Tag: Jagex

RuneScape Involved In Telstra Phone Fraud


Jagex’s MMO RuneScape allows players to pay for subscriptions via several methods including by credit card and by calling a telephone number, receiving a PIN, and having the membership added to their phone bill. But the subscription-by-phone method has become the target of a police investigation after dozens of Telstra customers were wrongly billed during a two week period last month.

Although Telstra, an Australian telecommunications company, has refused to release the findings of their investigation, news source The Herald is reporting that hundreds of phone calls, billed at $13.97 per call, were made from numbers starting with 4963. It is believed that the phone calls were made using equipment that can spoof CallerID numbers, and Telstra is in the process of contacting affected customers.

Unfortunately, systems like Surfpin rely on the CallerID number to know who to bill, which has become increasingly easy to spoof in recent years.

I will have more on this as it appears.

(Source: The Herald)

RuneScape Credit Card Fraud Warning: Squeal of Fortune


Having your account stolen in RuneScape just became a lot more dangerous. A very serious concern has arisen with regard to Squeal of Fortune, and Jagex’s method of keeping storage of user payment details. Jagex stores credit card information for recurring subscriptions, and uses that same card to purchase Squeal of Fortune spins. While the card number cannot be accessed, Jagex requires no extra information to process the purchase.

Squeal of Fortune is a grab-bag style mini-game where players can purchase spins (and receive them in-game) to have a chance at receiving rare equipment. If an account is stolen, there is nothing preventing the thief from doing very real damage by running up a massive bill through Squeal of Fortune. Why would someone do that with no real benefit to themselves, you might ask? Never question what a person might do to cause grief to another, especially over the anonymity of the internet.

The only way to remedy this for the time being is to head over to Runescape.com and remove your credit card from the account. Go to the main website, click on account settings, membership, and extend membership. You will see a list of payment sources on file, click “manage saved cards,” and there you will be able to delete the card off of the record.

Future membership purchases can be made with the option to not remember the card details. For players with the lower membership rate, there is a leeway when resubscribing where you will still receive your current rate. If the account is compromised and money is transferred, Jagex will not be refunding any money spent, legitimately or not.

With the on-screen PIN to prevent theft in the case that an account is stolen, RuneScape has more security around a player’s virtual bank than it does around the player’s actual bank.

(Source: Tip.It Warning)

Jagex Introduces Microtransactions In RuneScape


When Jagex introduced the Squeal of Fortune, they did so with the premise that the mini-game was balanced. Powerful and expensive rewards were relegated to untradeable and extraordinarily rare chances, and each player was only offered one spin per day (two for members). Today, however, Jagex has reversed years of outspoken anti-real money trading policies by introducing an update allowing players to purchase extra spins.

Spins can be bought in packages of 10, 20 (with 5 bonus spins), and 40 (with 35 bonus spins) for $5, $10, and $20 respectively. Jagex has denied that this constitutes paying for an advantage as players are not buying a specific item. The company has also denied that this constitutes gambling as there is no chance of “loss,” as players will always win something, even if it is a cheap 50 coin payout.

The gambling issue, however, stands to be a very important one. This update puts Squeal of Fortune in a similar bracket with lotto bags that many free to play games offer, and depending on if anyone decides to bring question, may constitute gambling and be subject to varying restrictions, laws, and even bans depending on the country.

Regardless of any potential and currently unknown legal implications, this move is sure to draw fire from the community, thanks in part to Jagex’s extreme stance over the past decade against any form of extra payment in return for advantages, and the justifications from developers (see above) as to how this does not violate the core principles is not being received well.

Hopefully more to come as this story develops.

 

RuneScape Free Trial Returns?


Last month I posted an article about a 14-day membership for new accounts. The trial was unannounced and held rather ambiguous requirements as to who could participate (at the time it appeared to be UK-only), and remained unmentioned by Jagex until later in the month when Mod Hippo posted to announce that the trial had ended.

With today’s update to RuneScape, it appears that the trial is back. Upon character creation, users are reporting seeing this:

I am checking up on the RuneScape forums to see if I can find any comment by Jagex staff and will update with any more information.

Incoming Bot Nuke: March 2012


Jacmob is the creator of RSBuddy, one of the major bots back in the day. Why is he important? Following the bot nuke, and the shuttering of RSBuddy, Jacmob was hired by Jagex to work on anti-bot solutions. In a post on the RSBuddy forums, Jacmob talks about an upcoming March 2012 bot nuke:

It’s been a while since that preliminary bot nuke last October. Now that there’s been time for competent people to move on and various arrangements to be made, I will soon be making my final announcement on RSBuddy. In particular I will speak about the end of RSBuddy and what the approach will be to any further related projects. I will also speak in general terms about the larger bot nuke that’s due in shortly, which should encompass every type of bot and conclude the development time needed to deal with bots for a long while.

