Community Management Q&A sessions

Hi all,

 

As advised in a recent News Post, starting from this Thursday, we will be having regular weekly Community Management Live Q&As from 8pm (forum time) onwards.

 

The sessions and dates will be:

 

CM General - 22/10/09

Clans - 29/10/09

Mod Recruitment - 5/11/09

Events - 12/11/09

Fan-sites - 19/11/09

Emergent Game-play - 26/11/09

Competitions - 3/12/09

Suggestions - 10/12/09

CM General - 17/12/09

 

We will be creating individual threads here in Jagex Lite, that you will be able to post all your questions on, and a second thread where we will, time permitting, do our best to answer them.

 

It goes without saying to make sure your questions are relevant to the particular areas or you may find that we won't be able to answer them.

 

So...be cool to see you this Thursday if you have any general community management questions! :smile:

So while the other branches of the Runescape team are taking their sweet time about the Q&As, Community Management is doing a new live one every week, I guess because it's their job to do this kind of stuff. Here's the answers, highlighted/copied/pasted directly from the threads.

The most interesting part IMO is the confirmation of a clan chat update that's been in the works for a very long time, but we also see Jagex's stance on 76king, among other things.

[hide=CM General, Quick find code: 133-134-448-59772030] Mod Paul M

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 19:57:48

Last edited on 22-Oct-2009 20:01:38 by Mod Paul M

Hi guys,

This is the thread I'll be answering your Community Management questions on.

I'd write a long and exciting post here about answers but we've three minutes till we get going so I better go make you a question thread!

Taraa!

Paul M

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 20:07:21

Arkaeceus asks:

Who manages the CM communtiy?

=============================================

Well we are one of the larger teams in Player Support - with 20 people in the team!

Of course it takes quite a bit of managing to make sure that we have the right number of people around 24 hours a day to support the community.

Mod Kelvin is the overall lead for Community Management - which basically means he gets his own special desk and expensive coffee!

The day to day running of the team is managed by Mod Paul M - who is also answering questions in this thread as well as me - so he's the person I have to keep on the right side of!

Steve

Mod Paul M

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 20:09:28

BaseArcher1 Do you plan on increasing CM activity in the Distraction and Diversion area of RS?

Hi there!

Were looking to reach out to as many communities around RuneScape as possible so yes, wed love to help the Distraction and Diversion area of RS. We can come along and help you guys hunt penguins for sure but if there are other ways youd like to see us support the killing of penguins, Im all ears!

Flashaway 1. Players gltich skill capes and try and untrim them. You spend a bit of your time trying to stop them. If people are doing htis why dont you realse the ability so players can remove there trim.

Good question. I think its maybe one for the content guys but hey, a part of what were about is passing on feedback like that so Ill make a note and try to get you an answer over the next couple of days.

2. Why did you say about speeding thingslike right lciking a d ring this is good but why make things slower by moving the bank menu thurther away from the inventory this is defeting the object in speeding clicks and movement.

Again, this is a content type question but its helpful feedback so onto the list it goes!

Arkaeceus my question: Who manages the CM communtiy?

Well, the uber master of Jagex Community Management is Mod Kelvin. So, he co-ordinates the various CM teams we have (those being our language support CM teams, our FunOrb CM team and our RuneScape CM team).

Im in charge of the RuneScape CM team. Woot!

(hey steve, if a question's worth answering once, it's worth answering twice! )

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 20:09:38

Funnel Cl0ud asks about the 76k trick.

==========================================

This isn't against the rules - so nobody will find their account in trouble purely for doing this. However, it can lead to other forms of rule breaking such as spam advertising for a partner or AFK.

However, it isn't in the 'spirit of the game' to do the 76k trick - in other words it is not an intentional part of the way the game is designed to be played. However, just because people are not using the game mechanics as we intended, that doesn't make it against the rules.

I should say that we are aware of the issue and the perception amongst players that the trick is unfair and pumps too much money into the economy. I won't come right out and say we are going to fix it - but it is 'on the radar' and we are 'carefully considering' if we need to implement a change to the way that particular mechanic works.

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 20:23:33

103discs asks:

As you know you removed the messaging you system a long time ago.

I believe I've seen it posted that once you've worked out a better way to work that system (meaning how to cut down on the false/unneeded messages) it'd come back.

I'm just wondering if this is still something you're looking at?

(Seeing that message might be a figment of my imagination, so if it was never said then I'm a fool and you can move on haha )

===================================================

You didn't dream this - we have talked about it before - specifically in the player Support Q & A session.

We do realise that a lot of people would love to have a messaging system so they can contact us directly. Unfortunately, when we had this system in place it wasn't used very effectively. What we found was that a small percentage of players used it to send us a large percentage of messages.

To make things even worse, the vast majority of the questions sent to us could be answered with a fairly simple search of the information we already provide on the site.

So all in all, the system didn't work.

We are now looking at ways to possibly introduce a message system again, but it's important to us that it is a useful tool for players - and not just an extension of a 'search' facility for our site.

We are currently looking at how best we can bring in a system - which will allow general queries to get through and be answered efficiently - but at the same time not open up the 'flood gates' to thousands of messages all asking repetitive, simple questions.

So, we have some work to do, watch this space!

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 20:25:07

Guitar Exprt asks:

Are you guys aware of the hangman censor glitch that has been around for THREE LONG YEARS?? See, I am a house party host! I can't stand that glitch because people keep abusing it!

==============================================

As we are in Community Management we don't get involved in day to day bug issues - but we do want the game to be as enjoyable as possible.

I think what you are referring to is not a 'bug' but more of an exploit of the censor - either way I'll drop a line to the bug tracking team just to be sure they know about it.

If you want to provide more detail - feel free to pop us a bug report (if you haven't done already).

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Paul M

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 20:29:19

reichwulf 1)One and the most important is, What Is Being done or will be done to save the runescape economy?

Well, we all play a lot of RS ourselves so we all want it to work as well as possible. Thankfully we have the RS economy constantly monitored by a dedicate team in ICU. On top of that, the developer types also monitor the economy and take it into strong consideration when adding a new item into it. I know that merch clans have been brought up a lot lately and as Andrew said in his recent Q&A, its something that hes working on to find the best solution for all.

I think Steve just answered the 76k question.

3)My third, If the economy is to be fixed, As well as my previous Question, what measures are to be taken to ensure that it will not be abused

once more?

To be honest mate, youre asking the wrong person here but as I mention above, well continue to monitor the economy and make changes when appropriate. One thing we do have to be careful of is not to have a knee jerk reaction by sticking prices as soon as they move.

A Wise Tiger What's your main job with Community Management?

Blimey, that could take me ages to answer but I pretty much look after the team of J-mods who in turn look after:

- Forums

- Clans

- Moderators

- Fansites

- Event support

- Competitions

- Creative gameplay

I then also work with Kelvin to look after the future CM strategy, new projects and ideas, a load of the duller manager type stuff and I also make a pretty mean cup of coffee.

reichwulf 1) What new horizons hold new for the forums?

There are forum upgrade plans afoot but like with any update, Id find myself swimming in the Jagex moat if I shared those plans with you. Im rubbish at swimming so if you dont mind, well leave it at that for now. ; )

2)This next question is dealing with an issue i had before, I wished to create a Player Q&A for Players and did so

and had big hopes for it so instead of making many small threads helping users people could refer to this but

it was locked with the statement that if you wish to help users just help in other threads, i feel something like this can help

everyone, your comment on that?

Its the first Ive heard of it but it sounds to me like you had a great idea there. Well be in touch to find out more.

3)Ive been looking into reading Betrayal at Falador and planning to read it, then wish to give feedback in the future on it.

will you soon have a forum for jagex store feed back for items? i personally think it would be a terrific idea?

