RuneVillage - Removed as gold status because owner is a sex offender

[258ForLife]

To answer a question how they found out about Hiker: some user looked it up & sent it to Jagex.

 

Thats a Good idea for Jagex to do Background checks now for all other Fansites.

[pulli23]

To answer a question how they found out about Hiker: some user looked it up & sent it to Jagex.

 

Thats a Good idea for Jagex to do Background checks now for all other Fansites.

Let the witch hunt begin!

[foofoomagoo]

To answer a question how they found out about Hiker: some user looked it up & sent it to Jagex.

 

Thats a Good idea for Jagex to do Background checks now for all other Fansites.

Let the witch hunt begin!

 

What''s wrong with doing a background check? It's standard practice when applying for a job I don't see why this would be any different.

[Kimberly]

Let the witch hunt begin!

 

You can have your disagreements with how Jagex has handled this but if they are supporting fansites, then it's only natural that they adhere to the traits, qualities, and guidelines they hold ideal.

 

My issue is that with this debacle, they best take a firm look over their terms of agreement that come with fansite support and ensure that all fansites know of them should they seek/already have JAgex support. No more surprise guidelines popping up and costing communities their support (and the irreparable damage to their userbase that follows).

 

I have to wonder if they had stated that fansites seeking official support should do so within a certain frame of guidelines (like criminal convictions etc) would hiker have come clean and retired anyway? Who knows.

[pulli23]

If the goverment says someone isn't a problem: why does jagex make that person a problem?

 

But really, I'm happy that I'm no where official near runescape: the community just sickens me it seems. At other places where I am moderator, there are simply no questions asked about your real life background. And certainly not looked up behind the backs of me. I share what I wish to share, not what you YOU wish to know about me.

[foofoomagoo]

If the goverment says someone isn't a problem: why does jagex make that person a problem?

 

But really, I'm happy that I'm no where official near runescape: the community just sickens me it seems. At other places where I am moderator, there are simply no questions asked about your real life background. And certainly not looked up behind the backs of me. I share what I wish to share, not what you YOU wish to know about me.

 

If he's a registered sex offender then obviously the government thinks he's a problem.

[pulli23]

If the goverment says someone isn't a problem: why does jagex make that person a problem?

 

But really, I'm happy that I'm no where official near runescape: the community just sickens me it seems. At other places where I am moderator, there are simply no questions asked about your real life background. And certainly not looked up behind the backs of me. I share what I wish to share, not what you YOU wish to know about me.

 

If he's a registered sex offender then obviously the government thinks he's a problem.

I've been over this already, but no:

 

if he is a problem for the community -or the community is a problem for him- they have closed areas for such people. Areas where people can just live "in peace". Those registrations are only there for future problems: IF you have another problem in the future, your penalty would be obviously worse if you have committed a similar crime in the past already. However if he is really a problem for people around him, why would the goverment let him go?

[Bxpprod]

If the goverment says someone isn't a problem: why does jagex make that person a problem?

 

But really, I'm happy that I'm no where official near runescape: the community just sickens me it seems. At other places where I am moderator, there are simply no questions asked about your real life background. And certainly not looked up behind the backs of me. I share what I wish to share, not what you YOU wish to know about me.

 

Because it's a business. I've been over this at least once in the thread, but it only takes one nutjob to pick up that Hiker and Jagex were linked, and boom, JAGEX SUPPORT PEDOPHILES (ignoring that he is neither a pedophile nor that jagex supports them). There are large segments of society and (unfortunately) the media that thrive solely off the use of straw-man arguments. What is even worse, is that there are people out there who blindly follow without question.

 

These people would kick up a stink about Jagex, and even if it only cost them 1 customer, it's bad for business.

[Magicana]

Update on the situation:

 

Everyone has been asking and wondering about the future of RuneVillage' date=' and we can fill you in some on the current plans by the admin team.

 

First, let us state than we are angry about the manner in which Jagex has handled this entire incident. It was not necessary for them to make a public announcement of the reasoning, nor to publically make their statements about hiker, publishing links to his records, home information etc. They could have simply announced that they had withdrawn support from RV at this time and then worked out the details for new management/ownership in the background. The majority of comments posted at other fansites tend to agree with this opinion.

