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The Truth About RuneScape's Community and Its Impact on Children The Real Age of RuneScape Players

Jagex portrays RuneScape as not just a fun pastime—they go so far as to label the game “educational”. In fact, they have an entire page in their Parents' Guide devoted to its alleged educational benefits, complete with quotes from a BBC article and a study done by Dr. Simon Bradford and Nic Crowe at Brunel University.

Sounds impressive. And it is true that RuneScape players can indeed gain some useful knowledge while gaming. For example, children may pick up some small tidbits about history, learn about problem-solving, and gain some experience working with others in an online environment.

Of course, given the amount of time that players spend on the game, the amount of education they get from it is trivial. In a recent discussion on the RuneScape forum on the topic, I saw people actually trying to seriously argue that RuneScape was educational because it promotes reading! Sure… in about 10 hours of playing RuneScape you might read as much as you would in 20 minutes by picking up a book. (Not to mention that the atrocious spelling and grammar used by most players might be a step in the wrong direction.) Similarly, while Jagex mentions puzzles in the game as an “educational” feature, they are few and far between - any child would learn more by, gee, trying a real puzzle.

Unfortunately, the issue goes far beyond just exaggeration. While RuneScape players can indeed gain some useful knowledge, the children who comprise the bulk of RuneScape's players end up learning far more than they—or their parents—ever bargained for. As they play the game they get a very broad “education” in all of the negative aspects of online interpersonal behavior: cheating, scamming, lying, taunting, bullying, gambling and addiction.

What's particularly problematic with RuneScape is that a huge percentage of its players are under 18 years of age, and some are in fact much younger than this; I've heard of gamers as young as 5. I know someone who said the kids in his son's Grade 1 class routinely play RuneScape, because it's believed to be safe for kids. Clearly the teachers in this school have no idea what the game is really like; they are just going on its reputation as being “safe for kids”.

Most players feel a rush of excitement when they first start the game; it's all new and there is so much to do. Also, the game itself is very user friendly, and most new players are nice to each other, so this leads new players to think the community as a whole is friendly and considerate. The game can indeed be a lot of fun to play, which is part of why it is so popular. Unfortunately, the negative aspects begin to manifest themselves quickly.

They say that the first casualty of war is innocence; it is also the first casualty of being exposed to the reality of online gaming in RuneScape. All of the rudeness, abuse, bullying, lying, cheating, scamming and greed combine to take a big toll on players. The transformation of a happy-go-lucky, innocent new player to a jaded, disillusioned veteran of online gaming is a truly sad thing to behold. It's very sobering to listen to young teens, and even elementary school kids, who are abused and betrayed so often that they have grown to expect abuse and betrayal.

One parent I know told me how one of his kids was betrayed by someone he had known for months. The child was crushed; it wasn't losing items that was the problem, but that he had trusted someone who backstabbed him. He quit the game rather than deal with this happening again; the parent also quit RuneScape and removed all of his children from the game.

Do kids who haven't even hit puberty really need this sort of “education”?

What could be even worse than having children be emotionally hurt and hardened by what's supposed to be a fun pastime? Perhaps, watching them slowly be warped by all the nastiness around them. Children are like sponges, and when they spend so many hours around negativity, they tend to absorb it and start to behave negatively themselves.

For example, my own kids. They have played RuneScape for the better part of two years, and in real life they are reasonably polite and well-behaved. We've always taught them to remember that those other players on the game are also real people, just like they are, and we also actively supervise their online behavior and even play the game ourselves.

Even so, my wife and I watched over time as our children started to pick up on the rude behavior of people around them. They started getting short-tempered with people who didn't do what they wanted or expected, and letting out their frustrations on others. Once, my wife overheard one of our kids playing another game and saying “too bad you can't say 'shut up noob' here”. This was a real eye-opener, and led to a stern lecture that if they didn't stop acting like that, they would be removed from the game entirely.

To conclude this matter of whether or not RuneScape is educational, here's a comment from the forum discussion on the topic:

“My brother is 13 and he steals from people, and had never done this before playing this game. I know it's kinda pathetic that he lives his life as a game, but seriously… they should stop saying it is educational.”

Yeah, they should.

The Truth About RuneScape's Community and Its Impact on Children The Real Age of RuneScape Players