This week's poll asks:

 

In your opinion, should Jagex forbid Price Manipulation/Merchanting Clans?

 

• Yes.
  
• No.
  
• My opinion is neutral.
  
• What is price manipulation?
  

 

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No - they should fix the root of the problem, the broken grand exchange.

 

That would be like not fixing a bug and then continuing to ban players for abusing that bug.

Having GE update 3-4 times a day would be the obvious solution. Doing nothing would be the most probable one.

The problem is the Grand Exchange, not the merch clans. Players should be able to do whatever they please with their money. It's the G.E. that needs fixing

While outright banning price manipulation may not be the best solution, at least banning or permanently muting all clan chat bot advertisers would be nice. If Jagex could find a way to make the GE not manipulatable by players that would be the best solution. However I wouldn't say no to making it against the rules either, its just another form of scamming which is against the rules.

The answer to the poll is a ridiculously obvious yes. Jagex has flat out said they are breaking rules. But apparently they are too lazy to do anything about it.

I voted no. Not because I participate in it, but because I don't have/see a real problem with it.

I voted yes.

 

I think the moment people start abusing others who don't know what they're doing, it's wrong.

The merch clan leaders pick an item, start massive buying it with their clan members and then sell all items they bought when the price has gone up.

BUT they don't tell their members when to sell, they sell before their members do, so their own money is safe.

So undirectly Jagex approves scamming.

If solo players like flipping items I have no problem with it, it's like with stocking etc IRL.

They risk cash and if it works: good, if it doesn't: sorry your own fault...

 

+ maybe banning all GE abusers would take the autoers away near GE. I hate it Jagex allows this too!

I voted yes obviously. I don't like having to pay 5K for item X on day 1, only to come back on day 2 to see it has risen by 50K.

Having GE update 3-4 times a day would be the obvious solution. Doing nothing would be the most probable one.

making GE update more often would only make merch clans get profit faster...

 

 

 

I voted yes, they should make it illegal, but they should also look at the problems and restrictions ge always had and they apparently closed their eyes for

In my opinion the poll was poorly worded, what needs to be outlawed is False price manipulation.

What solo merchants do is pick an item that has a higher demand than supply such as the SW, or abby wip, then they take a few of them off the market and the price naturally rises and they sell.

That is fine in my opinion, what merch clans do is very different.

They buy and sell between each other at max/min price thus giving the GE a false impression.

That is what needs to fort.

So i agree with every one so far except:

 

I voted no. Not because I participate in it, but because I don't have/see a real problem with it.

 

i disagree merch clans are as much a threat to runescape as RWT was.

Yes.

 

I do think they should fix the ge though I dont have any idea how they could.

I voted yes, they should make it illegal, but they should also look at the problems and restrictions ge always had and they apparently closed their eyes for

 

 

It already is illegal but Jagex cannot enforce it, thats one of the problems

no i think the main problem is that the Grand Exchange is only for fast item sell i think it should change all item only have a marked price not a big range of price

no i think the main problem is that the Grand Exchange is only for fast item sell i think it should change all item only have a marked price not a big range of price

 

I don't think that's the solution, fixing the price wouldn't really work at all.

 

Updating more times a day would be a major help, and make it like a cap for total items sold at GE (like 1m arrows, 500k armour) per update. That would kinda stop those manipulators i think.

As always i say yes. But i hope that Jagex is careful not to affect players who don't do price manipulation. They should be very careful, because it's no point removing a pest and another one comes up.

 

A good example of this is a problem i recently was late to realize: Adamant platebodies sell only 100 of em per 4 hours. Of course i will keep smithing platebodies, but would be nice if the limit was not there.

You can't ban price manipulation, that can't be done. What should be forbidden is telling others to help you on it. Clans like smokin mils / 2 lumb where the big chiefs ''abuse'' the unknowing. Ban all the adverting people that promise you milions while not telling you the risks. It is a thin line, but ACTIVE people ACTIVELY telling others what to do for their own gains should be banned.

 

But as many said, fix the cause, not the consequences

 

i disagree merch clans are as much a threat to runescape as RWT was.

 

RWT wasn't as much a threat to runescape as it was a threat to jagex.

 

Merchant clans are not causing lawsuits

 

I voted no. Not because I participate in it, but because I don't have/see a real problem with it.