We actually have a store feedback forum already. If you check out the feedback section of the forums youll see one there called Jagex Store Feedback. ; )

4)what are some newer broader methods you for see jagex doing to reach out to the community in the following areas

-the community

-players

-new users

-advertisements

OK, well the community is a very broad area but very briefly: we want to help players play the game they want. We know there are loads of communities out there such as the distractions and diversions community mentioned above. We want to identify those communities and then look at how we can best help them grow. As for players well its much the same but more individual I guess so on that front I want to make sure that every voice counts. Feedback is always helpful and so yep, we want to make sure its heard.

For new users I think a lot of work has already been done there with the new tutorial but of course, theres always more to be done. Helping players when they first join the game is key and thankfully, weve loads of moderators that love doing just that. We also want to put more J-mods into game to assist our newest players and so we want to improve our systems to make that easier as at the end of the day, there are only so many hours in the day and so many people here available. Steve mentions above about tickets. Well thats a good example. We want to bring them back but we want to do it right so that we dont get J-mods answering questions that could be answered elsewhere. If we get that right we can use that time saved to help new players. I guess educating players to not report each other everytime someone says noob would also save us some time too!

As for advertisements, I think thats a question for our advertising team. Funnily enough.

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 20:29:58

War_Greym0n (or should that be jardeath - lol) asks:

If someone posts in the "Are you community focused" thread, nominating another player, then the other player changes their name, does this make any effect, or can you still track down the correct player?

============================================

Don't worry - we can see all the account names - even if they have been changed!

We need to have tools like this as we check all the accounts linked to each application - not just the account that expresses an interest in becoming a Mod.

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 20:38:38

Er Matt asks:

Hey Mod Paul and Steve,

When recruiting Moderators do you still consider players using your previous guidelines; quality reports, helpful and a secure account. I know these points are also very important in your current recruiting guidelines, but I would just like to know if you still recruit using the "Traditional" way.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

==============================================

We still look at those things - after all we don't want to make persistent rule breakers Mods and we certainly don't want people with weak account security to have additional 'powers' - as it is highly likely that their account could be used to cause damage in the community by a rogue/shared user.

When we look at reports a player has made - we focus entirely on the quality of them - is the intent good? Has a rule been broken? Would this incident have been better dealt with by just adding the problem player to the ignore list - that sort of thing.

We are a bit more lenient about things now though - so in the past we might have instantly dismissed the idea of making someone a Mod because on one of their accounts they broke some minor rule. Today we would look at that situation and say - well that isn't ideal but it was quite a while ago - apart from that incident - what are they like?

Once we are through those 'hurdles' we can look at community involvement - and this is where we make a lot of 'yes' and 'no' decisions.

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 20:41:40

R2_Eminem asks:

Y are the cw rewards so bad

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That isn't really a question for Community Management - you might have more luck getting an answer from the content team when they next do a Q & A session.

If you do get to ask them though try to be specific - 'bad' is different for everyone - try to balance the effort needed against the reward - and compare it with other in-game activities, that way you can make a valued point.

Cheers,

Steve

Northwezzie asks:

hey paul and steve!

this thread is a great idea -

steve i'm not sure you remember me at all - but i was wondering if you personally will be running any more jmod surgeys? having looked at the timetable i cant see you on there!

i attended the first surge* you held and it was great.

many thanks,

-northwezzie-

===================================

Glad to hear you liked my surgery - as I recall I was quite nervous before it but you guys were all nice to me!!

These days, I'm more involved in running round trying to find J Mods to do them and then setting it all up rather than actually taking the sessions!

I will do one soon though - they are great fun!

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Paul M

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 20:45:57

Ergo Phobia Q- Any chance of starting a Message-Centre Newspapers? The newspaper would include events, updates, interviews, tips etc.

Hello! Well a message centre newspaper might be considered spam but some players so we dont want do it like that. However, we created a thread not so long ago about making a newsletter that would written by the community and community management. Between us, wed get a good cross section of opinion, experience and news. Mat K is looking after that and we hope to have our first issue out by the end of the year.

Q- Can you make the Forums it's own link so more players say "Oh look! We have Forums!" rather than having to scroll down the Community tab.

Wed love to pimp areas of the site like the forums as I really think its the hub of the community and is such a great melting pot of ideas. Im sure that others find other areas theyd love to have pushed too though so its finding that balance. Im all for getting more people into the forums though so nice idea, Ill brew up a particularly strong cup of coffee, stroke my chin a bit and see what we can come up with.

madara_lord how are ya going to fix the economy?because its not very good atm inflations taking over and such things much to do with the merchanters!

Ive already answered that one to an extent *looks up* but like I say, thats not something that Community Management control. We can however pass on feedback and make note of the issues that you guys face. I do know that the economy is constantly monitored though and improvements are made all the time. Sometimes theyre subtle and arent really noticed but theyre there all the same. ; )

Ive just to Aiko on your behalf btw.

Deidara soul hey my question is, who chooses mods and how do you keep track of how active everyone is?

In community management we have a recruitment team who spend their whole time searching for possible P-mods and F-mods. Currently Mod Mat K is in charge of that but Mod Calm will be taking over very soon so that Mat can get to work on the newsletter i mentioned above. How do we check it theyre still active? Well every so often we have a look through to check and make sure everyones fine and that their accounts are secure.

Tweezer33 How are you today? What've you been up to today?

Im actually very well thank you I was just saying to Mod AJD how much I enjoy these Q&A sessions. Today I had a pretty varied day. I answered stacks of emails when I arrived, had several meetings about things like our CM Halloween event, the postbag and competitions.

I also had a team meeting in which the CM team got together to share what were up to and gave a presentation to a group of possible new J-mods who we were testing to see if they have what it takes!

Se_aNm Is there going to be an update in the future to view how many hours you've played? If so, how long would we have to wait?

Also, is there going to be more updates due to the forums? Eg. The ability to have bold/italic/underline text, colouring, etc? :x

Sorry mate, I cant answer update questions. However if you can guess how many fingers Im holding up, Ill tell you.

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 20:51:00

Last edited on 22-Oct-2009 20:51:28 by Mod Stevew

WagDug asks:

It's obvious now that you can not please everyone with every update you bring out, so do you accept the fact that forum posters just represent a small part of Runescape?

================================================

I wouldn't call forum posters a small part of RuneScape - it's the official games forums and the best way to let us know what you think about things.

However, it is true that when people are happy they tend to stay quiet - and when they don't like something they post about it - so you can get a bot of a one sided tainted view of things if you fully absorb the forum posts on update days!

It's still important for us to know about the issues you want to raise though - and with you guys making around 406,000 forum posts every week - you certainly give us plenty to read and think about!

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:02:08

Dream l0rd asks:

Hey i would like to ask a simple question. A lot of attention has been put into the events,creative gameplay, and clans community now and my question is, have any other communities in the game become neglected because of this?

=======================================

Well that certainly isn't our intention and we are not aware of it. What we are trying to do is build communities by supporting them where we can - we don't have a list of 'help these guys' - 'don't help these guys' !!

Thats not to say that we couldn't do more - there are new communities growing almost daily - we need to be 'on the ball' - notice the new trends and then dive in and help where we can.

If you are part of a community and you feel you could do with more Jagex support then just shout! Let us know in Jagex Lite and we will give it some thought!

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:07:48

Ergo Phobia asks:

Just saw an answer I found interesting...

"We need to have tools like this as we check ALL THE ACCOUNTS linked to each application - not just the account that expresses an interest in becoming a Mod."

What does this mean? Do you mean that you check every account linked to our IP's? If so that means you can see all offenses for each account. Even if they were a "one day use" account with offenses?

=======================================

Yep - we have to check all accounts to build up an accurate picture of what the person is like and how they are likely to behave in the community.

It also stops people 'building' Mod accounts - by having one 'clean well behaved' account whilst they also have a number of rule breaking and insecure accounts!

We have systems that are a bit more accurate than just linking IP's though - after all, we don't want to be looking at a relatives account that might also use your IP and base our judgment on you as a result of THEIR account activity.

