RuneScape has been designed to be enjoyable for as wide a range of players as possible. In the beginning, Paul and Andrew created content that they thought their friends would find fun. Now RuneScape is developed by a larger team, but our basic aim is the same - to make the game we ourselves would want to play (i.e. our target audience is essentially ourselves, and people like us). Since we have a whole variety of very different types of gamers working here, we're trying to make something which appeals to a wide range of people. That of course includes avid gamers (which most of us are), but also casual gamers, and even people who have never played computer games before.

RuneScape isn't specifically targeted at kids and never has been. We do however have a lot of younger players, particularly as the game can be played for free, therefore it is one of our central missions to ensure the game also remains a safe environment for younger players to be. We take player safety extremely seriously and work with a number of organisations to help shape and guide our policies; see. This parents section is intended to be part of that, and to be helpful to the parents of any younger players who wish to learn more about the game.

The difficulty of the gameplay itself is not shaped for younger players. A certain level of maturity is in fact really needed to play RuneScape to the full extent, as the game has some quite complex gameplay, puzzles and plots, which older players are more likely to appreciate. Finally, RuneScape is set in a traditional fantasy setting with the usual combat and conflict, so we only recommend the game for players aged 13+ (i.e. if you wouldn't want your kids to watch "Lord of the Rings", you probably wouldn't want them to play RuneScape).