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Remember that the gamers are also big part of the future of osrs. Instead of preserving the nostalgia hungry 2007 era players currently playing I'd imagine the goal for jagex would be to increase their playerbase. Notably when something such as toggleable HD images could bring a lot of new players (ik it's harder for prospective content etc.) without creating current playerbase to evaporate. During Corona I've seen alot of new people playing who've picked up RuneScape game on mobile, so I would imagine the playerbase keeps becoming less of"actual 2007 gamers" as the time continues.. Like someone else new players combine for RuneScape gameplay and unique grindy accomplishments gameplay, but I doubt that everyone picked RuneScape game because they discovered images appealing.
Not always, although younger gamers are a significant part of Jagex's future OSRS. What is now RS3 was supposed to be a sport that could retain current players as they got older and make new/younger gamers since they added graphics. What ended up happening is they made OSRS to try and win back some of the older players they had dropped through controversial design choices in the game. They didn't expect it come anywhere near outpacing the game, or to be really successful.
RS3 does not appear that successful at bringing brand new players, although they're currently in an awkward place where OSRS is powerful because it fills a market of attracting gamers. By trying to make changes to OSRS geared towards younger, brand-new players that they may end up killing the niche that's currently making OSRS successful now. Many folks don't think about OSRS or the graphics just retro/nostagic, and several do not need them changed. They are also significant to the branding/identity of osrs.
You lose the capability to market OSRS and RS3 to fresh players as two separate 23, if you start changing the images. Describing OSRS as picture of RuneScape game from where it was at in 2007 but using fresh upgrades which are consistent with the design philosophy of this time is relatively simple to describe to buy 2007 runescape gold people not knowledgeable about RuneScape match, but the difference between it and RS3 gets murky real quickly when you make images changes.