Tip.It Times: 12 July 2009 - Addressing the Anti-Hack Key

[whosyourpk]

About that inflation article

 

It's bad those high lvl's who use money from PvP "trick" contribute nothing, they don't supply market with anything, no logs nor ores. They just buy out stocks of items becouse they can afford that. Inflation is indeed bad, becouse your savings are worth less and less, people who were gathering for a new expensive weapon can't afford it now. It encourages more and more players to join to the 26k/76k abusers. If it stays the way it is to train a skill you will need either to supply yourself or just do "trick" to get money for that. We can also end like like in countries with hyper inflation, full ahrim 120m anyone? Maybe it's overstated, economy will settle at some point, but there will be more and more items which would be unbuyable for just coins, even with enormous number of junk (remember 3rd age before they crashed?). I don't mind converting items droped during PvP into gold, but it shouldn't excess the value of items LOST during death or PvP will change from money transfer between players, which it used to be, to a money creating activity on equal footing with GWD and Tormented demons

[mervinator_9]

Overall the Anti hack article pointed out some blaringly obvious things that jagex seemed to have over looked regarding the fact a physical device for a game of this type is really not a very good idea practically.

 

 

 

However I think that looking at this venture in terms of money spent vs how that money could be spent is impractical. Say JaGex spent the same amount on a new customer service helpline then imo it would benifit the slight few massively and do little for the masses. This option is giving people the choice; JaGex will help make your account more secure but it will cost you or your account will remain the same and it wont cost you.

 

 

 

And please dont just compare JaGex to Blizzard, the author is not at all alone in this every one seems to do it. Yes, they are the household MMO developers and Yes, they are massively successful, but they have more money than a small country ffs. And while people love to commend there customer support Ive heard plenty of WoW account horror stories and I'm pretty sure as I write this something like 5 million of there chinese users cant even get online due to them dropping a bollock [/blizzard rant]

 

 

 

I have got to agree though the idea of the additional bank space for a price sickens me after all the sacrifice against RWT and the fact JaGex said they wouldn't ever do their own version of RWT.

 

IMO, If you want a security key, Fine. But A) I dont see why anyone should be bribed into it. and B) If people aren't willing to do this then thats fine too, just dont go crying to jagex when you are hacked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regarding the Inflation article I actually agree its a good thing. Maybe the fact I made all my money when I first started but chopping wood makes me biased, but Im in favour of anything that raises the price of resources (Even if the money earned isnt worth as much as it would have been).

[Master_Smither]

I liked the article about inflation, even though most of it has been said already.

 

 

 

I would just like to add this thought:

 

 

 

What if it gets fixed? The inflated money is still there. Okay, part of it leaves the game through summoning and construction, but that happens anyway, even without the extra inflated money. Because of this fact, I'm inclined to say that prices will stop rising when its get's fixed, but shouldn't crash. Of course, with panicking and such, we will have a crash, but to me it seems logic that most rises in prices will at least keep up a bit, and will never reach the old level.

 

 

 

thoughts?

 

 

 

The recent price rises where caused by your GP being worth less and the demand for certain items rising. When pvp is taken out of the game they will stop their steady rise and should steadily go back down as more and more are put into the game everyday.

 

 

 

I agree almost completely with the Anti-Hack Key article.

 

 

 

I disagree with the inflation article though. Thousands of players are 26king around the clock. Alone, the yield is not great - only about one million per hour potential per player. But this profit is in pure cash. Combined the threat is huge. If 10000 people got 4 hours worth of potential per day (the core group of players), this pumps 40 billion into the game per day. For reference, that's another 65000 hours of alching (2713 days) that's contributing to inflation daily. Considering alching alone was slowly lowering the value of gold pieces, this is amazingly unwelcome.

 

 

 

The problem with alching is that it inputs huge amounts of cash into the game while the person alching gives previously earned cash for the supplies. However, alching is hindered because you lose a substantial amount of money while alching and it is boring. Getting PvP potential, on the other hand, is painless, afkable, and laughably easy. You can even alch comfortably while earning potential.

 

 

 

And the hourly yield of 26king in pure cash is higher than the hourly yield from alching anything with a value of 1250 coins or less.

