Tip.It Times Presents: So Who Needs Fansites Anyway?

[Kiara_Kat]

This week's Tip.It Times has been released. Feel free to discuss the article or post any comments. If you have any criticism, please make sure it's constructive! :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So Who Needs Fansites Anyway?

 

 

 

The Editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday morning. I'm in my home office with my cat on my lap, catching up with news on the internet. I go to check the comments on Friday's Times, and lo and behold, what do I see? A comment from Jagex in the discussion topic. At this point the cat nearly got a coffee shower as I almost choked on my morning java. Tip.It gave senior Jagex staff accounts onÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâæ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to read the rest of this article.

[Errdoth]

This is a good point, I especially like the bit about non-disclosure, pre-release "tours", and I do think that Jagex has indeed been reading The Times ever since tht one article... Great job Editor!

[Kaphias]

Great job Editor! I choked when I read the beginning. :lol:

[timmay929]

That would be something pretty cool. Have Jagex work with fansites. Although I can't really think of any benefits right now, it would be cool. But it is never going to happen.

[kickbuta]

I find it a wee bit creepy that Jagex is watching me post here...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But it has occurred that with the release of this article that maybe we should get a bunch of players and tip it staff together and try and convince Jagex to open up talks and you know; make things better in general for all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For instance they could probably stop updating their knowledge base as much and focus on getting rid of scammers and rule breakers, maybe some sweet new updates to? Wishful thinking I know, but it would also help more players find tip it, when they would usually be apprehensive when looking for a fan site. And it would provide players that are looking for more information a place they can find all the information they need in a safe environment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I donÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t know if all of that is coherent but I tried, o yah and they could give a link or something on the main page, IÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢m not sure, wow thatÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s a lot of typing...

[Madder_Atkha]

Very interesting article and I think it would be an excellent idea. I play another MMORPG, Guild Wars, and it has this kind of situation in place already. It maintains a list of the best fansites and categorises them according to standard. So I really don't think it would be that hard to implement.

[Greencheeese]

Nice article, nice to see jagex is expressing intrest in fansites. I agree, there is alot of valuable information they can get here that they can't get their hands on anywhere else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another nice tip.it article, keep them up i look forward to them every week :D

[Errdoth]

Very interesting article and I think it would be an excellent idea. I play another MMORPG, Guild Wars, and it has this kind of situation in place already. It maintains a list of the best fansites and categorises them according to standard. So I really don't think it would be that hard to implement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jagex used to have their "star" system, I don't know whats become of it now though.

[Doughnut]

Intresting, I really do wish Jagex would support Tip.It and other fansites.

[Ginger_Warrior]

An interesting and constructive article, as I have come to expect from you Editor... Great Work! :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I too find it a bit creepy that Jagex DO have the power to watch everything I say. Not least because I do have some rather controversial viewpoints, that in the eyes of Jagex, would almost certainly result in a Forum Ban on their official RS forums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the issue that really needs to addressed here though is not whether Jagex should get along with their fansites (I think this is beyond question. It's the same as politics, as more people join Jagex, more people will join fansites such as Tip.It or RuneHQ, for whatever reason be it good or bad.) I think this because at the end of the day, the more members a website has, the more power it starts to gain over the company it associates itself with (think of Trade Unions and political pressure, the two aren't much different). This will probably likely never happen, but Tip.It as it grows gains more threat to Jagex in the form of (at the worst-case scenario) boycotts. As I said, very highly unlikely (some would argue an impossibility), but it puts Jagex in a place where does have to get along with fansites, or else lose popularity with the members of that fansite. This becomes ever so more crucial as the population explosion of RS continues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the issue that really does need to be addressed is why Jagex haven't already acknowledged the creation of fansites and the influence that they undoubtedly have over the game. Paul and Andrew seem to be under the impression that those two alone are in charge of running Jagex, and while this is theoretically true, it's not in reality. RS has an estimated members populace of 750,000. Can two people in an office in London really control 750,000 gamers whom live all over the world, in the US, Canada, Asia, Central Europe and Australasia? And not just that, but keep in touch with what all these people want? Certainly the BA update showed how much Jagex can miss their audiences' wants by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The way I see, Paul and Andrew have to realise that RS is no longer a small national company and can no longer realistically be run by two (albeit very clever) people in an office in England. To use an old line, they have to start letting the baby grow. One way to do this is to let fansites have more of a direct relationship with Jagex. There would be so much for Jagex to gain - it would be more in touch with its audience, it would have a better control of players around the world, and (off topic a little) would also give players and mods a place to refer people to if the knowledge database (KB) has holes in its information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under the circumstances, it is completely beyond me why Jagex haven't already affiliated themselves with trusted fansites, such as Tip.IT and RuneHQ. They have an area for fansites on the KB, yet no fansite mentioned. Strange, no? Using fansites to help administer the game would be a cost-effective way for Jagex to remain in-touch with its audience (a skill which Jagex in fairness have lacked in months of late), give more ideas for suggestions, without compromising the safety of it or its players, or alienating anybody away from RS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many would say this will never happen, I say that it has to happen sometime. Either that or privatisation, and if that happened there would be greater monitoring of fansites for information about players' thoughts anyway, I feel. Sooner will be better for Jagex in the long run...

