Tag: Jagex

Jagex Begins Selling Extra Bank Spaces In Cash Shop


File this one under undermining your own values. A good long time ago I reported that Jagex was considering adding an authenticator-style security dongle to RuneScape, an idea that was scrapped after community backlash over a very simple perk. In order to encourage people to buy the dongle, Jagex wanted to offer a small expansion in bank space. Ultimately, of course, the reason Jagex gave for the withdrawal was that the company considered selling bank space as an unfair advantage, and that doing so would violate the company’s policy of not selling in-game advantages for cash.

Welcome to 2012, Jagex. In today’s update, players are now able to buy bank space. Not just a small amount of bank space, up to 250 extra spaces. Nonmembers will be able to expand their bank up to 4.2 (over the current 78) times its current limit, and allow members to increase their bank space by around 50% (over the current 468). Each expansion costs approximately $8 and offers 50 extra bank spaces, the whole group will cost around $40.

So did Jagex lie about the Bank of RuneScape image being fake, or was the appearance of the image last week just a really well timed coincidence?

(Source: RuneScape)

Everquest II’s Goblin Games Seems Inspired By Squeal of Fortune


I have to imagine that somewhere out there, at least one person has stopped playing RuneScape because of Squeal of Fortune, and wound up playing Everquest II instead. The odds are low, incredibly so, but with time my mind seems to think that such a person must be, and gee, will this news stink. For the uninformed, Squeal of Fortune is a cash shop game on RuneScape where players receive spins either through in-game activities, purchased through the store, or daily as an allowance. The mini-game is hosted by a goblin and has the chance of winning gold, resources, and equipment.

Today, Everquest II revealed the latest update: The goblin games. In this mini-game, players are issued tickets on a monthly basis, depending on their membership status, with the option to purchase more on the cash shop. Those tickets can be used to play one of several mini-games, each of which ultimately ends up in the player receiving a loot box that offers a random item from the list.

So what are the differences? In RuneScape, spin tickets are given on a daily basis while in Everquest II free tickets are offered monthly. Both games offer one ticket to free players and three to members (in RuneScape it is normally two, three for the summer event). In RuneScape, spins cost approximately $5 per ten tickets ($.50 per ticket) with bonuses for higher quantities, while in Everquest they cost $1 per ticket with no option to purchase in bulk.

Maybe I’m just reading too far into this.

Everquest II's Goblin Games Seems Inspired By Squeal of Fortune


I have to imagine that somewhere out there, at least one person has stopped playing RuneScape because of Squeal of Fortune, and wound up playing Everquest II instead. The odds are low, incredibly so, but with time my mind seems to think that such a person must be, and gee, will this news stink. For the uninformed, Squeal of Fortune is a cash shop game on RuneScape where players receive spins either through in-game activities, purchased through the store, or daily as an allowance. The mini-game is hosted by a goblin and has the chance of winning gold, resources, and equipment.

Today, Everquest II revealed the latest update: The goblin games. In this mini-game, players are issued tickets on a monthly basis, depending on their membership status, with the option to purchase more on the cash shop. Those tickets can be used to play one of several mini-games, each of which ultimately ends up in the player receiving a loot box that offers a random item from the list.

So what are the differences? In RuneScape, spin tickets are given on a daily basis while in Everquest II free tickets are offered monthly. Both games offer one ticket to free players and three to members (in RuneScape it is normally two, three for the summer event). In RuneScape, spins cost approximately $5 per ten tickets ($.50 per ticket) with bonuses for higher quantities, while in Everquest they cost $1 per ticket with no option to purchase in bulk.

Maybe I’m just reading too far into this.

Bank of RuneScape: Coming Soon


Let me just say: MMO Fallout’s tagline for the past three years has been “cautious optimism.” The image above was leaked on RuneScape’s website for approximately fifteen minutes today, and it has set the community on fire. Understandably so, because as of late Jagex has used similar update teasers that lead into Squeal of Fortune and Solomon’s Shop updates. So the Bank of RuneScape could very well be yet another update to Jagex’s cash shop endeavor, we won’t know possibly until next week. It could just be an overhaul to the bank system, or some new quest or mini-game.

I would like to point out that the authenticity of this image is in question, for now at least. The link results in a 404 error, and because I wasn’t able to personally see it on the main website, I am treating it with a grain of salt.

Unless this does turn out to be real, in which case you all know the drill.

Runecoins ToS Allows Cash Shop Coins To Expire


An intrepid explorer on the RuneScape forums came across an interesting update to Jagex’s Terms of Service. Specifically, Jagex’s virtual currency (Runecoins) expire three months after purchase.

Virtual currency expires and will be deleted if it has not been redeemed within a certain period after acquisition so you should redeem it as soon as possible. The expiry period is whatever we specify when you acquire the virtual currency or, if we haven’t specified a time limit, three months from acquisition.

