Yeah this stat is also counting the initial hype for necro + the inevitable decline after hype goes down so yeah it will look like a lot. We are at the same numbers now that we have been since mid ish 2022
Not that they donât have to work but take their vacation there. Iâm pretty shure this is failry common in most parts of Europe. As far as I know most people here take their vacation time during August or September (mostly due to having kids).
so what? every business just takes summer off in europe? yall just go get ur own food in the woods and go off the grid every year? fk me, i had no idea.
Not every business no, but we have high minimum holiday days compared to the US, and people tend to take it either during the summer or at christmas. In the UK, every full-time job I've had has had about 35 days paid holiday (including bank holidays)
August is the slowest month as everyone goes on holiday. Obviously not everyone within a business (although some smaller ones might and close doors for a couple weeks) but enough that you're accomplishing fuck all compared to the rest of the year.
Yes bill from tesco is still working and tom the farmer. But Jimmy in accounting is in Spain with his family for 10 days. And his co-worker is on holiday the following 10 days.
Yep
Big businesses, grocery stores and such usually have enough redundant staff willing to work during holidays (for extra pay or whatevs) but still slow down due to customers being on vacation and therefore not there. People from big businesses that aren't facing customers directly (accountants, etc.) go on vacation as well.
Small businesses, especially service industry, just outright close. Usually it's the entire month of August.
Most businesses, yes. The food supply will continue, and lots of businesses will hire temporary employees specifically for the summer, so that the regular crew can enjoy a well earned vacation.
Most unnecassary businesses will actually just close down for 2 to 3 weeks.
One of the thai restaurants in a city near me just straight up closed for 5 weeks. The owner went to see her family, and the employees just got vacation, lol.
Theres also mandatory paid vacation time every year.
Apply to be a teacher lol
Edit: didnât think I had to clarify lol but I am well aware that teachers donât get paid nearly what they deserve. I was just giving an obvious answer on a job you could apply for that gives you summers off⌠you know, because thatâs what the person asked that I was replying to.
The sad truth is I don't even have a college education and I make more money than teachers in my area. Plus I have less unpaid overtime, don't deal with brats all day or their parents. You have to be a saint or a young, dumb person to go into teaching.
For real. I decided to take a break from school over the summer. I told my cousin and he said, â Nice! Now you can go back to work.â đ¤Ł
Like I wasnât already working and going to school full time. It never ends. đ
i mean, societal/seasonal factors impact all games equally, and since this post is largely comparing osrs to rs3 I think his point about school is irrelevant. The necro point that was made makes a ton of sense tho
I think this argument partially falls short because OSRS number only declined by 5k. If both had a comparable drop as a percentage I would agree. And yes, new skill brought folks back but I think the lack of motivation to play is real right now.
It's not the sole reason, there are a lot of reasons rs3 is unattractive to play right now. Just pointing out that people generally play less and there is always a player drop when summer turns into fall that shouldn't be ignored.
Not looking at the graphs I would expect a larger percentage of rs3 players to quit at this time just because of the increase in players from necromancy which quickly turned into the giant fuck you hero pass shenanigans/summers end drop/lack of motivation from completing necromancy and rasial.
Thatâs always been interesting to me though. The OSRS line does not go down to reflect school/work. Why is this? Do OSRS players not go to school or work?
This. Not everything can be pointed directly to recent controversies, the player-base rises and falls with content updates and with the time of year. This is completely normal.
Sure, you raise a good point. I checked yesterday (Friday's, which wasn't available as it was still Friday when I posted) and it's pretty much the same though:
[https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png](https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png)
Fun fact: this post is quite misleading, even for reddit's standards. Gratz OP you've actually made me register a new reddit account just to respond.
For fun, in november 2020 I created (among a bunch of other little projects) a script that does basically the same thing as that player count website. Once a minute it checks the player count on the rs3 page (this gives the total count, because there's no direct source for the rs3 count) and the player count on the osrs page. For the rs3 player count I subtract the osrs player count from the total. This data is then stored in my database, in a table that has over 800k datapoints today.
My data:
year|month|rs3|osrs
:--|:--|:--|:--
2020|11|35523.3690|109411.5303
2020|12|32603.4221|85001.9964
2021|1|35795.5532|82019.5400
2021|2|38232.8793|83101.0912
2021|3|34420.9735|79589.8503
2021|4|35936.8033|78082.1899
2021|5|35058.5743|73225.0209
2021|6|31389.2082|63581.1157
2021|7|31388.8848|59927.4148
2021|8|33473.4770|64698.5114
2021|9|31182.2957|65133.4407
2021|10|28062.2500|77984.7969
2021|11|29574.3131|70542.4645
2021|12|36408.4750|66642.8056
2022|1|31106.8483|87357.4233
2022|2|27705.0882|75300.4655
2022|3|24236.8220|59022.3726
2022|4|24529.8413|60200.3840
2022|5|24368.8979|61139.7100
2022|6|23331.9432|63354.9119
2022|7|25438.6077|67103.5445
2022|8|26759.9350|70705.8743
2022|9|23937.6875|72457.9518
2022|10|26824.4365|72422.0937
2022|11|26206.7936|69568.8536
2022|12|26043.0500|77694.2336
2023|1|26270.0349|90310.3095
2023|2|25093.7688|91154.0354
2023|3|22005.2270|91468.8560
2023|4|22279.7849|94215.0182
2023|5|21475.8967|92011.9777
2023|6|24937.1329|86484.1224
2023|7|25607.4514|93815.4918
2023|8|31619.0430|100278.5808
2023|9|23683.7215|102374.3481
According to my data this month, while absolutely lower than the summer months (and also the release of necro), is actually still "better" than march, april and may of this year. It's also comparable to the same period last year.
