Why is Runescape losing players?

I haven't logged in Runescape in many months but I've noticed the decline of active players in the surrounding communities. Why is there a decline?

Did the bot update fail? Too much real world trading?

The evolution of combat? Or are people simply outgrowing the game?

Thanks!

 

[Yeperdoodle]

I just think the game is simply losing it's niche. I used to love it but now I just get bored.

 

[Jacmob]

The game has lost it's spark.. It used to be soooooooooooo fun but now it's just all about money. You got bots.. bots.. and more bots. You have your ge spammers and your usual daily routine spammers who spam your pm with ads for gold. You have your ads that pop-up when you login oh so often and you also have all these updates for graphics and stuff that people really don't want changed... it's going downhill

 

[I Peter I]

I've played RS for over 8 years and my personal opinion is that the niche that Runescape had has run it's course.

EoC has also turned everything on it's head and people aren't in their comfort zone with the whole thing, me included. I really do not like it, at all. It's ruined everything.

Thirdly, they don't have enough new players joining the game as there are people leaving in my opinion. It's a difficult game to get into as a new player.

 

People are growing out of it and EOC lost it a few players. It should increase soon however with holidays coming up and EOC starting to draw new players.

 

It's be pretty difficult for RS to attract new players seeing as these days majority of kids play console and more advanced games with no hacks/bots.
With that being said, players are probably growing out of it or are just plain bored of it.

 

[skybluesam1]

Well lots have left at the moment for the Eoc update however it is like a dwindling spiral down for runescape constantly due to the amount of bots to legit players. As soon as a bot update comes out the bot companies are already making a new script. I also don`t think it helped with the Eoc beta as the bot companies had ages to fiddle around with the basic script.

 

[X:X]

To your question probably. Mostly because of this EoC update, it ruined everything such as Pures. I still play a bit, but only skilling, never learned how to use the new combat system. :/

 

[jossie_pro]

I think because there are now too many bots, why would I play legit while I can bot it easy up and sell gp? ;/

 

[slysteeler]

Jagex alienated their own community by releasing the SoF and the other store. Less good updates as well, it seems that most updates these days, are for the SoF or the store thingy.

It's not what it used to be, when we got a quest each month, with some other useful bug fixes/content.

 

[rickjames928]

once it got investors it became all about money... this game is definentally detiriorating and its really sad because for most of us its a childhood game that was alot of fun...

I remember in like 06-07 when id have anywhere from 9-30 friends online and now im lucky to see one of my old time friends log on. Everyone is moving on to bigger better games :/

 

[solidus snake]

Jagex alienated their own community by releasing the SoF and the other store. Less good updates as well, it seems that most updates these days, are for the SoF or the store thingy.

It's not what it used to be, when we got a quest each month, with some other useful bug fixes/content.

This, its been ages since we've had a decent quest all they do is update an area then update the quests in it so your forced to do them again. Another dumb thing they did was make skills to easy, now what used to take months on end can be done in less then one in some cases.

Maybe there's too much knowledge about runescape now, if you don't know something you can normally find information somewhere.

I don't think their eoc updates helped, specifically the whole thing of really only supporting mains. Before there was a great variety of different accounts and some still to be discovered but now its pretty much just different level mains.

 

[CunnilingusLover]

once it got investors it became all about money... this game is definentally detiriorating and its really sad because for most of us its a childhood game that was alot of fun...

I remember in like 06-07 when id have anywhere from 9-30 friends online and now im lucky to see one of my old time friends log on. Everyone is moving on to bigger better games :/

Yeah then was good times But yeah every1 growing up, ad i got no friends playng this for years now, i did play like 1.5 years ago, and then it was bot what was playing sometimes log in and check stats and collect gp

 

Since the Gower's abandoned it and the American investors pretty much took over, the game is more concerned with profit and breaking in to the 'mainstream' or 'leading' market. It's trying to compete with non-browser based games and it's just not going to work. The whole USP of Runescape was its simplicity and accessibility to pretty much anyone with Internet. With EoC Runescape lost its niche for sure, veterans aren't happy with the new game and it simply can't compete with the likes of WoW or LoL.

 

[I_DONT_BOT]

Players are getting older. The game is money-revolving sadly. However, EoC should bring in a new audience, as should the 2 new skills, which will also bring back older players. I see a future for RS still.

 

[Darude]

According to the players I've met, RuneScape has "been dying" since 2005

 

[rue]

According to the players I've met, RuneScape has "been dying" since 2005

According to 2006Scape, it died after 2006 which tells me that there are a multiple array of reasons but an inevitable explanation.

 

[Onsar]

Jagex gradually changed the game into a money machine. Point and simple.

 

[Aval]

It seems like more people are playing League of Legends or some other console games.
Bots have been around forever. From what I've seen, it seems that the old players can't stand that their precious game has to progress.
No new players, older players getting fed up = Less people.

 

[elmostreet]

The only reason that I can see why Jagex is losing a lot of its players is that, they don't listen into the demands of the majority of their players. Into this current case, most legitimate players don't like the EoC (Evolution of Combat) update (Well, botters doesn't care as long as they make money). The proof into this fact can be found at the official community forum of Runescape itself that there are more than 1000 pages of complaints and dislike about the EoC.

From over 100K+ of players that used to be logged-in are now down to 50K and most of them are bots. Some legitimate players that are left claims that they are only playing the game until their subscription expires. So we might expect a slight decrease of players these coming weeks.

If you think that Runescape will gather new players especially these coming holidays, the chances are pretty low because just like what Aval said, kids these days are now more acquainted on console games that do have better graphics and game-play. And if they do consider playing Runescape, they will first take a look on top MMORGP games like WOW and Diablo 3.

Therefore, that makes the conclusion as why Runescape is losing a lot of their players and will soon finally come to an end. Except when Jagex had to start listening into their customers before everything is going to be late. ( Or is it already too late?)