(Originally published on TruthScape and copied here for the benefit of the Tip.It community and to spur discussion.)

 

 

 

The TruthScape Soapbox - Issue #7 - The Doctrine of Estoppel

 

 

 

Published: December 13, 2007

 

 

 

YouÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢re 17, youÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ve got a bit of a wild streak, and you just got your first car. Your state allows custom license plates, so you decide to register one that you think is cool, because itÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s a bit risquÃÆÃâÃâé. YouÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢re surprised when your local motor vehicles department approves it, but pleased. You spend thousands of dollars on enhancements for your car, drive it for a year or two, and then get a strange letter in the mail. It informs you that the agency has now decided that your license tag is ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬ÅoffensiveÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

Also, does anyone really think that itÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s a coincidence that ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬ÅoffensiveÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

Spot on.

 

 

 

It's disgusting. Truly.

 

 

 

Makes me feel sick that I ever paid these people my money.

 

 

 

I'm a great believer in upholding valuable, worthwhile rules and principles.

 

 

 

But I strongly dislike rules simply for the sake of having rules. Jagex have decided upon a 'no name changing' principle, if it truly is impossible - Fair play. However this smacks of stubborn, uncaring 'it's our game, we said it so it's right'.

 

 

 

As mentioned above, ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬ÅkrazyfakenÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

Its a shame that Jagex is doing this. In fact, its just either plain incompetence (which I seriously hope it is) or just plain a lack of compassion for it's costumer base. Its most likely the latter, but wtf thinks that Crazyfaken is an offensive name. You what must have no grammars, grow ups you what being immature 8 years olds.

If a gaming company really canÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t edit the stats of its players, it is grossly incompetent. If it can but refuses to, then it is giving loyal players the shaft because it simply doesnÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t care about them, or doesnÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t want to devote a few minutes of time to these accounts to fix them properly.

 

 

 

 

 

im not sure of the time period of a copy/paste job of exp for a persons account. but im sure it would not take an hour, as you suggest less then 10minutes is more then conceivable. but compounding the # of accounts it could take sometime. in reality, why not wait to do this and do it 1 by 1 when jagex is not in the midsts of what seems to be alot of work.

I'm wondering about how many people are really being banned, since I haven't seen any examples except crazyfaken... :-k

 

 

 

Anyways, I'm not a big fan of conspiracy theories, but this one might just be true and regardless of how many people might be affected by this, how they've treated krazyfaken is unacceptable.

true.

 

I dont buy their solution either.

 

Leave aside the hypocrisy,is it that hard to clone someone's account and change the user_name field? it looks like more of head-hunting to me.

they claim they are unable to change account names due to the way the game is programmed.

 

 

 

Okay, I have a programming and database background, and I can believe this.

 

 

 

I know enough about programming to understand that this is utter nonsense. Besides, the issue of not being able to rename your character is as old as the game, which means this issue was around long before the update to RuneScape 2. Surely they could have changed their crappy programming then?

 

 

 

Copy&Pasting what I wrote on another thread:

 

 

 

All Jagex should have offered (and it is something that should have implemented years ago already), was to be able to change the names of offensively named characters. But Jagex clearly doesn't care if loyal players loose 5 years+ of game playing.

 

 

 

The dictatorial Jagex only needs to consider someone's name offensive and they'll consider that to justify the loss of 5 years+ of game play. Seriously - anyone defending this ridiculous behaviour on Jagex part lost his mind and certainly lost track of the meaning of "fair" and "fun".

 

 

 

In fact by now allowing people to transfer their items to a new character, they are even pretty much confirming the game is all about money and that skills are relatively meaningless - something I have never even claimed to that extent. The statement some people have made throughout the history, that skills are permanent while items were not, is being falsified in a matter of seconds here and the opposite is apparently true if you are having any trouble with Jagex.

 

 

 

Nah. The self-righteous Jagex does not understand a single bit about ethics.

Ive put my question marks with some of your posts. But this, this just gets my 100% of support.

 

 

 

If these children *cough* Extreme wannabe mods *cough* are offended by a user named Krazyfaken, then please, go play Habbo hotel.

 

Its these kind of people that get offended if they are told they are a cabbage, or even a cart. If Jagex knows whats good for them they will have to try and keep their loyal players instead of all the new kiddo's who don't understand nada.

 

 

 

And I have seen absolutely NO account ever changing username. Ever.

Ive put my question marks with some of your posts. But this, this just gets my 100% of support.

 

 

 

If these children *cough* Extreme wannabe mods *cough* are offended by a user named Krazyfaken, then please, go play Habbo hotel.

 

Its these kind of people that get offended if they are told they are a cabbage, or even a cart. If Jagex knows whats good for them they will have to try and keep their loyal players instead of all the new kiddo's who don't understand nada.

 

 

 

And I have seen absolutely NO account ever changing username. Ever.

 

 

 

Can't J-mods change their name?

And I have seen absolutely NO account ever changing username. Ever.

 

me either,still it doesn't mean its undoable.

 

with a little bit of effort and good will, they could do it..

Are there any other known cases other than Krazyfaken? What is the user's name?

 

 

 

Very interesting article, Qeltar, like usual.

 

Coincidence? Nahhh

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and I definitely remember people get their stats changed when accused/found out of cheating with account sharing/the like...

Great article. Very well done. I think this argument could also be applied to the new "Fair trade" restrictions .

I believe jagex could actually edit stats, just recently at the bounty hunter update i saw a J mod 126 with full bandos including godsword.

 

 

 

Jagex would have seen his name was hardly offensive at all thats why they message him allowing him to transfer items and giving him some free membership, if it was truly offensive they would of just banned him.