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Paul M

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:09:58

Last edited on 22-Oct-2009 21:10:15 by Mod Paul M

BaseArcher1 Perhaps just occasionally dropping by to mine stars with a star clan for a while, or spending a few minutes hunting down some penguins. Another thing would be perhaps when players hold D&D events (there is a halloween event that will be happening soon). Maybe even some sort of competition to see who can locate the most evil trees over a set perioid of time. Just some ideas, and I realise they may not be practical, but I appreciate that you're willing to reach out to all areas!

Thanks for coming back to me on that. First off, yes, it would be a pleasure to meet up with you guys and hunt for penguins. Each week, Mod Howes and Mod Lorenzo scour fansites, the Events forum and the Creative Gameplay forum and select events each week that we can send J-mods to. So, the best way to get us along is to create an event in the Events forum so we know youre getting together. Then all being well, well come down a share fish puns and penguin killing stories with you. Basically, let us know and invite us!

Ryanmc1000 whats your thought about events with jmods.Will JaGeX be doing events ingame with players.I understand that you are busy but mabey doing events with players. Just your thoughts.

Hi Ryan, as I say above, we love attending your events and do so every weekend. If you want us to attend your event, get into the events forum/creative gameplay forum and let us know about it. Then Mod Howes and Mod Lorenzo can factor into our weekend party plans. Of course we cant attend every event but we really notice those that create events regularly and aim to support when we can. Its also a place where we look out for potential moderators as those that create events for their fellow players often turn out to be real community champions. *waves flag*.

Frozen Cause Why don't Jagex Moderators more actively pass on feedback, and give players replies from the people they pass them on to?

Example : Somebody makes a certain suggestion, and a J-Mod passes it on. The person they pass it on to says it's not possible, yet that J Mod never bothers posting and saying "Sorry, this isn't possible" or something along those lines.

Basically, we need more communication. We need debates with players vs Jagex on certain issues, and I'll be biased here and bring up one that I'm focusing on, such as the holding position of Scimitars.

Hi there! We do pass on a huge amount of your feedback and your suggestions. Mod Crow is our man charged with ensuring that suggestions are catalogued and sent to the relevant departments. It can be hard to give you that feedback though as if its something were working on, we cant tell you. So by that, we know that if we only tell you the stuff were not considering, it wont take much to suss out what were planning. Does that makes sense?

Also, historically, if ever we told players that we like a suggestion, that sometimes created the expectation that it was definitely going to happen. We dont want to let people down though so we tend to keep quiet on that.

Having said all that, I can see how thats frustrating though so perhaps its something we should look at. Hmmmm, just off the top of my head, how about we list suggestions on a regular basis that we love? We wouldnt be able to give any indication that it might make it into game but at least youd know what ticks our boxes.

Debates are a good idea in many ways but difficult to run properly or fairly. So many players have an opinion that we cant change content based on 100 players present at a debate. Besides, those 100 players present would find it really hard to all make themselves heard. Maybe though, we could have more content polls? What do you think?

Tweezer33 Hows the plans for the Player Newsletter coming along?

As I mention above, Mat K will be giving it a lot of attention very soon as the thread we created brought up a load of great ideas. All being well, we want to have the first edition up by the end of the year. Youll know in plenty of time about that though as you guys will be helping us write it!

Deidara soul who is currently in the Mod searcher crew =]

Ummm, I dont know what youre talking about. Sorry, I clearly fail.

Mcpudsey Lately i had to leave members and i feel that there is a lack of community things to do in the free game.

Does Jagex have anything planned to help the community in the free game?

We do hold events in the free game and plan to hold many more. We can always do more though so if youve some ideas, wed love to hear them. If youd like to help organise some events with us, again, wed love to hear from you. Let me know and perhaps we can get in touch to chat a bit?

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:12:14

Lovely Aldre asks:

With the economy of Runescape today, we can all agree that prices of everything are rising. So what are your plans on fixing the high prices of the grand exchange? Will prices of the items be capped?

This mostly affects the skillers of Runescape who are trying to grow their lvls and find the supplies needed to work on the skill bought out of the grand exchange or are so high in price, you get scared to even work on that skill.

=================================================

This isn't really something that CM can answer - but I can say that the prices in the GE are driven by supply and demand created by players.

We also look at the economy as a whole, and if things get to the point that the game is under valued then I'm sure we would introduce an update to address the issue.

Decisions like this would be taken by senior content people though, why not grab one of them when they next run a Q & A ?

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:16:37

Last edited on 22-Oct-2009 21:16:44 by Mod Stevew

Dream l0rd asks:

hey one more question lol- a lot of people had made many posts at the "Are you community focused" thread trying to get more attention and also to get their account reviewed more times, what are you gonna do about it?

=============================================

We know when an account has already been looked at - posting multiple times won't increase the chances of it being reviewed.

We don't have any plans to do anything about multiple posting - it's just a minor inconvenience and it only takes us a second or two to spot it and move on to the next post.

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:18:06

Fear Sets In asks:

Are you willing to make it so that scimitars are held slightly up like bows, instead of being perpendicular to the ground?

===============================================

Any changes to things like that would be done by the content team - I'll add the suggestion to our feedback to them though.

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Paul M

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:23:11

Arkaeceus Many JMods have normal playing accounts. Out of the CM team: who has the best? and who has the worst?

We all do of course and in CM we have a leader board permanently on display. Currently, sitting in top place is Mod Calm (#3 in all of Jagex may I add!) and bringing up the rear we have Mod MarkG but then again, hes more of a funOrb man.

Wob45 - 1) When you kick someone by accident or something like that it would be nice to be able to like un-kick that person or like when you kick someone it kicks them immediately but you choose for how long they can't come back in like 10 minutes, 30, 45 or an hour. Do you think you could do something like that?

Technically we could do something like that but it would take some work to do and if Im totally honest, Im not entirely sure how that would be helpful. However, Mod Timbo will be running a Clan based Q&A soon so perhaps you could run your idea by him? Is that cool?

2) Capes for clans.

There could be a new NPC that introduces the capes and the leader of the clan can make their own personal symbol for their clan and there can also be a bunch of default ones ex. A skull. And the owner can edit his cape whenever he chooses.

Once the owner made their clan cape the members and ranks can go to that NPC and type in the clan they are involved in and get the cape such as when you enter a friends house or the owner could hand them out to his members.

When a member of that clan wore their cape it would show the symbol of the clan and if they had a rank it could show under it. And maybe the ranks could have their capes trimmed or something like that also to show the difference between them and normal members as well as their rank below the symbol.

Do you think you could make any of these ideas work?

All nice ideas but a lot of work to get done. Still, we love ideas like those so bring em on! I do think this is a good question for Timbo though so lets see what his take is when its his Q&A.

Hi reichwulf , thanks mate, well check it out.

Mcpudsey Can we free players have avatars soon! pretty please with lots of chocolate!

I feel not part of the community i feel more like a convict with this face.

I like to think it adds an air of mystery! Seriously though, I dont know the plans for avatars so cant comment on that Im afraid. For now, Ill just assume your avatar is incredibly dashing .... or is a one eyed Scottish yellow bear.

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:28:45

Jikkir Jay asks:

Could it be possible for the bump limit to be taken away, lowered to around 5 minutes or taken away for all players, then added back on to players who abuse this?"

==================================================

This is something we have thought about for some time - the problem here is that the forums are a victim of their own success! By being so busy we force people to post 'bump' - which in turn makes the forum really busy and the competition for first page threads even greater. This is one of the reasons that we take no notice of post counts when we look for F Mods - anyone can post 'bump' a zillion times!

We have done some things to help the congestion - you may recall I introduced a number of new skills forums (Production Skills etc.) to split down skills posts - and those new forums certainly mean that threads stay visible for much longer than they did in the old forum.

I think the real answer is to increase the page limit higher than 50 pages, which would greatly reduce the need for bump posts - or have more thread slots on page 1.