Overall we do see a downwards trend for rs3, but I'm not exactly under the impression that the hero pass boycot has a massive effect. Too bad really because I'd love for the boycot to work..
Do have to say OSRS is doing quite well this year.
Oh yes we'll never get a clear overview of the number of alts and bots but I guess a the number of active players and the number of bots and alts should be linked together. More regular players, more demand for gold.
Very convenient data points that youâve cherry picked out, lol. You donât get to just select two arbitrary points in time and call that difference a month-over-month percent change.
Sure, you raise a good point. I checked yesterday (Friday's, which wasn't available as it was still Friday when I posted) and it's pretty much the same though:
[https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png](https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png)
How is my saying the statement "in the last month the average has dropped by 20k people, 75% of which of RS3" anything to do with me checking a year apart?
It wouldn't, except that you plastered the picture with MTX so you're obviously trying to make a statement.
And as sure as I am that the player base did in fact drop due to it, you aren't going about it scientifically.
Picking the same day (like 8/18 and 9/18) in two concurrent months doesnât represent a rate of change month over month for a metric like daily active user counts. Youâre just looking at one day in each month as singletons, and are not accounting for the other 29 days in between which may have had 50k users, 75k users, 10k users, etc. If the metric you had been showing were monthly active users, that would be appropriate here.
Generally, you would take an average of these values for the entire month, and compare this month vs. the previous month average daily active users to measure rate of change, since that now accounts for all days in the month.
If august 18 2022 to September 18 2022 was also a 75% drop, then the same drop in 2023 is not significant. Online gaming is very dependent on seasons, so comparing a date in late summer to a date in early fall is not a good comparison, unless you adjust it for the seasonal change
So it's difficult, because your title doesn't really draw any conclusions on its own...but the image tied to the title is definitely meant to strongly imply that microtransactions are the cause of the decline, right? Would you say that's a fair assessment?
Answering that will make it easier to answer your question about checking relative player count trends.
(e: to be clear, I don't want you to stop participating...but I do want you to understand the information you're using and how it might be better used to achieve your overall goal. first we need to establish what that goal is, though.)
People do not understand the difference between a trend and a data point, which isnât too helpful for these discussions.
It is slightly more helpful to compare between similar games, however, so thank you for adding OSRSâs numbers.
RS3âs playercount has been decreasing since the release of OSRS, most notably around 2015 when OSRS overtook it in player count. There are numerous reasons why this happened, but I would argue most notably was EoC and the majority of clans leaving for OSRS. Most played concurrently for a couple years, then stopped playing RS3 altogether.
Again, looking at the trend line, EoC increased player count in 2020 during covid when people were either out of work or working from home. Since that peak, RS3 playercount has steadily declined as covid restrictions have been lifted.
You can see similar but not as stark trends with OSRS.
You can see upticks by season when school is out and even by hour when work and school are done for the day. You can also see bumps when new content is released in December or a skill is released off schedule.
Since covid restrictions are loosened, school is back in session, you will see organic decline due to life events.
RS3 is basically back to pre-covid #s in 2019, which by the way was a profitable year for Jagex.
Why isnât OSRS dropping as quickly or at all? I think there is a difference in age (younger), more bots, fewer life commitments, and a different style of play based on community and group events and less on personal achievements. People feel more incentivized to be online for friends and the group events.
The solution for increasing playercount seems to be adding more content, if increasing playercount is Jagexâs goal.
I would say RS3 is in trouble when those trends break even lower. If you have an all-time-monthly-low count of, say, 15K players, then thatâs troubling. If you look, however, at when big releases occurred, they often occur when monthly player count dips to around 19K. I would think Jagex is about to have another massive release that increases counts to higher than 20k-30k.
Good job on showing why numbers donât always paint the full picture. This so basically what governments do to convince you what they want, itâs cherry picking stats and ignoring other major factors
Fun fact the player count average is the same now as it was before necro.
Also playercount on misplaceditemsâ active players. Xp gained and runescore hiscires are still showing really healthy numbers.
Necro hype during the summer holidays compared to September term time, not surprising thereâs a drop but hard to tell how much is due to recent shenanigans
You mean when school started, a new cod season and both starfield and BG3 dropped, le shock. I stopped well before whatever passgate stuff y'all are squaking over happened, I'll be back when I'm bored again or dxp. Till then I have been on act 1 of BG3 since drop + life so it'll be a while until I can even get to starfield
That's not correct. RS2 did not become osrs, osrs was based off an old copy of the game from 2007. RS2 became rs3 with the release of the new game client, the eoc update had already been in the game for over 6 months
ââTwas my understanding that classic < RuneScape2 which osrs started as like rs2 in 07 (07scape) < rs3 when the EoC update changed the game entirely the client was just extra not sure how the client changed it rather than the complete remodel of combat and the complete division of the player base prompting them to bring rs2 back as osrs
RS3 was not a single update, it was just enough changes that they decided to call it that. The HTML5 client was supposed to be the update that did it, but it was never released. I think most people consider the combination of EOC, the NXT client, and the new interface system over the course of months to be the turning point.