Heading on to the forums, players asked if this was simply Jagex covering their backs or if the developer actually intends on allowing a player’s purchased coins to expire. Mod Crow responded to this thread with a confirmation that, while Jagex has not enforced the policy, they “reserve the right to have virtual currencies and items expire after a period of time.”

(Source: RuneScape Forums)

 

Jagex Bans High Profile Gamblers and Botting Clans


 

Hi,

Today we have banned several high-profile accounts from the dicing scene.

We can happily confirm that the ring leaders found to be involved in selling RuneScape gold have been banned. Their actions have directly funded a sizable portion of all real world trading activity within the game, led to increased macro use, and resulted in huge surges in spam advertising.

Such actions are strictly against our rules, and all accounts have been wiped and permanently nuked.

This should serve a clear warning to anyone else engaged in similar activities; expect more bans of any continuing offenders.

We have been finely tuning our new anti-cheat and anti-hijack tools over the past few months and are now steadily bringing these systems online in select areas. This is part of an on-going rollout that will be completed over the course of next two months. More good news will follow in due course.

Some of you may already have noticed that we have started cleaning up the high scores over the last week and this will assist us in being able to re-introduce relevant gold farmer free F2P high scores again. :)

Mark Gerhard
CEO

Hi,

Today we have banned a large number of accounts involved with self-titled “botting clans”. All of these accounts have been identified by our new data analysis tool and are 100% guilty of breaking our rules. These accounts have been permanently banned with no chance of appeal.

As mentioned on the forums yesterday, expect more bans and punishments in the very near future.

The use of bots will not be tolerated and will result in permanent action against any accounts found to have cheated in this way.

Daniel Clough
COO & VP of RuneScape

Protip: Do Not Steal RuneScape Gold With A Gun


Stealing from other players and duplicating money in a video game can lead to harsh consequences. Suspension of your account, loss of time invested in the game, and being removed from your guild are just a few of them. Stealing from other people and counterfeiting money in real life, however, can lead to jail time, a criminal record, loss of current and potential future jobs, and the embarrassment of everyone knowing you counterfeited money and robbed a person at gunpoint for RuneScape gold.

According to the New York Post, Bajwa faces up to fifteen years in prison for second degree robbery (no comment on the counterfeit money) in a RuneScape cash sale gone sour. Even though Jagex explicitly prohibits the sale of in-game cash, Bajwa attempted to purchase a large sum of gold with what turned out to be counterfeit cash. When the seller realized that the money was fake, Bajwa pulled a pellet gun manufactured to look like a real gun, and forced the seller to transfer the gold at gunpoint. Bajwa was later arrested at his home in Massachusetts.

Of course, the regular news media is already blaming this on video game addiction, no surprise there. Although RuneScape is no stranger to armed robberies.

(Source: New York Post)

Jagex Returns to Naming And Shaming Gold Duplicators


In the very old days of RuneScape, back when servers were few and the community was equally tiny, players were banned in a rather public fashion. Not as public as, say, the crucifixions in Roma Victor, but each ban was represented with a system message to warn other potential cheaters. Of course, as the game became more popular, Jagex put a stop on this technique and started simply reporting numbers rather than names.

A bug in RuneScape recently allowed players to gather large amounts of wealth, leading to the ban of many accounts on Jagex’s behalf. Not content with simply banning the accounts, Jagex took to the main page to publicly name some of the offenders.

  •  2QO
    • 2475 Total (Maxed Player)
    • 606 Days Played
  • 2College
    • 2054 Total
    • 170 Days Played
  • TzTok-Roy
    • 2327 Total
    • 335 Days Played
  • DeadEternity
    • 2496 Total (2 200m xp stats)
    • 462 Days Played
  • Zeke
    • 1690 Total
    • 121 Days Played
  • 00O0OlI0lIO0
    • 856 Total
    • 54 Days Played
  • Tncd
    • 1128 Total
    • 87 Days Played
  • lbw
    • 976 Total
    • 27 Days Played
  • TvF
    • 2132 Total
    • 279 Days Played
  • x4v
    • 693 Total
    • 157 Days Played
  • WASTEDMONKEY
    • 1978 Total
    • 198 Days Played
  • Rs Completed
    • 2496 Total (Maxed Player)
    • 302 Days Played
  • d4rk_mayhem
    • 1791 Total
    • 296 Days
  • PlayedSerasha
    • 2381 Total
    • 334 Days Played
  • i am WeeHoo
    • 1889 Total
    • 197 Days Played
  • FlashZxFOur1
    • 1386 Total
    • 132 Days Played
  • Shopkeeper
    • 2338 Total
    • 256 Days Played

Jagex COO took the time to remind the community once again to report bugs that are found, and assured players the the economy would not be affected by the bans.