Hopefully there will be more details soon.

Jagex Previews New Armor


Ever since Jagex launched the High Definition RuneScape a few years back, many of the game’s assets have fallen behind in terms of visual quality. Over the past few months, Jagex have been slowly upgrading the more popular equipment sets, and this month (possibly this week) the developer is set to release upgraded versions of over two hundred pieces of equipment.

You can preview a few of the armor updates in the link below, the update itself should be going live as soon as this week.

(Source: RuneScape Forums)

Development Sunsets On Stellar Dawn


Back in August I wrote an article titled “Does Jagex Have Any Enthusiasm For Stellar Dawn?” In it, I referred to the disconnect between the complete lack of information regarding Jagex’s upcoming MMO and the fact that in August of the (at the time) release year, information on the game was virtually nonexistent. No screenshots, very vague trailers, and barely enough information regarding gameplay t fill a synopsis. Considering Jagex’s upcoming release of Transformers Universe, and the fact that Stellar Dawn is already saddled with the major financial disaster that was MechScape, I questioned whether or not Jagex had the will or desire to ever complete Stellar Dawn.

Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard has confirmed today that development on Stellar Dawn has ceased. In a post on the RuneScape forums, Gerhard says that the decision was not made lightly and was driven by the need to concentrate resources on Jagex’s other titles.

Rest assured that we will review the status of the Stellar Dawn project in the future so long as an appetite for the game remains. I hope Jagex can rely on your ongoing support.

So Stellar Dawn’s future is uncertain at best.

(Source: RuneScape forums)

Jagex: Balancing Amazing Prizes With…Well, Amazing Prizes


In order to balance the circulation of powerful items, many MMOs use what is known as either Bind on Equip or Bind On Pickup. The former allows you to trade the equipment, provided you haven’t used it yet. The latter renders the item unable to be traded once you pick it up, making the item vendor trash if you don’t meet the class restrictions or already have better gear.

For a game like RuneScape, bind on pickup is mostly nonexistent outside of quest-related items, as well as certain sets of items that decay over time. In today’s update, Jagex implemented a daily spinner game that can be played for gold, resources, and even powerful weapons/armor. Squeal of Fortune costs nothing to play and can be played once (twice for members) each day.

So how does a company balance the idea of potentially injecting a mass of free high level gear into the game? Simple, my dear Watson. High level equipment obtained through this mini-game is branded “lucky,” and cannot be traded to other players, or even dropped through the standard death mechanics. If you die with it, however (skulled, losing everything on death) it will be destroyed and irretrievable.

Granted, there is the issue of Jagex’s big traded prize: 10 million gold. I have faith that Jagex is ensuring that the ten million gold isn’t achieved too much.

Jagex Hires David Solari As Chief Marketing Officer


Jagex today announced the hiring of David Solari as the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer. David Solari is the former Vice President of Codemasters, where he oversaw the release of Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Archlord, and RF Online. At Jagex, Solari will take over and oversee all Jagex marketing activities.

According to the press report, Jagex sees 2012 as “scheduled to be one of the most significant years in the studio’s history.” Jagex currently has three MMOs, Stellar Dawn, 8Realms, and Transformers Online, scheduled for release this year, as well as the continued maintenance and weekly updating of the company’s current staple: RuneScape.

David Solari’s effect on Jagex’s marketing is sure to be seen in the coming months.

(Source: Jagex email press release)

Limited 14 Day RuneScape Members Trial


[UPDATE: THE TRIAL APPEARS TO BE UP AND RUNNING AGAIN, CLICK HERE]

Earlier this month, I talked about how now that Jagex has rid the game of the more troublesome bots, a limited members trial sounds far more feasible. After all, while the free version of RuneScape offers an overwhelming amount of content, the two games are segregated at a level where a subscription should be experienced rather than teased. Granted, I didn’t think Jagex would already have had something in the works.

While there hasn’t been an official announcement, players are reporting that newly created free accounts are being offered 14 days free membership with certain limitations. The details right now are foggy, given most of my information is coming from questionable sources, but the trial appears to be limited to new accounts only, and the trial may be region-restricted. My sources in the UK were the only ones to receive the below message upon creating a new account, while those in US, Canada, and Germany were unable to.

Today is Sunday, so it is possible that Jagex will have some sort of formal announcement this week. For now, however, the trial doesn’t seem to be fully rolled out.