This is the population charts near the end of the last dxp weekend:


This is the current population chart:


This chart simply notes down the number of people online every 5 minute interval

Facts based on the charts:
OSRS has more people online for the most part
People do return to RS3 to participate in events that interest them
During such events, RS3 and OSRS populations are similar

Evidence obtained by general knowledge of the game over the years:
People (in general) are further along their journey in RS3 compared to OSRS, and not as many people need to stay online all day long to grind those levels, but rather return to enjoy new content or events
Bots exist, that's a fact. OSRS, being a newer server and thus a newer economy, is more profitable, simpler, and thus more attractive to gold farmers to run their bots in (feel free to challenge me here)
OSRS started off with a clean slate, and many people are working on levels that took them months if not years to obtain in the main game, even pre RS3, pre OSRS, pre EoC
Many people play multiple accounts, many people do so simultaneously, and many of these people already have high level RS3 accounts that don't need so much work

Questions to ask:
How many legitimate unique players actually play this game?
How many online players can be eliminated by the number of people playing multiple accounts simultaneously?
How many bots exist, both in RS3 and OSRS, and are active at any given time?

With the above questions answered, we could eliminate those factors and get the true numbers of RS population to compare, and though that would be nice, it would also be extremely difficult to tell

Conclusions:
People enjoy both OSRS and RS3, and which one you play is based on your personal preference
If you simply argue current number of people online, you're not considering the reasons for those numbers

Feel free to state your own opinion based on the current population, but if you don't support your opinion with anything, it's just a personal opinion with no backing
This simply talks about online population numbers at any given point of time throughout the day,
- not the total number of unique people who log on per day
- not how that population contributes to their revenue
- not the content differences between the two games
These are all whole different discussions that you guys can talk about seperately if you want

Discuss

** While I would like a serious and neutral discussion, I am somewhat expecting the cross game bashing than you all love, which often results in the closing of these types of threads... lets find out?
** As stated in the rules, General discussions or debates over the game is fine, that's what this forum is for, but do your best to keep it from getting out of hand.

This post was edited by Kokua on Oct 15 2017 08:09pm

RS3 is shit. /thread

RS3 is great. /thread

Thanks to both of you for your typical expected response with your personal unsupported opinions with no relevant information to add or discuss.

osrs is like 90% bots anyway

5% probably people playing more than one account too lmao

This post was edited by Jupe on Oct 15 2017 08:16pm

you mean RS3 is mostly bots.

I have played both versions of the game and i always find myself going back to 07 .... I found learning a new way to playing the game on rs3 fun for a wile but then it got to easy and just was not the same game I fell in love with ... I met my husband on this game it has a special place in my heart for that but each version has it own feel and both can be fun but the 07 feel is the one I tend to come back for

honestly, they should just shut down that dumpster fire, and migrate everyone over to osrs.

I've played RS since ~04, if not late 03, and enjoyed my time on rs over the years
I wasn't constantly playing, but I returned often enough to see the changes each step along the way
I personally enjoy many of the updates brought to the game
When OSRS launched, I tried to get into it, but it was missing too many of the stuff that I grew into as the game aged
I definitely do not miss the days of playing in a tiny fixed box
I definitely do not miss the days prior to the grand exchange, and for the most part disliked trading
Trading prior to the GE was great for people merching the highly common traded items, but it's so much more convenient to get those obscure items through the GE
I dropped OSRS within weeks of launch. Since then, many of the things I loved were implemented. However, there are now many things that I have absolutely no clue about
I tried to get back into OSRS, and it just didn't stick with me personally

As you can see, we have opposing personal opinions, but we both played RS for a decent amount of time, and can say we've tried both versions, and stuck to the one that fit our tastes



Extreme personal unsupported opinion, I suggest not continuing with your train of thought and getting out of hand