25% of British teens play Runescape according to The Times

[Scudman126]

I stopped playing Runescape a long ago and I have only dropped in from time to time to see major updates. I can say it has changed a lot since I stopped playing (the last skill that was introduced when I was playing was the Slaye skillr).

 

 

 

Anyway, that's beside the point. On the weekend I was reading The Times (like any concerning person with a shred of intellect you wouldn't catch me reading a tabloid rags) and I saw an article that sparked my interest once again in Runescape, or more truthfully the Runescape community.

 

 

 

As the title suggests it states that 25% of children aged 12-17 (in Britain) visit the runescape site, here is the article in question.

 

 

 

And quoted from the article:

 

 

 

The Nielsen study of 40,000 British internet users examined which sites had the highest concentration of users of a particular age group.

 

 

 

The popularity of sites is difficult to measure because several sites such as Google are so large that they will always come out on top. Nielsens tactic of measuring a percentage of a sites audience, rather than outright numbers, in a given age group attempts to get around this problem.

 

 

 

 

Now I remember when I used to play there was always the discussion regarding the average age of the Runescape community and the effect it had on the game, it seemed the day Runescape was put onto Miniclip the rise of "noobs" rocketed, or so they said - and the "noobish" behaviour was linked explicitly or hinted at to age (or immaturity).

 

 

 

But you can't tar everyone with the same brush, and those players who would of found Runescape through Miniclip when it was first put on thier site would be older now, one of the reasons I think why it seems that there is now a high proportion of British 12-17 year olds playing. Plus there is the whole word of mouth aspect with the knowledge about Runescape's existance every spreading and becoming a topic of conversation (at least in my school I have seen a lot of the younger years, year 8s and 9s talking about it).

 

 

 

But the point being, can this age demographic be seen in game? Most people tend to brand the more "noobish" (a sorry word to use but one that seems to epitomize the behaviour that grates most people and fits snuggly into our vocabulary) players as the younger ones, but as we see a more mature group of players in their mid-teens can this be seen on the community? Has the content changed in a wat to appeal to the growing auidence that has "grow up" along side runescape, I ask this for in my times of lurking when I have taken a peak at how Runescape was getting along with me playing it I have seen some grumbles about the game being "dumbed down" to appeal to younger players.

 

 

 

So thoughts, opinions?

[Kill_Thomas9]

Well I don't believe 25% is quite accurate, otherwise I'm sure there would be many more British players than there are now, but I do believe runescape has evolved with the players to the point where it now appeals to a much wider age group, as well as a much broader type of player.

[Da Pirates]

The other 75% prolly play World Of Warcraft :-w

[spyderownzyou]

The other 75% prolly play World Of Warcraft :-w

 

more like the other 50% of british teens play W.O.W...and the other 25% search google for free internet porn :lol:

 

seriously though, 25% seems a bit too convenient for figure from a newspaper, probably rounded up to make it sound more impressive :roll:

 

that said 25% makes up small demographic of runescape players I bet, i know and speak to way more 30 or 40 year olds than british teens

[Warlover]

I think 25% is possible but unlikely, I would have thought closer to 15%?

 

 

 

Still thats thousands of people, and with such a broad range of available games, I doubt it...

 

 

 

I wonder if the numbers playing will dip this weekend because of Reading/Leeds Festival?

[Mollerz]

>95% my school has played RS. No exaggerations. School of about 1k people.

 

The other 5% have heard or seen it.

 

 

 

It is probably similar for many other schools. RS Was a fad before people hopped to WoW, CS, GW and EQ or just back to PS2 gaming.

[InkofDeath]

I meet more Europeans than I do North Americans. Like 3 to 1. I could believe it, but it does seem rather large.

[magmaguard3]

Wow. 25 percent hard to believe it.

[Utopianflame]

98% of statistics are made up, and that one certainly is.

[Star_Fox]

hard to believe, but dang.... :wall:

[cheapshotu]

I seriously doubt 25%. That must be rounded up. Or made up.

 

Either way, I really don't meet that many British teens in game, which makes me doubt the validity of that statistic.

[SwreeTak]

I don't believe that 1 out of 4 british teens plays RS. I would say that 1 out of 6 is more likely or something like that.

[Reztral]

I've never heard of that stardoll thing before, but I'm quite a bit older than 12 and not British, so that probably explains why.

[firestrike]

25% is actually quite easy to believe. Firstly the age group of 12-17 is not the WHOLE of britain instead it is probably around 8-18% of there population. So around 10 million people.

 

 

 

When you think about it this survey probably asked who has been to these websites not who actively use them etc. When you ask a broad question like that it is easy to imaging 2.5m people from England aged between 12- 17 have come across RS in some way shape or form in there years on the internet.

 

 

 

Obvioulsy there are not 2.5 million active players that play regulary, however AC nielson are an accurate polling corporation and after randomally sampling 40 000 people the results will statistically be quite close to reality.

[Wee_Man317]

I think i'd probably believe that, the majoirty of people on my friends list are british teens, with the exception of a few older players, and some from different countries.

 

 

 

I think it's more likely that it's 25% who have played it at some point, not 25% who are regular players?

 

 

 

I think that'd make more sense.

[killotroll]

The article doesn't say that 25% of British teens play Runescape, it says that 25% of the audience of Runescape is aged 12-17.

 

 

 

"The Nielsen study of 40,000 British internet users examined which sites had the highest concentration of users of a particular age group."

[Mylez]

That can't be right. I find it very hard to believe that 25% of British teens play Rs.

 

In a class of 20 back in High School, I was the only one who played :|

 

Doesn't sound like a quarter of the class to me, or anything close.

[Will H]

That's a bit high, isn't it? Sure, Runescape is very big, but not that huge! I expect they used a sample that was too small.

[tb_uk]

Around 25% of British teens HAVE PLAYED RUNESCAPE, is probably the true fact. The title seems biased. Of the ~90 in my year group (15-16), around 5 play RS actively, and that's very high in itself.

[sirgudi]

I think it's more to do with nearly everyone having multiple accounts and everyone needing to make their age 13. Alot of people may not change nationality from british either.