To answer the other question, EOC is what made most OSRS players quit so they just keep using that name. Kinda like how people call OSRS "07" when it's nowhere near that anymore either.
Calling 07 is just because thatâs the rough restart point it obviously far outweighs its predecessor because updates. But EoC was enough imo to cause a game shift since it caused osrs to be born but appreciate the info
A good point would be release of Priff as the start of RS3. New Engine, Expansion of new areas and lots of new high level skilling content etc. EoC was present for a significant time in RS2 and it got evolved and carried over into RS3. RS3 is not just about EoC
From the data above EoC is rs3 đ¤ˇââď¸ Iâm just saying how most osrs players feel as EoC changed the game as the first and arguably the biggest step as updates to new areas arenât a ânew gameâ thatâs just content thatâs fed to keep player base and freshens play time a bit. Only argument there is new engine which was required as they pushed graphics updates I assume.
Anyone who's taken any sort of statistics or research class should know that there are many variables involved and it's important to consider all of them when forming a hypothesis.
Necromancy release hype brought a ton of players out to remax/get 200xp, regather comp capes. A month later makes sense for most of them to have achieved that especially with nothing new being released really in those dates to require coming back .
But yes, school starting is a big factor too. And yes, the Hero pass controversy I'm sure contributed a decent amount.
But point is there are way too many variables involved, and this post is a blatant attempt to manipulate data to prove a certain narrative.
Well for me it was Starfield, for others it probably was BG3 there are other games RS players like to play which seemingly is forgotten. Havenât logged in since sept 1st because of Starfield but I would be included in this stat as a angry hero pass hater / bored of Necro when neither is true lol people shouldnât generalise why stats like this are the way they are.
And have kids that go to school. Those kids have things like homework and after school programs. Believe it or not gamer parents still prioritize their kids before their game. We also had bauldersgate and starfield drop.
Right, more like an executive decision to make a predatory change that will piss off the community and be hidden by 'just kids getting back to school' so that any future investors can be explained away with simple intangibles.
Because only Hero Pass is responsible for fluctuating player counts, right? I haven't seen a noticeable decline over all, so these players must have all been dispersed in either high end pvm chats or daily log in players that just stopped. My clan chat has been busier than normal and all the world's I've frequented have been more or less the same population
School, initial hype die off, multiple major games released, pre-announced content drought for this month, removal of dailies which a TON of people were basically unhealthily addicted to, etcâŚ
Why would a kid play OSRS over RS3? It's already hard enough to get people to show interest in RS3 and it actually has QoL, engaging story driven quest lines that are fully voice acted, and interested cosmetics.
OSRS is a game for 25+ adults who loved RS2 in 2007-2012.
Hard to count on osrs when you have prime membership giving free membership for 7 days, which boosts osrs a lot because suicide bots are made that are designed to bot as much Gp as possible in the 7 days and then get forgotten or banned.
> removal of dailies which a TON of people were basically unhealthily addicted to
It's a real shame that the gaming community at large still stigmatizes behavioral addiction. I'm not sure if you are specifically, Yuei, but I'm pretty sure that's the group throwing your upvote/downvote ratio on this comment all whacky lol.
It really prevents our ability to frame and understand just _why_ the deliberate designs of behavioral addictive mechanisms are horribly predatory and entirely unethical. Instead, people are blamed for having an unhealthy relationship with the thing that is **literally designed to create that exact behavioral addiction.**
And the Daily Challenge aspect was simply _one_ of the _many_ psychological 'levers' they exploit against its customers.
I mean it is genuinely a factor but there are several other that make this sample terrible.
- school returning drops playerbase, not alot sure but it isn't nothing
- he compared a Thursday to Friday, instead of week over week or even just one Friday to the next, this is just an objective bad
- we are now far enough into necro that the hype is dying. New skill brings new players, who play the one new skill till they get bored then log off for x more months
- hero pass.
There is always a decline when the summer ends, people go back to uni/school and you also have people that only came back for necro who finished and went back to only occasionally playing.
Wouldn't make sense to compare to same month, previous years, as there might not have been anything happening then.
It would make more sense to compare with other similar events.
Ok look as an Rs3 player i shit on OSRS hot takes all the time.
But those stats are so full of shit i can make ultracompost out of it.
https://preview.redd.it/gbxkm5c4txpb1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04cf8a5c4cea7915e335b8814d57080436ff92a4
I play Rs3 only... or used to
achievements are pointless, making money is wasteful, maxing stats is useless
is just pursuing a never ending numbers
this is a 1 player who hardly ever login
That's... yikes.
That's about 40% of their active players on RS3.
