Carl Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Dear RuneScape Community, I would like to take a moment of your time to address the highly emotive issue that we face as a community – bots. At the beginning of the year, when we brought Free Trade and the Wilderness back, we promised that we would couple that with programmes that would combat the inevitable botting that would result from that decision. Over the last few months we have initiated a number of programmes to do this, some of which we have already mentioned to you, some of which we haven’t because of legal reasons and some because we do not want to warn gold farmers and bot makers about our counter measures. The challenge for us is that despite all of our programmes and best intentions the problem is still huge and, most annoyingly, still adversely impacting parts of our game. We are continuing to battle bots on all fronts. In an effort to be more open and transparent we wish to share a couple of measures and initiatives we are about to release/have released recently: • We have recently improved our internal systems to be able to spot spam from the chat window and instantly mute the offender preventing the constant flow of communication from the gold farmers which are impacting the game experience. Your reports are very helpful to us here! • Continuing our ongoing legal cases against bot developers. • Mandatory email validation for new accounts will add extra account security and impair the mass account creation that gold farmers use. There are several other initiatives and actions that we plan to implement over the next few months and we will share these with you as often and in much detail as we can. The most significant of these is to come soon. Also, we recognise that we have not been the best at communicating what we are doing and that changes today. While we are winning small battles by spending significant money and resources in trying to combat this problem, the war is not going in our favour as we are struggling to keep up with companies whose only business 24 hours a day 7 days a week is to find ways to get bots into the game. As a result, one thing has become really clear to us despite our ongoing efforts. We cannot win this battle alone. We need your help. So how can you help? First, we would like to hear from you in a more coordinated way regarding your thoughts about how to fight the bots problem. We will be developing surveys to help us understand more about bots directly from you... we would love to hear your response. We would like to set up a special forum where we can have targeted Q&A’s and get formal feedback from you about specific initiatives. We will let you know when this forum is set up and invite you to join us. We hope that you will engage with and encourage your friends to use any tools that we provide to you that will help us identify and ban the bots like the Spam Filter feature. And finally, we would ask that you refrain from using bots or supporting gold farmers. If there is not a market, then bots will not exist. As was so eloquently put in a recent post on Tip.it “Standing up to Jagex [by voicing one’s opinion on the botting issue], one might argue, requires a certain amount of courage, but much more is required to stand up to one’s friends”. The player went on to say, “The community needs to stand up for itself by following the rules and shunning those who do not. Lacking customers, the websites that set up the bots will close, and the only botter will be the isolated real player. Ultimately, following the three pillars of the code of conduct that Jagex set up-“Honour,” “Respect,” and “Security” are a responsibility of the players and the community as much as they are of Jagex.” We are committed to ridding our game of bots. We are committed to providing a more open discussion with you about the real challenges that we face as a result of our efforts. We are committed to involving you more in this war so we can win this fight together. Most importantly, we are committed to continuing our investment in evolving and making RuneScape a great game to play and an amazing community to be a part of. Thanks, Daniel CloughChief Operating Officer & Vice President of RuneScape http://services.runescape.com/m=news/update-on-our-ongoing-battle-against-bots RIP Michaelangelopolous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ts_Stormrage Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Do we have the source of that quote somewhere? Former Leader of The Tal Shiar Alliance - An Original Tip.it ClanMember of the Wilderness Guardians and Founder of the Silent GuardiansFounder of The Conclave - A Tip.it Clan institutionTip.it Times author (click for all my articles) - When I use the wrong reasons to make the right statement, argue the reason, not the statement.MSSW4 General - Did we kick your ass too?Check us out!==> No seriously, if you like FREE GP, XP and Dung tokens, as well as Community, Opportunity and above all FUN... <==CLICK IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted October 14, 2011 Author Share Posted October 14, 2011 Do we have the source of that quote somewhere? I've edited that into the main post, but it's here: http://services.runescape.com/m=news/update-on-our-ongoing-battle-against-bots RIP Michaelangelopolous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ts_Stormrage Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 No i mean the Tip.it post thats mentioned in that thing :) Would love to have a link to the source... Former Leader of The Tal Shiar Alliance - An Original Tip.it ClanMember of the Wilderness Guardians and Founder of the Silent GuardiansFounder of The Conclave - A Tip.it Clan institutionTip.it Times author (click for all my articles) - When I use the wrong reasons to make the right statement, argue the reason, not the statement.MSSW4 General - Did we kick your ass too?Check us out!==> No seriously, if you like FREE GP, XP and Dung tokens, as well as Community, Opportunity and above all FUN... <==CLICK IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essiw Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 No i mean the Tip.it post thats mentioned in that thing :) Would love to have a link to the source...Google is your friend: http://www.tip.it/runescape/?times=679Though it is an article, not a post. http://sign.tip.it/1/2/79/260/essiw.png Retired item crew I would like to be credited as essiw at the website update & corrections forum. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Gabe Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 At least they finally admitted they can't deal with the problem. Three months banishment to 9gag is something i would never wish upon anybody, not even my worst enemy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkDude Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Not sure how turning to the community will help them ban bots so not entirely sure what their point is here. Great they'll be more open about botting and admit it's a problem but all they state is they'll hold Q&A sessions which is entirely useless and side stepping the actual problem of dealing with the bots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essiw Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Not sure how turning to the community will help them ban bots so not entirely sure what their point is here. Great they'll be more open about botting and admit it's a problem but all they state is they'll hold Q&A sessions which is entirely useless and side stepping the actual problem of dealing with the bots.They also state they have great plans and have already done some big things. Also no-one else has seen the massive ban/rollback of bots in fishing and mining and some more skills (I got in multiple skills 300k+ ranks on just one day without gaining xp) http://sign.tip.it/1/2/79/260/essiw.png Retired item crew I would like to be credited as essiw at the website update & corrections forum. