Rule 15 = Order 66

[blackrazor]

I've been playing RS since Nov. 2001, and I often take long breaks (many months at a time) to try out other MMOs, or just to do other stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This time, I come back in time for Halloween. I go to read some Tip.it, and one post mentions advert blocking is now officially against the rules, so I check out the Jagex site, and sure enough, there is a new rule added:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rule 15 - Advert Blocking

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, obviously, I understand the logic. The ads pay for the "free" version of this game, so naturally, they don't want them blocked. But, I think Jagex has crossed a line here ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of these ads drop cookies, data-mining spyware, transponders, and hidden browser apps onto our systems. These little pests will effect your system performance & stability even when you're not playing RS. And a spyware clogged PC can be expensive and/or time consuming to clean, more so if you follow Jagex's orders and remove your defences against them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the TOS, Jagex limits their liability for consequential damages if you use their product, while at the same time, ordering you to remain vulnerable to consequential damages with this new (well, new to me, anyways) rule 15. My sole remedy? Stop playing RS. But, I've built my character, and circle of friends, since Nov. 2001 ... that's a lot of history to throw away, just because Jagex finally added a new rule that I just can't comply with in good conscience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the real world, many people watch pre-recorded TV, and simply FF or TIVO past unwanted adverts. The stations aren't threatening: "No TV for you!."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think this is a bad rule, and a bad precedent.

[curly55555]

well said =D>

[harryp0tt3rules]

True, and according to jagex their adverts do nothing but put cookies on your system :roll: ,...but cookies still do waste space

[erishiku]

The stations aren't threatening: "No TV for you!."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny you should mention that. I have read where they aren't really stopping television service, they are just adding banner ads when you fast forward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.boingboing.net/2004/11/17/ti ... _fast.html

[Duke_Freedom]

Fits right into the "we can do anything we want" attitude of Jagex these days.

[Screech1992]

Does that rule actually make sense? Because I can't think of a way to check if people block the adverts :? It's so easy in FF to block adverts :)

[elmo_killer6]

im not F2P but ya when i go on F2P worlds the ads really annoy me and i hate how its a rule not to get rid of them

[Dalcyte]

i hate those adverts really, and they're wildtangent, and it is very notorious for doing that type of stuff, jagex should inlist other methods of advertising.

[silence]

yea it gets pretty annoying, blocking them shouldn't be that bad, especially when they make your eyes hurt :s

[toast647]

ive always wondered how do they know your blocking the ads unless you blaintantly(sp) say it in game?

[Kuroi_Ame]

ive always wondered how do they know your blocking the ads unless you blaintantly(sp) say it in game?

 

 

 

I'm guessing they won't know, lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used to have a program (a type of anti-spyware and anti-viruse) that would block JaGeX adverts but didn't realise it til the free trial was over with, lol. I just thought JaGeX lightened up and let us free players play without the annoyance (and lag that follows) of adverts. Then my trial ended and now I am sad :cry:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

___

 

 

 

kuroi

[Blaze The Movie Fan]

F2P is suppose to be boring, and have little things in it, and very few things to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's no reason for treating F2Pers like slaves. I mean, why should they get spyware in the computer because of this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They don't even need it, they already get plenny of money via members.

[blackrazor]

Hi Duke. Long time no see. Good to find that you're still around. At least here we can say "meet ya later on msn" without fear of being banned. :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To those that ask if Jagex can detect ad-blocking; the answer is yes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Websites can ping their own cookies, stored (or not) on your computer, to detect if you're blocking. You're denied access to their site if cookies are blocked, even if cookies are not required to access the content. The Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) does that if you try to log into some of their older articles via direct url.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The same can be done for cookie dropping (or spyware implanting) banner ad scripts. They can detect if an IP is blocking their ad content, and report this information back to Jagex. It is an easy step to correlate this IP with a logged account during the same time period. Poof! Insta-ban. (If they desire to take this route.)

[Dark_Lord552]

i dont see and ads when i play rs and i am f2p.....and i am not banned.....

[youknowwho]

you have a good point( i never knew why the ads appeared sometimes but now i know) and i always hated those ads that blinked different colors like black and cyan they really annoyed the hell out of me :evil:

[aznmidget448]

What I do is just minimize the window so the adds are covered up. It saves my computer from having to keep up with the graphics and me from needing to stare at them.

[neogeo0823]

What I do is just minimize the window so the adds are covered up. It saves my computer from having to keep up with the graphics and me from needing to stare at them.

and that, ladies and gents, is about the only legal thing you can do to "block" the ads. by "block", i mean literally block them out of your viewing window, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

all you have to do is take your full sized screen, which looks like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

__________

 

 

 

|..... ad .......|

 

 

 

|_________|

 

 

 

|..................|

 

 

 

|.....game ...|

 

 

 

|_________|

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and reduce its size so that it looks like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

....................