Either way, I think we need to do something - and it may well come in the big forum update (although that is still quite a long way off).

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:31:15

Last edited on 22-Oct-2009 21:31:41 by Mod Stevew

Minish Sage asks:

Is Mod Maylea doing the Christmas even again this year? I really liked what she did last year.

===========================================

I'm not sure who is writing the event this year - although I do agree that last year event was really cool (no pun intended).

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:37:04

Last edited on 22-Oct-2009 21:38:45 by Mod Stevew

Se_aNm asks:

Would a denied offence affect being chosen to be a Mod? (Or would it have to have been expired before I even get considered?)

==============================================

If you mean someone has had an offence appeal denied - then 'yes' that would impact on things - because when an appeal is denied by us it means we have looked into it and we can't find a reason to remove the offence.

It doesn't mean an immediate 'no' though - more a case of the reviewing J Mod thinking to themselves 'hello - whats this all about - is this something really nasty which we wouldn't want a Mod to be associated with or just a little slip up'.

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:43:23

Karnage 3 asks:

It seems that in many clan chats there is a persistent problem with spammers, especially the type that come and go quickly. I frequently have to deal with these not-so-kind folks and after many reports it seems the person just makes another account and continues. I tend to use the ignore list for them, but it is still disruptive for the other people in the clan chat. How does Jagex deal with throw away accounts that are only used for spamming? Is any action taken on the players main account?

====================================================

First off, Kudos to you! Ignore list is always the best way to deal with these sort of minor inconveniences.

If people persistently spam they will get offences on the account - and as those build up so the offence pillars will rise. Of course the main thing that spammers hate is to be ignored - so that is exactly what you should do - it drives them nuts!

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Paul M

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:47:57

Sam Parki 1. Do you realise theres been no story contests since early this year, since craddock went away?

Hi Sam. Story competitions were something that Mod Craddock loved to do and when he went to work with funOrb, Im totally aware that they stopped. Thing is, we want them back too and are looking to factor in creative writing into our upcoming competition plan. So thatll include story competitions but also some other creative writing stuff like continuing a story (we write chapter one and see who writes the best chapter two), limerick, play writing and a load of other stuff too!

2. Will there be a forum update any time soon? the answer we usually get is hopefully and "eventually" but years ago they said eventaully and there's still still development, minus the avatars.

Lol! Hopefully well eventually see a forum update.

3. The rants forum is hideous, I know its an opinion but a majority of your mods agree too and it's a spam base, most threads there are pointless, theres many trollers and mods spend many hours locking the spam. Game feedback was introduced with thye "merging the opposites idea" it worked well but Rants is back, one of the reasons rants and compliments got removed because it was spammy, right?

If we had all gamefeedback in one heavily moderated forum, wed not be spending our time as well as we could be as wed spend all day locking and hiding etc. So, although we do spend time checking out rants we also know its not always the most constructive form of feedback and that its often a place players like to simply let off steam.

4. Theres many Fmods with under 1k posts, I know quality matters but some of the quality of the posts they had weren't great either.

I guess quality can be subjective to a degree but if Im honest, I can tell from far fewer than a 1000 posts whether a player is likely to make a great F-mod or not. Therefore just as we dont have a minimum level for Player Mods, we dont have a minimum post count for F-mods.

5. Will there be more Jmod coverage on the forums, especially in areas like suggestions, where Jagex opnions aren't often posted. I know theres A LOT of icnrease coverage compared to 2 years ago where you had to wait over 12 hours for forum reports to be read (literally) and it was virtually impossible for a Jmod to post on your thread to say whether an idea was feesable or not.

RuneScape forums are among the busiest in the world and so however much we post, itll never be enough to keep us satisfied. How we spread the time we have around the forums is a tough one sometimes and so Im glad to see you recognise that were putting more time into suggestions that perhaps we have done in the past. Still, like I say, more would always be great and if we can, we sure will.

In the meantime, as I mention above, Mod Crow is our main man who combs the forums every day to make sure that everyones voice is heard.

6. I know events are advertised on Feacebook, but not everyone has it (i do but many don't) so could you post them up on the main site itself, possibly?

Events are advertised on the events forum itself and are twittered too so you dont need to be a facebook fan to know whats going on. Well also be adding upcoming events to the forum newsletter once we get it going so that should help too. (BTW, our facebook page is public so you dont need an account to view it).

7. I know mods have procedures but they don't seem very strict, each mod seems to be more leanient or strict thwn others. I know iv'e been banned from the forums for having a row yet I have reported mass flamming and mass spamming in the past yet the posts didnt get hidden and nothing else was heard. (these were pages and pages full of offensive words which got round the censor).

We do have guidelines for moderators of course but as with any community, no two mods are exactly the same. When we recruit forum moderators, one of the attributes we look for is the ability to judge a situation and make a call. That call wont always be 100% bang on but we aim to strike a balance as if we go too far the other way, context goes out the window and in a progressive community like ours, I think context has to considered before making a decision.

8. Is it true if you suck up to mod calm you get to become a mod?

Lol, no.

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 21:55:07

Brent E B asks:

I have a similar question as Sean.

A few weeks back I received an offense that I feel is wrong. The conversation it took place in does look bad on paper, and I tried to explain what happened in my appeal. Unfortunately I was denied. I've been offered no second chance appeal.

This isn't a huge issue because this actually had a positive impact on my game play. I met a great friends because of this, and it's taught me to be more careful on how things can be interpreted.

My question now is what do I do moving forward? If there's any way to get in contact with a moderator to explain the situation I'd love to do so. What your advice?

===============================================

First off, I'm sure you can see why we added that offence in the first place.

I've had a look at the original offence text and also your explanation in your offence appeal - I've had a chat with Paul M and we tend to agree that you have a good explanation for what happened - even though the report text is stacked against you!

We don't want to see anyone 'wronged' - so I have removed the offence immediately - and your account is now clear!

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 22:01:12

Dream l0rd asks:

Hey mod stevew you said about the tools you guys had to check other accounts linking to the person and i got something to ask- i got a level 3 or 4 account which i created long ago for fun but like any other person i ditched it as i got busy with this account and stuff, and the recovery on the lvl 3 isn't set but its been years since i logged into it and i forgot everything about it, even its pass of course, Will it affect me when i got looked up? Thanks

=====================================

Nope you're fine - as long as it is well in the past and not used now we will pretty much ignore it.

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 22:04:51

Reichwulf asks:

Is there a plan to extend the D&D family in skills such as fishing and such?

=============================================

Sorry that is another one for the content guys - but I'm sure it would be welcomed by people like you with 88 Fishing!

I'm quite the accomplished Fisherman myself actually - Tuna anyone?

Steve

Mod Paul M

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 22:07:44

TzJad-Ket-D2 When do Jagex officially open their doors to placement students for the Community Management/Player Support departments?

You know, I dont know exactly. It roughly follows term time though so July/August sounds about right.

FraternOTy Do you plan on implementing some sort of program to improve the quality of the off topic forum?

Interesting question and to be quite honest, its not something Ive been looking at. I sure will now though. Thanks for the heads up!

Mcpudsey Mod Paul M, i would love for you to get in touch to hear my ideas. They are only small ones.

Here is another question:

Could Jagex make a list of J mod rolls?

I would really enjoy reading about what type of jobs diffrent teams do. Im not even 100% sure of what you do in the CM team or other teams.

Sure, I like Cheese and Ham. Steves a pickle fan. Jon loves Cheese and Onion. Poppy likes sundried tomato and spam. Catias into Cheese and Ralf digs bacon.

Seriously though, we did start a thread like that but we do need to update it so yes, well look to get on that. Hopefully these CM Q&A sessions will enlighten you a bit too over the coming weeks.

Mcpudsey Mod Paul M, If you had to choose, which mod team (f or p) do you like more?

Does one team impact runescape more?

How are they different?

