Armadyllo

1st article: While the autotyping bots are annoying, they're ultimately only as harmful as people allow them to be. A bot that gathers resources for sale or effortlessly grinds a skill is detrimental to legitimate players who've worked for their levels and wealth. An autotyper bot is no more harmful than a human with good typing skills. If Jagex were to address the problem of price-manipulation clans, I'd prefer them to do it by addressing the price-manipulation directly. Good luck to 'em trying that, though. 2nd article: As the article says, Jagex got rid of the forced video adverts, and they got rid of the in-game adverts for members' content (even though it's claimed that the Gnomecopters were genuinely effective), and they've even removed quite a lot of members' options that f2p used to see and click on. I think, in return for all this, we can jolly well put up with seeing that advert on the way into the game. The website's always had stuff to encourage newbies to subscribe, and it makes little practical difference whether the "advert" is on the website or in the lobby. The lobby's graphical style is a bit off-putting, but that's a separate whinge.

Didn't they say something on the RSOF about how the adventurer log server couldn't handle enough traffic to make it available to everyone? As for the article about whining... okay, so "This sucks" is easy to read, but... Not everyone will agree that it sucks. There was plenty of whining when the 76k trick got nerfed; there was support for the update too, but supporters have far less incentive to make a big show of their feelings on the forums. They might want to go play with the update! Even if everyone posts their opinions as one-sentence soundbites so that Jagex can get a properly representative sample of the community's opinions, the forums are going to make pretty tedious reading: "It sucks!" "No it doesn't!" "Does too!" People want Jagex to communicate with players. Sure, we support them financially so we can claim to deserve their loving attention even if we're just yelling abuse, but it's a lame way to behave. Sometimes Jagex will do something unpopular that they think is necessary. Like the trade restrictions. We can tell them all we like that the trade restrictions suck - because they really do suck - but that clearly didn't convince Jagex that the RWT problem could be ignored. And, assuming Jagex was right about RWT being a problem, they're right to ignore the whining. In which case all we've got is a bunch of foul-mouthed whiners drowning out posts on things that Jagex might actually be able to improve.

Re: First article "In the end it's going to take a mass player action to bring to light the flaws in the game. Jagex has just alienated it’s users and won't do anything with it until it starts to be a cause for RWT or the game is in jeopardy." The problem isn't bringing flaws to light. It's not like Jagex hasn't noticed the price-manipulation clans or the EP-farming techniques. They know what's going on; they just haven't made these things go away yet. So how can we force Jagex to realise that these are top-priority issues that must be addressed NOW? Well, are they? Look back a few years. Varrock on a f2p world would have people shouting "free trimming" and "Jagex blocks your pass look *****" almost 24/7. People did the "drop your items and press ALT+F4" trick too, or they'd lure victims into the wildy to trade or pick up a pile of coins. These were hugely destructive problems too; they ruined the gameplay experience for many people. Even though we can comfortably call those victims guillible fools because we're smart enough not to fall for the tricks, that doesn't make it okay that the problems existed. All those tricks - some of which are still tried - are arguably as important as the price-manipulation tricks and other unfair game mechanics that we see today. Over years, Jagex made changes that helped reduce some of the problems, such as installing the Ditch of Stupidity and adding warning messages to dark caves. The thing is, RuneScape didn't curl up and die just because those problems went unaddressed for so long. Nor will it die due to the present-day problems that people are getting so frantic to see resolved. I think we are, indeed, taking the wrong approach. We're seeing a problem and demanding a quick resolution. Quick resolutions seldom work in RuneScape; look at the original RWT updates where we got Bounty Hunter & Clan Wars to replace the entire PVP system, with fundamentally flawed gravestones that couldn't work over logout. I don't want to see Jagex pressured into doing more wide-reaching updates in a hurry. The game is so big now that anything they do will have a negative effect on something that wasn't considered; that, in turn, will become the new Big Deal that generates demands for a speedy resolution. Bleak, much? Fortunately there's plenty of fun stuff to do in RS still.

