22-Nov-2011 - Anti-Gold-Farming Measures

Jackstick · **Posted:** November 23rd, 2011, 9:26 pm

Today sees the latest in our series of initiatives to stamp out botting, gold farming and dishonest play in RuneScape.

It’s a sad fact that the vast majority of gold farming activity takes place in the free game, where it is possible to create disposable accounts that can be used to generate in-game money and send it on for illicit real-world trade in defiance of our rules. Today’s measures will reduce the effectiveness of this practice by a factor of 100, to show these people once and for all that ruining your game is not only unacceptable, but also a waste of their time.

From today onwards, newly created free to play accounts will be subject to a number of trade limitations, consisting of:

New free-to-play accounts can only give away gold coins or items, or make a trade with an imbalance in the recipient’s favour, to the value of 25000 coins per 24 hours. This limitation also applies to drop trades.
New free-to-play accounts can make Duel Arena bets with no greater imbalance than 25000 coins per 24 hours.
We have also made a change to Wilderness PvP, where noted items will only appear to the original carrier when dropped upon death; not the killer. This affects all accounts – not just ones subject to the limitations above.
The last thing we want is to make trading difficult for our long-standing and bustling free-to-play community, so existing free-to-play accounts will be unaffected. What’s more, there is no limit to the value of gifts that can be received by a new free-to-play account, so there’s nothing to stop a new player from receiving a helping hand from a high-levelled friend. Needless to say, balanced trades between players are not a problem, either.

The limitations will remain in effect until the affected account purchases membership. Subscribing will remove these restrictions permanently, even if the subscription later ends and is not renewed.

These measures are a decisive next blow in our ongoing battle against botting and gold farming. We are fully committed to stamping out this insidious form of cheating to ensure you the fair game experience that you deserve.

Mark Gerhard
CEO & CTO

Rayseima · **Posted:** November 23rd, 2011, 9:32 pm

Runescape.com wrote:

Subscribing will remove these restrictions permanently

Market Man6 · **Posted:** November 23rd, 2011, 9:37 pm

this will make the selling of RS accounts rise.

Demon · **Posted:** November 23rd, 2011, 9:55 pm

Rayseima wrote:

Runescape.com wrote:

Subscribing will remove these restrictions permanently

Throw money at us and we'll act like we don't see it.

Demon · **Posted:** November 23rd, 2011, 10:04 pm

Market Man6 wrote:

this will make the selling of RS accounts rise.

I don't see why people sell accounts. The most you get from an account is $300.. and if you figure how many months it took you to build that character with membership, you have to multiply that by $5.95 (or relevant currency) and that's how much you have invested in your account, not taking into account time. x.x;

Magicana Drofulcus · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 5:49 am

Il Demon lI wrote:

Market Man6 wrote:

this will make the selling of RS accounts rise.

I don't see why people sell accounts. The most you get from an account is $300.. and if you figure how many months it took you to build that character with membership, you have to multiply that by $5.95 (or relevant currency) and that's how much you have invested in your account, not taking into account time. x.x;

Accounts like mine would fetch a much higher price.

Demon · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 5:57 am

Maxed accounts with full quest points and several hundred mill on them sell for 300-500. I think you over estimate your worth, sir.

Market Man6 · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 12:29 pm

Il Demon lI wrote:

Market Man6 wrote:

this will make the selling of RS accounts rise.

I don't see why people sell accounts. The most you get from an account is $300.. and if you figure how many months it took you to build that character with membership, you have to multiply that by $5.95 (or relevant currency) and that's how much you have invested in your account, not taking into account time. x.x;

Account sales will rise because
A - you can't trade money with your new account, so you can just sell the whole dam account.

B - your old account doesn't have a trade limit. So sell that to the gold farmers.

Magicana Drofulcus · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 1:25 pm

Il Demon lI wrote:

Maxed accounts with full quest points and several hundred mill on them sell for 300-500. I think you over estimate your worth, sir.