 

Further, Jagex initially stated that they would resume support and "Gold" status once new management/ownership was in place. However, later they came back and stated that they would not be supporting RuneVillage at all in the future. They have thrown our community out due to something that hiker did 16 years ago.

 

These events have caused us to re-examine our feelings about the ethics of Jagex as a company and to question what relationship we would wish to have with them and to what extent we would want to support Runescape, even in an unofficial, unsupported position like we did for more than seven of our nine years.

 

As a result, today we announce that RuneVillage will be moving toward the support of not only other games, but multiple games as well. Please use this topic for other suggestions as well.

 

Obviously, we already have a segment of Villagers who play "Minecraft" and this wiil be our first area of expansion. We will ask Villagers to write player guides and such for that game and submit them for publication on the site.

 

Other expansions could range from a forum just to play "Mafia", running several simultaneous games, along with playing and strategy guides, to full-out support for other multi-player games.

 

Runescape will continue to be supported much as we have in the past, but will not be the major emphasis of the site. This will allow us to continue to utilize our massive investment in guides, data, etc.

 

We will retain the name "RuneVillage" and continue to use the "RuneVillage" domain. This is our home, and RuneVillage is our history. Based on examining comments around the web, we feel that there will not be significient long-term negative effects to our name and domain. New people who find us will not be aware of either Hiker or RuneVillage's past, and those who know now would not have their opinions changed by a different name or a "cleansing" of all vestiges of RuneVillage or Hiker.

 

Due to it's popularity, we will continue to utilize our medieval theme, although there will be some minor changes, and RV2 will continue in production with some minor design changes there as well. Some of the features of RV2.0 have been redesignated to RV2.1 and it's being streamlined somewhat to move the project along. Glodenox and Demon will have the responsibiity of the technical direction, along with the assistance of Dark Paladin and the guides/maps/data team and other members of the website team.

 

Runes exist and are used by games other than Runescape, and many games have a medieval atmosphere about them, so we see no problem with continuing to use the name and designs.

 

Let these past few days be a catalyst for growth and expansion of the Village rather than a negative time. Let us all come together and build a better, stronger Village![/quote']

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

Update on the situation:

 

Everyone has been asking and wondering about the future of RuneVillage' date=' and we can fill you in some on the current plans by the admin team.

 

First, let us state than we are angry about the manner in which Jagex has handled this entire incident. It was not necessary for them to make a public announcement of the reasoning, nor to publically make their statements about hiker, publishing links to his records, home information etc. They could have simply announced that they had withdrawn support from RV at this time and then worked out the details for new management/ownership in the background. The majority of comments posted at other fansites tend to agree with this opinion.

 

Further, Jagex initially stated that they would resume support and "Gold" status once new management/ownership was in place. However, later they came back and stated that they would not be supporting RuneVillage at all in the future. They have thrown our community out due to something that hiker did 16 years ago.

 

These events have caused us to re-examine our feelings about the ethics of Jagex as a company and to question what relationship we would wish to have with them and to what extent we would want to support Runescape, even in an unofficial, unsupported position like we did for more than seven of our nine years.

 

As a result, today we announce that RuneVillage will be moving toward the support of not only other games, but multiple games as well. Please use this topic for other suggestions as well.

 

Obviously, we already have a segment of Villagers who play "Minecraft" and this wiil be our first area of expansion. We will ask Villagers to write player guides and such for that game and submit them for publication on the site.

 

Other expansions could range from a forum just to play "Mafia", running several simultaneous games, along with playing and strategy guides, to full-out support for other multi-player games.

 

Runescape will continue to be supported much as we have in the past, but will not be the major emphasis of the site. This will allow us to continue to utilize our massive investment in guides, data, etc.

 

We will retain the name "RuneVillage" and continue to use the "RuneVillage" domain. This is our home, and RuneVillage is our history. Based on examining comments around the web, we feel that there will not be significient long-term negative effects to our name and domain. New people who find us will not be aware of either Hiker or RuneVillage's past, and those who know now would not have their opinions changed by a different name or a "cleansing" of all vestiges of RuneVillage or Hiker.

 

Due to it's popularity, we will continue to utilize our medieval theme, although there will be some minor changes, and RV2 will continue in production with some minor design changes there as well. Some of the features of RV2.0 have been redesignated to RV2.1 and it's being streamlined somewhat to move the project along. Glodenox and Demon will have the responsibiity of the technical direction, along with the assistance of Dark Paladin and the guides/maps/data team and other members of the website team.

