Jagex' MMORPG RuneScape has more players than World of WarCraft - nine million - and is one of the most successful PC games. It is claimed to be educational, but the children who comprise the bulk of RuneScape's players end up learning far more than they -- or their parents-ever bargained for.

I read the first page, and the table of contents, sounds like life in every mmorpg i've played, especially guild wars, look on guildwarsguru.com's forums, you will see people (not many, like 5%) will say, stfu noob kthxbai, or you deserve to get scammed, and these are people of all ages doing this, from 10 to 50 years old, maturity isn't a word for some. In game, it gets worse, gwg's forums are usually free of certain low levels of maturity.

Atleast in shooters, like, CSS, UT or BF, rarely do people chat, and when someone's screaming voice irritates me, voip off or mute that annoying individual.


PS. As a Guild Wars player, I am inclined to say RS SUCKS.

Former GWer here (Hav bought NS but have not worked up to playing more than a few hours).

I saw this kind of thing develop on GW. It was not as bad when it first came out, and peopel were generally helpful.

One thing though. I noticed that in GW, unlike other games, there is a limit to what you can get or buy. You also cannot really steal from another. So after you play a while and realize that "XXX Scalps" are really not that valuable and can be found later, you stop listening to the "n00b" that is trying to sell a lot of stuff for XXX gold.

I usually just would talk to friends I knew and give them items, trade if I could. The trade system seems to be a bit better in GW than other games....


I think the whole thing with online gaming is that you are anonymous, and have very little structure or control. It is a shock to be playing R6-LV and hear that one of my teammates is 10 years old! That kind of stiemies your outburst of "WTF" when you get sniped!

I think parents should be more aware of what their kids are doing, but at the same time for a game like RS to be PUSHING things like wagers and bets ona game that is targeted at a younger audience is shameful. They should really be forced to come to terms with this kind of thing and try to eliminate some of this crap.

Thing is, I think if they eliminated some of this, less people would play and they would get less money...

So... What is there to do? Besides simply keep track of your kids and delete any game accounts like this?

Yea, in GW they made improvements to the trade system, just like Diablo 2, they're are still ignorant and immature people playing, many of the snobs seem younger, but there's alot of older people as well that act the same way, there's alot of drama that goes on in guilds, as with any other MMO, RS is no different, although making it free, you will get alot younger crowd.

I haven't been playing GW at all for months, too busy playing too many other PC games, i'm sure things haven't changed.

After reading the whole article, I have to say it was really well written. But all MMO's are like that. It is a game and parents need to stress to their kids what a game is. It's like movies and cartoons. Personally parents should never let young kids play an online game alone. Old kids and immature adults will always use bad language and sexual commentary, a game can not do anything to stop it.

So many of the things in this article that are being complained about are pointless or not possible to fix.

So many people hide behind the stance "it’s just a game" as the writer stated, so is football. Does that make it above the rules? Does that mean the players are above reproach? Above being held responsible for their actions? No, it does not.

I said a long time ago (in an RS thread that was quickly hidden) that Jagex has created a monster that they cannot and choose not to control. They have the power to clean up this community, yet they choose not to.

The community within Runescape is steadily going downhill and very few seem to care. What I fail to understand is why people seem to think that this is ok. Everyone states that’s it’s a game, that’s its not real. Well I’m real and I play this game. The community within Runescape is very real and to hide behind weak excuses is shameful.

Apparently many MMORPG's are like this, well I want to know who will be the first to step up to the plate. Who will acknowledge that these places are more than simply games, because of the communities that have been created within them and therefore a responsible stance must be taken.

I don't feel that the whole game needs to be rewritten to make it completely educational. That’s taking a little too far. Thieving, killing people and monsters can all be put into context for a child. However fixing the lax reporting system, the disgusting talk in popular places, scamming, cheating, disregard for the rules and so much more could bring this game to a respectable level.

I fully believe Jagex needs to stop with the god complex. I really feel they are currently to full of themselves to see beyond the next update. They offer me no reason to think otherwise. Open the game let the honest players help them. Increase the level of Gold and Silver Moderators to levels never seen before. From 9 million players surely they are at least a few hundred thousand genuine people.

Will Jagex be the first to really open their eyes, to take a walk through this virtual world, completely open to what they are seeing? To make honest judgments about this ever changing world they have created. Do they have what it takes to become not only the biggest MMORPG in the world, but the best?

