29 Aug 2012 - Mod MMG on RuneScape Micro-Payments

Shane · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 2:13 pm

RuneScape.com wrote:

Hi everyone,

We've had lot of feedback on two recent RuneScape updates in particular: Squeal of Fortune and Solomon's General Store. I’d like to update you on how we plan to help fund the future development of the game you all know and love; how we’re making sure that we do not undermine what makes it the adventure game that millions of us, worldwide, enjoy on a daily basis; and what we’re doing to improve on what we’ve launched so far.

Since RuneScape has been around for over 11 years, we naturally take extreme care when introducing significant changes to its gameplay. This caution is a result of both the direct involvement that many of us at Jagex have had with the game throughout its history, and player feedback highlighting the concerns often associated with such change.

In the case of the Squeal and Solomon’s Store, this has been no different. We have thought out and carefully quantified the impact of these updates on the overall game, and have been looking anxiously at feedback from all of our community. One specific difference that does exist with these updates, however, is that micro-payments are often associated with their potential to undermine the integrity of games so that companies can profit in the short-term. As a result, many players have questioned whether RuneScape is heading down this tragic route.

I want to say, categorically, that we will not go down this road. In reality - and quite in contrast to this speculation - the introduction of micro-payments to RuneScape has a significant role in ensuring that we can continue to support, develop and grow the game for many more years to come.

We place immense value in our - and your - game's integrity, feedback from our community, and continually improving the game experience for all, and we have a strong track record of making decisions in this area that we know may be sub-optimal, commercially speaking, but represent our values. For example, we know that directly selling gold, XP or even accounts would generate between 10 to 15 times more revenue than Squeal or Solomon’s Store generates combined. However, we simply won’t do it, because we don’t believe it’s the right thing for the long-term health of the game.

Equally, many of you will know our past initiatives against botting and gold farming cost us millions of players, and certainly tens of millions of dollars. I believe we are one of the few games studios in the world that prizes the integrity of the game and health of our community over commercial returns, but that’s also why we are the only game that has had multiple record-breaking awards for both longevity and global reach. Over the past 18 months, we have ploughed the majority of our revenue back into the game to guarantee its future over the decade to come. We have literally doubled the size of the RuneScape team, and we are making massive investments in technology and improved support.

This week, you should notice a significant reduction in gold farmer spam. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will not only be launching our most comprehensive and formidable anti-bot update but players will also see a significant upgrade to their accounts' security to protect against phishing and hijacking. This is called Jagex Account Guardian, and we're introducing it within the next two weeks.

Our passion and dedication to the game and community has never changed; nor will it. Our determination to make RuneScape the world's #1 free browser game has not changed either, as some have claimed.The management team and I have the heavy responsibility of ensuring the future of this incredible and unique game. We really appreciate the support and trust you have put in us over the last 5 years. Please know that - although some of our decisions are not necessarily popular - they are 100% driven by the aim of building the strongest possible future for RuneScape. The management team defining the strategy and roadmap today are the exact same passionate gamers that have been at the helm for over half the product's existence, and we only want what is best for RuneScape in the long term.

As I touched on before, the team - all of whom are committed gamers, like you - are constantly working on new ways to improve game play, and to strengthen the studio so that more content can be created for enjoyment of the community.

Thank you for being RuneScape players, and we hope that you will continue to enjoy playing RuneScape over the years to come. We have some tremendous content - as well as technical innovations - lined up over the course of the next few months that we believe you will love. We already have RuneScape running in a new and improved client architecture built on HTML5 (a side by side screenshot of the early improvements over the current engine can be seen below - click for full size), and now I’m happy to report that we also have a dedicated Future Tech team working on bringing the game to your favourite tablets, platforms and even smart TVs in due course.

Over the coming weeks we will be holding a number of live Q&A sessions for you to air your views. We'll let you have more details on these later this week.

In the meantime, have fun!

