RuneScape Bots Part of the Game? Devs Explain CVC's Unfortunate Statement
Jagex studio has responded to the comments of annoyed fans who reacted sharply to the new owner of the RuneScape developers' statement on bots.
Players of classic RuneScape have a tough time. The developers of this long-standing game appear to switch owners frequently, and their choices about the game's evolution don't always align with the desires of the fans. Unfortunately, it seems that this won't change in 2024, as the comment from the new owner of Jagex studio about bots has greatly annoyed RuneScape fans.
A paid bot is a good bot
The thread, which has over 3,000 likes (via Reddit), concerns an article by the Financial Times about the acquisition of the developer by CVC Capital Partner. The editor considered the input from a person closely linked to the company, who stated that the Jagex team ensures that there aren't an excessive number of bots, but ultimately there should be a specific balance between them and the players in RuneScape.
The main focus within the game is to make sure the excesses of bots are policed and managed. Flagged accounts are managed out of the game, and therefore what is left inside the game is a sort of equilibrium of players and bots... if I have [three accounts] there's a good chance that one of them is me and two accounts are bots... If a player is sufficiently committed to pay for three accounts, and have an account and two bots as part of its ecosystem, then so be it. But the management team of Jagex police excesses of bots and make sure that bots do not become problematic in the game.
The statement didn't please the fans, who interpreted the announcement as a surrender by the developers and an approval to use automated accounts for farming, thus gaining a significant advantage over other players. Some Reddit users questioned the purpose of investing time in character development when other "players" can simply hire a bot to do it much faster (or instantly - since the bot owner doesn't have to do anything).
Devs reassure: we're banning millions of bots
The moderators of the RuneScape subforum had to step in because the moods became too heated. The studio representatives confirmed that the quote mentioned by the FT doesn't accurately represent their "strategy," and last year Jagex banned nearly 7 million bots (it's worth noting that this topic was already mentioned in the newspaper's article, but apparently most Reddit users missed it).
"Mod Ayiza" - senior community manager - added that since the start of 2024, the studio has been blocking an average of 67,000 accounts per week, and 900 billion gold pieces are removed from the game every week due to bans for bots (in the new RuneScape, 1.5 trillion gold coins are deleted per week).
Furthermore, a post addressing these controversies has been published on the official Jagex studio blog. The developer discusses the relentlessness of bot creators (new ones quickly appear after the old ones are removed) and cheaters (both organized and acting independently).
The company is working on "major initiatives" to help in this fight, but it also needs to be careful as not all reported and "obvious" cheaters are actually cheating. After all, there are people reporting honest players out of pure malice, so each ban needs to be supported by "evidence," which takes some time. The same applies to scoreboard improvements, including the exclusion of blocked accounts.
The announcement reassured many players, but some fans still don't trust the devs. Partly due to their experiences with "obvious" bots that went unnoticed by the developer, or unjust bans (according to Jagex, as of 2024, this has only affected 38 users). Some online users also claim that the post essentially doesn't say anything new and is simply the most recent instance of what's known as "damage control" following another misguided statement from the developers of RuneScape.