 

 

 

Just out of curiosity i would like to see if he gets his 318 days of membership back. I think jagex would probably be aware of this particular case from tipit forum topic and this article. I believe i read somewhere that jagex tell you not to share the messages from them, i don't know if there are consequences, he may not get his 318 days because of it. If they haven't read this and he still doesn't get his left over days transfered then i think something fishy is going on because i see no reason why he shouldn't get them, other then a form of punishment for the "offensive" username.

 

 

 

Jagex seem to be on a tyrannical mission of starting fresh for the new year! I guess it is lucky for them they are connected to Miniclip, because the 'word of mouth' thing they had going is surely crushed after the last 2 months, i wouldn't recommend Runescape after the Jan update.

 

I know enough about programming to understand that this is utter nonsense.

 

 

It isn't. The problem isn't with the programming but with the database design.

 

 

 

Consider this board. An admin could change your name easily, because in the database you aren't "Duke_Freedom", you are "userid # 690". That's what is used to index your profile, options, PMs, posts, etc. The only place you are "Duke_Freedom" is in a user data file, so that can be changed there and then it will appear everywhere else dynamically.

 

 

 

If Jagex, rather than using a user number index chose to key using the user name, then changing user names would be extremely difficult. It could be done, but would require a large amount of work.

 

 

 

The other options -- ignoring the whiners or editing the replacement accounts -- they have no excuses for.

Jagex can and do change player's usernames, but only when it is convenient to them.

 

 

 

I remember a few months back i was talking to a player whose username was a common english name with 6 numbers on the end, we went to his POH and i mentioned that he had quite a hard to remember username, he then proceeded to tell me that he had his original username(His username at that time without the 6 numbers) changed by jagex for no reason, he was just told that they were changing it and chose the new one for him.

OMG i love this article!

 

 

 

and in referenda to this thread, my friend had an account with the name of "iwinyoulose", and this was banned because, "it might offend younger players and discourage them from playing" Huh. i think you mean PAYING.

 

 

 

i see absolutely no reason why you shouldnt be able to choose a new username if the "kings of reformation and fairness to almost everybody except those who ------- pay to play this game because we think we should be upholding 9 year old noobs who arent allowed to play in the first place" deem it necessary. (sorry about that... i needed to get it off my chest....)

If Jagex, rather than using a user number index chose to key using the user name, then changing user names would be extremely difficult. It could be done, but would require a large amount of work.

 

 

 

Everything can be automated to do that quickly. And again, they did a complete overhaul of their game with RuneScape 2. Compared to that this programming issue, if it is worth referring to it as an issue in the first place, is peanuts. Jagex simply is not interested in changing peoples user names for some odd reason.

jagex needs to get a reality check... the number of players in the past week has dropped by almost half, and all of my member friend have quit.

 

why i am still holding on to runescape i dont know... wait... is that a light at the end of the tunnel? *thrilling music playing* shoot. it's just a firefly.

Very well written and insightful article. =D>

 

 

 

I don't even see how some can see Krazyfaken as offensive

The username Sanefaken is currently available. To sign up to an account you must agree to our Terms and Conditions:

 

 

 

You would think that if it was offensive, it would be blocked... :lol:

Very well written and insightful article. =D>

 

 

 

I don't even see how some can see Krazyfaken as offensive

 

Last word in there... you can make into a bad word if you try hard enough.

 

 

 

Depends on how you pronounce it.

 

Everything can be automated to do that quickly.

 

 

Only at the cost of a lot of server resources.

 

 

 

And it doesn't matter that they could have fixed this with RS2. They didn't, for whatever reason, and more importantly, they don't need to. They can easily edit the replacement accounts -- and they should.

as usual your msgs of complete nonsense completely befuddle me. 1 person gets a message such as this and you go off about unfairness and whatnot. First off , Jagex has NEVER and will NEVER change names for anyone.

 

Second off , the fact this guy got the offer he did is a hell of alot better than alot of people have in the past. For example Fkedyomomm. A person who was VERY VERY well known in his time for pking , and high stats. Back when server status was up , along with being very active on the original tip it forums. In no way did he ever hide his name or try to reamain unnoticed. Right after he achieved 99 hp on Classic they banned him for his "offensive" name. He was in no was offered any type of compensation for his time or money he paid for members. So this guy is getting it pretty good.

 

Also remember from the T & C of RuneScape. Your character , items , and anything in game belong to Jagex , your only "renting" it. So they can pretty much do as they please.

 

 

 

And if you think they are goin on witch hunts for names that "may" be offensive to players , take a look at the highscores sometime. I just did and saw names that to some may be offensive to some people. For example any name refering to Satan to the hardcore religous people.

 

Or for example a tip it mod here named Virgin Queen .

 

 

 

Before you put yourself up on this soap box and try to preach about unfairness and how they are doing players wrong stop and think. People say that 60-80% of the players of RuneScape are minors. Minors being under 18 , most being from 12-16 years old. Think of it from a parental point of view. Would you want your children to be playing a game with the names your trying to defend and say should have been left because they put the time into it? As you said Jagex can't keep track or filter every name that is made. So who is at fault when they do find out about the name and threaten to lock it out. Jagex or the person who deliberately knew they were bypassing a filter?

I believe jagex could actually edit stats, just recently at the bounty hunter update i saw a J mod 126 with full bandos including godsword.

 

 

 

 

 

 

J Mods can edit their stats,items and appearance.

 

 

 

However thats the only type of account that can, as far as we know; and it could depend on hwo easy it is to change a player account to a J mod account and back again, in order to change its stats.

 

 

 

However, i see no problemn in changing the name; but why should he need to? Krazyfaken is fine.

 

 

 

Jagex should be a little more selective about which complaints they listen to.

 

 

 

And maybe they should start listenig to intelligent complaints about new updates. No specific updates mentioned :o :uhh: