Andrew sells Jagex.

[timmmmm83]

Oh. Old news.

+1

 

But the effects were never seen so clearly as now.

[pal2002]

I was the one who broke news here about these investors a few times - but who could have imagined it was THIS BAD? Andrew selling every [bleep]ing share of Jagex, the company he founded and made him who he is. For comparison, even Bill Gates still own quite a substantial share of Microsoft and Steve Jobs is still in charge of Apple...

 

RS is an orphan now, totally abandoned by its parents.

[Hamtaro]

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Jagex operates some of the gold-selling sites. I probably won't quit until Jagex is finally sold to Disney to die, though.

[The Dark Lord]

;_;

[PumpkinPete112]

The good folks at stelldardawncentral were responsible for all the past charts about jagex ownership - and finally there you have the new chart for 2010 ..and wow.

 

Andrew Gower now owns a whopping ZERO percent of Jagex, the rest 2 Gowers own less than 5%. Venture capitalists now own 90% of Jagex...

 

Basically, RS is an abondoned game and Jagex an abondoned company.

 

I just don't know what to feel anymore. I always wanted to blame Jagex for doing the fake wildy "poll", letting the bots and RWTers get completely out of control, and come up with all of these stupid, insolent RWT schemes to extract more $ off RS. But now, I can see that it was never the Jagex I knew from 2002-2009 - it was the bunch of investment bankers who couldn't give a [bleep] what RS turned into as long as they got enough cash off it before they sold off their shares too - leaving the company to go bankrupt and the game to die.

 

Well [bleep] them. [bleep] their asses. They could never understand how much this 'game' meant for me and many others over the last 10 years before they decided to stab, rape, and brutally hang RS on a pole. And Andrew - I wish you could have at least told us - left us a goodbye message before your demonic investors took over the raped the company and game to pieces.

 

Lost,

angry,

profoundly sad,

but perhaps no longer in shock...

 

time to quit, people.

 

 

A bit dramatic but I do wish he would have said something

[aeternitatis]

I'll assume RS will slowly dissolve from now on. Oh well, it ran its course. It'll basically force me to quit soon enough and move on with my life. No big deal to most players... For those with addiction issues (admitted or not), sorry.

[Nero]

Melodramatic much, people?

[Wessan]

Are the money grubbing players seeking wealth through the GE any different than their investment banker overlords who play the same game with real cash?

 

Just Kidding, we are all awesome.

 

Anyway, this is unfortunate news. There is a movie script in this type of story: Man creates company or something that brings him joy, but he is too poor to execute it in a way he dreams. Big business dangles money above his head and says his dream can be a reality if... [fill in the blank for signing a soul sucking contract]. Then big business executes their deal with devious intentions. Following this, the man/hero is pushed away from his original love. He hates the world and wonders why his love was taken from him. He vows to get it back. He takes down big business at their own game and re-instates the pure and simple joy of his original love.

 

If Hollywood = Life [which we all know it does], then the Gower's should have full ownership of Jagex again by 2015 (or Act IV).

[pal2002]

Are the money grubbing players seeking wealth through the GE any different than their investment banker overlords who play the same game with real cash?

 

Just Kidding, we are all awesome.

 

Anyway, this is unfortunate news. There is a movie script in this type of story: Man creates company or something that brings him joy, but he is too poor to execute it in a way he dreams. Big business dangles money above his head and says his dream can be a reality if... [fill in the blank for signing a soul sucking contract]. Then big business executes their deal with devious intentions. Following this, the man/hero is pushed away from his original love. He hates the world and wonders why his love was taken from him. He vows to get it back. He takes down big business at their own game and re-instates the pure and simple joy of his original love.

 

If Hollywood = Life [which we all know it does], then the Gower's should have full ownership of Jagex again by 2015 (or Act IV).

A toast to Act IV!

[Saradomin_Mage]

Anyone remember the plot to quest King of the Dwarves?

[All_Is_Great]

The game is still fun for me... so I guess I'll keep playing for now.

 

Thanks for the [very dramatic] heads up though.

[marcustullius]

I don't see how this is a bad thing. Investors want to make money off their investments, they're not going to do that by adding [cabbage]ty content and making the game so bad that players don't want to play it anymore. Runescape players are the most doom and gloom players ever. And I doubt most of the investors are actually even giving any meaningful input.

[brad1431]

but this assures you that they wont get rid of bots, which are the main reason that I dont play as much anymore...

