Can someone explain to me how this game runescape works?

I keep seeing questions about it and have actually went and signed up for it but did not understand it and thougt the quality of it was horrible. Why is it so popular and what are the reasons you play it? Thanks.....Can someone explain to me how this game runescape works?
It is relatively easy to learn and play, it's free, and it has many people to play with. These are just general features that give it some of its users. There are many reasons though, some entirely unique compared to other games in the genre.





Runescape strictly enforces anti-cheating laws and is opposed to selling objects and items to players for real life currency. They are also against the power-leveling of lower leveled characters by higher leveled characters.





With these rules in place they make it where there are no easy ways to gain or buy respectable levels and items, So the player must spend a lot of their own time obtaining the levels and items they want, Spending hundreds of hours on something can be addicting so I would classify time spent playing as a reason some play it..





Not that all players are addicts or nothing. There are a lot of people playing for the community aspect. The people who have spent so much time in the game and those who do not want to leave for whatever reason build themselves into a permanent community that will probably never leave unless something enormous happens to the game. The permanent community of users who play the game gives another reason for more users to start playing.





Years ago Runescape started advertising on a site called mini-clip which is apparently popular among young children. This lured many thousands of them to start playing and bring their friends so the average age of Runescape gamer was lowered substantially and the amount of players was almost doubled. This increase in amount of players helped the community and popularity aspect,





Now you've reached the point where there are up to and over 200 thousand people playing at once during a day and a few million log on every week, so they add more features and mini-games that just can't be found on other games to keep all of these people playing and try to entice some to pay small fees for more options and the betterment of the game.. The fees they collect from the thousands of paying members gives them enough extra money to provide more regular updates than all of the other games in the general class of cheap rpgs. The only other games holding a candle to the amount of players and updates are the bigger World of Warcrafts and Final Fantasies but these cost money so Runescape keeps gaining the people who want to play an online rpg for free. Well, the ones with dial-up at least. There are other free games but none are easier to download and install.





The word of mouth advertising from the millions who already play and the people mentioning it on sites like this also increase the amount of people aware of Runescape's existence. Maybe some of these who hear it just from the attention it is getting now will join like you did and increase the popularity a little more?





All of these people, all of these reasons. I'm curious as to what they can do to make the game more popular than it already is. What will happen to the game should that happen?





Hm... as for myself, I play because I have spent a lot of time on my characters over the years. Seen Runescape grow from 2 servers to the 115 it has now. I've also made a lot of friends in the game and we've stayed together for a long time in various clans and groups. I like to play to compete against them and help them out. I'm on a temporary vacation though, where I'm not really playing but if you need any help in the game just ask :-)Can someone explain to me how this game runescape works?
I agree the graphics are horrible.. but I like the way it moves and all the things you can do, especially if you can shell out the money to be a member. I play to relieve stress! Level 95 here, been playing for over 3 years.. keep playing, it gets better!
I am a longtime player and member of Runescape. I have asked myself the same question many times. The graphics are horrible, but the combat and adventure aspect is quite fun. You may not like it because you probably haven't gotten off of Tutorial Island, the starting zone, and therefore have not had the full Runescape experience. I am currently a level 39 character, Subwaymunky. It is a fun way to spend my time and zone out from the world. My email address is insane.juggalo666@yahoo.com.