few look amazing.
the soundtrack, osrs has an amazing soundtrack while bringing you back to the old days.
The story is huge and over encompassing and dont talk to anyone about no characters to be attatched to, rip bob and nieve

[Xuse]

just looked at your profile

"playing this literally feels like wasting your life away."

You 100% games XD

[oldcracks~-]

Originally posted by Kridi:

idiot

agreed

[Peter Pan]

I too am genuinely curious why people play this. Are you saying there is no other game like this?

[Xuse]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCepFoY2QjSR5SlMnKGlzJtg

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEFPJ3Qc_0tvKQBYDO-UKvQ

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIc3VLtBvQD0KqttqEJ4KYw

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2W-gFz7UfNVdx0N1bgTB4A

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAk3hMAJJ7oAP2ciRM5tAvQ

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFpy37oq9p1MOVuJbGIcs7Q

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCelqWKTcCvBZP_1_1iYZAWA

[The88shrimp]

So rather than being rude I'll try to answer as best as I can. Most people don't play because of nostalgia. While this version of the game was originally an old school backup of the game in 2007, it is no where near what it was back then. It's getting constant updates that release content such as bosses, raids, achievement diaries, quests and whole regions/cities etc.

So yes it is old considering when it first launched but all the content that's constantly added is new, fresh and fun for the most part.

In terms of combat, when fighting normal monsters it's fairly afk and boring but when you get to some bossing you'll see how different it can be. Changing gear sets on the fly, switchig prayers damn near every second, counting attacks, moving and kiting bosses into specific positions and this hasn't even touched raid mechanics yet. Some times you have to do all those things simultaneously in the span of like 3 seconds.

In terms of character and story, no one really plays or does quests for the story, you do them for the rewards of potentially unlocking whole areas, gear or even simply xp rewards.

"There is no visual appeal (other than the initial appreciation of the classic artstyle)"
This means there is appeal. While this is subjective, graphics don't really mean anything to me, I could get more immersed in a purely text based RPG over something that was photo realistic if the text based RPG was more satisfying to play.

When it comes to the MMORPG part, yes, the party system is limited unless you decide to specifically do group content like some bosses and minigames. The best way to treat this game is to play it like everyone's playing a single player game in one world all together.

"I don't see how any person who just wants a new game to play would look at this ancient creation and think this would be something worthy of his time."
What people do and don't like is subjective, if you like grindy games that have an absolute crap load of content that feels really rewarding when you unlock it with a satisfying progression system that doesn't bottlekneck you into any specific path or way of playing then you'd probably really like it. That being said it's ok to dislike it as well but that doesn't make it a bad game.

At the end of the day all games are simply sources of entertainment, What you find entertaining others may not, some people find horror movies entertaing, some romance, some comedy. Some people find story games entertaining, some people play for immersive realistic graphics, some play for the challenge of doing achievements or difficulty, some play simply to relax and progress through content in a big open world with other players.

[DaniTheHero]

Originally posted by The88shrimp:

So rather than being rude I'll try to answer as best as I can. Most people don't play because of nostalgia. While this version of the game was originally an old school backup of the game in 2007, it is no where near what it was back then. It's getting constant updates that release content such as bosses, raids, achievement diaries, quests and whole regions/cities etc.

So yes it is old considering when it first launched but all the content that's constantly added is new, fresh and fun for the most part.

In terms of combat, when fighting normal monsters it's fairly afk and boring but when you get to some bossing you'll see how different it can be. Changing gear sets on the fly, switchig prayers damn near every second, counting attacks, moving and kiting bosses into specific positions and this hasn't even touched raid mechanics yet. Some times you have to do all those things simultaneously in the span of like 3 seconds.

In terms of character and story, no one really plays or does quests for the story, you do them for the rewards of potentially unlocking whole areas, gear or even simply xp rewards.

"There is no visual appeal (other than the initial appreciation of the classic artstyle)"
This means there is appeal. While this is subjective, graphics don't really mean anything to me, I could get more immersed in a purely text based RPG over something that was photo realistic if the text based RPG was more satisfying to play.

When it comes to the MMORPG part, yes, the party system is limited unless you decide to specifically do group content like some bosses and minigames. The best way to treat this game is to play it like everyone's playing a single player game in one world all together.

"I don't see how any person who just wants a new game to play would look at this ancient creation and think this would be something worthy of his time."
What people do and don't like is subjective, if you like grindy games that have an absolute crap load of content that feels really rewarding when you unlock it with a satisfying progression system that doesn't bottlekneck you into any specific path or way of playing then you'd probably really like it. That being said it's ok to dislike it as well but that doesn't make it a bad game.

At the end of the day all games are simply sources of entertainment, What you find entertaining others may not, some people find horror movies entertaing, some romance, some comedy. Some people find story games entertaining, some people play for immersive realistic graphics, some play for the challenge of doing achievements or difficulty, some play simply to relax and progress through content in a big open world with other players.

Thank you for being reasonable and levelheaded unlike some.

I understand where you’re coming from and in the end enjoyment is always a subjective thing, some people genuinely liked fallout 76 and no man sky on release as well.

I still mostly disagree though.
Almost anything positive here can be found in other modern games, usually done better as they are newer especially as most of runescapes content is pretty much singleplayer.

The only “unique” appeal is the amount of grind and busy work os runescape has that is pretty much unrivaled, which as you said is actually a positive for some.
The updates keeping that grind alive is also a sign of at the very least a caring dev team.

The combat you mentioned is still very very bare bones.
Sure it takes practice to pull off, but in the end it’s just clicking between different passive buffs and changing gear mid fight.
Which was great 16 years ago, but when literally any mmorpg that exists is more deep than that in some way, there isn’t much of a sell here.

If the sell here is a “basic game that lasts forever” I suppose there’s that.

[skinnybranchman]

number go up

[Peter Pan]

So feels like a combination of nostalgia, and also how hard work means something in this game and not everything is handed on a silver platter like what most mmos do nowadays.

[DaniTheHero]

Originally posted by Xuse:

just looked at your profile

"playing this literally feels like wasting your life away."

You 100% games XD

Valid point.
However I’m not a “completionist”/100%er.

Sometimes i play a game I really enjoy and when I’m done if i have a few tasks left that i can complete to get that “platinum” i do them if they aren’t too grindy.
Or i feel like doing another playthrough anyways so i pick up things that were missing along the way.
Most people that finished darksouls for example, do at least one more run.

Either way it’s sort of a moot point in the end, when playing all these games across a decade accumulated less playtime than some played RS alone.

But again I already stated that this does make me a bit of a hypocrite in my post. As gaming in general is a “waste of time”.

[DaniTheHero]

Originally posted by Flea:

Because this game, OSRS/RS2/RS3 combined has had a grip on my life for 18-19 years.

Same goes for people who are addicted to WoW, Maplestory and League.