Re: Tying Up Loose Ends A lot of this may be caused by Jagex's developers moving to different jobs. Elemental Workshop I & II are credited to Dylan C, who hasn't released anything in a couple of years. Fairy Tale I & II are credited to Greg V, who was rumoured to have left in late 2007. The Red Axe thing is being written by a guy who apparently didn't write the other two quests in that series, since he had to start by learning how they went. Ongoing quests have tended to come from the same developer (such as John A doing the whole Dorgeshuun storyline, or Dylan C doing the elf quests, or Tytn H doing everything Myreque). It's quite nice that we get the continuously personal touch of a developer who's apparently creating whatever they want to put in RuneScape for their own enjoyment. The downside is that it falls apart when the developer's job changes to something else. But Jagex is clearly willing to resurrect an old storyline with a new developer, like this dwarf thing. So that's okay. Re: The Big Adventure That does surprise me, but I get the idea. The quest isn't leading to anything, isn't going anywhere, it's just an - extremely - amusing thing to pass the afternoon. And the extra herb patch is handy too, as is the (bizarre) ability to get camel dung for recharging camulets without going to the kebab shop in Pollnivneach. Of course, a lot of people want something far more concrete as a reward for their time and effort. Fair enoughski.

They're kinda stuck in my office, since I was playing RS from there when I took them. Sorry.

I think I'd like them NOT to fix this. It doesn't happen often enough to be a threat to the economy.

Two nice articles. Bugs happen in software. Most software just crashes, or outputs gibberish, or suffers buffer overflows that let malicious people compromise the security of your computer. You see this sort of thing all the time (and you have to keep installing updates to your operating system to fix 'em). RuneScape, being a game, can have bugs that look far more impressive. The secateurs that could one-hit everything (Fairy Tale Pt 1), the ability to PK via magic in the Abyss when it first appeared, getting permanently bent over from the Duel Arena, etc. These make fascinating screenshots. I have a small archive myself, showing the Half a House that appeared in Ardougne, the time males in CW had no heads, about 7 Hans walking round Lumbridge Castle, the time Harry's Fishing Shop got subsidence, etc. Okay, so I'm a bug freak. Why do we care about bugs? 1. We expect high quality software. Some of us are paying to use it, so we have reasonable expectations that it'll work. Unfortunately, while that's a fine principle, Jagex is faced with a constant clamour for more cool stuff. They tried releasing weeks of game improvements, featuring loads of fixes, and after a while the RSOF started filling up with rants about how these updates weren't good enough. Jagex has largely gone quiet about game improvements over the last couple of months (although the patch notes show just how many bugs they fix anyway). 2. We can lose stuff to bugs, and naughty people can benefit unfairly from them. Nothing much needs be said about that. 3. We can point the finger at Jagex for not having a perfect QA team or perfect developers. Blame is very popular in the media. I'd love to see RuneScape as a bug-free game. Unfortunately, I don't think we're ever likely to see better unless Jagex completely reworks how they produce updates. And if they do that, we might have to bite the bullet and accept that updates may take longer, so we won't get as much cool stuff. While many people would be happy with this arrangement, Jagex is also expected to cater to the vocal members who may not be so patient.

Re: Third Party Communication I enjoyed reading this. I suspect it's Jagex covering their corporate rear end. If they say it's okay to use teamspeak or skype, they'd be potentially introducing young players to an unmoderated chat system where pedos might prowl. So they give us a filtered chat system and enforce rules about not exchanging personal details through it. Keeps kids safe from dodgy people, keeps Jagex safe from being sued, and anyone who actually wants to use these programs will just go ahead and do it anyway on their own responsibility.

Organisations get less efficient as they grow. Doubling the staff will not get double the work done. If you hire more staff, you start needing MORE staff to supervise and train the junior staff. Even within the Support team, there'll be people organising shift rotas, supervising junior Support workers, etc. They can't all be working on Support work all day long.

