Old School RuneScape players revolt after new big money owners say bots are fine, actually, devs furiously walk it back and say they banned 7 million bots last year

GamesMMOOld School RuneScapeOld School RuneScape players revolt after new big money owners say bots are fine, actually, devs furiously walk it back and say they banned 7 million bots last yearWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Jagex)

A warrior takes on a hydra in keyart for Old School RuneScape.

CVC bought Jagexearlier this month for £900 million, a splashy acquisition that, naturally, caught the eye ofthe Financial Times. A source close to CVC told the paper that “bots are part of the RuneScape ecosystem, they just are,” and went on to say that the goal was “a sort of equilibrium of players and bots” in the game. “If a player is sufficiently committed to pay for three accounts, and have an account and two bots as part of its ecosystem, then so be it,” said the FT’s source.

Players took that as an indication that—so far as CVC was concerned—bots were going to be left to get on with it so long as their owners were paying. As is the case in pretty much any MMO, bots are a persistent problem in OSRS, with automated accounts easily out-farming, out-trading, and out-performing the game’s human players—nabbing spots onthe game’s hiscores table—in a way that’s both frustrating and despair-inducing. Hearing that Jagex’s new owner’s philosophy was essentially to throw in the towel sparked a community uproar.

The reaction in the Reddit thread was fierce enough that Jagex moderators had to step in to attempt to calm people down. Jagex mod Ayiza commented that “the article does not accurately reflect our strategy”. Continuing, Ayiza wrote that “Since the news of the acquisition came about, many of you have been saying we’re not banning bots on purpose… That just isn’t true and would not be good for the game,” before breaking down some statistics surrounding bot bans to highlight both the scale of the problem and Jagex’s commitment to fighting it.

A few of those stats, because they really are eye-watering: OSRS banned 6.9 million accounts last year and has banned an average of 67,000 accounts a week so far in 2024. Additionally, around 900billiongold pieces are removed weekly from the OSRS economy as bots get banned and yanked from the game. The scale of the problem is kind of staggering, even if you know—as most of us do—that bots are an enduring problem for any and all MMOs.

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The post also reveals one more wild stat: of everyone banned so far in 2024 (67,000 accounts a week, remember) Jagex’s appeals process has only found that 38 bans were applied incorrectly.

But it’ll take more to convince players. While some are cautiously optimistic, many seem to be adopting a wait-and-see approach to see what effect Jagex’s new management has. Of particular note to some OSRS fans was the fact that the Jagex post was signed “The Old School Team” rather than the name of a particular mod, which was taken as a sign that no one was willing to stand behind the message therein. “Impressive word count with no value,” reads a comment frombagy_on the OSRS subreddit, “That’s the business speaking, not our mods.”

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