Cheers,

Mark Gerhard
Jagex CEO

Originally posted: http://services.runescape.com/m=news/mo ... scape-micro-payments

Adbot · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 2:13 pm

Ranging God · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 2:16 pm

After reading this, it makes me feel a little better about the micro transactions that have been taking place the past year. I would still like for them to not exist, but I realize that may not be possible.

Lipuro · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 2:26 pm

I have 100% trust in them that they will never go down the road of selling full on rsgp, xp, and accounts. I'm very thankful MMG wrote this for people to read. The only thing that concerns me is he always leaves out the actual results of people buying spins solely for xp lamps. Like I said in a recent rw pots, entrepreneurs kids, or any other type of wealthy family would not hesitate to let their kids spend hundreds of dollars to get their skills up. This is where I'm shaky about the integrity of rs. I give my full 100% support that Jagex does microtransactions, I do not support that a fraction of these includes in game benefits such is xp lamps, and bank space. If these microtransactions were solely for cosmetics, Jagex would not have this drama flaming up everywhere.

Bonsai99 · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 2:57 pm

Some of the upcoming stuff sounds pretty interesting, but some of the article was total bull.

Runescape.com wrote:

We have thought out and carefully quantified the impact of these updates on the overall game, and have been looking anxiously at feedback from all of our community

No you have not quantified the impact, if you did you wouldn't have immense amounts of complaints and as for looking at feedback, you just completely ignored it.

Runescape.com wrote:

We place immense value in our - and your - game's integrity

With the constant solomon and SOF spam and dwindling REAL CONTENT it doesn't seem like it.

Runescape.com wrote:

I believe we are one of the few games studios in the world that prizes the integrity of the game and health of our community over commercial returns

Used to be, don't think you are anymore

As CreepyPirate said...

Spoiler for Language:

Duke Juker · RSBandB Donor since 07/01/2010

As far as I'm concerned, anytime MMG speaks, it comes across as a type of political grandstanding. Obviously, he's not going to say what people don't want to hear, only what will keep players happy and satisfied. Whenever a CEO or high up business officer says anything, you have to ask yourself "What are they responding to, what's at stake, and what's actually important to them?" This isn't to say that this is the case, but that it's certainly possible and that this is how it comes across to me.

Now, if Andrew or Paul Gower were to speak on this issue, I would find it much more credible regardless of what they had to say. My thought is they would not be for microtransactions no matter what reasoning was given. To me, MMG is an outsider and a businessman, not a game developer or public relations officer. His job is to focus on profits, not player happiness. This isn't to say that player happiness isn't important to making profits from a game...it certainly is. But in terms of MMG's primary concerns, if he and Jagex can find a way to make more money while losing few players in return, those are the decisions they will make. I don't think microtransactions are necessary in any game and that the best games are the ones without it. They were coming out with great content before the introduction of SoF and SGS. No reason to think things have changed since then.

Warren · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 4:56 pm

Wow those graphics look really good, I wonder how much the upgraded graphics pack will cost from Solomon.

Adbot · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 4:56 pm

Estor · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 5:17 pm

Glad they're being more open about it but overall it's mostly bull. They essentially say they do SoF and stuff for "needed money". Strange, they didn't need that money a few years ago. They don't need more staff and they already have enough money to cover all their resources and paychecks. Congrats you've made an effort on admitting what you're doing, now you need to face facts and fix what you've done.

Shane · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 6:42 pm

Estor wrote:

Glad they're being more open about it but overall it's mostly bull. They essentially say they do SoF and stuff for "needed money". Strange, they didn't need that money a few years ago. They don't need more staff and they already have enough money to cover all their resources and paychecks. Congrats you've made an effort on admitting what you're doing, now you need to face facts and fix what you've done.

It's simple, lost money from bots. They didn't need the money a few years ago because they didn't have a massive bot problem that required banning.

To those who say he's just saying this because it's what people want to hear I would advise you to think again. I've talked to a few people who have met MMG at RuneFest or at Jagex studios and they all say he's really genuine. I trust the people I've talked to so I doubt this is all just for show.