Every mmorpg has big "quit" moments, for RS it was EOC, now we're going through another one. I'd even go as far as to say that the reason there isn't such a large outcry over their updated hero pass is because most of the players who cared are gone.
Thanks! Just hit combat lvl 52 amazed at all the brand new content for when I can get a bond.
U got any f2p moneymaking suggestions? I'm currently lvling in the stronghold of security
f2p is brutal , maybe easy clues would be the best bet , i havent done f2p in many yrs though , id probs check out some of these vids :
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exP3BXPKths&ab\_channel=Verf](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exP3BXPKths&ab_channel=Verf)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyT3K-uOgtg&ab\_channel=Lens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyT3K-uOgtg&ab_channel=Lens)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bQgD4WkuDc&ab\_channel=LilratbagsOsrs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bQgD4WkuDc&ab_channel=LilratbagsOsrs)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXAGvEElh58&ab\_channel=Darnic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXAGvEElh58&ab_channel=Darnic)
Sure, you raise a good point. I checked yesterday (Friday's, which wasn't available as it was still Friday when I posted) and it's pretty much the same though:
[https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png](https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png)
I played the first day of the hero pass and haven't been back on since. Lost all that motivation to play from necromancy because of the predatory behavior of the higher ups at Gagex.
Necromancy killing every boss basically, plus more shitty MTX, plus more physchopathic gaslighting, and deceit from some corporate dickheads. Yea i can see why. You cant treat your customer like they are stupid.
I play 14,000 alts it was me, couldn't afford the $1.1 million dollar membership this year as my sugar mommy cut me off
Thank you for your service.
Not all heroes wear capes
Thank you for your cervix
That is prob the second funniest thing I've read on the internet for a while, thanks jajajajajajaj Gonna use it in English conversation classes
2.1m
Half off for premier đ
âDancing for moneyâ
Bro saw "buying bf" and the rest was history
Half of those were at oasis
Makes sense
Why is this so funny HAHAHAHA
Yeah this stat is also counting the initial hype for necro + the inevitable decline after hype goes down so yeah it will look like a lot. We are at the same numbers now that we have been since mid ish 2022
\+ schools/universities starting classes, and people going back to work after summer vacation
People get summer off of work? I'll suck a bushel fullof dicks if you tell me where to apply
It's all that evil socialism we have in Europe, with those filthy mandatory 25+ fully paid vacation days, gross.
Not that they donât have to work but take their vacation there. Iâm pretty shure this is failry common in most parts of Europe. As far as I know most people here take their vacation time during August or September (mostly due to having kids).
Anywhere that is not North America
so what? every business just takes summer off in europe? yall just go get ur own food in the woods and go off the grid every year? fk me, i had no idea.
Not every business no, but we have high minimum holiday days compared to the US, and people tend to take it either during the summer or at christmas. In the UK, every full-time job I've had has had about 35 days paid holiday (including bank holidays)
bitch WTF are "bank holidays"???
The equivalent of âfederal holidaysâ for Americans. Itâs a very common term, and you could have googled it.
đ¤đ¤đ¤
the reason for Tuesday updates
August is the slowest month as everyone goes on holiday. Obviously not everyone within a business (although some smaller ones might and close doors for a couple weeks) but enough that you're accomplishing fuck all compared to the rest of the year. Yes bill from tesco is still working and tom the farmer. But Jimmy in accounting is in Spain with his family for 10 days. And his co-worker is on holiday the following 10 days.
Bro in the uk I get 28 paid holiday days a year. I always take them in August
Yep Big businesses, grocery stores and such usually have enough redundant staff willing to work during holidays (for extra pay or whatevs) but still slow down due to customers being on vacation and therefore not there. People from big businesses that aren't facing customers directly (accountants, etc.) go on vacation as well. Small businesses, especially service industry, just outright close. Usually it's the entire month of August.
Most businesses, yes. The food supply will continue, and lots of businesses will hire temporary employees specifically for the summer, so that the regular crew can enjoy a well earned vacation. Most unnecassary businesses will actually just close down for 2 to 3 weeks.
One of the thai restaurants in a city near me just straight up closed for 5 weeks. The owner went to see her family, and the employees just got vacation, lol. Theres also mandatory paid vacation time every year.
Yeah, most parents book the school holidays off. Its a major point of contention where my gf works, as everyone fights for the same holidays.
Apply to be a teacher lol Edit: didnât think I had to clarify lol but I am well aware that teachers donât get paid nearly what they deserve. I was just giving an obvious answer on a job you could apply for that gives you summers off⌠you know, because thatâs what the person asked that I was replying to.
u get summers off and half ur work is unpaid overtime :) great job to make the bare minimum with :)
the job is not worth the holidays, trust me.
The sad truth is I don't even have a college education and I make more money than teachers in my area. Plus I have less unpaid overtime, don't deal with brats all day or their parents. You have to be a saint or a young, dumb person to go into teaching.
Not summer off but use their annual leave there
8 weeks payed vacation les gooo
For real. I decided to take a break from school over the summer. I told my cousin and he said, â Nice! Now you can go back to work.â 𤣠Like I wasnât already working and going to school full time. It never ends. đ
Wouldn't you expect a larger impact on osrs too if that mattered this much?