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeg0477 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 It's good that they're owning up to the problem, hopefully this will lead to some kind of solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaumonde Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 All talk and no visible actions, not impressed. Stat Progress | Stat Averages | Stat Records Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted October 14, 2011 Author Share Posted October 14, 2011 All talk and no visible actions, not impressed. One really visible action is the fact there's very few RWT-advertising bots about. I think that's a huge step in itself. RIP Michaelangelopolous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaida23 Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 All talk and no visible actions, not impressed.One really visible action is the fact there's very few RWT-advertising bots about. I think that's a huge step in itself.Agreed. The ad bots are much more annoying than the skill bots. Check out my blog to read the Adventures of a Big Damn (F2P) Hero. THE place for all free players to connect, hang out and talk about how awesome it is to be F2P. So, Kaida is the real version of every fictional science-badass? That explains a lot, actually... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will H Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 All talk and no visible actions, not impressed.One really visible action is the fact there's very few RWT-advertising bots about. I think that's a huge step in itself.Agreed. The ad bots are much more annoying than the skill bots. More annoying, yeah, but they're still both problems. I used to enjoy a trip to Frost Dragons as a reasonably decent source of income. This is fundamentally a step we should all want to hear, but you can't climb a mountain with only a single step in the right direction. I await further news, and I'd love to hear ideas from other people, players and mods alike, on how this problem will be dealt with. ~ W ~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saradomin_Mage Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Someone cynically pointed out that voting for GJA was still on when this newspost came out.For me, this message suffices, really. I just hope we'll see further improvements in the situation, which is what they promised us when they said they were bringing back free trade. In real life MMO you don't get 99 smithing by making endless bronze daggers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberly Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 I'm happy to see something like this. Pushing aside my reservations, I would like to imagine that this is a turning point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForsakenMage Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Well, it definitely is a lot quieter in GE and Lumbridge whew. X.X Adventurer's Log || YouTube || Facebook || Tip.it Times Work || Wanna Join the Editorial Panel?Maxed Out 01 October 2012 PDT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwreeTak Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 It will be very interesting to see what actions Jagex will take against the bot. What will this big update that will come soon be? I have no idea, but I really hope it is something effectful. It's great to see that Jagex now informs us about what they do to stop the bots. Add me if you so wish: SwreeTak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sy_Accursed Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Email validation will certainly knock out a few of the more amateur gold farming operations (eg those that can't generate fake emails) and atleast slow down the rest. The chat thing is the main thing though, and it is likely to have a bigger impact than you think. After all if the advertising in-game is being stiffled much more effectively it is going to shut down traffic to the sites; which in turn will probably cause a few to "go under" or give up as they aren't getting business. Step in the right direction for sure. Operation Gold Sparkles :: Chompy Kills :: Full Profound :: Champions :: Barbarian Notes :: Champions Tackle Box :: MA RewardsDragonkin Journals :: Ports Stories :: Elder Chronicles :: Boss Slayer :: Penance King :: Kal'gerion Titles :: Gold Statue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makoto_the_Phoenix Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 So they admitted that the problem is too much for them to handle alone, and that they've been too quiet about what's really happening. Gee. Welcome to pre-2007 (surprise in December) and pre-Referendum (surprise in December, coincidentally). Unless botting becomes pointless in the grand scheme of things, or Jagex finally starts putting together actual numbers of what they're doing, these are nothing more than hollow words to me. It's only reinforced the sentiment I had back in January that Jagex didn't have a damn clue what they had unleashed back into their game in full force. EDIT: They've only just now begun e-mail validation? Or rather, they're only now considering implementing it? I'm at a loss for words. With the obvious abuse the registration system has had over the years, I thought for sure that they would have squared this away back in '09. Just...wow. Linux User/Enthusiast | Full-Stack Software Engineer | Stack Overflow Member | GIMP User...Alright, the Elf City update lured me back to RS over a year ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberly Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 So they admitted that the problem is too much for them to handle alone, and that they've been too quiet about what's really happening.Just...wow. I don't think they're just now admitting it. It's what was commonly understood to be necessary, which is why we have player mods and reports in the first place. But Jagex was heavily criticized for a lack of visible results breeding apathy to the situation in their player base. I think that was more of the reason for this newspost than a sudden revelation more than anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fawful Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 One of the problems is that while they are saying things like this, they have taken steps back such a R.A.F. & B.A.R. How are players suppose to believe/want to help Jagex when they introduce updates that help botters/RWTers? I hope it's true, I really do, but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if they said "We give up, we are now selling bot programs that you are allowed to use!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaaps1 Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Not impressed. I mean in all honestly this accomplishes very little. ~It's Super Effective! (The Zaaps Blog)~My YouTube Channel, where you get to watch me go around and make a fool out of myself and all comp capersGuides:~Yeah I wrote them once~Suggestions:~Yeah I made those once~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirschen Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Not impressed. I mean in all honestly this accomplishes very little. This. The only thing I've notice was the drop in ad bots. It would be enlightening if they posted some hard statistics as to how many bots they ban a day, suspected number of bots being added, etc. I can get more information out of facts than another bot announcement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omali Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 A few other games have found the morale benefits of letting people see direction action towards cheaters. In Guild Wars and Aion, GM's will come into the game and literally blow up the bot/spammer. Vogster posts statistics on a weekly basis of how many people are caught cheating, and a few games still throw out public server messages when a player is banned for botting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFfy90w_C9A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooferfish Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 I'm happy to see something like this. Pushing aside my reservations, I would like to imagine that this is a turning point. This. Hopefully this is the beginning of a bot decimation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now