I for one, will be disappointed to see him go. We will have to agree to disagree, Duke. I do not believe that "everything [MMG or Jagex] have ever done was always in the best interests of the game (or the players), but rather more so in the best interests of Jagex (i.e. micro transactions, bonds, solomon's, etc.)". While they may not be popular choices among the players, these are unfortunate side-effects of the world we live in. For the game to survive, these updates were needed for the longevity of the game. Jagex is a business, not a charitable company. They have employees that need to be paid to continue developing the game. They have overheads, such as servers to run, offices to rent and the like that need to be paid for. Sure, they could have not introduced micro transaction and just left all those bot accounts in the game and dealt with the stolen credit cards that those same bots used to pay memberships as they come up. Can you honestly say the game was better to play when you were competing with bots at blue dragons, or for those rune ore rocks? As a player base, we demanded Jagex do something about the bots, and they did. Almost overnight they banned nearly half of their paying membership accounts because they were botting and ruining the game. Banning those accounts came at a huge cost to the company's bottom line. To make sure they remained profitable and could pay all there staff, they introduced an update that brought in the extra revenue that was lost from these banned accounts. What we, as players must look at in perspective, is the way these micro transactions are run. While buying spins (or the treasure hunter keys, now) can allow some players to gain some free xp, or get some extra gp, it is not a necessity for those of us who don't want to spend extra money. We can still play the game to its fullest and enjoy all aspects of it and not suffer in any way for not spending the extra cash. I hear of a lot of other MMO's out there that you HAVE to spend money to get ahead in the game, otherwise you have no chance of moving forward at a reasonable pace. At no point have Jagex forced that upon the players. You can buy the extras if you wish, but you will suffer no penalties for spending no more than your monthly membership. As for myself, personally, I choose not to spend any extra money for these. In fact, I still have a ton of rune coins left over from the first gold membership from a few years ago. I have still been able to max out my player and am now hunting for my comp cape without having to spend an extra cent in game.
Yes, Mod MMG, did have the best interests of the company in mind, but that does not mean it was not in the best interests of the players too. These interests don't have to be mutually exclusive. With luck, we will get another CEO with the insight to look at BOTH sides of the coin, and hopefully someone from within the company will be appointed into this role. By the sounds of things, Mos Pips has been groomed for the role, so let us keep our fingers crossed that he gets the job. Otherwise, we may just see a CEO who really does just care about the bottom line and extracting as much profit as possible, without doing due diligence on what is necessary for the game. And please note, I do say necessary. This may not always be what is popular, but such is the way of business these days. I shudder to think where the game would be if Mod MMG did nothing about the bots and gold sellers. In all honesty, I truly believe the game would be gone if they did not follow the path they did.
Thank you Mod MMG, for your years of service to game. While not always popular, you have had to make several tough decisions to keep the game advancing. It is my opinion that you have tread that fine line between company profits and player interests well, and while there have been some occasional slips, you come out with more positives than negatives. I wish you the very best in your future endeavours.
Pyrnassius