 

 

 

:.adisgone..:

 

 

 

:_________: <-- this is the top of your window, just below the ad

 

 

 

|..................|

 

 

 

|....game.....|

 

 

 

|_________|

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this way, the ad is still on the page, but visibly blocked. ive found, back when i was f2p, that it greatly helped reduce lag and headaches from those horrible, mind numbing, flashing ads. the only problem that would ever occur would be when you got an ad with sound(the fly w/flyswatter or the paparazzi ads come to mind :x :wall: ) beacause then you had to reload the window and hope for an ad with no sound. and as far as i can tell, its completely in accordance with the rules, because your not actually blocking the ad, just removing it from sight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

now all you need to do is regularly scan your computer for viruses and tracker cookies(something which regularly gets implanted into your computer, i might add) and your all set.

[25leaf]

Yeah Jadex thinks they can do anything nowadays, ban people for the wrong offence, one they didn't commit, what not.

[no_username4]

a. There's no spyware if you don't click on 'em. Cookies, yes, but you can delete those quite simply.

 

 

 

b. It's Jagex giving you something for nothing under their terms. Yes, they can do whatever they want. Yes, it stinks, doesn't it?

 

 

 

c. If you get one of those sound or flashy ads, just right click(assuming it's a flash which it usually is) and choose low quality(for lag) and toy around with the play, loop, rewind and forward buttons.(this usually can block the sound)

 

 

 

d. Blocking ads is basically ripping off the advertisers. You may not like the adverts, but they're what keeps f2p free. Deal with it.(I think I sound like Jagex :shock: )

[toast647]

when i train my f2p pure i just put enough toolbars on the top so i can scroll down and the ad is gone

[ktmcf121]

umm first of all, i have no idea how they would even know if you are blocking the ads..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

secondly, on my laptop i use firefox, and it automatically blocks the ads whenever i go to f2p (usually to sell tt items or train fm), so does that mean i'm breaking the rules just because i am computer illiterate?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i dont know how to change my internet settings #-o every time i mess around with settings my computer does something i dont want it to, so i just stopped. :roll:

[Muntrue]

there is a simple firefox plugin called "RemovePermanently" wich removes any image,banner or piece of text with 1 mouse click.. easy way to remove the add from f2p.. still.. its illigal so :shame: :lol:

[Duke_Freedom]

Hi Duke. Long time no see. Good to find that you're still around. At least here we can say "meet ya later on msn" without fear of being banned. :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But that still doesn't help much with getting you come more on msn though. :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To those that ask if Jagex can detect ad-blocking; the answer is yes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although it is rather questionable whether Jagex will really take it so seriously to actively catch people who break the rule, it certainly is worrying that they made the rule in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon Jagex will introduce Rule 16: Supporting competition. You may not play any other mmorpg besides RuneScape as by doing so you would support our competitors and we cannot tolerate that. Breaking this rule is a serious offense and will lead to a permanent ban. :roll:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While it is logical that Jagex wants to protect their add-income (although I'm sure that income is significantly smaller then their memberships income), I do think they are taking a step too far here. Furthermore, people who do all that effort to block adds aren't very likely to click on them in the first place, are they?

[darkblade986]

Ok, think about this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've seen reports that Jagex has over 5 million members, and not even 1 million of them are members...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That means 4 million accounts are free-2-play... Assume that maybe 1/2 of the accounts are secondary accounts. That leaves 2 million further members to play on free-2-play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assume now that only 1/4 of them are computer literate people who would know how to block the ads: that leaves 1.5m people who still have to deal with the ads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assume further that 2/3 of these people play Runescape daily. That means Jagex is getting 1 million customers to make about 4 million hits on their advertisers (main page, detail select, world select, game page).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the other 1 million accounts, again, assume 1/4 are computer literate and know how to block ads: 750k left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assume 2/3 play runescape daily: 500k left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These members get 3 hits each on ads (main page, detail select, world select), meaning an additional 1.5m hits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That means Jagex is getting AT LEAST 5.5m hits on ads if some of the population was blocking ads. Now I don't know how much money Jagex makes per ad, but if we assume they make 5 cents ($0.05), that's $275k DAILY. Even if they only make .01 cents ($0.01), that's still $55k a day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think Jagex can afford to let people block ads...

[marlin85]

Ok, think about this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've seen reports that Jagex has over 5 million members, and not even 1 million of them are members...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That means 4 million accounts are free-2-play... Assume that maybe 1/2 of the accounts are secondary accounts. That leaves 2 million further members to play on free-2-play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assume now that only 1/4 of them are computer literate people who would know how to block the ads: that leaves 1.5m people who still have to deal with the ads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assume further that 2/3 of these people play Runescape daily. That means Jagex is getting 1 million customers to make about 4 million hits on their advertisers (main page, detail select, world select, game page).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the other 1 million accounts, again, assume 1/4 are computer literate and know how to block ads: 750k left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assume 2/3 play runescape daily: 500k left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These members get 3 hits each on ads (main page, detail select, world select), meaning an additional 1.5m hits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That means Jagex is getting AT LEAST 5.5m hits on ads if some of the population was blocking ads. Now I don't know how much money Jagex makes per ad, but if we assume they make 5 cents ($0.05), that's $275k DAILY. Even if they only make .01 cents ($0.01), that's still $55k a day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think Jagex can afford to let people block ads...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

u forgot to add that some people use swiftswitch (ss)