Demon · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 3:09 pm

That's not them buying from you. That's them selling to you. Unless you find a buyer, it's not the same.

ZxC · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 9:56 pm

Not trying to encourage account selling or anything, but even 500$ for a maxed account is insanely cheap when you think about it.

Let's say someone dedicated did it in like 100 days of playtime. Even at 1$ per hour thats 2,400$.

Demon · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 10:25 pm

exactly. The idea of selling an account once you've put any time into it is just stupid. Esp when you're spending 5.95 a month for the account. Unless you made the account solely for selling and only worked on strategic (fast) 99s, it wouldn't pay off.

Christopher · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 10:53 pm

This is actually a great update, aside from

Runescape.com wrote:

Subscribing will remove these restrictions permanently

Because SERIOUSLY?

Free trade is effectively a members benefit now. What the Fuzzy Bunny

, Jagex. You take a good, sensible update, and turn it into yet another membership ploy. THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.

This plus the highscores.. There's a point where you're going to have to admit that you consider f2p to be a demo, and you have clearly passed it. And while I would still dislike the company for going back on their "f2p is not and will never be a demo" promise, that's kind of a moot point. They've already contradicted the majority of what they used to stand for as a company. I fully expect the worst of them now. But they could at least admit it upfront.

Just... I don't know why I bother to comment on these things anymore.

:facepalm:

Christopher · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 11:04 pm

Il Demon lI wrote:

exactly. The idea of selling an account once you've put any time into it is just stupid. Esp when you're spending 5.95 a month for the account. Unless you made the account solely for selling and only worked on strategic (fast) 99s, it wouldn't pay off.

Ehh, depends on how you view it.

If you're someone who plays for fun, then that's all the value you hold in your account. You don't value it in monetary means. It's just a way you enjoy passing the time.

Now say your enjoyment for the game comes to an end. You're bored of the game, and you have absolutely 0% intention of coming back to it. You now hold ownership of something pretty much worthless to you (as it won't provide you with any more fun), but it's something other people place a monetary value on. That's basically free money that can be used on a new means of enjoyment.

What reason do you have not to sell it?

(Acceptable answers: Sentimental value, potential legal repercussions)

Demon · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 11:25 pm

Yes, but it does have an inherit value of money invested through membership, so regardless why you played the account, you have a stake in it further than simply sentimental attachment.

I see why people would sell it in that case - same reason people have garage sales. It just doesn't really make sense in this case, because it's selling virtual achievements (which aren't really achievements anyway) which you've already invested money into.

Logically the whole thing doesn't make sense. xD From paying to play the game monthly to selling the 'experience' accumulated.

Christopher · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 11:32 pm

But for the people who play for fun, the purchase of membership is the purchase of more fun. What you're spending on membership, you're getting back in entertainment. If the cost of membership is of higher value than the enjoyment you get from it, then you obviously won't continue to purchase it (if you're any sort of logical person).

When you consider membership cost as equal to or less than the enjoyment you get from it, then you're not really losing any investment. So when you quit, that's either an equal worth or a profit in fun. In either case, selling your account would be profit.

(Disclaimer: I'm not encouraging the selling of RS accounts. That should go without saying but you know how people are.)

Demon · **Posted:** November 24th, 2011, 11:33 pm

I suppose.

Henner · **Posted:** November 25th, 2011, 1:48 am

Why buy stuff anyway? Doesn't that ruin the joy and purpose of the game?

ZxC · **Posted:** November 25th, 2011, 9:39 am

Henner wrote:

Why buy stuff anyway? Doesn't that ruin the joy and purpose of the game?

Yeah, it comes down to the principle that you enjoy the things you put effort into the most.
I never understood people who buy accounts.

Market Man6 · **Posted:** November 25th, 2011, 10:06 am

Kids with a rich daddy

22-Nov-2011 - Anti-Gold-Farming Measures

Who is online