 

 

 

I'd like to know where you got the 65000 hours of alching number? Is that for one person? What if the person does magic longs instead of yew longs? Basically explain all your figures to me before I can give a response.

 

 

 

About that inflation article

 

It's bad those high lvl's who use money from PvP "trick" contribute nothing, they don't supply market with anything, no logs nor ores. They just buy out stocks of items becouse they can afford that. Inflation is indeed bad, becouse your savings are worth less and less, people who were gathering for a new expensive weapon can't afford it now. It encourages more and more players to join to the 26k/76k abusers. If it stays the way it is to train a skill you will need either to supply yourself or just do "trick" to get money for that. We can also end like like in countries with hyper inflation, full ahrim 120m anyone? Maybe it's overstated, economy will settle at some point, but there will be more and more items which would be unbuyable for just coins, even with enormous number of junk (remember 3rd age before they crashed?). I don't mind converting items droped during PvP into gold, but it shouldn't excess the value of items LOST during death or PvP will change from money transfer between players, which it used to be, to a money creating activity on equal footing with GWD and Tormented demons

 

 

 

Buying out stocks of items is not realy linked to inflation, that is price manipulation and thats a whole nother issue. As a matter of fact I have noticed less 26kers now, most likely linked to the release of MA. I do feel however that I addressed most of your points in my article.

[Earth_Poet]

The recent price rises where caused by your GP being worth less and the demand for certain items rising.

 

 

 

Demand doesn't increase due to inflation. If you are trying to fit into a supply and demand scheme, then you have it backwards. The supply of gp is increasing dramatically which is decreasing the value of it. If the market was suddenly flooded with yew logs, what would happen to the price? It would go down, making the value less in relation to other commodities. In other words, you would be getting less for your yew logs. Inflation would be just the reverse opposite. If the market is flooded with a greater supply of gp, then the value of gp goes down. You get less for your gp.

 

 

 

There was a joke about Argentina in the 1980s when inflation collapsed their economy. It was, "the good news is everyone is a millionaire; the bad news is a cup of coffee costs a million dollars now." That cup of coffee didn't [bleep]e in price because of demand. It had nothing to do with it. It was because their money became worthless.

 

 

 

You've explained this concept to a point, but I don't understand the link to demand. It's supply of gp, not demand for an item, and not both.

 

 

 

As far as is it all bad, I think slight inflation is inevitable in MMOs, but steep inflation can create a volatile economy. The PvP artifacts are counterproductive to some of the money sinks they had put into the game.

[12pure34]

As for article 1, I completely agree with the original poster. Myself, I haven't been hacked in any way on the internet for the past 8 years of intensive usage. From day 1, I used a combination of passwords, which are combination of numbers and letters. A lot of websites require this type of combination, as it makes passwords generally harder. Why need a device for a game? If you can't keep that secret, how on earth are you protecting your bank records?

 

Also, on the point where he mentioned Jagex wouldn't return money/items? With recent changes, you can't trade of more then 60k per 15 minutes. What can you possible lose when hacked? It takes hours to get through 5m.

 

 

 

I, as an old WoW player, know that customer service at Blizzard makes every other customer service you come across look like rubish. In my opinion, they should take lesson of that. They made an immensly safe game. Their moderators are able to keep track of everything. They can even tell you, to the hour exact, how long an item has been on your account and where it comes from. Crazy customer service I tell you. Almost no automated messages coming from their office, most is personal writing (with automated parts in it). This service made me feel secure. Far more then an USB device can possible offer me. Btw, what if your device gets stolen? Back to square 1?

 

 

 

As for the second article. I do not know where you got your information from, but.. wow.. That is a load of bull- In long term prospect, yes an economy will balance. But in a game that is not even 10 years old, do you really want an unstable economy for over a year? Construction and summoning were money-dumps which caused the exact effect you've explained. This was anticipated and intended by Jagex.

 

Having this PvP system and people abusing 26k-ing at this scale simply is not anticipated. Problem mostly lies in the fact that there is an immense gap between various money-making methods. Gathering earns you no more then 200k. 26k-ing earns you well over 400k upwards to 1m per hour.

