Isn't runescape another one of the cases like NeoPets. Lots of people go on and have ago, but don't carry on playing. So the stats for the number of players reported is false simply because no body bothers cancelling their account.
From what I remember from playing it was a cool game but didn't catch the imagination because you were too busy trying to grasp the controls.
Kev
No. They have 18 worlds, each with usually 500-1200 people in each.
From JAGeX:
Jagex has a large audience of over 240,000 individuals who play the game every month. Our audience is made up of a wide age range from 8 to 50 years olds.