Re: Tug of War By focusing on releasing monsters that are better killed by groups, Jagex is encouraging team-based playing rather than single-player activity. It makes sense: this is meant to be a massively multiplayer game, so they'll want to cater to multiplayer activity.

There aren't many more days that it CAN be on. This weekend is Easter weekend, so it's got to come out in the next day or so if it's coming at all. Not in the middle of the UK night, but soon after. I'd be interested to know the source for that Splitting Heirs "speculation".

Well, even if it's the most astoundingly awesome holiday event of all time, and it brings an amazing sense of accomplishment and peace to everyone who plays it... ... people will still say that it sucks because it doesn't give them a useful reward (like every other holiday event) or doesn't give them a new way to get loads of XP or cash (like every other holiday event in recent years) or because it's juvenile (like most holiday events, even in real life) or because ultimately they'd rather be aggrieved than happy. That said, I never seem to enjoy holiday events much myself. But, hey, it's a big enough game for my $5.95.

Your speculation is suspiciously specific!

Jagex does stuff for Christmas, Easter and Hallowe'en. They tend to do something entertaining for April 1st, either in the game or on the website. Last year we got a Thanksgiving event too. What other big festivals might they do? St Patrick's Day Independence Day (okay, they're British, but they've already done Thanksgiving which isn't normally celebrated in Britain...) Summer solstice Andrew's birthday! They never go for an actual religious theme. Even if they decided to launch a Passover event it'd probably be as relevant to the Passover rites as freaky pink bunnies are to Easter. (And don't get me started on the Jack Bauer Easter Egg I found last year.)

There's even an option in the graphics settings for deciding how many people's idle anims we want to bother displaying. Mind you, a cabbage-pouch would be quite an interesting fashion accessory.

On the RSOF sticky thread there's a list of which maps they're doing: If Jagex keeps communicating at this rate, I'm not going to miss the BTS. For that matter, the dev made a post with a timestamp of 3.45am. That's... nice, but a bit sad.

Two big things that he's set out for Jagex to do: 1. Fix existing bits of RuneScape rather than churning out new stuff all the time. 2. More open communication with players. 1. Fixing existing bits of RuneScape. What exactly does this mean, and are we going to like it? Any of the following things could count as a "fix" to an existing bit of RuneScape: - Update the random events. We've got better rewards, but should they have deleted them completely? Yet some people want more events now. - Redesign some of the older graphics, like they did with ogres, that weren't looking as good as their latest updates. Or did people prefer the original style? Some people don't even care about the appearance of the game. - Remove all the annoying clicking from POH altars! Or did that devalue the skill? - Redesign the game screen. People complain about the semi-transparent chat area in HD mode. Others claim to like it. Perhaps the important buttons aren't in convenient places. But if they change it, imagine the complaints. - Make the game easier for new players to understand. That's not much help to existing players, but there are a LOT of new players in RuneScape, and Jagex has a duty to them as well. (It's silly to criticise Jagex for caring about new players; we won't be around forever, and it's in everyone's interests for newbies to understand what they're doing.) With all the things Jagex can do in the interests of "fixing" the game, it's highly likely that they'll end up releasing a load of fixes that aren't what everyone wants, but that genuinely do make the game a bit better in little ways. They're already adding handy little usability tweaks, such as the Leprechaun banknote feature and right-clicking on friends' messages to reply, but other people on this thread don't feel that anything important has improved yet. We've all got different ideas about what would make the game better. So, as far as this goes, Mod MMG can get the developers to work their little fingers to the bone improving the game, and people will still say he hasn't achieved anything. I still prefer this to the previous plan of churning out a "headline" update every month, whether or not it's any good, just for the sake of saying they've released a big update. 2. Communication with players. What exactly do we hope for this to lead to? If it's casual chit-chat with Jmods, that's... um... nice. I can't believe they're short of update suggestions, so we don't really need more communication for that. Besides, some say that Jagex should only take suggestions from high-level people. Maybe we want to know exactly what they're planning to release, when it's coming out, how it'll work and what it'll give us. Most of us don't really need that information. It might be handy for planning when to subscribe and unsubscribe, but Jagex clearly doesn't know exactly when their updates will be ready for launch (which is a bit worrying!) so there's little point hassling them to make estimates. I'm glad to see them making contact with fansites, chatting to players in the game, responding to feedback about updates on the RSOF, etc. There was a lot of that around some of the updates, like the Random Event update. The latest developer diary appears to have been written by an actual developer rather than some Public Relations expert who's obsessed with over-hyping every detail, like the old Summoning diaries. So there's a chance for some honesty there. I don't feel that we need to know about the dwarf quest plans, but it's nice anyway. Ultimately, the communication thing appears to be improving. Sadly, Mod MMG can have the staff communicate all day long without it being a genuine help, but I'd still prefer for them to try. It can't be a profitable thing for Jagex to do, yet he's still doing it regardless; that's impressive. Overall, I think MMG is trying to do really well. He's not vanished after the initial blaze of publicity; he's still making himself visible to players. Under the previous CEO, Jagex turned up in numerous magazines with interviews and articles about the game, but the CEO never tried to talk to the CUSTOMERS at all. But is this what RuneScape needs? Hard to say, but I can't criticise the guy for trying it.