 

Runes exist and are used by games other than Runescape, and many games have a medieval atmosphere about them, so we see no problem with continuing to use the name and designs.

 

Let these past few days be a catalyst for growth and expansion of the Village rather than a negative time. Let us all come together and build a better, stronger Village![/quote']

 

You have no idea how freaking happy I am to see this. Just plain elated. Jagex didn't have to sully the name of a fansite over the actions of one man, and now they missed their chance to make amends.

 

Truth be told, this last week or so has spoken volumes about how Jagex views fansites, and how willing they're going to be to negotiate with them during tough times, or unusual circumstances. Whose to say that they won't target TIF or RuneHQ or Sal's Realm next?

 

Now is not the time to be concerned about a single person, but the community at large. This changes everything, folks.

[RoswellCrash]

Those registrations are only there for future problems: IF you have another problem in the future, your penalty would be obviously worse if you have committed a similar crime in the past already.

 

 

Those registrations are not for future reference for repeat offences, that system is already in place in the form of your criminal record.

 

The register is public & there to protect the public & for future employers so he doesn't get to work in or around people/children of who he could abuse.

 

What you've just said is rubbish.

[Deathknell]

If the goverment says someone isn't a problem: why does jagex make that person a problem?

 

But really, I'm happy that I'm no where official near runescape: the community just sickens me it seems. At other places where I am moderator, there are simply no questions asked about your real life background. And certainly not looked up behind the backs of me. I share what I wish to share, not what you YOU wish to know about me.

 

I do not take any cues from my government. Neither moral, logical, political, financially, or anything. Why do you keep pushing that because the government doesn't feel one way we must feel the same? Why do you think that the government is the end all, be all on these things?

 

They have a very limited responsibility. They run the legal procedings for a violation of the law. That's it. Jeez. <_<

 

 

Frankly I find your seemingly unquestioning faith in government strange. You seem to substitute their judgement for your own. That's just wrong. :-|

[rsboy]

omg how sick!

[Sir_Squab]

So?

 

That doesn't allows anyone to form an opinion of a person.

 

NEVER EVER form an opinion (or at least don't voice that opinion) untill you have seen that person, spoken to him and first said that opinion to him. Don't talk about others when they can't defend themself - especially not in a negative manner. Furthermore I simply can't understand how much of a "taboo" this is: it seems like you're all back in the middle ages, when also homosexuallity was a taboo. And now we look down at that time and say to ourselves: could you believe how stupid, and unequal time was back then? I'm not saying what he did is correct, but what I am saying is that judging him should be done by professionals, who know him NOT by the public.

 

 

On top of that, I really dislike religions, I strongly believe "god" is just a metaphor thought by humans to hide their weakness. However there are good things one can still learn off it seems: "forgive us our crimes like we forgive each other". One of the standard prayers of christianity, and it is one of those topics which comes back in some form in each religion. It is THAT important to let people live on.

 

You're the first guy to mention God. Just saying. This topic is enough of a [cabbage]storm that we really don't need religion to enter it. We could start an entirely new discussion based on that second paragraph.

 

As for the first paragraph... people judging other people and making an opinion of said person while knowing very little is simply a part of human nature. And stuff involving sexual behavior is always taboo on some level in virtually every society in the history of civilization. Really, you're complaining about people acting according to human nature. (Which isn't as pretty as humans would like to believe.)

[Deathknell]

I go by a different moral rule of judgements. "Judge, and be prepared to be judged."

 

But yeah, let's denounce the evil Jagex and defend the guy with child pornography. :huh:

[Orpheus]

I go by a different moral rule of judgements. "Judge, and be prepared to be judged."

 

But yeah, let's denounce the evil Jagex and defend the guy with child pornography. :huh:

 

I'll just re-iterate a point: Jagex could have handled this a lot better than they did. I'm not defending the owner of RV in terms of what he's done, but Jagex really made a bone-headed move here. Then again, this is Jagex we're referring to here.

[Deathknell]

I go by a different moral rule of judgements. "Judge, and be prepared to be judged."

 

But yeah, let's denounce the evil Jagex and defend the guy with child pornography. :huh:

 

I'll just re-iterate a point: Jagex could have handled this a lot better than they did. I'm not defending the owner of RV in terms of what he's done, but Jagex really made a bone-headed move here. Then again, this is Jagex we're referring to here.

