Look at RuneScape circa 2001 and 11 years (and 200M players) later

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What do you do when you have one of the longest-running free-to-play MMOs in history? You make an infographic and before-and-after images, of course! It's kind of amazing to think that [RuneScape][2] has been around for 11 years, but it's even more astounding to look at how the game looked in 2001 compared to its admittedly impressive visuals (by comparison) today.

But RuneScape creator [Jagex][3] has some even more impressive numbers related to its gigantic browser MMO, namely welcoming a whopping 200 million players since its launch. (That's over the course of its 11-year lifespan, of course.) If RuneScape players--new and old, current and former-- joined together, they'd make up 63 percent the population of the U.S., or the fifth largest population in the world.

And even today, RuneScape players are on a tear, according to the infographic below. Jagex has recorded that RuneScape players kill 150 dragons daily ... each. But ultimately, these players like to have a good time: 10 "lols" are typed per second for a grand total of over 6 million "lols" a week. At this point, who knows what the next 11 years hold for RuneScape?

**Are you a dedicated RuneScape player, or did you leave the game? If so, what makes you stay/made you leave? Sound off in the comments. [Add Comment.][4]**

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[1]: http://o.aolcdn.com/dims/GAME/5/168/168/100/http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.games.com/media/2012/07/druids-circle---taverly-runescape-classic.jpg
[2]: http://blog.games.com/tag/runescape
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