For those of you concerned about the rare objects being removed from the game after the bans and rollbacks – don’t be. We have several clever and fair ways of making sure that the numbers of these rares (like party hats) remain the same.

(Source: RuneScape News)

Jagex's Problem With "Not RuneScape"


In the Jagex family you really only fit into one of two categories: RuneScape and Not RuneScape. What is the difference, you ask? Well, the RuneScape category is successful and the “Not RuneScape” category is not.

1. FunOrb Was Abandoned And Left For Dead

As per numerous Jagex posts on the RuneScape forums, Funorb is discontinued and no longer supported. Not only did Jagex abandon Funorb when the service wasn’t as profitable as they had hoped, there was never an official announcement that development had ceased. Instead Jagex whisked the Funorb developers silently, without informing anyone that development had ceased, and moved the entire team over to 8Realms. To this day, the Funorb website still does not display any indication that the service has been discontinued, unless you count that the latest news post is dated 2010.

Funorb still runs today, likely because there are still a small number of people who still hold on to the service and the website probably costs very little to keep running, but it is fully discontinued and has no moderators working on it. To top things off…

2. 8Realms Never Launched…

A second blow to Funorb fans. 8Realms was supposed to be Jagex’s first in-house game developed on a platform other than Java, not to mention Jagex’s first developed game to feature a fully functioning cash shop that offered real advantages to throwing large sums of money. I gave a quick hands-on impression of 8Realms, and while the game was enjoyable, it carried a fatal caveat: regular server wipes. In all, the game was one giant race to the end, and whenever someone made it to the end, the entire server was wiped and everyone started again.

For a game attempting to coerce players into opening their wallets for those delicious gems, 8Realms was set to be a very expensive experience. One with little payout, considering only one player could actually win and then all of your money spent was for nothing. In the end, 8Realms gathered a whopping ten percent of the income needed to stay afloat, and was trashed in beta.

3. Stellar Dawn/MechScape Show Woefully Substandard Community Relations

Having written this website for as long as I have, I am well acquainted with how MMOs are marketed: years ahead of time. Not only are these games in development for years before they are even announced, the announcement can take place two, often three or more years before the game ever hits store shelves. I even had a term for this: hype fatigue, to describe a point after a game is announced where interest wanes due to long development cycles. In the case of the MMO industry, where titles can and have been delayed well over a year, this effect is rather widespread.

When MechScape was under development, Jagex refused to talk about the game at all. Then-CEO Geoff Iddison would give an interview every now and then to reassure the community that the game would be out in 2008, and that the product they were creating was so great, it might even surpass RuneScape. For the length of its development up until the game was finally cancelled months after its intended launch date, not a single screenshot or video capture of the game was released to the public. Jagex refused to talk about more than concepts and vague promises, and ultimately the game was canned (and possibly so was Geoff Iddison) for not living up to expectations.

MechScape was cancelled to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, and in its place Stellar Dawn was born. In their announcement in 2009, Jagex stated that not only would Stellar Dawn succeed where MechScape failed, it was ready for release in 2010. I hope you see where I’m going with this. Following in the tradition of its predecessor, and proving that Jagex had learned nothing from the lack of communication with its community (or the press) about MechScape, Jagex silently worked away on Stellar Dawn throughout 2010, pausing in July to launch the official website with a “coming 2011” banner. At this point, Jagex had already announced Transformers Universe for a 2012 launch date, leaving me asking: Does Jagex even care about Stellar Dawn?

Well, 2011 came and went without a single video clip, screenshot, or the kind of details you might expect from an upcoming MMO (or any other release), and in March 2012 we finally learned that Stellar Dawn has been put on developmental hold so Jagex can focus on their other products. In fact, Jagex’s communication over Stellar Dawn was so poor that the official website displayed a “coming 2011” banner well into 2012 before the game was put on pause.

4. Transformers Universe Is Following The Same Path

I have to say, I have more optimism for Transformers Universe, and I will explain why: Third party IP holders. This isn’t Stellar Dawn or MechScape or Funorb, or 8Realms where Jagex owns everything surrounding the game and can develop and release to their heart’s content. Oh no, Transformers Universe means contractual obligations. Hasbro is the master and Jagex is the humble servant, making sure that the game is developed in a manner that is approved, on a timeline that is approved, and ready for launch by a date that is approved.

I said the same thing with the company being run by investors: Jagex’s previous projects are a fine example that, left to their own accord, the company will screw around for a few years, waste countless millions and the good faith of their community, and eventually scrap the game entirely because it didn’t turn out fun. Nobody wins, not the developers who are laid off, not the community, and not the investors who expect their money to be spent wisely.

Mark Gerhard recently interviewed with Develop Online, where he mentioned that the company was abandoning its “hobby” projects and giving serious focus to its current and future titles. Good. All it took to reach this conclusion was two failed MMOs, one failed MMORTS, one failed games portal, and one CEO.