Re: Going Solo I think the author's reading too much into Jagex's policies. They tell us not to exchange personal details? As the author says, that's for player safety; it doesn't mean that Jagex hates the idea of friendship extending beyond their game. The friends list is too short? People have always complained that the bank's too small as well; Jagex has always shown limits for data storage. We can't conclude from this that they don't want us to have more than 100 friends; it's far more likely that they just don't want to store the data or transmit the extra chat. (They don't even seem to save our preferences for the quest list filter or the Run button.) RuneScape's got plenty of multiplayer stuff, and we can do most of it when we like. I don't think we need to demand that quests be like that too. I'd rather see Jagex find some way of letting players exchange contact details at their own risk without violating the COPPA legislation, or whatever they've got to obey, and let players sort themselves out for friendships. We don't need them to force us into meeting people.

Interesting things that Jagex has done over the time that Iddison was at the helm: - Release the RWT changes, then spend a year trying to bring out replacements for what was taken away. - Release the HD update full of quests that couldn't be completed, then fix them later. - Release the new 1-hour Tutorial, chop bits out, chop more bits out, then roll back to the old one. - Target RuneScape at younger teenagers. I dislike being advised to write down my password and give it to my parents; I haven't lived with them for years. Maybe a change is worth a try.

They posted that post on the RSOF, where there were at the time a lot of complaints about Jagex apparently having auto-banned a load of players, and how their auto-banning software must be buggy. In THAT context, they're just saying that they didn't auto-ban anyone. So... all the incorrectly banned people were therefore manually banned on an individual basis by a real person. Well, that's probably true because if they were lying they'd pick a nicer story.

RuneScape may or may not lose subscribers, but it doesn't need to lose people (and people are what makes an online community worth having). It can be played for free, after all, if you don't mind adverts. Some people subscribe and unsubscribe frequently according to what they can afford.

Be happy.

More players (in the longterm) -> more successful game. It may be more fun to have a small community where it's easier to know people and everyone's a friend, but we can hardly complain that too many people want to play in the game where we play! Suppose you made a quirky little arthouse movie, and it became a hit with a small cult group. That's nice, but it's not going to pay the bills, and it'll be forgotten as soon as that little group grows up and moves on. Maybe you'd rather make a big blockbuster that'll be fun for millions of people across the world. If you're after a closed community, look for a monastery, not a MMOG.

Worlds do get overcrowded, sure, but that's not all about people AFKing. Overcrowding has a greater effect on popular monster spots on lootshare worlds, and that's a completely different problem. I'd be glad to see the timer raised a bit. I don't want it to go forever - unexpected disconnections do happen - but a little longer would be okay. So long as I can use an interface to stop randoms coming to me.

I don't see a single screen covered in code. In fact all the screens look like they're doing something graphical; no programming or Support or even management. Pretty photos, but I don't think they tell the whole Jagex story.