As I mentioned in my
post in the update thread, I lean more so against bonds than for. Here's my reasoning.
For one thing, I find it troubling that Jagex is only dealing with gold farmers only and not the actual players themselves who are engaging in RWT. This is clearly evident from Mod MMG's remarks. If 40-50% of the community is participating in RWT activities and Jagex knows it, why aren't they banning these players? Obviously, if Jagex did this, they would lose a lot of revenue from membership accounts. Though I don't know this to be the case, it's my best guess as to why Jagex doesn't do more against those players who partake of RWT. If Jagex truly wants to eliminate RWT, they need to be eliminating both the supply (gold farmers)
AND the demand (RWT players).
Second, bonds essentially work by cutting out the middle man: gold farmers. Now, rather than players having to go to third party gold farming sites to purchase gp, Jagex provides the means by which one can attain gp: purchasing bonds. Bonds have inherent value being exchangeable for membership, SoF spins, and Soloman's Rune coins. For as little as $5, players can obtain a minimum of 5 million gp by trading a bond to another player. Now players who typically go to gold farmers can get RS gp in a legitimate, safe way provided by Jagex. It's a win-win for everyone involved...except gold farmers and people who legitimately earn wealth without using real life money to do so. But I digress.
Third, what impact will this have on the game? It's very unclear at this point what effects this will have on gold farming, the RS economy, and the community as a whole. Bonds definitely introduce an aspect of "pay-to-win" to the game. As mentioned above, bonds are a legitimate way for RS players to obtain in game wealth using real life means. Granted, this won't be the case for every player. Some will never be interested in buying bonds. Some will play the game their own way without having the need to turn to bonds. But for others, they will see bonds as an opportunity to use real life resources to achieve an in game benefit. A game should never be about who has real life money to get ahead. Games ought to avoid incorporating any real life advantage into game play.
Jagex means well by the introduction of bonds, that much I can see in Mod MMG's remarks and the rhetoric Jagex has put out for years. However, I am still skeptical as to the end goal as Jagex will benefit regardless of the consequences this update has on the game. It's like a government outlawing the sale of drugs, then turning around and approving only drug sales by the government. It's ironic and an ethically questionable methodology. Although I think it's nice that players now have some kind of means for using in game gp to buy membership, players should also be able to use in game gp to directly pay for bonds, membership, spins, or rune coins as well. Not only would this be a great money sink, but it would cut back on gold farming even further...at least that's the hope.
That all being said, Jagex is well within its rights to introduce bonds and to engage in RWT themselves as they own the game. And Runescape isn't the only game to introduce this type of feature. Many games have pay for content features for players that are willing to part with their money. Does that mean a game company should take advantage of the opportunity to make more money? Well, that depends on where you stand. But as for me, I would say no.
The bottom line in all of this is that it's up to Jagex and the Runescape community to determine what kind of game they want Runescape to be. Do they want it to be a game where gold farming, RWTing, and real life advantages influence the progress of players who can afford it? Or do they want a game that does not allow such things...a game that isn't about what your skill levels are or how much wealth you have, but instead about having fun and taking out of it what you put into it? Jagex seems to have made their choice. Where will the community stand?
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I think legalizing it wont make a difference. The bots will sell it far cheaper than the market will.
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