Well diplomatically and conveniently enough, I love them all the same. Who impacts RuneScape more? Hmmm, I think that P-mods do an awesome job of pointing out great community activities in game and things like AAMS and OutReach (P-mod initiatives) do a huge amount for the community. At the same time though, I really feel that the forums are the meeting place in RuneScape and as the hub of the community, F-mods are brilliant for highlighting whats new and making sure that we dont miss out on the best ideas and events planned. Sorry to be so non committal, maybe Ill flip a coin!

Mod Stevew

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 22:08:00

Viren 91 asks:

How are the Security Keys coming along? When do you think we'll be seeing them in stores?

=============================================

I'm sorry we don't have any update on this right now - if we do decide to do it you guys will be the first know - right here on the official forums!

Cheers,

Steve

Mod Paul M

Jagex Mod

22-Oct-2009 22:16:24

Hi guys,

Thanks for your questions everyone, I hope we've been able to help out somewhat.

As ever, some questions have alerted me to stuff I maybe wasn't aware of so we'll get to work on that asap!

To those of you we'd said we'd get in touch with, watch your inboxes, we'll be touch very soon!

Steve's suggested using 133-134-487-59756658 as a good place for you to leave us any feedback so please feel free to let us know your thoughts.

Oh, and I know my formatting is a bit rubbish so tomorrow I'll also do something with that to make it all a bit more easy to read. ; )

Thanks again everyone, it's been a pleasure. Roll on the next one!

Paul M[/hide]

[hide=Clans, Quick find code: 133-134-372-59808156]Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

28-Oct-2009 15:36:19

Last edited on 29-Oct-2009 18:08:13 by Mod Timbo

Hey everyone,

This is the thread for the Clan Q&A session where I'll be answering all of the questions you posed on the questions thread.

I'll try to answer as many questions of yours as I can but of course I cannot comment on any future releases or content - I only work in the Community Management team.

Thanks,

Mod Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:04:32

Posted by Tweezer33:

You've posted in the clan forums about the re-vamp on the forums, in particuarally the Clan forums. What's the current situation on this? Is it still going ahead?

Also to add, a few months ago, you had "Clan News" a newsletter in the Clan Discussion forum. I really enjoyed it and the feedback was all positive. Why did you decide to scrap it?

-----------------

A large majority of the feedback that we got from the revamp of the clan forums was structural work on the forums from our Website Systems team. This was passed over and everything that we could do from a Community Management perspective is ongoing. Merging the Clan Diplomacy & Events forum with Clan Community is a good example.

The "Clan News" was a test for the clan forums to see if something like that would become popular. It would seem that during it's time there wasn't a lot of responses to it but now that it's gone, I hear a lot that it was missed. At the time it stopped, that Jagex Cup 2009 had just started and there wasn't enough time. I'll definitely reconsider bringing this back in the near future.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:07:29

Posted by Wob45:

1) When you kick someone by accident or something like that it would be nice to be able to like un-kick that person or like when you kick someone it kicks them immediately but you choose for how long they can't come back in like 10 minutes, 30, 45 or an hour. Do you think you could do something like that?

2) Capes for clans.

There could be a new NPC that introduces the capes and the leader of the clan can make their own personal symbol for their clan and there can also be a bunch of default ones ex. A skull. And the owner can edit his cape whenever he chooses.

Once the owner made their clan cape the members and ranks can go to that NPC and type in the clan they are involved in and get the cape such as when you enter a friends house or the owner could hand them out to his members.

When a member of that clan wore their cape it would show the symbol of the clan and if they had a rank it could show under it. And maybe the ranks could have their capes trimmed or something like that also to show the difference between them and normal members as well as their rank below the symbol.

Do you think you could make any of these ideas work?

-------------

Of course I think these ideas could work, although this is all something that would require extensive work in-game to do with the clan chat system.

I can confirm that at the start of the year, we asked in the clan forums for your feedback on the clan chat and clan-specific content (as well as going through every thread posted at the time in Suggestions - Clan) and submitted proposal to RuneScape Content. It is an extremely difficult task but as far as I'm aware is being worked on. Once the 'groundwork' has been finished and released, we can look at some of the content ideas for clans like Clan Cities and your Clan Capes idea.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:10:02

Posted by Miljaker:

First of all I'm not sure wich type of clans is being disscused if it's only clanchat clans ignore this question.

With the new display names it is very hard for clans to keep up a memberslist because names keep changing.

Will you (JaGeX) ever concider making a "clan page"? Much like you did with the adventurers log but then for clans.

This would solve alot of problems for clans. Especialy the displaynames.

---------

This is for everything to do with clans, so I appreciate your question.

As I run a RuneScape clan myself, I know of the pain that the display name change brought with regards to Runehead/forum/offsite memberlists. Not to mention knowing who all of my members were. It seems to have calmed down quite a bit now though.

With regards to a 'Clan page' like the Adventurers Log, it's something that I most certainly want on the RuneScape website. It's very difficult without the in-game clan support at the time being but it's something that I want to bring to the website.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:13:00

Posted by CosmeticPigs (or Smellysocks ):

I was at a J-Mod Surgery event (which are really fun btw!) and Timbo was there posing with his Hand-Cannon like Metroid-Prime and he mentioned a big clan chat update, I'm guessing this will have more clan support and features, can you Kathy tell us scurvy seadogs or Timbo your royal subjects more?

Maybe you could encorporate clan support into these new Adventurer's Logs (which again are really fun btw!) /into a Clan Database part of the RuneScape site! some of the new features this year have been brilliant and the way the staff are alot closer to the players for those who go to RSOF events would know is a nice fun atmosphere!

-----------------

There is only me here tonight, Kathy is at home relaxing I hope!

The in-game clan support update is a long way off. I cannot really give much details about it as it is a content thingymajiggy but we collected all of the suggestions and feedback about it at the turn of the year.

With regards to a website Clan Database, yes that would stem from the in-game clan support as a natural progression.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:20:00

Posted by Frog Rulz:

1) Will there be more Clan Competitions in the coming months, similar to the ones earlier in the year?

2) Im sure you are aware about the problem of accidental kicking in Clan Chats when the person you want to kick leaves the channel. Is there anything in the pipeline to solve this issue? Or even other ways to combat spammers and rule breakers in Clan Chats?

3) Are there any other Clan Chat features that are due to be released in the near future? As Clan Chats have had very few updates since their release.

----------------

Hey there!

1) There is something that we're working on in the background for January, maybe that counts as this year? I'm going to post information about this in the coming weeks in the clan forums, do keep an eye out for it!

2) I thought that there was a fix out there that kicked the person you meant to kick now instead of someone leaving and kicking those below? I'm sure Mod Emilee told me about that. With regards to spammers, it's difficult to combat but I believe that there is something being worked on at the minute. I cannot give more details than that.

3) I'm not 100% sure, the clan chat system is still content related.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:23:11

Posted by Sith Cloney:

Oh your gracious host I have a question. Do you think Jagex will give some more support to clans/event teams in the future? I know Mod Howes, Lorenzo and yourself work hard with doing most of the clan support work. Do you think Jagex will focus more on the "community events/clans", as Mark Gerhard wants to promote the community focused idea?

--------------

There is a very fine line between clans and event teams and it's difficult to distinguish sometimes. Working with event 'teams' and 'clans' is going on from what I can gather from Mod Howes' work. We always attend events from 'Weekly Forumer Events' and 'F2PCommuntiy Awareness' but with regards to actual support for these clans, you'd have to ask Mod Howes in his Events Q&A.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:24:44

Posted by Jikkir Jay:

What can we expect in the future that will clan chats more varied? Differant ranks? Items such as capes?

I remember something about adding differant ranks, but I haven't seen anything like that take effect yet. Was I just hearing things, or did someone actually say this?

---------------

I can't really go into any major detail as it may have all changed when it's finished. What I had expected would be features like giving Gold Stars the ability to have the same rights as the clan chat owner, renaming ranks etc. As I said, it's likely that none of that happens but it certainly some of the ideas that we had from you guys.