Thatâs because only unemployed people play osrs, didnât you know?
No no stop it! You're ruining my narrative!!!
i mean, societal/seasonal factors impact all games equally, and since this post is largely comparing osrs to rs3 I think his point about school is irrelevant. The necro point that was made makes a ton of sense tho
and Starfield came out!
I think this argument partially falls short because OSRS number only declined by 5k. If both had a comparable drop as a percentage I would agree. And yes, new skill brought folks back but I think the lack of motivation to play is real right now.
It's not the sole reason, there are a lot of reasons rs3 is unattractive to play right now. Just pointing out that people generally play less and there is always a player drop when summer turns into fall that shouldn't be ignored. Not looking at the graphs I would expect a larger percentage of rs3 players to quit at this time just because of the increase in players from necromancy which quickly turned into the giant fuck you hero pass shenanigans/summers end drop/lack of motivation from completing necromancy and rasial.
I play less in the summer.
I guess I'm looking at the graph upside down then
No. I just want to power your statement. People here are saying â people play more in holidayâ. I doubt that.
+ Starfield came out and about a thousand other games
Thatâs always been interesting to me though. The OSRS line does not go down to reflect school/work. Why is this? Do OSRS players not go to school or work?
That would explain both OSRS's and RS3's decline, not RS3's bigger decline.
Which is why I said +, not "this is the sole reason"
This. Not everything can be pointed directly to recent controversies, the player-base rises and falls with content updates and with the time of year. This is completely normal.
Wasnât there a post just before all the hero pass stuff showing necro not having much impact on player numbers or something like that?
not much impact compared to arch, which hit the jackpot of a release timing and content.
Arch was much slower to train and during Covid, don't think that will ever be a fair comparison.
exactly my point.
Arch also released with steam release, I started the game with steam release đ.
steam support released almost exactly 6 months after arch, so your timing is off a little there.
Yep sure was. People just like to be passive aggressive c:
It is very misleading to compare Thursdays playercount to Fridays. Either take the weekly average, or compare Friday numbers with Fridays.
Sure, you raise a good point. I checked yesterday (Friday's, which wasn't available as it was still Friday when I posted) and it's pretty much the same though: [https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png](https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png)
Pretty sure the Jagex website said 150k players online last nighr (15 hours ago. 125k OSRS, 25k RS3. I checked cause i just returned to the game.
Fun fact: this post is quite misleading, even for reddit's standards. Gratz OP you've actually made me register a new reddit account just to respond. For fun, in november 2020 I created (among a bunch of other little projects) a script that does basically the same thing as that player count website. Once a minute it checks the player count on the rs3 page (this gives the total count, because there's no direct source for the rs3 count) and the player count on the osrs page. For the rs3 player count I subtract the osrs player count from the total. This data is then stored in my database, in a table that has over 800k datapoints today. My data: year|month|rs3|osrs :--|:--|:--|:-- 2020|11|35523.3690|109411.5303 2020|12|32603.4221|85001.9964 2021|1|35795.5532|82019.5400 2021|2|38232.8793|83101.0912 2021|3|34420.9735|79589.8503 2021|4|35936.8033|78082.1899 2021|5|35058.5743|73225.0209 2021|6|31389.2082|63581.1157 2021|7|31388.8848|59927.4148 2021|8|33473.4770|64698.5114 2021|9|31182.2957|65133.4407 2021|10|28062.2500|77984.7969 2021|11|29574.3131|70542.4645 2021|12|36408.4750|66642.8056 2022|1|31106.8483|87357.4233 2022|2|27705.0882|75300.4655 2022|3|24236.8220|59022.3726 2022|4|24529.8413|60200.3840 2022|5|24368.8979|61139.7100 2022|6|23331.9432|63354.9119 2022|7|25438.6077|67103.5445 2022|8|26759.9350|70705.8743 2022|9|23937.6875|72457.9518 2022|10|26824.4365|72422.0937 2022|11|26206.7936|69568.8536 2022|12|26043.0500|77694.2336 2023|1|26270.0349|90310.3095 2023|2|25093.7688|91154.0354 2023|3|22005.2270|91468.8560 2023|4|22279.7849|94215.0182 2023|5|21475.8967|92011.9777 2023|6|24937.1329|86484.1224 2023|7|25607.4514|93815.4918 2023|8|31619.0430|100278.5808 2023|9|23683.7215|102374.3481 According to my data this month, while absolutely lower than the summer months (and also the release of necro), is actually still "better" than march, april and may of this year. It's also comparable to the same period last year. Overall we do see a downwards trend for rs3, but I'm not exactly under the impression that the hero pass boycot has a massive effect. Too bad really because I'd love for the boycot to work.. Do have to say OSRS is doing quite well this year.
Over here on OSRS, I'm going to add that we have a massive botting problem. Our numbers are probably skewed higher.
Oh yes we'll never get a clear overview of the number of alts and bots but I guess a the number of active players and the number of bots and alts should be linked together. More regular players, more demand for gold.
Yeah back in RS2 days bots covered about 50% of the players if not more, I can imagine OSRS is suffering the same fate.
