Optically pumped metastable rare-gas laser (OPRGL) have been proposed to overcome the shortcomings of diode-pumped alkali-vapor laser in the recent years. The OPRGL promises to realize high-scale output. But how to achieve enough particle density of metastable atoms is still an open problem. Usually, plasma produced by discharge serves as a gain medium of the OPRGL. Here in this paper, we are to reveal the effects of different discharge parameters on the plasma properties, such as particle density of metastable argon atoms. Gas discharge at a radio frequency of 13.56 MHz is adopted to excite argon atoms. Emission spectrum is employed to study argon and helium radio frequency discharge of optically pumped argon laser at high pressure, different powers of discharge and various content of argon. Gas temperature is obtained by analyzing rotational spectrum (A2∑+ → X2Π) of OH radical generated by residual water vapor and comparing simulated spectrum with the measured spectrum. The electronic excitation temperature relating to electron temperature is obtained by the method of Boltzmann's plot. Stark broadening of the spectrum is used to determine the electron density. The results show that gas temperature rises slightly with the increase of pressure and varies little with content and discharge power changing. The electronic excitation temperature increases with the decrease of pressure evidently and decreases slightly with the increase of content. The electron density is on the order of 1015 cm-3 under various conditions controlled by us. Long time discharge test reveals that residual water vapor can lead to the decrease of electron temperature, and thus reducing the yield of argon metastable state. In conclusion, considering that the higher gas temperature can improve the collision relaxation rate of helium and argon, and the higher electron temperature can improve the rate of production of argon metastable state. Thus a proposal is put forward that appropriately heating gas and reducing gas pressure can obtain higher particle density of metastable argon. Furthermore, It can be found from these results that heating and cleaning the gas during discharge may be candidate methods to obtain and sustain the higher particle density in the plasma.