Runescape Vs. World Of Warcraft; A Community Comparison.

Posted on April 8th, 2007 by Brad

Now I am not going to attempt to compare the games themselves, as many have argued before. You can’t compare them, WoW requires cd installation, A graphics card, a decent amount of RAM and a subscription. Runescape on the other hand just needs a half decent computer with internet access. So It is not feasibly fair to compare the two in terms of gameplay. But the community, well that’s an entirely different matter. But if you have never played World of Warcraft, as I bet a fair few of you reading this won’t have, do not attempt to criticise my views on it’s community or people. Because I doubt you have any experience of either of the two.

Now there are several in game mechanisms which, I think, make the community closer. Firstly they have chat channels, whereas in Runescape you need to be standing relatively close to someone to hear what they are saying. In WoW you can hear whatever anybody in the same region (Just imagine In Runescape terms, if you were standing in Falador, you’d hear everything everybody in Falador said). So it’s much easier to chat to multiple people over distances. The second I think, is the fact that World of Warcraft is almost a team orientated game. There are two main “factions” between which the races are split. So when you create a character and pick a race. You are in effect choosing a side. In nearly all the PvP you will be fighting against people of the opposing faction and people who chose the same faction as you, will be your teammates. So in the long run it is in your best interests to help each other and work together as a team. And finally the fact that WoW has alot of large boss encounters, Imagine a kalphite queen that took 25 people to take down, or even 40. Each one of those 25 people needs to work together, to achieve a common goal. If they don’t work together, they won’t kill the boss. So, once again, it is in everyones best interests to be nice to each other and to try and work together as a team.

On the other hand, Runescape is very much a free for all, Once you step into the wilderness you can attack anyone. It’s now even possible to solo the KQ, supposedly the hardest boss. So you can “solo” the whole game if you were that introverted.

A rather common view I hear from my friends who don’t play WoW, is that they believe the majority of the World of Warcraft community is older than the Runescape community. I believe this may have something to do with it, but I do not believe it is the entire reason. I am the guild master of a rather successful raiding guild on an EU WoW server. The guild has 55 active members. I asked them to give me there age in preparation for this article, and this is what I got.

1-12 = 0
13-15 = 4
16-17 = 23
18-21 = 17
22-26 = 7
27-29 = 0
30+ = 3

So the majority of the guild are between the ages of 16-21. I wouldn’t say that this is an “older” average age than most big RS clans, and from knowing a fair few of them personally, I wouldn’t even go as far as saying most of them are mature. They aren’t mature, but again they aren’t immature, they can joke around, have a laugh. But never at any time does it seem childish. While in RS there seems to be a fair amount of scamming, abuse between higher/lower levels and just general intolerance of others. None of which are apparent in WoW.

I must admit I am not entirely sure why Runescape is so beleagured with these morons and why WoW is not. I am not trying to say everyone who plays WoW is angelic, I’ve come across my fair share of assholes, but even they do not act like assholes to random players whom they don’t know. There seems to be a mutual respect in World of Warcraft, between everybody. And the only reasons I can speculate for this is the fact it is slightly team orientated, coupled with the slightly higher average age and possibly just the fact that it attracts a more dedicated and mature type of person, but by no means am I labeling the whole Runescape community, it’s just a minority, that label the majority. But that’s how it always is.

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66 Responses to “Runescape Vs. World Of Warcraft; A Community Comparison.”

  1. Steve., on April 9th, 2007 at 1:36 pm Said:

    Stop WoW raiding. :P

  2. Mushroom Queen, on April 9th, 2007 at 9:13 pm Said:

    Another thing that you need to take into account is the average age of WoW players. Most parents can swing EUR3.00 a month for RuneScape, while WoW’s subscription price is a little more pricey. Along with that, a lot of children growing up (10-13) who are clueless of video cards and fast computers can just open up their browser and play. This is a very big disadvantage for the community of Runescape. It brings aboard the younger, often less mature, little bastards who are really only good for menial mouse-clicking games.

    However..

    The RS community has good people. Some of the younger members, such as yourself, are very respectable people who are genuine and responsible. I can honestly say that I’ve never made as many friends playing any other game as I have with Runescape. And I think you have too. Your blog is hosted on a Runescape fan-site domain. Most of the people who reply to your posts are (or were) players of the game. Rather than bordering on saying, “World of Warcraft has a far superior community because ____” acknowledge that there are differences which are as incomparable as the gameplay of WoW and RS.