 

Due to the large change in demand, but also the large decrease in supply, prices start exploding. Not rising. Not rising very fast. There is to much instability which simply is not anticipated. We called it ''the crisis'' in real life. In Runescape, you can consider this ''a crisis'' to.

 

Also the article states, it will be fixed in the future. However that does not change the current situation. It might when it does get fixed, but for now and till the moment the tide will change, it is out of control. If the community of Runescape and Tip.it did not raise their voices over this alarming method of money-making, nothing would have changed. Do we over-react? No. We are forcing Jagex to take action to fix it as it gets worse by the minute. Is it fixed yet? No. Is it getting worse? Yes

 

 

 

As for this week. Great articles, great discussion.

[Wee Man]

Two excellent articles, but in the anti - hack one I have to disagree with this point.

 

 

 

"Its almost like Jagex is offering one of the most demanded requests in order to sell a product that the majority of people dont need."

 

 

 

The way this is phrased it seems like Jagex are just trying to make some quick money by offering bank space, they've already said that they will most likely lose money because of this. The way I see it, is the that it's just plain old simple marketing. Younger players, in general, are not going to be interested in the security of their accounts, however if free bank space was offered more players will buy it. This to me looks more like Jagex caring about our accounts rather than making a quick profit.

 

 

 

However i do agree with the end of the article;

 

 

 

"If Jagex wanted us to be secure, why not offer us a customer support line to call if we fear we have been hacked, or even do what my work PC forces me to do, and make me create a password that meets certain requirements in length, characters, alpha-numerics, symbol inclusions and more. Thats just basic fundamental workplace security that most workplaces employ."

 

 

 

This would be the much better and much more logical way to go about keeping our account secure.

[Lowgravity]

Great articles this week, very topical :thumbsup: .

[marioj630]

to whoever wrote, this you said you cant use a usb device at work, i guess youc annot read?

 

andrew restated, that is isnt a USB device, its just the size of one

[gaser17]

I completly agree with the secerity key article. I felt it was spot on and to the point. As for the inflation article however, I didn't nearly agree as much. The author is right on track by saying that skillers are earning more, but what about those people that just have cash piles in their bank? The author said that these people would not be majorly affected, but how can you tell me that as I watch the value of my coins sink hundreds of thousands in value daily? The author said that we should invest. Well how are we supposed to invest with prices on the rise? Items are rising so quickly in value that they are very hard to buy on the GE. Also, I'm afraid to buy any items because they may crash soon with jagex promising to nerf the 26k trick. Overall, I feel that the massive inflation is definetly a bad thing. Of course, I mean no offense to the auther, mearly sharing my view on the subject :) .

[Master_Smither]

The recent price rises where caused by your GP being worth less and the demand for certain items rising.

 

 

 

Demand doesn't increase due to inflation. If you are trying to fit into a supply and demand scheme, then you have it backwards. The supply of gp is increasing dramatically which is decreasing the value of it. If the market was suddenly flooded with yew logs, what would happen to the price? It would go down, making the value less in relation to other commodities. In other words, you would be getting less for your yew logs. Inflation would be just the reverse opposite. If the market is flooded with a greater supply of gp, then the value of gp goes down. You get less for your gp.

 

 

 

There was a joke about Argentina in the 1980s when inflation collapsed their economy. It was, "the good news is everyone is a millionaire; the bad news is a cup of coffee costs a million dollars now." That cup of coffee didn't [bleep]e in price because of demand. It had nothing to do with it. It was because their money became worthless.

 

 

 

You've explained this concept to a point, but I don't understand the link to demand. It's supply of gp, not demand for an item, and not both.

 

 

 

As far as is it all bad, I think slight inflation is inevitable in MMOs, but steep inflation can create a volatile economy. The PvP artifacts are counterproductive to some of the money sinks they had put into the game.

 

 

 

It is both though.

 

 

 

I don't see how you think it's not demand. All the people tricking have more money to play with now and if 1000 of those people tricking can now afford a bandos chestplate and they buy it, the demand increases. They wouldn't have had the money that quickly if they hadn't tricked for the GP so there wouldn't have been that demand before.

 

 

 

Gp is being worth less but the people tricking are getting more of it. The ones that are buying items with it and not spending it on skills increase the demand for that certain item. Basically....if more people are buying an item that they couldn't afford before they are increasing demand, I did not find that hard to understand.