 

I don't think they did. If they kept it quiet, people would've railed against them for their secrecy and persecution of RV. They knew that. Given the morally reprehensible actions too I think they decided they shouldn't have borne the brunt on this.

 

It's public information. They were honest. If Hiker didn't want to be shamed maybe he shouldn't have had child pornography? :shame:

[Kimberly]

Update on the situation:

 

[big post by henner]

 

Good lord, I think if I was a member of the RuneVillage community, I can't imagine I'd be more proud.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

I go by a different moral rule of judgements. "Judge, and be prepared to be judged."

 

But yeah, let's denounce the evil Jagex and defend the guy with child pornography. :huh:

 

I'll just re-iterate a point: Jagex could have handled this a lot better than they did. I'm not defending the owner of RV in terms of what he's done, but Jagex really made a bone-headed move here. Then again, this is Jagex we're referring to here.

 

I don't think they did. If they kept it quiet, people would've railed against them for their secrecy and persecution of RV. They knew that. Given the morally reprehensible actions too I think they decided they shouldn't have borne the brunt on this.

 

It's public information. They were honest. If Hiker didn't want to be shamed maybe he shouldn't have had child pornography? :shame:

 

...But at what cost?

 

Here you have a community who had nothing to do with this man's legal problems thrown to the wolves in the same motion that the actual perpetrator is. Had Jagex quietly negotiated with the fansite about this whole matter, and allowed Hiker to disappear without airing his dirty laundry, then I doubt any of us would have cared.

 

Hiker has been punished according to the law, and the past really came back to bite him this time. However, the fansite was caught up in all of this, and that's the real victim of this situation.

[Deathknell]

I go by a different moral rule of judgements. "Judge, and be prepared to be judged."

 

But yeah, let's denounce the evil Jagex and defend the guy with child pornography. :huh:

 

I'll just re-iterate a point: Jagex could have handled this a lot better than they did. I'm not defending the owner of RV in terms of what he's done, but Jagex really made a bone-headed move here. Then again, this is Jagex we're referring to here.

 

I don't think they did. If they kept it quiet, people would've railed against them for their secrecy and persecution of RV. They knew that. Given the morally reprehensible actions too I think they decided they shouldn't have borne the brunt on this.

 

It's public information. They were honest. If Hiker didn't want to be shamed maybe he shouldn't have had child pornography? :shame:

 

...But at what cost?

 

Here you have a community who had nothing to do with this man thrown to the wolves in the same motion that the actual perpetrator is. Had Jagex quietly negotiated with the fansite about this whole matter, and allowed Hiker to disappear without airing his dirty laundry, then I doubt any of us would have cared.

 

Hiker has been punished according to the law, and the past really came back to bite him this time. However, the fansite was caught up in all of this, and that's the real victim of this situation.

 

Agreed. I feel very bad for their community. Unfortunately the guy wasn't just an admin, but the owner and operator of the site.

 

Also given how they decided that even now with him gone RV couldn't ever get back their Gold status, it's unlikely that they'd ever have worked it out with them.

 

They decided to publicly cut all ties with him and their site. And honestly, what in the world were those people doing staying at RV? :rolleyes:

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

Agreed. I feel very bad for their community. Unfortunately the guy wasn't just an admin, but the owner and operator of the site.

 

Also given how they decided that even now with him gone RV couldn't ever get back their Gold status, it's unlikely that they'd ever have worked it out with them.

 

They decided to publicly cut all ties with him and their site. And honestly, what in the world were those people doing staying at RV? :rolleyes:

 

The devil's in the details, but what I gleaned from that post (before they locked their forums down, apparently) - Jagex had mentioned to them that they'd work with the site's new admins after Hiker was removed, but then Jagex came back and permanently ended their ties with the fansite.

 

Further, Jagex initially stated that they would resume support and "Gold" status once new management/ownership was in place. However, later they came back and stated that they would not be supporting RuneVillage at all in the future. They have thrown our community out due to something that hiker did 16 years ago.

 

 

Even though it's still a he-said she-said sort of scenario that plays out from here, there is an obvious lost of trust between RV and Jagex. So I'd say it's kind of tough to get back in the community's good graces. They were still around 7 years ago, back when the fansite "wars" were still happenin'. IIRC, they were one of the few that had concept art (not official of course) for RS2.

