Jagex Will Not Tolerate RWT
Jagex, creators of the online gaming sensation have been dealing with a serious problem. People selling game money for real money. In late 2007, Jagex takes serious action.
In 2001, Andrew and Paul Gower, created Jagex Ltd., a United Kingdom company which at the time was described by Paul as a “small software company based in England who specialize in producing top-quality Java-games for web pages” which has now grown into creating one of the greatest MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) with more than 10 million free accounts created by players around the world and over 1 million paid accounts for a more wider access of the game.
In the game RuneScape, players create characters and adventure the realm of Gielnor. RuneScape, which launched on January 4th, 2001 is one of the most popular online games in the world, as for it being free (players can pay for a wider gaming experience) and able to be opened by a web browser. However, the game has faced a great problem, since it’s beginning. Many players deliberately break the rules, by macroing and scamming, which can lead to Real World Trading (RWT) where players sell items (or accounts) in the game for real money. Jagex for years have put ways in stopping macroing and scamming, but many players complained that it interfered with their gaming experience, and rule breakers always found new ways in cheating.
How Bad is RWT?
Andrew stated that “There has been a significant increase in the amount of real-world trading this year (2007). If we don’t find a solution to RWT now, it will ruin RuneScape.” In 2006, accounts that were banned by Jagex related to RWT was worth over 200 billion gp (gold pieces, the main currency in RuneScape). In 2007, They banned 525 billion gp which is said to have a value of $2.6 million. Jagex also stated that the majority of the RWT was being done in sweatshops in China and North Korea. They also stated that they wouldn’t be able to profit from RWT as many of the accounts that were paid members were being paid by stolen credit cards.
Jagex Stops RWT, for good
Starting in November 2007, Jagex started drastically changing the games content by removing almost every possible way that 2 accounts could transfer a great deal of items and money which has ultimately destroyed the RWT economy. As a result however, they took out multiple popular parts of the game and either drastically limited their abilities or replaced them, usually being less rewarding, or fun. These include dueling, drop parties, wilderness (Player vs. Player), and merchanting.
The reaction by the players was astronomical. There were numerous protests in the game. On the RuneScape official forums (only to members), people on the Rants (a place where players rant about the faults of the game) jumped from an average of 30-130 people to more than 1500. There were many however who approved and understood Jagex’s take so the Compliments (where players compliment Jagex and the game) jumped from averages of 0-5 people to up to 80 (the numbers on the Rants and Compliments started to decline around Christmas time). There were a huge amount of quitters as well. Though estimates are unknown, the amount of income received from player memberships in recent months is sure to have declined.
Conclusion
My belief, as a 2.5 year veteran of the game, is that Jagex did indeed make the right choice. Though I did quit the game because of these changes, without them, the game would surely become into a source made only for income, instead of the gaming experience it is known for. I respect Jagex for making the changes, as the game was taking a turn for the worse where it would meet its demise. Instead, Jagex altered the game drastically, regardless of what players thought, as Jagex’s mentality is the game’s entirety, while one player’s mentality is his fun and challenge with the game.
While many players will quit eventually, because of boredom or the game is just not the same as it was during it’s “golden ages” (2001-2006), new players will fill in their place. As it is a fact that 35% more accounts are created annually in the game, RuneScape will continue, and still be one of the greatest MMORPGs ever.
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nice work on this, I agree the decision on the fight against RWT was not bad and it worked.
Well done to Jagex, I am very happy as i don’t see any more low levels walking around with millions of gp and no ethic. I am only level 81, but do have alot of riches (approx 92M networth in game), and never like those silly noobs.
Thanks Arthur,
It’s good to read feedback that discusses other aspects which are as important to the continuing game.
While I am saddened by the reactions by some players, and do feel a lot of improvements will be needed to make replacements work, the game will likely do more than survive due to it’s persistent trend for account and membership growth.
Regards,
Fey Warrior
Many will say that Jagex have shot themselves in the foot, but this has really put them at the front of the queue for recovery.