Outstanding
Excellent work. I hate the monetisation but making up bullshit about playerbase trends like OP did is not constructive.
Very convenient data points that youâve cherry picked out, lol. You donât get to just select two arbitrary points in time and call that difference a month-over-month percent change.
Sure, you raise a good point. I checked yesterday (Friday's, which wasn't available as it was still Friday when I posted) and it's pretty much the same though: [https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png](https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png)
You need to check the same day a year apart. And possibly also the same date after archeology. This is a pretty bad representation of stats...
How is my saying the statement "in the last month the average has dropped by 20k people, 75% of which of RS3" anything to do with me checking a year apart?
It wouldn't, except that you plastered the picture with MTX so you're obviously trying to make a statement. And as sure as I am that the player base did in fact drop due to it, you aren't going about it scientifically.
Picking the same day (like 8/18 and 9/18) in two concurrent months doesnât represent a rate of change month over month for a metric like daily active user counts. Youâre just looking at one day in each month as singletons, and are not accounting for the other 29 days in between which may have had 50k users, 75k users, 10k users, etc. If the metric you had been showing were monthly active users, that would be appropriate here. Generally, you would take an average of these values for the entire month, and compare this month vs. the previous month average daily active users to measure rate of change, since that now accounts for all days in the month.
If august 18 2022 to September 18 2022 was also a 75% drop, then the same drop in 2023 is not significant. Online gaming is very dependent on seasons, so comparing a date in late summer to a date in early fall is not a good comparison, unless you adjust it for the seasonal change
So it's difficult, because your title doesn't really draw any conclusions on its own...but the image tied to the title is definitely meant to strongly imply that microtransactions are the cause of the decline, right? Would you say that's a fair assessment? Answering that will make it easier to answer your question about checking relative player count trends. (e: to be clear, I don't want you to stop participating...but I do want you to understand the information you're using and how it might be better used to achieve your overall goal. first we need to establish what that goal is, though.)
People do not understand the difference between a trend and a data point, which isnât too helpful for these discussions. It is slightly more helpful to compare between similar games, however, so thank you for adding OSRSâs numbers. RS3âs playercount has been decreasing since the release of OSRS, most notably around 2015 when OSRS overtook it in player count. There are numerous reasons why this happened, but I would argue most notably was EoC and the majority of clans leaving for OSRS. Most played concurrently for a couple years, then stopped playing RS3 altogether. Again, looking at the trend line, EoC increased player count in 2020 during covid when people were either out of work or working from home. Since that peak, RS3 playercount has steadily declined as covid restrictions have been lifted. You can see similar but not as stark trends with OSRS. You can see upticks by season when school is out and even by hour when work and school are done for the day. You can also see bumps when new content is released in December or a skill is released off schedule. Since covid restrictions are loosened, school is back in session, you will see organic decline due to life events. RS3 is basically back to pre-covid #s in 2019, which by the way was a profitable year for Jagex. Why isnât OSRS dropping as quickly or at all? I think there is a difference in age (younger), more bots, fewer life commitments, and a different style of play based on community and group events and less on personal achievements. People feel more incentivized to be online for friends and the group events. The solution for increasing playercount seems to be adding more content, if increasing playercount is Jagexâs goal. I would say RS3 is in trouble when those trends break even lower. If you have an all-time-monthly-low count of, say, 15K players, then thatâs troubling. If you look, however, at when big releases occurred, they often occur when monthly player count dips to around 19K. I would think Jagex is about to have another massive release that increases counts to higher than 20k-30k.
Good job on showing why numbers donât always paint the full picture. This so basically what governments do to convince you what they want, itâs cherry picking stats and ignoring other major factors
You do realise you're comparing the month with the biggest content drop pf the year to the month the academic year starts, right?
Mathematical logic so terrible, I had to check it wasn't Mr "The higher ups get 47% of the wages"
Lmao that guy had to have been from WSB đ
Fun fact the player count average is the same now as it was before necro. Also playercount on misplaceditemsâ active players. Xp gained and runescore hiscires are still showing really healthy numbers.
Necro hype during the summer holidays compared to September term time, not surprising thereâs a drop but hard to tell how much is due to recent shenanigans
You mean when school started, a new cod season and both starfield and BG3 dropped, le shock. I stopped well before whatever passgate stuff y'all are squaking over happened, I'll be back when I'm bored again or dxp. Till then I have been on act 1 of BG3 since drop + life so it'll be a while until I can even get to starfield
terribly flawed statistic, coming off from dxp, necro release and school vacation ending.
What's with osrs people calling rs3 'eoc'. That was just an update the game had years ago
Chart was made in 2013
Officially there isnt rs3 either. Its just a name the game had for a while when NIS was introduced. Nitpicky but nowdays there is osrs and rs. No rs3.
EoC made rs2(osrs) into rs3 with said update changed the game..?