 

 

 

[hide=]As for article 1, I completely agree with the original poster. Myself, I haven't been hacked in any way on the internet for the past 8 years of intensive usage. From day 1, I used a combination of passwords, which are combination of numbers and letters. A lot of websites require this type of combination, as it makes passwords generally harder. Why need a device for a game? If you can't keep that secret, how on earth are you protecting your bank records?

 

Also, on the point where he mentioned Jagex wouldn't return money/items? With recent changes, you can't trade of more then 60k per 15 minutes. What can you possible lose when hacked? It takes hours to get through 5m.

 

 

 

I, as an old WoW player, know that customer service at Blizzard makes every other customer service you come across look like rubish. In my opinion, they should take lesson of that. They made an immensly safe game. Their moderators are able to keep track of everything. They can even tell you, to the hour exact, how long an item has been on your account and where it comes from. Crazy customer service I tell you. Almost no automated messages coming from their office, most is personal writing (with automated parts in it). This service made me feel secure. Far more then an USB device can possible offer me. Btw, what if your device gets stolen? Back to square 1?

 

 

 

As for the second article. I do not know where you got your information from, but.. wow.. That is a load of bull- In long term prospect, yes an economy will balance. But in a game that is not even 10 years old, do you really want an unstable economy for over a year? Construction and summoning were money-dumps which caused the exact effect you've explained. This was anticipated and intended by Jagex.

 

Having this PvP system and people abusing 26k-ing at this scale simply is not anticipated. Problem mostly lies in the fact that there is an immense gap between various money-making methods. Gathering earns you no more then 200k. 26k-ing earns you well over 400k upwards to 1m per hour.

 

Due to the large change in demand, but also the large decrease in supply, prices start exploding. Not rising. Not rising very fast. There is to much instability which simply is not anticipated. We called it ''the crisis'' in real life. In Runescape, you can consider this ''a crisis'' to.

 

Also the article states, it will be fixed in the future. However that does not change the current situation. It might when it does get fixed, but for now and till the moment the tide will change, it is out of control. If the community of Runescape and Tip.it did not raise their voices over this alarming method of money-making, nothing would have changed. Do we over-react? No. We are forcing Jagex to take action to fix it as it gets worse by the minute. Is it fixed yet? No. Is it getting worse? Yes

 

 

 

As for this week. Great articles, great discussion.[/hide]

 

 

 

The economy started balancing right off the bat. When big items like the Bandos Chestplate rose so did yew logs. Not to mention items have already started dropping. Furthermore the main reason that most items dropped was because they were taken out of the PvP drop tables and heavily manipulated by price manipulators. For 26king to make upwards of 1m/hr you have to be over 110 combat and you have to have a decent amount of luck. Gathering for money is mainly done by lower levels who can't profit greatly from the 26k trick. This is the reason I wrote this article, to address all the misconception that goes around the recent inflation.

 

 

 

to whoever wrote, this you said you cant use a usb device at work, i guess youc annot read?

 

andrew restated, that is isnt a USB device, its just the size of one

 

 

 

He wrote the article before Andrew's response was posted and I guess he never changed it.

 

 

 

I completly agree with the secerity key article. I felt it was spot on and to the point. As for the inflation article however, I didn't nearly agree as much. The author is right on track by saying that skillers are earning more, but what about those people that just have cash piles in their bank? The author said that these people would not be majorly affected, but how can you tell me that as I watch the value of my coins sink hundreds of thousands in value daily? The author said that we should invest. Well how are we supposed to invest with prices on the rise? Items are rising so quickly in value that they are very hard to buy on the GE. Also, I'm afraid to buy any items because they may crash soon with jagex promising to nerf the 26k trick. Overall, I feel that the massive inflation is definetly a bad thing. Of course, I mean no offense to the auther, mearly sharing my view on the subject :) .

 

 

 

I'm afraid there isn't much you can do besides stare at your pretty cash pile. The reason I addressed that was to point out that these are the only people being hurt and most of the time if someone has over 100M cash they intend to buy some 99's or are saving for something, so it doesn't effect as many people as many think.

[jettrider]

I agree almost completely with the Anti-Hack Key article.

