23 replies to this topic

[chokii]

Runescape. It has been up for more than 10 years now, and only half a year ago it reached a peak amount of "players" (you all know what I mean... ) at almost 350,000.
However, as all good things Runescape must also come to an end. Jagex has recently showed us that they (*hrm* sort of *hrm*) care for the players themselves, not for the amount alone. They did this by banning around 10 MILLION accounts. 10 million. That is around 100x-140x the amount of players online at any given time. Around 1,600,000x more players than ever got to play the first edition of Runescape, Devious MUD.

If so many accounts can be banned "just like that", then how easily can Runescape actually end? How fragile is the stick holding up Runescape's banner?

So I have a few questions to be discussed.

How will Runescape meet its end? Will it be a slow kill, or a big bad update making everyone leave, or Jagex deciding to not give a *abb*ge about Runescape anymore? Please come with own suggestions.

With the release of new Jagex games such as Stellar Dawn, do you think (ignoring what Jagex has said) that Runescape will be some sort of "second-hand" project for them?

What will it take from the players to shut down Runescape? How much can Jagex tolerate? (no actual need for an answer on this one , just curious).

Disgust!
*hrm*

[Ankit]

Slowly, painfully and dragged out to the very last second possible.

[ToeJam]

You do realise that those 'banned' accounts were what almost brought rs to it's knees right? The game as is still needs a lot of work done to build up it's popularity but the bot nuke (and subsequent mass banning) was necessary and very much welcomed by genuine players of the game.

Jagex have lost their way a little bit but there is still room to turn that around. As an example I'd suggest reading a topic in clan discussion by His Lordship.

I'll go look for the link. Would you actually want this?

Edited by ToeJam, 03 February 2012 - 08:55 AM.

[Murdoc]

Did you ever take into account why those accounts were banned? How many were bots or had been inactive for years? How many broke rules in other ways? I think you're exaggerating what that figure really stands for... Anyway, I'm guessing that RuneScape will just follow the path of Classic in that it'll be gently phased out to make way for a fresh game Jagex feels can earn them more money. They're not going to suddenly "kill it off with one big bad update"... We all know what happened when the wilderness, staking, and free trade were taken out - so Mod MMG and co won't be repeating that kind of mistake again any time soon... Why? Well Scape's still got a lot of financial potential, so it'll be preciously milked for all its worth.

Also - why would the players want to bring the game down? What exactly would that achieve?

Edited by Murdoc, 03 February 2012 - 08:46 AM.

[chokii]

Murdoc and ToeJam - I do realise that the 10m accounts were dragging it down. I just made it as an example to show how easily Jagex actually could bring down the game.

 Murdoc, on 03 February 2012 - 08:46 AM, said:

Also - why would the players want to bring the game down? What exactly would that achieve?

With this I simply meant bots. Sorry for the weird stating of my words!

[Murdoc]

 chokii, on 03 February 2012 - 08:52 AM, said:

Murdoc and ToeJam - I do realise that the 10m accounts were dragging it down. I just made it as an example to show how easily Jagex actually could bring down the game.

Getting rid of a horde of rule-breakers who were ruining the game for everyone else =/= a stepping stone towards something like, say, deleting a load of legitimate players. How are the two concepts related? Why would Jagex want to abuse their power in such a way?

Edited by Murdoc, 03 February 2012 - 09:00 AM.

[MasterDebater]

Jagex will stop running Runescape when running costs and expenses exceed revenue - can't see that happening for a long time. As crap as they game may be Jagex will squeeze every single penny that they can get. Slow death.

[chokii]

 Murdoc, on 03 February 2012 - 08:59 AM, said:

 chokii, on 03 February 2012 - 08:52 AM, said:

Murdoc and ToeJam - I do realise that the 10m accounts were dragging it down. I just made it as an example to show how easily Jagex actually could bring down the game.

Getting rid of a horde of rule-breakers who were ruining the game for everyone else =/= a stepping stone towards something like, say, deleting a load of legitimate players. How are the two concepts related? Why would Jagex want to abuse their power in such a way?

Well I didn't mean abuse the power. I'm terribly sorry for the misunderstanding My fault!
What I meant is that when Jagex releases Stellar Dawn, they might focus more on that game than Runescape. This could mean that they get sloppy with the game, which could result in the end of Runescape. Since they really do have so much power over us, as shown in the Bot Nuke, they can easily decide to shut down the game without actually deleting the game. For example by stopping to put up new updates
'tis but a demonstration of power I meant to show, pardon me for the bad example?

[Murdoc]

 chokii, on 03 February 2012 - 09:33 AM, said:

Well I didn't mean abuse the power. I'm terribly sorry for the misunderstanding My fault!
What I meant is that when Jagex releases Stellar Dawn, they might focus more on that game than Runescape. This could mean that they get sloppy with the game, which could result in the end of Runescape. Since they really do have so much power over us, as shown in the Bot Nuke, they can easily decide to shut down the game without actually deleting the game. For example by stopping to put up new updates
'tis but a demonstration of power I meant to show, pardon me for the bad example?

