Are they aiming it at school age or alternatively older players ?  

Why do you think that ?

Well there isn't really much about Rift that's appealing to the younger demographic. The art style, the gameplay, the endgame, whatever. So I'd say the Rift is aimed for those just out of Secondary/Highschool and over, especially since I rarely notice any young players in that game. There are still a$$hats, but they're a$$hats with credit cards.

ESRB Rating: T for Teen.

Content may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Alcohol Reference, Blood, Mild Language and Violence.

Originally posted by VirusDancer

ESRB Rating: T for Teen.

Content may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Alcohol Reference, Blood, Mild Language and Violence.

Don't forget Pixie thongs...

Just because a game is rated for Teens doesn't mean a teenager would find it appealing, or even know of it's existence.

Originally posted by Master10K

Just because a game is rated for Teens doesn't mean a teenager would find it appealing, or even know of it's existence.

But it does mean that parents should be cautious in letting their school age kiddies play it.

School age 6-18 (or younger if taking into account things like Kindergarten, Preschool, etc).  The majority of those in that age bracket are below the Teen rating of a 13 year old.

Their target demographic then is 13+...

...one could say there is a preference for the 13-22 year old group, but one would be hard pressed to say there is a preference for the 23-29, 30-45, 45+ etc crowds.

It's rated Teen...

Considering the ease of the gameplay, I'd say womb or zygote.  

I kid, I kid.  :)

I think they mainly aim for teens. preferably a little older teens like 15-19.

But also at people who havn't played so many MMOs before at any age. Great game for beginners, not perfect for old EQ vets.

It's aimed at whatever age group enjoys boring and unimaginative gameplay.  No idea what that range is, but I am not in it.

Seriously though, Rift seemed like it went after the 25-40 age group a bit more than teenager etc.  It's a tad more mature than WoW I would say, just given my experience with the game. 

I dunno about their target.

But their demographic is mainly 20+. I haven't ran into many other high schoolers or lower in Rift. 

Age? It is not certain age that is target - it is certain type of gamer.

Mainly raider / dungeon grinder type of gamer. 

Small world where you can get everything fast + ultra fast levelling and with power levelling or experienced player due to Rifts this can be even faster. 

Game is focues at gear-treadmill at end game and there are add-ons and things like LFG tools.

So this game even though it is nicely polished I admit, it is just another lobby-like instance grinder.

Like 95% mmorpg's today, though Rift focus on those is even more narrow than average.

-------------------

There was limited timed promotion on one of UK sites, that during one weekend you could get full Rift client + 30 free days of gameplay. I went for it cause it was free and seriously even for free I played like few hours for 3 days and have not touched this game since. (I've played Rift earlier also relatively shortly after release).

I am uterrly bored of this type of gameplay when mmorpg's more resemble lobby co-op games with single player tutorial, than mmorpg games.

I am not saying this game is bad, because if someone really like to run instances (PvE or PvP) then it is really nice game- cause it is polished and content is at very nice rate.

BUT

For me personally it is boring like hell, as I don't enjoy Rift / WoW type of gameplay anymore.

If their target demographic is anything other than 18-34-yr old online gamers, I'd be very surprised.

 I would guess the average player age is low 30's.   A few years after WoW was released their average age, according to a couple of published studies was late 20's.  EQ2/Vanguard was likely a bit older in the low 30's.  Trion's roots are a mix of devs from EQ2/EQ1/Vanguard along with some DAOC/Warhammer devs.  Many EQ fans play because of Hartsman.  Presently there are only 3 supported raiding MMOS, Rift being one of them.  Rift appeals to raiders and traditional EQ style players.  I would expect the average age would be in line with EQ2 and be young adults in their low to mid 30's.

I am 52 years old and I enjoy Rift. I feel it appeals to an older mmo player. I do not know this as fact but from interviews and videos I have seen about Trion and the making of  Rift it seems to be made by a team that is a bit older and I think it shows. Any age can enjoy Rift but I do not think it appeals to the young WoW players.

With that lore of theirs, I don't know what age they could seriously target. Heck, even Harry Potter blows it out of the water (from those bits and scraps of info I have about H.P. anyway - I've never actually read or watched it).

But if you ignore the lore and stick to PvP (PvE is pretty meh) the game is playable for any age I suppose. That is, if you can cope with constant "rebalancing" that has no logic to it whatsoever.

Originally posted by Loke666

I think they mainly aim for teens. preferably a little older teens like 15-19.

But also at people who havn't played so many MMOs before at any age. Great game for beginners, not perfect for old EQ vets.

We have a EQ vet in our guild and he likes the game. So that point means nothing.

Originally posted by wowfan1996

With that lore of theirs, I don't know what age they could seriously target. Heck, even Harry Potter blows it out of the water (from those bits and scraps of info I have about H.P. anyway - I've never actually read or watched it).

But if you ignore the lore and stick to PvP (PvE is pretty meh) the game is playable for any age I suppose. That is, if you can cope with constant "rebalancing" that has no logic to it whatsoever.

Agree, The poor warrior has been torn apart and pigeon holed why they buff the crap out of the other class's.  This makes no since at all. Not saying that those other class's didn't need a buff, they did but no reason to nerf one class to high hell. Rogues eat warrior up like it's no problem, can't even hurt a cleric and mages can take a good beating now too. That's right my 2h weapon hits like a wet noodle and they just burn me down.

This is only for pvp. Pve warriors still lay down plenty of deeps.