 

People stay at sites because they like the atmosphere. If they loved it over there at RV, then who are we to say where they should or shouldn't be?

[Magicana]

Another admin post:

 

~

 

Now for my exact post in the admin forum:

 

Dear Jagex:

 

 

Signed' date='

 

RuneVillage[/quote']

 

And what you guys know about what Jagex has told us is only a small portion. They lead us on to believe we WERE going to be able to earn our gold badge back, or at least a lesser one if we met all of their conditions. Then, after doing a lot of work on this stuff, they just come out of the blue and basically tell us to F off. So yeah.......business issue or not. They could not have handled this any worse or acted like bigger *insert whatever* than they did.

 

We did have full intentions of earning back our gold status. But after being nearly trolled by Jagex and their antics, why bother? They obviously do not want us back under ANY circumstances. In the end, I think this is a positive for us anyways. We no longer are bound by THEM as to what we can do with OUR site.

[Deathknell]

Agreed. I feel very bad for their community. Unfortunately the guy wasn't just an admin, but the owner and operator of the site.

 

Also given how they decided that even now with him gone RV couldn't ever get back their Gold status, it's unlikely that they'd ever have worked it out with them.

 

They decided to publicly cut all ties with him and their site. And honestly, what in the world were those people doing staying at RV? :rolleyes:

 

The devil's in the details, but what I gleaned from that post (before they locked their forums down, apparently) - Jagex had mentioned to them that they'd work with the site's new admins after Hiker was removed, but then Jagex came back and permanently ended their ties with the fansite.

 

Further, Jagex initially stated that they would resume support and "Gold" status once new management/ownership was in place. However, later they came back and stated that they would not be supporting RuneVillage at all in the future. They have thrown our community out due to something that hiker did 16 years ago.

 

 

Even though it's still a he-said she-said sort of scenario that plays out from here, there is an obvious lost of trust between RV and Jagex. So I'd say it's kind of tough to get back in the community's good graces. They were still around 7 years ago, back when the fansite "wars" were still happenin'. IIRC, they were one of the few that had concept art (not official of course) for RS2.

 

People stay at sites because they like the atmosphere. If they loved it over there at RV, then who are we to say where they should or shouldn't be?

 

 

Well, in the he-said/she-said scenario it's pretty tough. Take the word of a company who's judgement you no longer trust or the guy convicted of posessing and sending child porn. :unsure:

[Magicana]

Agreed. I feel very bad for their community. Unfortunately the guy wasn't just an admin, but the owner and operator of the site.

 

Also given how they decided that even now with him gone RV couldn't ever get back their Gold status, it's unlikely that they'd ever have worked it out with them.

 

They decided to publicly cut all ties with him and their site. And honestly, what in the world were those people doing staying at RV? :rolleyes:

 

The devil's in the details, but what I gleaned from that post (before they locked their forums down, apparently) - Jagex had mentioned to them that they'd work with the site's new admins after Hiker was removed, but then Jagex came back and permanently ended their ties with the fansite.

 

Further, Jagex initially stated that they would resume support and "Gold" status once new management/ownership was in place. However, later they came back and stated that they would not be supporting RuneVillage at all in the future. They have thrown our community out due to something that hiker did 16 years ago.

 

 

Even though it's still a he-said she-said sort of scenario that plays out from here, there is an obvious lost of trust between RV and Jagex. So I'd say it's kind of tough to get back in the community's good graces. They were still around 7 years ago, back when the fansite "wars" were still happenin'. IIRC, they were one of the few that had concept art (not official of course) for RS2.

 

People stay at sites because they like the atmosphere. If they loved it over there at RV, then who are we to say where they should or shouldn't be?

 

 

Well, in the he-said/she-said scenario it's pretty tough. Take the word of a company who's judgement you no longer trust or the guy convicted of posessing and sending child porn. :unsure:

 

The past two quotes were from Henner and Burks, respectively - Not Hiker.

[Kimberly]

They decided to publicly cut all ties with him and their site. And honestly, what in the world were those people doing staying at RV? :rolleyes:

 

You'll have to forgive me if I've misinterpreted your post, but it doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. You're not speaking of the community that chooses to remain there, are you?