 

 

 

I disagree with the inflation article though. Thousands of players are 26king around the clock. Alone, the yield is not great - only about one million per hour potential per player. But this profit is in pure cash. Combined the threat is huge. If 10000 people got 4 hours worth of potential per day (the core group of players), this pumps 40 billion into the game per day. For reference, that's another 65000 hours of alching (2713 days) that's contributing to inflation daily. Considering alching alone was slowly lowering the value of gold pieces, this is amazingly unwelcome.

 

 

 

The problem with alching is that it inputs huge amounts of cash into the game while the person alching gives previously earned cash for the supplies. However, alching is hindered because you lose a substantial amount of money while alching and it is boring. Getting PvP potential, on the other hand, is painless, afkable, and laughably easy. You can even alch comfortably while earning potential.

 

 

 

And the hourly yield of 26king in pure cash is higher than the hourly yield from alching anything with a value of 1250 coins or less.

 

 

 

I'd like to know where you got the 65000 hours of alching number? Is that for one person? What if the person does magic longs instead of yew longs? Basically explain all your figures to me before I can give a response.

 

 

 

Yeah, I left out some key details there. Oops. The 65000 hours was the approximate result from dividing my 40 billion approximation by 768, the alch price for yew longbows. There's really no way for me to justify using yew longs. Some more expensive and less expensive things are alched. Even setting the average value of alched items at 1200 (steel platebody), you generate more cash from 26king than from alching.

 

 

 

Above steel plates, only a few items can be alched for a reasonable loss. Battlestaves, for one, but those still have a heavy GE limit. Rune meds and chains are commonly alched, but not nearly enough to make a serious dent (they result in heavy losses if you buy to alch, and high-level slayers only occasionally alch their rune item stocks).

 

 

 

No matter what numbers you use, 26king is a serious problem.

[CatherbyCurmudgeon]

to whoever wrote, this you said you cant use a usb device at work, i guess youc annot read?

 

andrew restated, that is isnt a USB device, its just the size of one

 

 

 

 

 

This article was started way before andrew made that post. I did try to update it, but left that line in by oversight. If it's a little device that shows a unique login every 6-8 seconds and does not need to be plugged in to your machine in any way, that's great, but I know lots of people will never be able to type in a new unseen password in 8 seconds.

 

 

 

Imagine having to look at your password everytime you switch a server...That would be a real pain in the [wagon].

[Master_Smither]

I agree almost completely with the Anti-Hack Key article.

 

 

 

I disagree with the inflation article though. Thousands of players are 26king around the clock. Alone, the yield is not great - only about one million per hour potential per player. But this profit is in pure cash. Combined the threat is huge. If 10000 people got 4 hours worth of potential per day (the core group of players), this pumps 40 billion into the game per day. For reference, that's another 65000 hours of alching (2713 days) that's contributing to inflation daily. Considering alching alone was slowly lowering the value of gold pieces, this is amazingly unwelcome.

 

 

 

The problem with alching is that it inputs huge amounts of cash into the game while the person alching gives previously earned cash for the supplies. However, alching is hindered because you lose a substantial amount of money while alching and it is boring. Getting PvP potential, on the other hand, is painless, afkable, and laughably easy. You can even alch comfortably while earning potential.

 

 

 

And the hourly yield of 26king in pure cash is higher than the hourly yield from alching anything with a value of 1250 coins or less.

 

 

 

I'd like to know where you got the 65000 hours of alching number? Is that for one person? What if the person does magic longs instead of yew longs? Basically explain all your figures to me before I can give a response.

 

 

 

Yeah, I left out some key details there. Oops. The 65000 hours was the approximate result from dividing my 40 billion approximation by 768, the alch price for yew longbows. There's really no way for me to justify using yew longs. Some more expensive and less expensive things are alched. Even setting the average value of alched items at 1200 (steel platebody), you generate more cash from 26king than from alching.

 

 

 

Above steel plates, only a few items can be alched for a reasonable loss. Battlestaves, for one, but those still have a heavy GE limit. Rune meds and chains are commonly alched, but not nearly enough to make a serious dent (they result in heavy losses if you buy to alch, and high-level slayers only occasionally alch their rune item stocks).

