Not going to lie, RuneScape was my jam in middle school. It was probably yours too. Who didn’t play that game during indoor recess? The game’s developer, Jagex, has come out with some very interesting statistics regarding the folks who play its massively popular (and free) MMO, and the numbers may surprise you. They’re taken from a survey that included 1000 gamers, and pitted against the UK averages (non-gamers and everyone else).
In addition, the company compiled over 500 pictures of fans who attended a real-life RuneScape event, and morphed them to form the “average” UK RuneScape fan. Take a look.
Somehow I feel like I’ve seen this guy before… maybe because he’s so exceedingly “normal” looking. Too bad there weren’t more female attendees, then we’d get an even more interesting result.
Morphology aside, the survey itself contained some pretty telling info, which you can check out below (thanks for the list, IGN!).
- 55% of gamers are in relationships, compared to the UK average of 30%
- 37% of gamers are in full-time employment, compared to the UK average of 30%
- 27% of gamers met their partners offline, e.g. via school or work
- 70% of gamers earn at least £20,000 ($33,500 USD) per year, earning more than bank clerks, with close to 40% earning over £40,000 ($67,000), more than police officers
- 18% gamers are women – 34% of gamers are 35 and over
- Almost half of all players consider themselves casual gamers, while over 1.6 million (.03%) of the UK claim they are closet gamer
RuneScape 3 launched just last year, so why not take some time and check out what’s changed since you last logged in? Then again, maybe it’s best I leave my memories of endlessly clicking a rock to raise my mining level untouched.
