Hello everyone,

 

 

 

In recent months you may have noticed several changes to our offence system that have been made to help benefit the genuine players of RuneScape. These range from adjusting the number of black marks that we issue for each offence, to allowing some permanently muted players the opportunity to submit a special appeal and potentially regain the ability to communicate fully in game (also, with the introduction of the Quick Chat system, muted accounts are now able to say Hi to their friends or even negotiate a trade).

 

 

 

These changes are all part of a series of initiatives that we have put together to reward those players who have made mistakes in the past but have been willing to learn from them. These initiatives are by no means finished or complete and we still have some way to go. However, today wed like to announce the first of a number of improvements we have been working on.

 

 

 

The latest improvement is as follows:

 

 

 

The first change youll notice is that the colour coded account status indicator zones (shown when appealing an offence) have been altered slightly. These zones will help you understand how your account is being viewed by Jagex.

 

 

 

The new account status indicator zones are as follows:

 

 

 

Green Zone: The majority of accounts will be within this zone as players here will have never offended or will have only accumulated a very small number of offences and black marks. So long as youre in the green zone, you have nothing to be concerned about and no need to worry about making an appeal.

 

 

 

Although you wouldnt need to appeal any offences whilst in the green zone, we strongly advise that players who do incur black marks take the time to check the rules by following the 'Rules' link found on the RuneScape homepage. By fully understanding the rules of play, players avoid incurring further offences. Its also important to note that even though you dont need to appeal offences when still in the green zone, your actions in game can affect many players, so learning the rules is very important for the good of the whole community.

 

 

 

Yellow Zone: If a player continues to ignore and break the rules, they could find themselves in the yellow zone facing longer punishments as more black marks are accumulated. We issue longer punishments to encourage these players to educate themselves and learn how to play within the rules. Although an account in this zone wont be looking at a permanent ban or a permanent mute, its very important that the player is mindful of their conduct in-game and how it affects others in the community. Once in the yellow zone, players may then appeal all existing offences.

 

 

 

Orange Zone: By this point the account has reached a concerning number of black marks. Players who find themselves in the orange zone will have committed either a serious offence or have been continuously disruptive to others around them. As such, well take a dim view of any further rule breaking on these accounts. As with the yellow zone, players may appeal all offences that contributed to them leaving the green zone.

 

 

 

Red Zone: If an account enters the red zone it is clear that no attempt to understand the rules has been made and that the player does not wish to play the game without having a negative impact on other players. We will have received reports against the player showing either a very serious breach of our rules or a continued disregard for the community around them. Any further rule breaking could well result in a permanent ban or a permanent mute being placed on the account. Again, appeals can be made for any offences that have not already been appealed.

 

 

 

There are however, certain offences of a more serious nature that would instantly take an account out of the safety of the green zone. Whilst not an exhaustive list, seriously offensive language, racism or behaviour that may threaten the online safety of a player are good examples of conduct that has no place in RuneScape. Such offences carry a heavier punishment and because of the severity of the punishment, players are able to appeal them right away. Also, if a player does happen to commit enough smaller offences to take their account into the yellow zone, they will then have the opportunity to appeal all of the offences that they were previously unable to appeal. This is due to them being applied to their account whilst still in the 'green zone'.

 

 

 

We take your feedback very seriously. So, when it was highlighted on the Forums that it would be helpful to make a clearer distinction for players between those who may have made a mistake once or twice and those who are genuinely disruptive, we took note and are working away to do just that.

 

 

 

Another exciting announcement that we're delighted to make is that we are currently working on a degrading black mark system that will apply to low level offences. Weve taken this step as we see that players can learn from their mistakes and so through continued good behaviour, we can get them back into the 'green zone' by removing black marks from their account over time.

 

 

 

This is another reason why there is no need to appeal offences as long as they don't move you out of the 'green zone'. As time passes, the offences will expire from your record so there will be no need to go through the appeal process at all!

 

 

 

Thanks for reading,

 

 

 

RuneScape Community Management

 

 

 

EDIT: Oh wait this is two days old. :lol: Wonder if I should keep this thread open.

Awesome! In my 6 years of playing i've obtained 1 black mark and I still don't even know what it was for as it is one of those legacy punishments whereby it was obtained before 2006 so it's not appealable =( but I stated my opinion on the thread about the permanently muted players given a second chance, with the fact that, whilst it's good for them, what about the legacy punishments not being appealable?

 

 

 

It's good to see that's going to be put in place, it's been 2 and a half years since I got my one and only black mark, and whatever I did i've learnt from it and would love to be back to 0 black marks =D lets hope this is implemented very soon and not pushed aside for the graphic updates to RS high definition, and July updates :pray:

I just made a post in the thread on the News & Announcements forum about 2 posts after Mod Paul M. Hopefully he'll be able to help me out cause I'm in the red zone, this is what I posted.

 

 

 

Well I am glad to see this kind of an update being put into our game. I for one am in the Red Zone for "item scamming" Which I didn't commit, under my "evidence" it shows me telling people to shut up and quiet down because they were asking what I was dropping at my drop party (This was before the trade limit was ever put into place.)