As use of the Internet grows, games like this are going to become alot more popular, for children and adults alike. With popularity, comes scrutiny, they cannot hide forever.

hello,
i am 16 years old and read the whole article and it is all true and i see why you would write this finally someone has done this i have been scammed lured everything possible and ddint know what hit me and its time the newer players find out about these things.

After being a serious player for two years, I have to admit that a lot of what is said here is true. At the same time Runescape is both a good thing but also a bad thing. In terms of redness, immaturity, scamming, rudeness, and respectfulnesses a lot of it is true. There are too few moderators on Runescape and too many hackers, scammers, liars, and thieves on the game.

In terms of addiction, I admit myself I was addicted to the game and almost got in trouble with school for being so addicted to it. I found out I was more about making money, investing all this time into a virtual world that would have no real payout in the real world. I decided to go cold turkey and have stopped playing it for over a year in a half. Ever since then I haven't touched runescape. 8)

I think the best thing you can do is play with your own kids, and discuss the bad areas and the bad things that can happen in them.

In real life, we teach our kids to be careful of strangers and here is no different. We don't let them go into the bad neighborhoods either (why we move to the suburbs...) so warn them about the wildy. Very simple.

I absolutely love the fact that this game has real dangers for the characters (hey, I have been killed more by NPC's than "mean" PKers!). My kids and I have been attacked in the wildy at least one time each -- and lost valuable items. Ouch. We stay out mostly now. Lesson learned.

I like telling my kids how to avoid being scammed. I then tell them about stuff like that that happened to me on the streets of Chicago and how to be wary of muggers, etc. Teaches them to pay attention. A lot of what the kids I play with think is "scamming" is simply them not knowing the prices of things. Thats not scamming, and it teaches them to be smart shoppers.

I know Jagex blocks all kinds of words -- even pretty innocuous ones that you would regularly see in PG movies like "negro" for example... so there is little in the way of bad language. It makes it hard to communicate sometimes though.

I have made lots of great friends in the game, and playing Runescape brings our whole neighborhood together. It is a healthy game which I can use to ground the kids off of if they don't do well in school or have good grades (lol). It actually helps their school grades.

I am really suprised that people find it in any way negative. Most bad situations or experiences can be avoided with just a little thought and paying attention. Thats how we get experience and quit being noobs! I think Jagex has gone WAYYYY overboard to create an almost nursery-like atmosphere with language controls, moderators, and abuse reporting.

I am a real player -- my screen name is spiralsun1 -- and I love RUNESCAPE!!! I play a lot of games, and this is one of my favorite of all times. I was waiting for an article about the wonders of Runescape, not the dangers. I excitedly clicked on this and was genuinely suprised. Lighten up people!

Nice reading. While some points do raise an eyebrow, as a parent I wouldn't mind my kids learning what sleazeballs there are in the world through an online game. Better online than getting bullied in real life.

The most important thing is that the parents go through the game carefully b4 letting junior at it and then observe junior to see if there are any negative behavioral changes.

i'd have to agree whole hearted, this game is exactly, or worse than described, i have played it and been addicted to it, i lost a girlfriend over it (not in game, a a real life one because at the time it meant more to me), and i have to say, addiction is pretty bad, when i first started playing it was good, the makers and staff used to always be in game and talk to you, but now they are too busy doing other stuff, i quit runescape when i was 500kexp off level 126, all i needed was that exp on ranged... i have only gotten better as a person since, i am now in a long term relationship, have a good job and completed school with flying colors.

8O 8O 8O

and that's why I don't play most online rpgs. Just a race to reach a higher level. Give me online NWN anyday (max level 40)

8O 8O 8O

and that's why I don't play most online rpgs. Just a race to reach a higher level. Give me online NWN anyday (max level 40)

Guild Wars max level is 20, beat that!

They might change that for GW2, to either, no levels, hundreds of levels, or infinite levels, not sure yet, but anet is a pretty good company and they listen to the players, most of the time..

From what I have read guild wars seems to be the best of the bunch. There are a lot of unique features:

The fact that it's one world and not separate shards, free play etc set them apart from the competition.

My personal preference of NWN is due to smaller groups which leads to better policing by the server owners (no annoying leet talk) etc. and better RPing. The closest thing to pnp through a computer.

Both my 12 and 13 year old play this game. I have watched them play and we have talked about the game. I fugured some of this stuff would happen but not to the extent you have pointed out. I have played WoW for a while before getting tired of paying for it so I am not a complete noob.

I am going to set up an account and start playing the game with my kids. I am looking forward to your TruthScape.com site being up in April.