[pal2002]

I don't see how this is a bad thing. Investors want to make money off their investments, they're not going to do that by adding [cabbage]ty content and making the game so bad that players don't want to play it anymore. Runescape players are the most doom and gloom players ever. And I doubt most of the investors are actually even giving any meaningful input.

You forget, investors want their money BACK and OUT quickly. RS stock is not a freaking 30-year treasury bond. If a legit player pays $5, 'Andrew' would have said let's keep this player for 10 years by giving him great quests, storyline, and content. Now, the 'investors' say 'if this cheater bots 10 accounts for just 1 year, we'll get our money back quickly. And it's just GREAT if the cheater buys 5 more memberships to "refer" to himself. Oh and since he has so much money, we'll just ban a few of his accounts and make him pay to buy them back. And then sell him even more membership for a katana. Oh the other legit loyal players who just buys 1 account, who cares about you and your measly $5?

 

What kind of overlord do you want running this game?

[marcustullius]

I don't see how this is a bad thing. Investors want to make money off their investments, they're not going to do that by adding [cabbage]ty content and making the game so bad that players don't want to play it anymore. Runescape players are the most doom and gloom players ever. And I doubt most of the investors are actually even giving any meaningful input.

You forget, investors want their money BACK and OUT quickly. RS stock is not a freaking 30-year treasury bond. If a legit player pays $5, 'Andrew' would have said let's keep this player for 10 years by giving him great quests, storyline, and content. Now, the 'investors' say 'if this cheater bots 10 accounts for just 1 year, we'll get our money back quickly. And it's just GREAT if the cheater buys 5 more memberships to "refer" to himself. Oh and since he has so much money, we'll just ban a few of his accounts and make him pay to buy them back. And then sell him even more membership for a katana. Oh the other legit loyal players who just buys 1 account, who cares about you and your measly $5?

 

What kind of overlord do you want running this game?

 

Oh, I see, this is just another bot thread in disguise then?

[pal2002]

I don't see how this is a bad thing. Investors want to make money off their investments, they're not going to do that by adding [cabbage]ty content and making the game so bad that players don't want to play it anymore. Runescape players are the most doom and gloom players ever. And I doubt most of the investors are actually even giving any meaningful input.

You forget, investors want their money BACK and OUT quickly. RS stock is not a freaking 30-year treasury bond. If a legit player pays $5, 'Andrew' would have said let's keep this player for 10 years by giving him great quests, storyline, and content. Now, the 'investors' say 'if this cheater bots 10 accounts for just 1 year, we'll get our money back quickly. And it's just GREAT if the cheater buys 5 more memberships to "refer" to himself. Oh and since he has so much money, we'll just ban a few of his accounts and make him pay to buy them back. And then sell him even more membership for a katana. Oh the other legit loyal players who just buys 1 account, who cares about you and your measly $5?

 

What kind of overlord do you want running this game?

 

Oh, I see, this is just another bot thread in disguise then?

No, you wanted an economic analysis of what the difference between investors vs devs who care about your players - I gave you one.

[marcustullius]

 

 

Oh, I see, this is just another bot thread in disguise then?

No, you wanted an economic analysis of what the difference between investors vs devs who care about your players - I gave you one.

 

That's not an economic analysis, that's just your fear mongering opinion. Bots have always been here, bots will always be here regardless of investors. I'll be you that if you never heard about this, a year from now you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. You'll probably forget about it completely.

[pal2002]

 

 

Oh, I see, this is just another bot thread in disguise then?

No, you wanted an economic analysis of what the difference between investors vs devs who care about your players - I gave you one.

 

That's not an economic analysis, that's just your fear mongering opinion. Bots have always been here, bots will always be here regardless of investors. I'll be you that if you never heard about this, a year from now you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. You'll probably forget about it completely.

There is just no reasoning with you.... Look, idk how long have you played RS - but I will tell you, there was definitely a time when the word 'botting' struck fear into every player of the instant-ban and you can roam the game and found but the one daring idiot who decided to bot flax who will get reported and banned. Clearly, those days are gone. But, having >50% of the in-game population as bots is absolutely ridiculous and inexcusable for any dev. And this really only happens when the investors on the board of directors totally control the game.

[Racheya]

Jagex's recent behaviour this year can all simply be explained by investors on the board of directors going 'We want more money.' They don't care about the future of the game, just the future of their wallets. So developers have to go back on promises and spout all this BS almost-microtransactions.