Timbo

Mod Mark H

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:29:54

Deidara soul,

Heya!

I'm the J-Mod responsible for the Roleplaying Community and Mod Timbo asked me if I would like to answer your question.

In regards to in-game content for Roleplaying, I am afraid there aren't any updates planned at the moment. Many of the ideas the RP Community come up with (customisable costumes, races, etc) are very tough to implement into RuneScape.

However, we're always trying to think of things to add in to make roleplaying better! We added in items such as the Dicebag in Faruq's Tools for Games for RPers and hope to do more in the future.

I'm also working on running some regular RP Events in-game, as well as coming up with a recommended system for players to use when running RP Adventures in RuneScape.

~ MMH ~

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:30:49

Posted by 67793:

Have any incentives planned to prevent the current trend where clans stick around for 9 months or so before dying and being re-made a million times over? Basically, give all types of Clan more of a "goal" in Runescape?

How do you feel about Runescape's last honour clan, Damage Inc, closing?

--------------

A very interesting question. I think that it can't be answered by a single 'incentive' or goal, there are a number of reasons that a clan dies. The leaders grow bored of the game, rulebreaking/dissatisfaction, losing too many players during a holiday session but to name a few. The overall goal for a clan is different too, some are there for a purely social aspect that do events and war from time to time or there are the ones who always want to be #1.

It is something that we should be looking at however, no matter how big it is. Either be that through the support that we give from a Community Management point of view, improved clan features or simply having regular competitions to get involved in. I'll be looking at this more closely, that's for sure.

It was a sad day when DI closed, they have always been a great clan (that I didn't get into ) and will be missed. We'll certainly be there to see them off in their last event.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:33:27

Posted by Dragz More12:

1) Will there be more catergorys in the next Jagex Cup?

Such as: Full-out wars, 100+ Caterogry, 110+ Caterogry, 120+ Catergry, Range only, Matched Wars, 2-v-2 Clan A + B vs Clan C + D?

2) As you might know there are fansites that has tournaments, do you think you would be intrested and give out Jaegx prizes etc?

--------------

1) Expanding the Jagex Cup and making it more realistic for clans to win their area is something that I've been thinking about. The last Jagex Cup was all about that anyone could enter (no restrictions, held in F2P etc) but it did mean that smaller clans felt intimidated. This is going to be looked at for the next one, I can assure you.

2) It's something that is worth looking at, that's for sure. I'll talk to Mod Hohbein about that.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:37:09

Posted by Jamielswa & Bow Loyally:

since clan wars arena is part of some clans, is jagex looking at updating the clan arena with more viewing orbs (or some other way for better viewing), more options for what can and can not be allowed at wars, and an option to allow clans to ally like at stealing creation?

I would appreciate answers for my following in-game clan wars questions.

Will jagex make a rule that makes you able to choose if explorer rings are allowed in wars? or corrupt items?

Can it be made able for clan leaders to rank members of their clan without adding them to their friends list?

With so many official wars in leagues like the TWR, clan wars classic centre bounds, can jagex make a clan wars map like Platuea but smaller with the features of cw classic centre bounds? This would be very very useful for official clans warring.

Can jagex include for the clan generals+ a map of where in runescape their members are? This would include a different section of the map with purple dots and when you click on them they display the username of that particular person.

This would increase pulls in wars and make clan wars more competative.

And in the jagex cup can there be a category for clans with a requirement of <100? As i am in a 3+ clan (Titans revolution) and it would be better if we were up against similair clans.

---------------

I can't really talk about in-game content as that isn't my area of expertise but I do agree that Clan Wars needs a few more features. The clan community has grown and evolved since it's initial release. We do go through the clan forums and Game Feedback and pass on feedback about clan areas such as Clan Wars, don't worry.

Yes, in the Jagex Cup there will be a few more categories so that smaller/lower requirement clans don't feel so intimidated and have a realistic chance of winning. The first one was a great test of a competition that went very well and I'm keen to expand on that with future ones.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:43:07

Posted by CARC IS RSD:

A topic that is constantly on RSC, do you guys (Jagex team) feel that the clan world is dying?

If yes, what will it take to fix it?

------------

I wouldn't say that it's dying, a lot of communities look at itself when it doesn't feel the same. I would say that it's changed a lot over the past couple of years, the same way that RuneScape has changed. A lot of us have literally grown up with the game and now that we're all older, maybe we have different opinions of what we want in a clan or with the game. When your friends, or well known figures, aren't around it'll always feel like it's dying.

With regards to 'fixing' it? You could probably write an entire thesis on it. Upgrades to in-game clan features, bringing awareness for clans and boosting what it means to be in a clan are some areas that I would consider that needs looking at. I don't think this is necessarily 100% to do with Jagex however, it's always useful to assess a situation yourself and see what you can do too.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:47:26

Posted by Foxclawz:

While the forums are a great way for clans to get out there and be recognized, why not try something like Player Galleries and Postbag from the Hedge where you feature certain clans every month that you think would inspire others to participate in clans of their own?

Players are rewarded for their artistic skills and interesting questions to NPC* by having their work displayed on the site, I think it would be a nice addition of recognizing strong clan communities and influential leaders.

The site feature could show screenshots from the clan's events as well as a commentary about the clan.

------------

That's a good idea but if Jagex features a clan, or a certain community, that would be seen as favoritism right? It is something that I agree with though, there are a number of excellent clans out there that I know has a great community spirit, leaders and members.

I don't think it's something that we can do right now but is definitely something to consider for the future.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:50:12

Posted by Qmasterz:

Would it be possible for us (ranks in a clan chat) to be able to temporarily ban (kick) players from a clan chat when they are not in a clan chat? This would be very helpful as spammers can hop into a clan chat, spam, and hop out before we have a chance to kick them.

This could be done by having a sort of ban list (Note I mean for ranks that do not own the clan chat!!!).

---

Also: Are there any planned updates for clan chats?

----------------

As I've already mentioned, we have submitted in-game clan support ideas with regards to clan chat before. This is one of the features that would be possible with the new system but for the time being I don't think it's possible.

Any updates for clan chat would be a content matter, we keep submitting your ideas to the content team though.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:54:44

Posted by Aquilla:

...do you know if clanchat banning without having to log in on the clanchat account is included? And can you give a rough estimate on how long we will have to wait for these clanchat updates? (a month, a year, more?)

The second thing I wanted to ask you is about the Jagex Cup. We really enjoyed taking part in the Skilling Cup last spring! Do you have a new cup planned at this time?

One problem was, though, that we couldn't really tell if everything had gone right, if our memberlist was OK, if our participants were OK etc.. I understand that you couldn't supply feedback at the time, because it was just too much data and you didn't really have an automated system (or so it seemed). Are there plans to provide more feedback on the management of the Cup's clanlists?

--------------

I can't really say much about any future content releases, all I know is that we submitted a load of ideas and that it's being worked on. Any timeframe wouldn't even be released as with all future content, nice try though.

I'm glad you did enjoy the Skilling Cup, it was something different that's for sure. The Jagex Cup was far from perfect, I'll hold my hands up. Issues such as explaining how the averages were scored, memberlists and ensuring you had 1 hour sessions did have an effect. However, now with hindsight and all of the feedback that I got after the Jagex Cup - we can look at solutions for these issues. The main issues that I listed earlier will all be addressed and the rules will be much clearler.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:56:25

Posted by CARC IS RSD:

I can try but probably fail. What clan do you lead Timbo?

Oh and whats up with Mod Mat K, you said Mod Kathy but I thought Mat K was part of the clan department as well

---------------------

Indeed nice try. It's not a massive clan but I have been around (and not in that way!).