I think the intention was good, but they made the wrong decision. Hell, who plays Runescape in Asia with the intention of playing it fairly with the other players. Not being racist, but I think a better solution would have been to block the Runescape site in Communist countries and let the players have staking, merchanting, and PKing.
real world trading affects all gamming companys on line not just jagex so your not alone.The truth is rwt is still very alive as it is being advertised on web sites,this means the accounts are still being sold for real money.If we find that there was a 2.6 millon lost in profit, maybe they could maket the game and put it on the shelf of gaming stores,and increase the memmership slightly.One of the leading games in the world do this such as world of war craft.Making changes to runescape in game has had some very good values,but these values have some gaming discrepancy.example 1 rune bar =15k rune skimmy sells for 15k ea it takes 2 rune bars to make a skimmy you loose 15k this is not justified.So players will loose intrest in smithing and mining lvls.I leave you all on that note good luck in 2008.
thats bullcrap i think ppl should be able to spend real money on watever they want as long as they earn it whos to say that a kid cant have 1 mil if he pays for it huh? NO ONE thats who…
I think Jagex has made a good move. Ever since these updates i haven’t seen any bots or autoers fishing or hanging around the yews for days.
Also, if you had a product and other people were making far more money off of it than you were, how would you react?
Shall Runescape forever be one of the few online games not ruled by asians
You realise they are adding new worlds where you can kill ANYONE in 99% of the world.
I’m a 6 year veteran of the game, and i found these updates alot more giving that wildy and duel gave. In the Duel-arena you could easily make over 500m a day if you were a good staker. And wildy, it was alot of lures and stuff like this. These updates open a whole new world for runescape. I’m looking forward to the new Pvp-system that’ll allow you to “pk” all over a entire runescape world! Don’t cry over a good update.
Although I would’ve agreed on their decision to steer away from a crumbling economy, they made a drastic step that has caused much more new problems, if I were to hope, I’d hope they find a balance between the RWT problem and the stability this game needs.
I myself have been a near 6 year veteran of this game and seen it go from, certs, no-knee-caps, to running, to barrows, to GWD, no pking, RWT, but this battle, I’m afraid to say, will NEVER end.
If they can’t find a balance soon, more and more people will quit, the originals. Ofcourse more people will play because of population growths, but this might cause a stronger “un-balanced” state.
Hope this game finds it’s way out of a struggle,
Anonymous
well,first of all,pvp.wow, i tried playing and they kill you.pk was the best.jagex, ur ok but 3k trade limit?quest points decide how much money u can get? my friend was going to give me santa…eventhough i didnt need it. this 3k? or what ever it is never let me. =[ so jagex…..think how the rs players will reacted.
peace noobs. =P
p.s that was a joke =p
All of the RS players who were lvl 3, default look and had names made up of random numbers and letters haven’t played since trading limits. Then again, they were obviously autoers and the people using them then giving themselves the profits gave up on them.
Real RS players don’t have much problem apart from giving away free stuff.
I am an rs user that has played on ddefender3 scince april 2006 and another account from september 05 to october 06. I am happy with this update most of the time. (I am lvl 75 and am kindof well off as i have 73 att 74 str and a wip.) However i have a story that paints a bad picture of the update. I had a great friend hik79 that quit (i had been scammed out of 1.6 mill on my first account thats y i use ddefender3) hik79 feelt sorry for me and gave me that much 1.6 mill. Then however, he tried to start again after the update. I hade 1.6 mill lying around and tried to give it to himm 300k at a time via party rooom in an empy world.of course the bnks shouted about the drop and some turds came and took the money and he is sad and so am i as i wasted 300k. other than that, good job jagex O_o
If you get scammed in this game it’s no ones fault but your own. It’s not anyone else’s fault if you were gullable enough to fall for a scam or say your password. The most annoying thing about RS is the number of people hanging around the G.E. wanting free money…
why do people always hack people for no reson that just not fair
and then they say bad stuff then u get muted
Because people are stupid enough to say their password or have one that’s easy to guess. Although the latter has been addressed by Jagwx disallowing many passwords, that doesn’t stop people saying their password.
No one can actually “hack” an account. If they could, all of the high level members would be in big trouble.
It is a good thing Jagex got a handle on the real world trading problem.
I’ve been wondering, how do other popular MMORPG games, like Wow, deal with real world trading?
It is a bummer that the Runescape economy is so tightly controlled because of RWT. But all in all it is still a good game, and I enjoy it.
hey veterans, im currently enjoying runescape, and i was wondering if maybe some1 would like to give me an account. that would be great, if so email me at caigew@yahoo.com