[strilmus]

Regardless of any degree of fear mongering, the facts are still out there for people to observe. A substantial part of the game is taken up by bots now directly due to the actions of Jagex, even more so than before. The claims that they were able to fight the bots did not pan out, and were naive to begin with considering the way they treated the problem. Botters themselves are never truly punished, and seem to be accepted as part of the game, rather than actually made to leave, despite how obvious most of them are. Most of the control of the company belongs to people who do not actually have interest in the company itself. People who initiated these unusual changes right after they gained control of the company, and nobody else, because as the EFFING MAJORITY SHAREHOLDERS they are the ones deciding all the major moves here, so don't try to pass it off anywhere else. And those people are willing to openly admit allowing players to "invite themselves" to the game for exp boosts in exchange for money, despite one of the key points of the game was that no actual advantages were supposed to be truly bought. This move will clearly benefit those who regularly fund new dummy accounts anyway. Which are botters. Anybody with half a brain could have seen that set up a mile away, and those who willingly claim ignorance have run out of excuses.

 

Even if you aren't "reading into this situation too much", all of those listed things are easy to see for any user, and if you just want to pass it off as another bot thread, perhaps you should start wondering why the hell there are so many bot threads these days.

[Ambler]

What this [bleep].

Simplest way I can put this, and it explains everything. Sigh.

[marcustullius]

 

 

Oh, I see, this is just another bot thread in disguise then?

No, you wanted an economic analysis of what the difference between investors vs devs who care about your players - I gave you one.

 

That's not an economic analysis, that's just your fear mongering opinion. Bots have always been here, bots will always be here regardless of investors. I'll be you that if you never heard about this, a year from now you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. You'll probably forget about it completely.

There is just no reasoning with you.... Look, idk how long have you played RS - but I will tell you, there was definitely a time when the word 'botting' struck fear into every player of the instant-ban and you can roam the game and found but the one daring idiot who decided to bot flax who will get reported and banned. Clearly, those days are gone. But, having >50% of the in-game population as bots is absolutely ridiculous and inexcusable for any dev. And this really only happens when the investors on the board of directors totally control the game.

 

I've been playing since 02 or 03, and there have always been bots. Of course now there are tons more since the player base has expanded. You're getting all worked up for no reason. Hell, one of the reasons we lost free trade was because everyone kept crying about bots.

[SwreeTak]

Regardless of any degree of fear mongering, the facts are still out there for people to observe. A substantial part of the game is taken up by bots now directly due to the actions of Jagex, even more so than before. The claims that they were able to fight the bots did not pan out, and were naive to begin with considering the way they treated the problem. Botters themselves are never truly punished, and seem to be accepted as part of the game, rather than actually made to leave, despite how obvious most of them are. Most of the control of the company belongs to people who do not actually have interest in the company itself. People who initiated these unusual changes right after they gained control of the company, and nobody else, because as the EFFING MAJORITY SHAREHOLDERS they are the ones deciding all the major moves here, so don't try to pass it off anywhere else. And those people are willing to openly admit allowing players to "invite themselves" to the game for exp boosts in exchange for money, despite one of the key points of the game was that no actual advantages were supposed to be truly bought. This move will clearly benefit those who regularly fund new dummy accounts anyway. Which are botters. Anybody with half a brain could have seen that set up a mile away, and those who willingly claim ignorance have run out of excuses.

 

Even if you aren't "reading into this situation too much", all of those listed things are easy to see for any user, and if you just want to pass it off as another bot thread, perhaps you should start wondering why the hell there are so many bot threads these days.

 

Even though that I don't think that the game is such a huge catastrophe today as many other here on TIF seems to believe, I still have to say that I agree mostly with what you posted, Strilmus. Just by looking through the General Discussion forum and counting the number of bot threads shows that RS is having serious problems. Jagex really needs to get better at taking care of the bots within the game. They need to change their focus from the recent "make-more-money-to-the-company"-updates to updates that actually are making the game better. A great start would be to take more serious actions against the bots. Many good ideas have been submitted on these forums in other threads.

So please, Jagex, start working harder! Save this great game and return it to what it once was!

[Den]

Adding a trade limit would decrease a decent amount of bots. :P

[tetrak]

I must admit I find it a bit hypocritical how you guys react to Andrew not having much ties with Jagex anymore. He's mostly created the game from the ground up, dealt with the constant drama queening of this whiny community for years, and you're surprised that he feels like taking it easy with the money he rightfully made? You wouldn't have done the same thing, right?