Mod Mat K left Clan Support some months ago so it's just myself and Kathy for the time being. I know he has quite the affinity with clans and is always kept in the loop.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 20:58:51

Posted by Er Matt:

I recently spent a long time planning then posting a thread that could be a big upgrade to the already great clan chat system.

Here is a quote, "A "Community Clan" will be a place where players can go for help, to attend/arrange events or just somewhere for a friendly chat. These clans will not function like normal clans currently do, as I shall now explain..."

Rather than me posting a 4 post long question, could you possibly take a brief look at my suggestion at QFC: 82-83-761-59613322.

If I am wrong for posting this here I would like to apologise, I just believe that the "Suggestions - clans" are of the forums is greatly overlooked.

------------------------

I'll take a look at your thread after the Q&A session, it does sound like something Mod Howes would be interested but as I said, I'll take a look and post something back later.

Oh and the Suggestions - Clan area isn't overlooked, it's just that we don't get the opportunity to post on every thread that we take feedback from. I'll try to make more of an effort to post there though!

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 21:01:28

Posted by InfamousDuck:

One of the things that really annnoy me about joining clans is external forums, I hate having to make yet another account to join the clan. I realise that clans need them but would it ever be possible for clans to have their own private forums on the website, and other features which allow the clan to fully operate within Runescape.***?

-----------------------

I had been thinking about this, having private forums for every clan on the official site would be good but would also take a lot of space, bandwidth and as it's on the official site would require moderation from J-Mods. It's a good idea in concept but does have some downsides.

I think the issue there is really working with external forums and making them more accessible and reliable for players to sign up to. It's something that I'm looking at in the coming weeks so I'll keep you all posted.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 21:06:07

Posted by Cathryen:

I was wondering if there will ever be more of a way to show your support for a particular clan, especially when there are major competitions coming up. Something like the way people show support for their favourite sports teams, I think that it would be neat to be able to have some type of color or item to show support for a clan prior to an upcoming match.

Since I think that clans are an important part of the general ambience of Runescape, it would be a advantageous way to get people who may be newer to the game involved in the community that a clan offers if they were to see more of an actual showing of a clan. This in turn would attract a new group of players to become active in Clan events making the whole experience better for everyone.

I know that the camaraderie in a good clan is a really important part of what makes Runescape into much more than just another MMORPG. It is the newer players that would benefit even more from having more exposure to the events and cooperative spirit surrounding the whole Runescape clan experience.

Well that became a rather long question, I guess the Cliffe notes version would be: Is there any possibility of items being introduced, to show support or affiliation with a Clan?

---------------------------

It would seem that you some how have got a hold of some of our notepads.

I can honestly say that if it wasn't for clans, then I would lose a lot of interest in the game. The whole social element is amazing and there's nothing better then going to PK with a few of your clan mates.

I think the clan community needs more awareness for players, it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of players had never knew that clans existed. This is a main focus of mine at the minute with changes to things and the massive event in January.

With regards to showing support/affiliation for a clan, it's not really possible at the minute as the game doesn't know what a clan is - in a technical sense. A clan chat channel is simply a chat channel at the minute and until there is in-game clan support, affiliation items aren't possible sadly.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 21:07:25

Posted by Se aNm:

Hey Timbo, I just read that you run a clan, and you know all about Runehead etc - what's your clan like, name etc?

Also, have you ever heard of "Supreme Skillers?" - If so, what do you think of us?

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My clan is awesome, names are not allowed.

Yes I have heard of your clan although I don't want to big anyone up - if I could then I'd big up my own clan (we're recruiting!).

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 21:17:14

Posted by War Greym0n:

I know people in many different clans, these clans hold various weekly events which I and others attend. My question is as you are on the community management team and deal with the clans, how do you see if someone is "active in the community" who may attend these different events but do not post on the RuneScape forums? Or do not feature their events here either? I am particularly interested as to how this effects you guys choosing potential moderators, as you look for how they are community focused as I have read throughout the CM blogs etc.

--------------------------

Being active in the community is relational to a lot of things. First things first, you should be playing to enjoy the game and if that comes through being part of a clan, attending events or other things then that's cool.

With regards to clans, I attend a lot of events, read a lot of threads on these forums and offsite and involved at the 'ground level' on my personal account so I have a good feeling for people within the clan community. I can't speak entirely for other areas though.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 21:22:24

Posted by Foxclawz & Nrwriter:

Imma sneak in one more question, but this will probably be more to do with the content team.

Have you ever thought about linking to forum threads from within the game, specifically from clan chats?

I've noticed certain links on our Quest Journal brings us to the actual web site to features like QuestHelp.

It would be very easy to direct clan members to official clan threads by having one of these links in the clan chat interface.

I lead Welfarers, the biggest open cc for pvp, and we are in need of various clan chat updates, like the ones that I know you guys are aware of (especially the one that would stop people from attacking others in their own clan chat). So a lot of us are wondering - can you give us a rough estimate of when we will see the clan chat overhaul? I know you can't give an exact date, but do you think it may be by the end of the year? Or the end of next year? It would be awesome to have an idea of this

---------------

They are more content related and I agree with both sets of comments. With regards to links from in-game, it's a great idea but what about those who don't have official RuneScape forum threads? It'd only be fair for all but a good idea nonetheless.

With Nrwriter's question, I would guess with not this year but I genuinely don't know and shouldn't really talk about it.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 21:24:01

Posted by Mcpudsey:

Can you change the way to report clan chat titles?

Atm, we have to report someone in that clan, it seems so wrong to do this! Also not many people know how to report titles either.

It took a F-mod and mod stevew for me to find out. I feel this needs to change.

-----------------

Not sure this is perfect for me to answer but it would be easier to report a chat name like an offensive display name. I'm sure that it's been passed on as feedback before though!

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 21:32:39

Posted by Varken9:

I was wondering if Jagex is aware of the clanworld getting some hits. In the past weeks some of the greatest RS clans died (EH****, DI). I think that the reason is that PK-ing for clans has become impossible. With only 4 worlds available it is impossible for smaller clans to hide. The only solution is that only pre-arranged wars can be held, they can not be crashed by the non-written rules of the RS clancommunity. Because of that the bigger clans can't get fight, because no one will accept their war-offers, and without clans actually pk-ing due to the lack of worlds (all the pvp worlds are full with pre-arranged wars). Now, you can see that bigger clans are dieing for that reason. I was just wondering if Jagex is aware of that, and thinking about possible solutions.

- Possible solution could be to insert a drop system in Clan Wars, so that pré-arranged wars could be held there.

I was also wondering if there is ever going to be a clanwars ranking table?

-------------------------

With regards to the amount of PvP worlds, when looking at servers you have to understand that we have to consider the amount of people playing regularly on those servers to keep them. It only makes sense that if there aren't enough people to keep a server active, it should go to a different theme where there might be more activity.

Of course, this doesn't work for clans pvp'ing as activity is erratic and there will be an effect. I don't think it's the main reason but it is a contributing factor - the problem being that how does that get fixed? Clan Wars changes would make sense but that is also development time that could be spent on the next quest (and not to mention the massive load of work they have planned). It's a difficult situation to balance and one that is always a work in progress.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 21:37:21

Posted by SoulsFayt:

1) Firstly, with Hide and seek penguins, evil trees and shooting stars becoming more popular in the Runescape community will there be any events or updates in the future that will affect those in the D&D clans or D&D community?

2) Will there be a possibility of having allied clans fight with you to the death at clan wars in the future so that they are in a separate clan chat though on the same team, as if it were a 2v2 battle? Or even the possibility of three way battles? (1v1v1)

3) What is your personal opinion on both types of Soul Wars clans? (Tie Game and regular soul wars clans)

This one really isnt close to the other questions though it is considered a clan so I will throw it in there... *clears voice*

4) Will there be any updates in the future to change the actions of G.E Manipulating Clans?

---------------------------------------

1) As Mod Paul M mentioned in the general CM Q&A, we're looking at more support for D&D from a Community Management perspective. I believe that's in the hands of Mod Howes/Lorenzo.