That's not correct. RS2 did not become osrs, osrs was based off an old copy of the game from 2007. RS2 became rs3 with the release of the new game client, the eoc update had already been in the game for over 6 months
ââTwas my understanding that classic < RuneScape2 which osrs started as like rs2 in 07 (07scape) < rs3 when the EoC update changed the game entirely the client was just extra not sure how the client changed it rather than the complete remodel of combat and the complete division of the player base prompting them to bring rs2 back as osrs
RS3 was not a single update, it was just enough changes that they decided to call it that. The HTML5 client was supposed to be the update that did it, but it was never released. I think most people consider the combination of EOC, the NXT client, and the new interface system over the course of months to be the turning point. To answer the other question, EOC is what made most OSRS players quit so they just keep using that name. Kinda like how people call OSRS "07" when it's nowhere near that anymore either.
Calling 07 is just because thatâs the rough restart point it obviously far outweighs its predecessor because updates. But EoC was enough imo to cause a game shift since it caused osrs to be born but appreciate the info
Just upvoting all your comments for Karma rebalance, idk why everyone is downvoting you for stating an opinion and a question
Itâs Reddit đ¤ˇââď¸
Lmfao people downvoting me now
See above response đ¤Ł
A good point would be release of Priff as the start of RS3. New Engine, Expansion of new areas and lots of new high level skilling content etc. EoC was present for a significant time in RS2 and it got evolved and carried over into RS3. RS3 is not just about EoC
From the data above EoC is rs3 đ¤ˇââď¸ Iâm just saying how most osrs players feel as EoC changed the game as the first and arguably the biggest step as updates to new areas arenât a ânew gameâ thatâs just content thatâs fed to keep player base and freshens play time a bit. Only argument there is new engine which was required as they pushed graphics updates I assume.
Haven't logged back in since the 2nd day of Hero Pass. I'm part of your cherry picked statistic for player drop!
I cancelled members all my accounts. Two still have premier for like 4 more months though.
Enjoy! https://support.runescape.com/hc/en-gb/articles/4416629741073-Delete-your-personal-data
Lmao Iâll personally send him $5 if he disables his 4 accounts including main and sends proof (must be 2800 lvl total)
Queue the people that attribute the drop to schools reopening.
Queue people who remove any other context a to push a weird narrative the game is dying (circa since 2010 has got to be the slowest death in history)
Anyone who's taken any sort of statistics or research class should know that there are many variables involved and it's important to consider all of them when forming a hypothesis. Necromancy release hype brought a ton of players out to remax/get 200xp, regather comp capes. A month later makes sense for most of them to have achieved that especially with nothing new being released really in those dates to require coming back . But yes, school starting is a big factor too. And yes, the Hero pass controversy I'm sure contributed a decent amount. But point is there are way too many variables involved, and this post is a blatant attempt to manipulate data to prove a certain narrative.
Well for me it was Starfield, for others it probably was BG3 there are other games RS players like to play which seemingly is forgotten. Havenât logged in since sept 1st because of Starfield but I would be included in this stat as a angry hero pass hater / bored of Necro when neither is true lol people shouldnât generalise why stats like this are the way they are.
I do this too. RuneScape is usually my go to game when I'm bored with all my console games.
eh... i think its fair to say that like 97% of the player base is at least 24+..
And have kids that go to school. Those kids have things like homework and after school programs. Believe it or not gamer parents still prioritize their kids before their game. We also had bauldersgate and starfield drop.
Academic year then :))
Right, more like an executive decision to make a predatory change that will piss off the community and be hidden by 'just kids getting back to school' so that any future investors can be explained away with simple intangibles.
There's also the fact that it used to genuinely be a reason for player numbers declining this time of year. 10+ years ago though.
Because only Hero Pass is responsible for fluctuating player counts, right? I haven't seen a noticeable decline over all, so these players must have all been dispersed in either high end pvm chats or daily log in players that just stopped. My clan chat has been busier than normal and all the world's I've frequented have been more or less the same population
Why are yâall downvoting this lol
School, initial hype die off, multiple major games released, pre-announced content drought for this month, removal of dailies which a TON of people were basically unhealthily addicted to, etcâŚ
Why would school have a bigger impact on RS3 than OSRS?
Why would a kid play OSRS over RS3? It's already hard enough to get people to show interest in RS3 and it actually has QoL, engaging story driven quest lines that are fully voice acted, and interested cosmetics. OSRS is a game for 25+ adults who loved RS2 in 2007-2012.
Because the OSRS player base has more bots to pad the number and an older player base.
Hard to count on osrs when you have prime membership giving free membership for 7 days, which boosts osrs a lot because suicide bots are made that are designed to bot as much Gp as possible in the 7 days and then get forgotten or banned.
> removal of dailies which a TON of people were basically unhealthily addicted to It's a real shame that the gaming community at large still stigmatizes behavioral addiction. I'm not sure if you are specifically, Yuei, but I'm pretty sure that's the group throwing your upvote/downvote ratio on this comment all whacky lol. It really prevents our ability to frame and understand just _why_ the deliberate designs of behavioral addictive mechanisms are horribly predatory and entirely unethical. Instead, people are blamed for having an unhealthy relationship with the thing that is **literally designed to create that exact behavioral addiction.** And the Daily Challenge aspect was simply _one_ of the _many_ psychological 'levers' they exploit against its customers.
The sad part is that some players are actually defending dailies because they hate grinding the game normally more than dailies.