  3. Brad, on April 9th, 2007 at 9:31 pm Said:

    I agree with what your saying. It’s just switching between the two games, and the communities that surround them. (Despite the fact I am still active in *this* Runescape community) Was a shock to the system. I found myself so ingrained with the things that Runescape had taught me about MMORPGS, it was confusing, especially when I saw people act in a completely different way. Runescape is the only thing I could possible compare the WoW community. But I respect your point that they are incomparable in many aspects.

  4. desertphoenix, on April 11th, 2007 at 9:48 am Said:

    It is reasonable to say, that older people can afford better computers to play games with better graphics, due to being able to get a job, being able to spend a lot of money on their machines and so on. Therefore the 12 year olds of gaming with the hand-me-down computers, slow internet connection and no job, tend to play the cheaper, less pretty games.

    WoW’s graphics may not be excellent but they’re a lot better than the low-polygon java graphics Runescape has.

  5. Mushroom Queen, on April 12th, 2007 at 3:57 pm Said:

    Hm, not sure the whole case is about the graphics, Anubis.

    A lot of it is that WoW is a very socially acceptable game for adults to play. There are guilds where people actually discuss business dealings and such. I remember someone on TWIT referring to it as “the new golf”.

  6. Alexandr, on April 16th, 2007 at 2:35 pm Said:

    I couldn’t agree with you Brad, RS community seems to be one of the biggest problems in my eyes. I could encounter any kind of immature behavior on daily bases in WoW, but there some idiots I unfortunately have to communicate with from time to time in order to get myself a decent group.
    The reason why a lot of people between 10 and 14 play RuneScape is that like you said before it’s accessible to anyone, I see some kids playing in libraries or internet clubs just god darn game. If there would be no F2P version of the game or if they at least would allow some kind of weekly trial there would be much less immatures. But in the conclusion I’ll just say that both games do have idiots.

  7. Alexandr, on April 16th, 2007 at 3:15 pm Said:

    Little correction to my previous “I couldn’t encounter any kind of immature…”

  8. thomas, on April 19th, 2007 at 8:47 am Said:

    runescape is so popular because it offers many things to do with f2p. people play it then they get addictive and they want more then they pay for p2p
    thats how it works most people on runescape are 11-14 year old
    RUNESCAPE SUCKS tbh

  9. madeinch, on April 19th, 2007 at 8:49 am Said:

    runescape sucks dude every1 know all runescape players are 12 year old or 11 WoW is just superior against the stupid little runescape
    runescape sucks indeed thomas,

  10. Exiled, on April 21st, 2007 at 6:42 pm Said:

    thomas, madeinch,
    look, RS may not be as shiny as WoW, i honestly like both(not that I play both) but if you sound like rich snot-nosed 12-year olds that think that if it isn’t shiny and polished, it’s crap, try playing the game before passing judgement, also RS and WoW each has it’s own pros. and cons.

    RS Pros.
    -cheap
    -acess to all skills
    -easy acess
    -low computer requirements

    RS Cons.
    -certain immiture 12-year olds
    -low graphics quality
    -less practical chat

    WoW Pros.
    -good graphics
    -races
    -steeds(a.k.a. in game as mounts)
    -two factions(a.k.a. alliance and horde)

    WoW cons.
    -high price
    -high computer requirements
    -power-leveling and gold buying(thats just my opinion)
    -non-availability to all skills, magic, melêe(pronounce maylay so shane can pronounce it right)and ranged resticted to the specific classes

    I hope that sheds some more light on the matter

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  13. Domathere, on May 5th, 2007 at 1:05 pm Said:

    I ran accross this from looking at RS glitches. most here have good points and everyone is entitled to their own views. I for 1 am over 30, have been playing RS since 2001 (close to its release), and run a RS Clan. most of my members in this clan are over 18. maybe we are an older clan, or maybe its just the people i gather around me. I have close to 100 active members and we grow daily. I have lost meny good friends to WoW, and knowing these people there must be reasons.
    The comments made about a “less practical chat” is kind of funny. I havent played a ton of WoW but I cant imagian 2000 people talking at once… can barly deal with a few hundred in the market servers. The Grafix of WoW i will give hands down are better. The Power Lvling of WoW seems weak, and yet there seems to be few higher lvl players running around. Max in RS is 126, i happen to be 122. Whats a Max in WoW, im not sure, but seems seldom you see anyone above lvl 70-80.
    Jagex does alright with its java script, and having a free version to the game helps draw people in. The F2p version is needed to help player train and figure out the aspects of the game. Also RS has hit over 1 million paying members. there must be something right.

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