2) I'm sure it's a possibility but I don't know if it's ever going to happen!

3) I don't really want to comment on that but I do believe that you should be playing a minigame to win, the rewards are a byproduct of winning and not an aim.

4) Mod Emilee has mentioned that we're currently working on merchanting clans. I don't have any more information then that.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 21:49:08

Posted by VR Will:

Something we want to know is will the friend list be increasing?

Clan wars arena while at first appears to be harmless but the fact is it makes it possible for clans to fight without actually using the wilderness as every clan used to. This has led to a stagnant clanning scene. The people that make up the PKing clans are the same people who were in it for the last 2-3 years with a few exceptions. We used to get people coming from the smaller clans who are based on your own forums but with the update of clan wars very few RSB clans even bother to fight as a clan within Pvp/BH worlds.

Why should we P2p pk instead of 76k when we have no chance of getting the items worth a decent amount of money when we could lose less EP and get the same if not better drops from 76king.

The feel within my clan is that your updates do more bad than good most the time. Some we have enjoyed such as the introduction of Stats/Pvp gear and targets but this was because we felt it was better than the old system used for Pvp drops. I have heard rumours of a clan ranking system being brought in at some point, please do not attempt this, it will no doubt be based around Clan wars and therefor avoided like the plague by most major clans.

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With regards to your first question, I really doubt it. If anything, I would imagine that the clan system would move away from being based on the friends list.

As for clan wars arena, I'm in two minds about it. I do like it for having a definitive result but then again waring in the Wildy is much more exciting. I don't think it's an issue about clan wars but more about the community and that is something that I cannot really change.

With regards to updates, that's not really much to do with me. I usually adapt to updates and changes and get on with it, giving my feedback in a constructive manner. As for your worries about any clan update, I certainly know a fair bit about the clan community so I'll feedback anything to the developer that wouldn't be totally effective.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 22:00:41

Posted by Entendu101:

- Bringing newer members into the clan world has become incredibly tough as of late (partly because of tightening requirements for larger clans, among other things,) but from an administrative point of view, how (if at all) is Jagex planning on bringing newer, less experienced members into the clan world?

- The clan world as a whole is very conservative with regards to where they fight and how their clans operate, and so as soon as PvP and BH Worlds came out, they returned to fighting in the same spots they fought at during the Wilderness Era, namely above the lava gap. Due to the severe shortage of worlds for clans to fight at, larger clans find, destroy and literally push the smaller clans to extinction - which is, of course, a reason for a decrease in clans and members in the clan world. It's glaringly obvious that there aren't many places that clans can scuffle in the Wilderness without running into a single-zone. So, would Jagex consider opening up other areas of the Wilderness as multi-combat zones so clans have more space to fight? Truthfully, this is probably the largest problem in the clan world now and if you could help us with this, we would be very appreciative.

- Also, would any of the current Jagex Mods (preferrably you or any moderator directly working on clan-support) consider joining a top clan to further understand the struggles that the clan world faces collectively in this day and age? Of course, joining as a Moderator would be counter-productive, but would it be possible with your own, private characters?

----------------------

This is a problem because people are leaving the community but only a small trickle are joining. I think what Jagex can do is bringing more awareness to clans in the general community. If you look around in-game and on the website, you see very little, if any, information about clans, what they are, how you can get involved and what they do. It could be said that this wouldn't bring the right 'caliber' of people to the community but we did all have to start somewhere.

I do agree that having more areas within the Wilderness would be useful and I'll pass that on again to the development team.

A few J-Mods in the company are involved with clans, myself and Mat K included, but ironically with a fulltime job it's almost impossible to keep up and join a top clan. We're not in 'small' clans or anything like that but equally so aren't involved with the 'top' ones. It's actually part of my plan in the coming months to work even closer with those members of staff who are involved with clans.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 22:01:59

Posted by Trevorghost:

Timbo, will you ever open your CC to members that are not ranked?

Also, can you convince Mod French to make a CC?

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I want to open my clan chat, I'm sure it's something that I'll do at some point in the future.

As for Mod French, you'd have to speak to him about that!

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 22:04:12

Posted by 99 everytime:

When i am in a cc and people say they got a dragon vissage or another high priced item it is hard to believe them, is it possible for something to pop up in chat to say what people have got as a drop, similar to when using coin/loot share, but shows for everyone no matter what world they are on, only for drops over 1mil gp worth say.

And why must you wait 2 minutes for lootshare to activate. This is a bother when you have to wait after changing worlds and your familiar has a short time left, why not 1 minute like when updating your friends list or changing ranks in your clan.

I am not sure if this has been answered previously and i am just curious about this

-------------------

That's a good idea but I'm not even sure if that's technically possible. Not to mention it could be a bit spammy if players didn't want to see it.

I have always thought that it takes 2 mins to give players an opportunity to kill what they may be fighting before lootshare goes on. I don't know the actual answer but I can only imagine it's that!

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 22:08:33

Posted by Stoke Cityy:

will there ever be a clan leaderboard like the hiscores but for clans or is this to technical?

So like a ladder of some sort to see what position you clan is for either clan wars or PvP/BH

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I don't think there'll be an overall clan leaderboard, simply because a clan can be rated on a whole lot of different merits. It could be for having the highest total level average. the most PvP skills etc.

An official clan ladder has been thought about but is still only in the works.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 22:15:42

Posted by Darrk Slash:

What does Jagex feel about clans? There has barely been any support for clans, only with some updates (like the clan chat update) and the Jagex Cup.

What future updates do you have that will benefit clans? I'm not asking about the future updates related to "clan chat clans".

People in the "clan world" rant on how the clan world is "dying" in 2009, what do you think about that?

Are there any updates coming up that will open up clans into the game? Only a few people in Runescape are in clans, I'd estimate 3%.

What do you feel about clans being on fansites, and having their on forums? Also, what do you think about RSB clans?

---------------------

I can only guess that you're from an offsite clan, where admittedly, there hasn't been as much support as other clans here on the forums have. I am looking at a way to contact and work with offsite clans, tell me what you want in the form of support and I'll look at it!

With regards to updates and 'dying', do see earlier answers for those.

Opening up people to clans is an issue but I don't think there is any single 'update' to change that. Raising awareness, easier access and telling people about clans is the way to get about that, including raising the profile of the community.

I think it's a natural progression for clans to expand and have the need for private forums ans website.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 22:27:31

Posted by Jyal:

1) Do you at Jagex plan on doing anything to bring new, or very small clans into the spotlight? I see so much attention and honor given to leaders of large and famous clans, it seems that more often than not the small clans get left behind.

2) What do you think about the idea of Jagex-sponsored/run clans for newer players, or those less experienced with the clan community. For those who want to be a part of clans, but who don't know/can't find one to join.

-----------------------

1) It's difficult because bigger clans are the ones that people are most interested in. Take DI for example, they were a large and famous clan so when they closed there was a lot of talk about them. If a smaller clan of 25 called "Super Awesome Adventurers of Gielinor" that had run for 2 years closed, not many people would have batted an eyelid because they weren't interesting.

All of that being said, smaller clans deserve more recognition than they get and promoting that is something that is a good idea.

2) I think having a more J-Mod involved support for new players involved with clans is a good way to do. Having a J-Mod running a help chat is good too but you cannot always guarantee that they will be there. You've got me thinking, thanks for that.

Timbo

Mod Timbo

Jagex Mod

29-Oct-2009 22:30:48

Hey everyone,

Thank you for your questions in tonight's Q&A session, it was very popular and a lot of fun to do. You have all given me a lot to think about with my work and I'll be drawing up a list of what I've said and using that alongside my plan already. Of course, what you've said will touch on areas I'm already working on but every little helps.

If you'd like to discuss the Q&A session then go ahead in the "Community Management Q&A" sticky in Jagex Lite.

Thanks,

Mod Timbo[/hide]

Discuss.