Jagex’s Problem With “Not RuneScape”


In the Jagex family you really only fit into one of two categories: RuneScape and Not RuneScape. What is the difference, you ask? Well, the RuneScape category is successful and the “Not RuneScape” category is not.

1. FunOrb Was Abandoned And Left For Dead

As per numerous Jagex posts on the RuneScape forums, Funorb is discontinued and no longer supported. Not only did Jagex abandon Funorb when the service wasn’t as profitable as they had hoped, there was never an official announcement that development had ceased. Instead Jagex whisked the Funorb developers silently, without informing anyone that development had ceased, and moved the entire team over to 8Realms. To this day, the Funorb website still does not display any indication that the service has been discontinued, unless you count that the latest news post is dated 2010.

Funorb still runs today, likely because there are still a small number of people who still hold on to the service and the website probably costs very little to keep running, but it is fully discontinued and has no moderators working on it. To top things off…

2. 8Realms Never Launched…

A second blow to Funorb fans. 8Realms was supposed to be Jagex’s first in-house game developed on a platform other than Java, not to mention Jagex’s first developed game to feature a fully functioning cash shop that offered real advantages to throwing large sums of money. I gave a quick hands-on impression of 8Realms, and while the game was enjoyable, it carried a fatal caveat: regular server wipes. In all, the game was one giant race to the end, and whenever someone made it to the end, the entire server was wiped and everyone started again.

For a game attempting to coerce players into opening their wallets for those delicious gems, 8Realms was set to be a very expensive experience. One with little payout, considering only one player could actually win and then all of your money spent was for nothing. In the end, 8Realms gathered a whopping ten percent of the income needed to stay afloat, and was trashed in beta.

3. Stellar Dawn/MechScape Show Woefully Substandard Community Relations

Having written this website for as long as I have, I am well acquainted with how MMOs are marketed: years ahead of time. Not only are these games in development for years before they are even announced, the announcement can take place two, often three or more years before the game ever hits store shelves. I even had a term for this: hype fatigue, to describe a point after a game is announced where interest wanes due to long development cycles. In the case of the MMO industry, where titles can and have been delayed well over a year, this effect is rather widespread.

When MechScape was under development, Jagex refused to talk about the game at all. Then-CEO Geoff Iddison would give an interview every now and then to reassure the community that the game would be out in 2008, and that the product they were creating was so great, it might even surpass RuneScape. For the length of its development up until the game was finally cancelled months after its intended launch date, not a single screenshot or video capture of the game was released to the public. Jagex refused to talk about more than concepts and vague promises, and ultimately the game was canned (and possibly so was Geoff Iddison) for not living up to expectations.

MechScape was cancelled to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, and in its place Stellar Dawn was born. In their announcement in 2009, Jagex stated that not only would Stellar Dawn succeed where MechScape failed, it was ready for release in 2010. I hope you see where I’m going with this. Following in the tradition of its predecessor, and proving that Jagex had learned nothing from the lack of communication with its community (or the press) about MechScape, Jagex silently worked away on Stellar Dawn throughout 2010, pausing in July to launch the official website with a “coming 2011” banner. At this point, Jagex had already announced Transformers Universe for a 2012 launch date, leaving me asking: Does Jagex even care about Stellar Dawn?

Well, 2011 came and went without a single video clip, screenshot, or the kind of details you might expect from an upcoming MMO (or any other release), and in March 2012 we finally learned that Stellar Dawn has been put on developmental hold so Jagex can focus on their other products. In fact, Jagex’s communication over Stellar Dawn was so poor that the official website displayed a “coming 2011” banner well into 2012 before the game was put on pause.

4. Transformers Universe Is Following The Same Path

I have to say, I have more optimism for Transformers Universe, and I will explain why: Third party IP holders. This isn’t Stellar Dawn or MechScape or Funorb, or 8Realms where Jagex owns everything surrounding the game and can develop and release to their heart’s content. Oh no, Transformers Universe means contractual obligations. Hasbro is the master and Jagex is the humble servant, making sure that the game is developed in a manner that is approved, on a timeline that is approved, and ready for launch by a date that is approved.

I said the same thing with the company being run by investors: Jagex’s previous projects are a fine example that, left to their own accord, the company will screw around for a few years, waste countless millions and the good faith of their community, and eventually scrap the game entirely because it didn’t turn out fun. Nobody wins, not the developers who are laid off, not the community, and not the investors who expect their money to be spent wisely.

Mark Gerhard recently interviewed with Develop Online, where he mentioned that the company was abandoning its “hobby” projects and giving serious focus to its current and future titles. Good. All it took to reach this conclusion was two failed MMOs, one failed MMORTS, one failed games portal, and one CEO.

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