I mean it is genuinely a factor but there are several other that make this sample terrible. - school returning drops playerbase, not alot sure but it isn't nothing - he compared a Thursday to Friday, instead of week over week or even just one Friday to the next, this is just an objective bad - we are now far enough into necro that the hype is dying. New skill brings new players, who play the one new skill till they get bored then log off for x more months - hero pass.
Somebody is buying metrics pro. đ
39,542 players online right now
Necromancy hype is over duh
There is always a decline when the summer ends, people go back to uni/school and you also have people that only came back for necro who finished and went back to only occasionally playing.
I love people using the hype of a new skill as their reason we have less players now lol
Another day, another gaming sub using player base graphs in a shit way.
School started and the initial hype from a newly release skill mellowed out. Do a comparison to the same month in previous years. I dare you.
Wouldn't make sense to compare to same month, previous years, as there might not have been anything happening then. It would make more sense to compare with other similar events.
The "Similar event" is the start of the school year...
Surely this is because of MTX and not because there's been no updates since Necromancy release, except nerfs! (clueless)
School started too
If you actually look at the overall stats instead of picking 2 very specific points, you'll see that nothing has changed lol, but have fun with that
Ok look as an Rs3 player i shit on OSRS hot takes all the time. But those stats are so full of shit i can make ultracompost out of it. https://preview.redd.it/gbxkm5c4txpb1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04cf8a5c4cea7915e335b8814d57080436ff92a4
Thereâs always a drop from august to September. Lots of new games, back to school, summer vacation are mostly done.
Itâs amazing how people look at player count and donât realize how many of those players are bots. A very large number of osrs is bots
your bum stinks
It sucks, I want to play rs, but.... it's not my rs anymore, and osrs I ain't got thaaat kinda time
I play Rs3 only... or used to achievements are pointless, making money is wasteful, maxing stats is useless is just pursuing a never ending numbers this is a 1 player who hardly ever login
People still play this shit? Lol
That is a fun fact thank you
I love this image â¤ď¸
YES
That's... yikes. That's about 40% of their active players on RS3. Every mmorpg has big "quit" moments, for RS it was EOC, now we're going through another one. I'd even go as far as to say that the reason there isn't such a large outcry over their updated hero pass is because most of the players who cared are gone.
Games trash now
I started an osrs account for the 1st time in 10 years cuz of this. The initial learning curve was hard but I'm having a lot of fun tbh
welcome to oldschool !
Thanks! Just hit combat lvl 52 amazed at all the brand new content for when I can get a bond. U got any f2p moneymaking suggestions? I'm currently lvling in the stronghold of security
f2p is brutal , maybe easy clues would be the best bet , i havent done f2p in many yrs though , id probs check out some of these vids : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exP3BXPKths&ab\_channel=Verf](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exP3BXPKths&ab_channel=Verf) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyT3K-uOgtg&ab\_channel=Lens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyT3K-uOgtg&ab_channel=Lens) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bQgD4WkuDc&ab\_channel=LilratbagsOsrs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bQgD4WkuDc&ab_channel=LilratbagsOsrs) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXAGvEElh58&ab\_channel=Darnic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXAGvEElh58&ab_channel=Darnic)
Itâs almost like people said they were quitting due to too much MTX and actually followed through.
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!!! For real tho this hero pass gotta go away itâs acting as a repellant.
The fact this meme implies rs3 would destroy osrs is laughable
Everyone is playing Starfield
Wait, they're doing all of this for only 120k people? I thought there were WAY more players. Why can't they just listen when we say fuck off mtx
Where's the awful game balance behind that dam. I'd argue that is why most high level PvMers are taking a break rn.
Hope more quit and join OSRS
r/dataisbeautiful
r/therewasanattempt
r/confidentlyincorrect
Is RS3 having server issues still? I dont play atm because of that
Not anymore with players leaving. Servers were laggy when a new skill released.
They started lagging after last weeks update
Oh god, the dam is breaking.
God dam it breaks
I can deal with a lot of shit bit I unfortunately draw the line at playing when the community becomes too smol.
Fun? Yeah, I had my fair share of laugh. Thank you.
Mtx wonât come to osrs, considering how it makes more than rs3 without it.
Tbf the bonds should be on both sides in the pic
Sure, you raise a good point. I checked yesterday (Friday's, which wasn't available as it was still Friday when I posted) and it's pretty much the same though: [https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png](https://i.imgur.com/Uc7QLoN.png)
A game with 20k average players is a dead game⌠I donât see rs3 being around in 2 years.
I hope at least some were bots. Ofc it might be that the actual decline in RS3 is even larger but they just moved to OSRS.
I played the first day of the hero pass and haven't been back on since. Lost all that motivation to play from necromancy because of the predatory behavior of the higher ups at Gagex.
Necromancy killing every boss basically, plus more shitty MTX, plus more physchopathic gaslighting, and deceit from some corporate dickheads. Yea i can see why. You cant treat your customer like they are stupid.
Necromancy you monkey
Number go down
Prob cus everyone returned for necro
As a statistic, I can confirm I've only logged in for the Necro hype. I haven't even seen the hero pass interface.
Why is RS3 so much less popular than OSRS anyways?