 

 

 

No matter what numbers you use, 26king is a serious problem.

 

 

 

It may amount to 65000 hours of alching but a large amount of people alch daily. But yes I agree with your last statement but the problem has been blown out of proportion.

 

 

 

to whoever wrote, this you said you cant use a usb device at work, i guess youc annot read?

 

andrew restated, that is isnt a USB device, its just the size of one

 

 

 

 

 

This article was started way before andrew made that post. I did try to update it, but left that line in by oversight. If it's a little device that shows a unique login every 6-8 seconds and does not need to be plugged in to your machine in any way, that's great, but I know lots of people will never be able to type in a new unseen password in 8 seconds.

 

 

 

Imagine having to look at your password everytime you switch a server...That would be a real pain in the [wagon].

 

 

 

It shows a new code every minute not 6-8 seconds ;). But yes it would be a major pain in the rear :|

[Michaael]

to whoever wrote, this you said you cant use a usb device at work, i guess youc annot read?

 

andrew restated, that is isnt a USB device, its just the size of one

 

 

 

 

 

This article was started way before andrew made that post. I did try to update it, but left that line in by oversight. If it's a little device that shows a unique login every 6-8 seconds and does not need to be plugged in to your machine in any way, that's great, but I know lots of people will never be able to type in a new unseen password in 8 seconds.

 

 

 

Imagine having to look at your password everytime you switch a server...That would be a real pain in the [wagon].

 

 

 

Isn't there ~30 seconds of wait time in between server switches? That's more than enough time to type in your password/8 digit code IMO.

[CatherbyCurmudgeon]

Homepage still says.

 

 

 

The key will reveal a six to eight-digit code that changes every few seconds

[Master_Smither]

Homepage still says.

 

 

 

The key will reveal a six to eight-digit code that changes every few seconds

 

 

 

Andrew responded a few times on his post here is one:

 

 

 

one other things I want to mentioned, which was also accidentally missed out of the poll.

 

 

 

This isn't actually a USB device, it is just USB sized. It WILL work with Linux and Mac. It is a little device with a small LCD screen (like a calculator has) which displays a 6 digit number which changes every minute. If you buy the key, then then you have to type that number in (As well as your password) to login. Because the number continually changes, and because each number can only be used once it defeats keyloggers and other password stealer.

 

 

 

The key doesn't actually plugin to your computer, so it works with all operating systems, and can't be read by a virus because it isn't connected to your machine.

 

 

 

The homepage is wrong :P

[Dragons_Might]

I do hope it was said, that the writer of the anti-hack device had some flawed info.

 

 

 

He states that 1) USB devices are grounds for getting fired at his work (I believe along that), and 2) Talks about computers without USB drives.

 

 

 

The thing is, Andrew conrfirmed they only said "Like a USB dongle" as a comparison. It's just what it looks like, and he said does not plug into a computer at all. So in situation 1, its as simple as keeping it hidden (Pocket, or more extremely, shoe or something), and in situation 2, it's obvious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nonetheless, it takes alot for me to read an article, and read it fully, so it was good.

 

 

 

 

 

Gotta read Master Smither's now.

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Ninja'd by one minute :o

[Michaael]

So for resource collectors like rune miners, the only downside is the initial login, correct? If you have to wait 30 seconds to hop worlds after logging out, that's plenty of time to enter the key.

 

 

 

Sounds like win to me :thumbup:

[mikeg0477]

Good reads this week. !st article was spot on....until I learned it's not a USB thingy, then the "key" seems easier. But, I agree the extra bank space thing is bad. What's next? "Buy the new RS pencil case and get a new summoning monster!"?

 

2nd article was a good read, don't get me wrong, but I don't see how inflation is ok now because it will be fixed later.

[marioj630]

he said on the forums 1 minute

[abbydog95]

I loved the anti hack article, its so true, people will only buy the damn thing for the bank space...seems kinda crappy on Jagex's part...

[peterbluer]

I think Jagex simply wants to intice a bunch of people to buy this thing by offering the extra bank space. If they buy this then they would not have to rely on Jagex's Customer Service, allowing them to cut their Customer Service. So, really that might balance it out for them. As they said, this would be a more long term investment.