 

 

 

After I had the drop party I told players who were attending to come to the bank with me and get their woodcutting axes and pickaxes because I was going to have a contest to see who could cut an inventory of logs or mine an inventory of ore fastest and trade me first for a prize.

 

 

 

Unfortunately for me, I was reported by someone there and I believe I might have made one appeal and got denied I'm not sure, and I apologized thinking Jagex would look over the evidence again to see that I actually did NOT item scam anybody and I'm now stuck with 5.0 Black Marks and in the Red Zone.

 

 

 

This offense was on June 15th, 2006 well over 2 years ago and it hasn't gone down in Black Marks as of yet. Hopefully a Jagex Mod will see my post and look over it and be able to help me out. I've been playing this game loyally since the beginning and have no reason to scam anybody.

 

 

 

--TearGod

i got all my blackmarks removed! \

What would be even better is if they'd stop using bots to answer appeals.

What would be even better is if they'd stop using bots to answer appeals.

 

I think they should do what they do with Billing Surgeries, meet up with players in game at a certain time/date to discuss some offenses and possibly get black marks removed on spot.

They need to give me a new final appeal-.- I've been muted for about 6months, not doing anything bad. I need a new appeal Jagex! I understand people that have been perm muted longer than were given a new final appeal, how come not me? I'm mad-.-

Tbh, i dont really think its fair i have an old account that had legacy punishments, and i managed to get another 5 for supposedly item scamming (it was a miss understanding and i gave the items back long story. Even got the guy to msg them still lost appeal :( ) anyway jagex say people learn over time, why not give everyone a chance for atleast another appeal?

Wow kool I guess but I don't got any marks :) . But as people say they should spend more time reading appeals

Wow kool I guess but I don't got any marks :) . But as people say they should spend more time reading appeals

 

 

 

 

 

Mm, I agree with you there.

I said a link to a website that doesnt exist a joke one day when the friendlist were offline + servers lagging really badly mocking the servers.

 

 

 

Yet a player mod reports me for,

 

 

 

Encouraging others to break rules. (WTF?)

 

Macroing. (WTF?)

 

Advertising (Ok maybe argueable but site didnt exist).

 

 

 

Perm banned for 4 weeks then i served a 3 day ban one i appealed yet i still have 7.5 Blackmarks.

 

 

 

In the red zone, been playing for 7 Years and 6 Months one offence and not one in 3 years and 7 months now so.

 

 

 

Also 2 months ago alot of players got unmuted, and some black marks revoked, so my question is why should i pay the price for something meant a joke, be in the red zone jagex wont lower them only people "Near the green zone" and the people who cussed other players out get away with it.

 

 

 

I'm a paying customer too and if its not equal oppertunities then it shows how lousy your customer support is.

 

 

 

They dont even let me message them through the website anymore, its all done via forums only way you can message them is through appeal a ban but i have "legacy punishment" before june 2006 so cant even appeal anymore, i got reported by a player moderator trying to make it a law not a game so obviously the punishment was more severe.

I said a link to a website that doesnt exist a joke one day when the friendlist were offline + servers lagging really badly mocking the servers.

 

 

 

Yet a player mod reports me for,

 

 

 

Encouraging others to break rules. (WTF?)

 

Macroing. (WTF?)

 

Advertising (Ok maybe argueable but site didnt exist).

 

 

 

Perm banned for 4 weeks then i served a 3 day ban one i appealed yet i still have 7.5 Blackmarks.

 

 

 

In the red zone, been playing for 7 Years and 6 Months one offence and not one in 3 years and 7 months now so.

 

 

 

Also 2 months ago alot of players got unmuted, and some black marks revoked, so my question is why should i pay the price for something meant a joke, be in the red zone jagex wont lower them only people "Near the green zone" and the people who cussed other players out get away with it.

 

 

 

I'm a paying customer too and if its not equal oppertunities then it shows how lousy your customer support is.

 

 

 

They dont even let me message them through the website anymore, its all done via forums only way you can message them is through appeal a ban but i have "legacy punishment" before june 2006 so cant even appeal anymore, i got reported by a player moderator trying to make it a law not a game so obviously the punishment was more severe.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm in just about the same situation as you. I have 10 black marks from one offense. I got screwed one time and now my accounts locked in the clutches of Jagex.

I said a link to a website that doesnt exist a joke one day when the friendlist were offline + servers lagging really badly mocking the servers.

 

 

 

Yet a player mod reports me for,

 

 

 

Encouraging others to break rules. (WTF?)

 

Macroing. (WTF?)

 

Advertising (Ok maybe argueable but site didnt exist).

 

 

 

Perm banned for 4 weeks then i served a 3 day ban one i appealed yet i still have 7.5 Blackmarks.

 

 

 

In the red zone, been playing for 7 Years and 6 Months one offence and not one in 3 years and 7 months now so.

 

 

 

Also 2 months ago alot of players got unmuted, and some black marks revoked, so my question is why should i pay the price for something meant a joke, be in the red zone jagex wont lower them only people "Near the green zone" and the people who cussed other players out get away with it.