 

i disagree merch clans are as much a threat to runescape as RWT was.

By saying that you're showing that you have no idea what the problems of RWT where.

 

Anyway, I said that I didn't have a problem with it, because the only ones who think they get scammed by it are people who don't know what they're doing. I'm not saying they deserve to scammed or something, but jagex shouldn't cater too much to these people imo.

 

If you look at it, it's like a big gamble. The most people who lose money know it's possible, and didn't sell on time. It's the risk they take by investing in these items.

 

Also, people tend to only look at the negative aspects. I've often seen people claiming that it is bad for the economy, without any arguments whatsoever. There are, however, also positive effects. It gives people ways of making more money than usual. For example, when d boots are stable, you can het about 300k per drop, but when they get merched you can get up to 540k for a pair of boots, almost doubling the profit per hour. This is mostly why I don't mind it. It also allows you to get items like prayer potions cheaper than normal after a crash.

 

The only annoyance is that some items become unbuyable for short periods of time. Annoying, but it's a bit harsh to ban something because of this,

Never mind price manipulation. They should forbid nuclear war.

I think really there is no way that they can forbid these without hurting the general public, what if a large number of people suddenly want to buy something? The price goes up, JaGex thinks it's a price manipulating clan, the people get in trouble just because they all wanted the same thing badly enough. Also, you can't really moderate what people can talk about, that is not legal in some places, like the USA with the first amendment. Making the GE update more frequently would actually give these clans more power, because they could manipulate the prices much more rapidly. This is a problem that has no simple solution as far as I can see, this has been and will continue to be an issue as long as there is a GE as it is today.

Every time you buy an item that's different than its medium price, you've manipulated it. As it stands, there is no way to identify players "manipulating" items, unless its through a clan chat. So, no rules against paying different prices for items, but enforce current rules instead (spamming, scamming, etc.)

Every time you buy an item that's different than its medium price, you've manipulated it. As it stands, there is no way to identify players "manipulating" items, unless its through a clan chat. So, no rules against paying different prices for items, but enforce current rules instead (spamming, scamming, etc.)

 

Well, the CC's are a que. I don't mind 10-20 people working together to manipulate a price. If they agree on a goal and benefit from it, fine by me. If I manage to catch it, even better for me. What isn't fair, is that the current merchant clans have the information. They got an item, buy it for all that they want, then alarm their members, then take it out to the public. They know when they want to make the big dump, then the members and community last. And all this happens while they promise millions to the public.

 

Everybody knows there is a risk, yet everybody ''will give it a try''. Makes sense. But tempting people in taking a risk by telling them all the gains (and not the risks) you are no better then the banks. That is why currently for every financial product they alarm: 'Loaning money costs money' or 'Results from the past don't guarantee future results' or something like that. The reason why many financial commercials like the Palm Invest are now forbidden. Why they are tagged as extremely high risk, etc etc.

 

Can't say that these clans don't act just as many illegal financial plans... (can't say they are the same either)..

 

Reinforce the rules and when they are fairly sure, take them down hard. By that I don't mean the public.. I hardly even mean the members. The leaders ;) those. Get the leaders, take down the whole plan.

the real problem is that this is actually 2 very different questions, so i cant vote

 

 

my vote is:

 

price manipulation clans should certainly be disallowed,

 

but merchanting has absolutely nothing to do with price manipulation, and is quite common in all online games (most dont have the weird pricing rules that RSs GE has) and should, of course, be allowed

Having GE update 3-4 times a day would be the obvious solution. Doing nothing would be the most probable one.

making GE update more often would only make merch clans get profit faster...

 

 

 

I voted yes, they should make it illegal, but they should also look at the problems and restrictions ge always had and they apparently closed their eyes for

 

If it updated more often, merch clans would lose control of their items in a matter of hours, reducing any chances of large price spikes. The biggest problem with merchanting clans are that the items they manipulate become unbuyable for days on end. If the GE updated 4 times a day, merch clans would buy out an item, wait for a spike in 20 hours or so, and then sell. That's a lot better than being unable to buy an item for over 4 days.

 

Multiple updates would even help static items like rares obtain their true value. As of right now, they update every couple months. After the update, they'd update 2-3 times in that same time frame.