Bonsai99 · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 7:04 pm

Speaking of Runefest I really hope they have one this year, because at the moment it certainly doesn't look like it's going to happen.

Estor · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 7:53 pm

Shane wrote:

Estor wrote:

Glad they're being more open about it but overall it's mostly bull. They essentially say they do SoF and stuff for "needed money". Strange, they didn't need that money a few years ago. They don't need more staff and they already have enough money to cover all their resources and paychecks. Congrats you've made an effort on admitting what you're doing, now you need to face facts and fix what you've done.

It's simple, lost money from bots. They didn't need the money a few years ago because they didn't have a massive bot problem that required banning.

To those who say he's just saying this because it's what people want to hear I would advise you to think again. I've talked to a few people who have met MMG at RuneFest or at Jagex studios and they all say he's really genuine. I trust the people I've talked to so I doubt this is all just for show.

Although that may be true, I'm sure they will recover quickly. Besides, I'm sure SoF/SGS is here to stay. :/

Flash · **Posted:** August 29th, 2012, 9:35 pm

Well if that's the case then this game is probably starting to die. I don't see Runescape lasting much longer unfortunately if they need to make this Solomon and SOF crap just to get enough money when before all they needed was members. The future for RS looks bleak, I hope something happens to turn it around.

EDIT: Yes finally dragon member!

Duke Juker · RSBandB Donor since 07/01/2010

Shane wrote:

To those who say he's just saying this because it's what people want to hear I would advise you to think again..

Can't imagine who would say that... :lol:

Anyways, I'm not discounting what those people have said, but I don't care how genuine or nice a person appears to be. Looks can always be deceiving and words are plentiful even when action is not. Even politicians and salesman come across "genuine" to many people when in reality, it's just part of the job. How can you get elected or sell anything if people don't like you or trust you? People hope and expect that what you are saying as an individual are things you actually believe and mean, but in many cases this is not so. Another thing about being genuine is that you can be a genuine in what you say and believe, but action is different from words.

I'm a naturally distrustful person, especially of people who work for companies with objectives such as making money. That isn't to say that making money is bad, but it certain factors into decisions the company makes. Like any business, Jagex is concerned with turning a profit. When it comes down to it and they have to choose between the players and making money, they will choose the money preferably while keeping as much of their player base as possible. SoF and SGS prove this point. Sure, some people may quit the game because of it, but the money brought in is greater than the amount of membership lost. I'd also like to read Jagex's financial statements just to see where most of the money they receive is going. Only then would I believe that Jagex was concerned more about the players or the money according to what the numbers said.

Gratz on being the 91st Dragon Member, Flash. You are now in the club.

CreepyPirate · **Posted:** August 30th, 2012, 3:19 am

Sounds like ******* to me. When they start pumping out updates on a regular basis like they was 2-3 years ago of the same quality and not the crap they put out now I might start beliving. Till then all this extra revenue is going towards transformers and ipad development.

Just one more question: How exactly have you doubled your content team but you're putting out less content than in previous years? Does not compute.

Earth · **Posted:** August 30th, 2012, 4:33 am

CreepyPirate wrote:

Sounds like ******* to me. When they start pumping out updates on a regular basis like they was 2-3 years ago of the same quality and not the crap they put out now I might start beliving. Till then all this extra revenue is going towards transformers and ipad development.

Just one more question: How exactly have you doubled your content team but you're putting out less content than in previous years? Does not compute.

Just about everyone is working on the combat update.

CreepyPirate · **Posted:** August 30th, 2012, 4:43 am

Earth wrote:

CreepyPirate wrote:

Sounds like ******* to me. When they start pumping out updates on a regular basis like they was 2-3 years ago of the same quality and not the crap they put out now I might start beliving. Till then all this extra revenue is going towards transformers and ipad development.

Just one more question: How exactly have you doubled your content team but you're putting out less content than in previous years? Does not compute.

Just about everyone is working on the combat update.

From what I've read from players feedback there not exactly loving the new combat system. I don't believe there all working on that one update either.