[fenrir321]

The bribe was obvious though I viewed it more as a "thank you" sort of thing instead of "I scratch your back twice you scratch mine once". This is probably because I played some private servers where you received "gifts" of in game services for "donations" to the severs, so I'm used to it. It does seem slightly odd that the Jagex who was adamant about not letting the outside world influence one's status in game for advantages, Mark G. did bring new perspective this year. Perhaps this new outlook is one of them.

 

 

 

For response to the second article, Inflation's detriment only affects prices that are static. For example, a communist economy with higher inflation rates will suffer until a certain breaking point where buyers will not be willing to spend as much. The game of inflation is all about currency ratios to the commodities. If the average American makes $X and buys the popular item for $Y in year 1 and earns $2X and buys the item for $2Y in year 10 because of inflation, then the ratio is the same and there is absolutely no effect on the economy. However, if the Average American earned only $X of dollars in year 10, the ratio between the X and Y would be different and therefore limit the amount of commodities the person can buy. That is where it hurts the economy.

 

A perfect Runescape example was pre-dec 07 updates. You could buy nats, yew logs, and bowstrings for X gp, alch for 738 gp and STILL make a profit without doing much of anything. Today, you cannot do that. The same effect would have occurred Jagex had kept the nats, logs, and bs at a static price at the time but adjusted the high alch price to the correct proportion (though that's much harder). What you would have is deflation. As the static prices travel farther and farther away from the current market prices, the buyer will be looking for least amount of money lost. At point Z the buyer will not be willing to lose Z amount of gp and will stop buying the commodity. At that point, the steady balance would either keep the price at a thin margin or the value would crash only to zoom back up again.

 

 

 

However, keep in mind of the "balance" and "zooming back up again". There is no "broken market" (except for a stagnant one with a growing population). Even now in the recession, if GM or any of the auto companies were to go out of business right now, people would begin to have a demand for either new or used cars. In doing so, there would be a person willing to fulfill that demand at a high price. Then another person would be willing to do so at a lower price, introducing competition. essentially, we'd be right where we were in the turn of the century over a hundred years ago.

 

 

 

[hide=Things that the government doesn't want you to know]Of course, nothing in the economy is predictable to even half certainty. There are just too many variables to plot it on a single graph. If I appear to be saying things that seem "smart" or "complex", don't be fooled. It's extremely shallow. Everything that I have said about the economy above can be summarized in one sentence:

 

The economy behaves like waves; you buy when low and sell when high.

 

If anybody thinks they can predict the economy beyond any bread and butter principles e.g. a line goes in two directions indefinitely, they are fooling themselves; there are dozens different variables affecting the economy, some which are almost invisible. Butterfly Effect and Chaos Theory. It's wikipedia, but it serves its purpose well.[/hide]

[Sojin]

Its not a USB device that you plug into your computer from what I am reading on the main page. It would look like a usb device but only display a random password that you type in. Although I could be wrong. I don't know the 'techie' so if am wrong please correct me!

 

 

 

I like the idea that you could purchase something physical at a rather cheap price that would keep your account safe. What I don't like is the inconvenience of it like the author said, having to pull it out of your pocket every time you want to log in. I would much rather have this as a safe guard if your account was, say, hacked or stolen. You could go grab your key ring from where ever you may be keeping it, and type in a code that this thing would provide thru some medium or another. It would prove that the account is in fact yours; jagex customer service could then take the necessary steps to recovering your account and putting it back into your hands.

 

 

 

I don't like the fact that this device would be required to play runescape. It should only be used to keep your account safe.

[Phox1515]

hold the phone! each password can only be used one and its 6 numerical digits... that means a max of 1,000,000 passwords...

 

 

 

what if your one of those serious world hoppers who log in and out 200 times in 1 day... thats only 5000 passwords max... and they change every min so really the amt of login dont matter... lemme re think that... ok thats only 1.9025875190258751902587519025875 years worth of passwords... 1 year 329 days...330 if you figure the extra hours into a full day... so what happens after that? do they have to reset everybodies system?

 

 

 

they (jagex) did say they still got some figuribng out to do

 

 

 

i think 1 min is too often... maybe every 5 min? even 2 min would double the amt of times the thing would last before reset being needed