Gotcha now, don't worry. Yeah that's exactly what I foresee as well (as illustrated in my first post ). Although Jagex have said in the past that completely different development teams work on all their seperate projects, meaning they all get their fair share of attention and whatnot, if SD for example turns out to be a spectacular success - what's stoping them from deciding to invest the bulk of time and resources into that at the expense of RuneScape?

All the same I think we should just concentrate on enjoying RS whilst it's still around and going strong, rather than getting distracted by all this speculation.

Edited by Murdoc, 03 February 2012 - 09:44 AM.

[chokii]

 Murdoc, on 03 February 2012 - 09:43 AM, said:

All the same I think we should just concentrate on enjoying RS whilst it's still around and going strong, rather than getting distracted by all this speculation.

Of course we should But this is a discussion forum, and where and to whom else should I discuss these what-ifs with? I find it fun to see what other people think about my ideas, and also i'll learn something!

[Murdoc]

 chokii, on 03 February 2012 - 09:51 AM, said:

Of course we should But this is a discussion forum, and where and to whom else should I discuss these what-ifs with? I find it fun to see what other people think about my ideas, and also i'll learn something!

Was just meant to be a cheeky quibble, don't worry haha.

[chokii]

 Murdoc, on 03 February 2012 - 09:55 AM, said:

 chokii, on 03 February 2012 - 09:51 AM, said:

Of course we should But this is a discussion forum, and where and to whom else should I discuss these what-ifs with? I find it fun to see what other people think about my ideas, and also i'll learn something!

Was just meant to be a cheeky quibble, don't worry haha.

So was mine

[fresh2dethfasho]

I think most of those accounts were gold farming accounts. And much like Gingers, have no soul.

[Christley]

it will be incredibly slow and painful.
they start to notice that players get bored and angry about what they give. so they start to leave rs. then jagex notices and try even harder to keep players, by giving out rewards for buying long memberships and introducing "very good" updates that most players will hate. and when jagex realise that too many are leaving, they raise the prices to play the game, which makes the hardcore players angry. even those that always stay because you get used to it.
and then the rich players will notice the drop in players and abandoned place so they feel bored and leave

[Mika™]

First off those players were banned for a reason obviously one that had/has been killing runescape since it got extremely popular and easy to sell and get gold on runescape. For the remaining amount of players well it's not just the decrease in other players that is hurting them or the game it's the game itself.

There have been loads of topics that talk about dead content, bots, that Jagex is holding rs back because of it being java based, and how Jagex doesn't care and it really all comes down to this game has been neglected in growing in what many will say the "right" direction for some time. There have also been poll topics on why people play and the majority say for the people they have met over the years or their clan not many say that they "cannot wait because the game is just OH SO EXCITING!" However now with the current issue (fps/blackscreens) that seems to have effected more than its share of players people can't even do that. Jagex has never seem sincere behind any of their promises and only start to do something when it gets down to its worst and it reflects on their winnings.

It's been dying and it's been as many people said above slow and painful.

[mocco1]

They will shut it down when they want too, Maybe when their other games cover the cost of rs.

Jamie

[Trevino.]

A game will die when the company doesn't make money anymore. The game is still very active. Every game we play will always be growing. New players are playing everyday.

[Kevin♫]

 Ankit, on 03 February 2012 - 08:43 AM, said:

Slowly, painfully and dragged out to the very last second possible.

This is what comes to mind really.

How come? The type of game Runescape is keeps people drawn in. There will always be a dedicated group of people that play the game after every bad update. Notice when a lot of major updates occur (wilderness being removed), people who claimed they quit still stayed? This is because they are kept drawn in. Not to mention those that come back to the game after a long time of absence.

[Buscape]

I think that as long as runescape is making a certain amount of profit the idea of ending runescape will never be heard of or talked about during their meetings, I am sure of it. Though, when tables turn and runescape begins to lose their profits, that's when you'll see major change, but I think by then it'll just be a desperate attempt to try and get more players back, or rather, more players in. It will be slow, and painful.

[Icon_King]

I do not forsee Runescape ending any time soon. As long as there are people still willing to pay to play the game, Jagex will find away to profit. Even with bad updates such as removing the wilderness pvp and closing down free trade, the game still prospers. Yes, people quit but not enough to make a difference. And once it does start to make a difference, Jagex will do whatever they have to do to get members back and playing. It's going to be a long time before Runescape goes out of business.

You know, I remember when Jagex banned a handful of players over the party hat duplication fiasco. That was at a time when they really didn't have that many people playing, not near as many as today anyway. Jagex will always protect it's interests. It has survived this long, someone must know what they are doing.

Edited by Icon_King, 03 February 2012 - 04:46 PM.