 

 

 

I'm a paying customer too and if its not equal oppertunities then it shows how lousy your customer support is.

 

 

 

They dont even let me message them through the website anymore, its all done via forums only way you can message them is through appeal a ban but i have "legacy punishment" before june 2006 so cant even appeal anymore, i got reported by a player moderator trying to make it a law not a game so obviously the punishment was more severe.

 

I'm in exactly the same position. I got a permanent ban for password scamming after pretending to buy a friend's account for 4gp (I handed over 4gp and said "Pass please", which is what got me banned), some wannabe mod probably reported me. This was before the new appealing system, so I was shown no evidence and had to blindly appeal twice; fortunately I got my ban knocked down to 3 days and the evidence shown to me AFTER I appealed meaning I could no longer appeal. I'm now stuck with 7.5 black marks from a legacy punishment that I'm never going to get anything done about.

 

 

 

It pisses me off to hear Jagex spouting off about how, as I'm in the "red zone", I show disregard for the community and how I don't wish to play without having a negative impact on others. Absolute bull, I'm probably nicer than 95% of people in this game (not to sound arrogant, but jeez, it's not hard :?). Yet those who go around showing "disregard to the community" by saying all sorts of nasty stuff to others usually only get a few black marks, and now those black marks aren't even permanent?

 

 

 

Sorry for the rant, but seriously, Jagex customer support is a joke. They claim they're making changes to help benefit the genuine players of RS, but all they ever seem to do is screw them over.

I really hate Jagex's customer support

 

 

 

While I deserved the perm-ban I got... I don't like it how that's all they see when they look at my status. They don't look at all the bug reports I'd sent in in the past or all the players I had reported or anything. I did more to help the game than to hurt it. I guess it's because most people who abuse bugs will keep abusing them... because of kids like that they can't feel safe unbanning muggi (yet they let me create a new account...)

 

 

 

Also unfair how like I said, it was muggi's first offense and it was a perm-ban w/o any chance of appeals. A friend of mine has at least ten offenses of offensive language, account sharing, and advertising and stuff, been given at least four 2-week bans... yet he's still in the orange zone or w/e cuz they keep giving him slaps on the wrist. I was a much better player than he was yet they keep letting him back into the game and not me :wall:

 

 

 

Oh well

Well, I was a bad boy two years ago for spamming one time but now Jagex put me back into the green zone. :

 

 

 

I find it funny how they say our feedback is important yet they send us automated messages though. But oh well, at least I'm back in the green. :D

I had 0.1 black marks :P so i was in the yellow zone but now i am in the green zone :)

 

 

 

About time they implemented something like this

still red zone ftl. and i did't do it :-#

still red zone ftl. and i did't do it :-#

 

 

 

they all say that :shame:

still red zone ftl. and i did't do it :-#

 

 

 

they all say that :shame:

 

 

 

IM INNOCENT I TELLS YA

I think they should lower your black marks bit by bit, say, 1 black mark a year.

 

 

 

I tried to scam people two years ago, I was some 13 year old f2p nub trying to get full guthix. I still regret that, I got 7 black marks for that.

 

I recently got muted for 14 days because a mod in Lightning had reported me for some stuff I said to him. At first I had no idea why I was muted, but then I looked at the evidence and it turned out I got muted for something that happened about 4 months ago :shame:. That mod just was too serious, everyone could have seen it was a joke.

 

 

 

So, now I'm stuck with 8 black marks, and if I even commit an offence again I'll be really close to a perm ban/mute, even though I've been helpful to almost everyone since I came back.

 

One offence can really mess up your black marks. :?

I've got a legacy punishment. :

 

Before 2006, i think the actual offence was in 2005/04 I would have been either 13 or 12.

 

I don't even get evidence of what I have done wrong, i'm hoping my black marks will slowly degrade.

 

:pray:

Heh, and my nub pure is still perm banned :D. And it was so new I hadn't even talked on it yet.

 

 

 

It was kind of dumb that it got banned for offensive language, since my name didn't contain any swear words in it. It just had too many spaces in it >.>. It would help if Jagex clarified this "rule" in the create account section.

 

 

 

But oh well, none of the accounts that I care about have black marks on them.

Wow, it looks like their customer support is finally approaching 'Subaverage'! Now they just need to give all mods, J and player, senses of humor...

 

 

 

 

 

I got temp banned from the RSOF and a forum strike because... I made a joking statement that had one word starred out. And was in no way offensive to other players. Just bland, mild sarcasm. Boy, it sure is a good thing I don't actually need to USE the RSOF.. :roll:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still not a single bm though... I guess that the report reviewers ( or auto-scan machine, whatever your preference is ) at least understand that chair duping isn't exactly as dangerous or abusive as, say, phat duping... Or POH scamming..

 

 

 

Oh well, I'll just stick to the policy of not talking, trading, or skillassisting anyone I haven't been friends with for years, and not interacting with anyone who IS my friend unless there are no other players on the map. It seems to be working so far... :lol:

 

 

 

But the wording for the 'Red' zone sounds kinda creepy, y'know...