[Veltia]

And it's proberly also quite true. In runescape there aren't much for stuff to sell to the players unless the ringtones and membership everything is just pure unoriginal :-k

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But if we takes a page like Tip.it that is a fanpage what is it a page of fans who likes the game or is it a page about the game that a dozens of fans - either fans of the game or the page - who works on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*phew* hates then i starts thinking!

[JimmyMcNabb]

I feel it'd be great if Jagex could learn to work together with fansites such as tip.it. I feel that if both parties put in the work both could benefit hugely from it. For instance the laborious task of calculators created by tip.it would not have to go through as much work if Jagex just worked side by side with them and provided them with relevant information. Alas I feel the future is not bright in the cooperation of both contributing parties.

[ddaanniiellh]

That was an interesting read, it is quite true that if all the fansites disappeared, new ones would appear almost immediately.

 

 

 

~Ddaanniiellh

[aaron32323]

well perhaps all of the major fan sites could give certain types of feedback

 

 

 

tip it!!, hq, community/zybits, village

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

if all of the fan sites gave different types of reports like what the population is not liking about rs at the time or what the popular sugjestions are or problomes like as in bugs jagex would get a nice general picture of how the rs community is feeling at the time etc

[Shinyblade99]

:arrow: First off, I do agree that Jagex should have a better relationship with fansites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:arrow: However, I also believe that they should never accually advertise names. Think of how tip.it is on it's forums. Compare that to the members on Jagex forum discussion threads. Do we really want the spammers with the worst opinions, with no backup or constructive critism to now know that there is another group of people they can annoy? This of al lthe horrible r unescape suggestions there would be. I do not want to mention what some of those suggestions are, but one of the main ones that I was appalled (sp?) at was one that was horribly degrading to women. I do not believe that we want any links or advertising on Runescape.com for this or any other fan site. This would make many undesirable people who were too lazy to find the sites themselves come here and overwork the moderators (i've been a forum moderater on another site, it's hard even with groups of only about 1000 people. I can only imagine how much tip.it moderaters have to do already.) I do not want to have to deal with these people messing up the site for the long time users.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:arrow: That was my two cents.

[mikeb912]

I find it a wee bit creepy that Jagex is watching me post here...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many people watching you post here. Is that creepy?

[Elphinstone]

I continue to like your articles. This was a pretty good one. I think Jagex should learn to work with it's fansites, because a lot of times, we have a lot more control over the player-base than the main sites do. For example, If Tip.it requested that everyone have a 'noob' free day, we could have an effect on the actualy gameplay in RS (Maybe...). It think it will help Jagex regain control of the game they seem to be losing control of.

[jimjimson]

When I read the times I had no idea what you were talking about, but as reading the forums I understood. Jagex and fansite should come together.

[ilya]

good article

[cph]

It's a good article. I don't think fansites should get inside information though, it would give them an unfair advantage over other players who would have to wait until after it came out to find out what's coming. Also, I'm sure that some people would leak out the information.

[Elessar3019]

The bit about Jagex staff posting here and reading these forums is interesting. Some of the ideas (check the support banner in my sig) that originated here are certainly deserving of some notice by a Jagex staffmember. But as I've read before here, these sort of ideas produced by players actually slow down the time it takes for Jagex to implement them in the game. If a player produces the idea, then by international copyright laws, that concept belongs solely to them, and any entity who attepts to copy that idea without express permission from the current holder of the rights is breaking the law. Therefore unless the player releases the rights to the company, the idea cannot be implemented in the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd really like to see those great suggestions be added to the game later, but because of our screwy laws and sneaky ordinances, the time it will take for Jagex to gain the legal rights will prevent many of them from taking place.

[Justin_Jgh]

Perhaps you should be more worried about the game itself rather than the fan sites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I personally would rather Jagex not play tea time with fansites.

 

 

 

It would take way to much of their time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You must realize that fansites aren't what's keeping RuneScape alive, most players haven't even heard of Tip.It or RHQ.

 

 

 

FAN SITES must learn to live with JAGEX.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That means listening and not giving them bull about stuff like releasing quest guides so early.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, you sound like Rosie O Donald or whattever her name is.

[PHOsho]

Yes, I agree that if fansites such as this one, and Jagex worked together things COULD be a lot better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine all the stuff we have suggested on these forums that are oh so useful and nice; but some have flaws i suppose. :?

[sohkmj1]

ok article, but where did the mod post

[Errdoth]

Andrew posted on the thread for "Emergent Gameplay"