Squeal of Angry Runescape Members

[Blackxp]

Yah know, I didn't think it would come to this... but we need to find where this Andrew lives and request his return. Only then shall we stop this plague...

[B F O A]

Yah know, I didn't think it would come to this... but we need to find where this Andrew lives and request his return. Only then shall we stop this plague...

It wouldn't change anything at this point because of what Torri posted. He no longer has the ultimate say until that company sells off their shares and Jagex belongs to a new majority shareholder.

[Tamal]

Don't know how accurate this is but it makes sense. From http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/02 ... velopment/

stellar dawn.jpg (51.37 KiB) Viewed 3491 times

[Deep_Pain]

Don't know how accurate this is but it makes sense. From http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/02 ... velopment/

stellar dawn.jpg

I'd assumed they'd pulled back on that to make sure transformers was released this year. They've said it will be released in 2012, so considering they'd been working on stellar dawn 2 years? bit more maybe, mechscape a few years b4 that which the work already done was due to be melded into stellar dawn. They must be putting everything into transformers, as they've been on that less than a year. I guess to try and cash in while its still big. I do wonder how much of mechscape/stellar dawn they have used in transformers.. I guess by the name that mechscape was some kind of mechanoid based game, stellar dawn seemed to feature robots heavily... then suddenly they get transformers and stellar dawn is shelved yet transformers will be released with only a years work.. or 18 months at most to meet the 2012 deadline. Transformers more than meets the eye... transformers mechscape in disguise? So does that make jagex the decepticons ?

[Blackxp]

Too bad Stellar Dawn has been officially canned :\

Funorb - Failed (Not officially, but has not seen an update in maybe 1 and 1/2 years?)
WoL - Failed (In my eyes, guess its still running. Microtransactions gone terribly wrong.)
8realms - Looks to fail (Concept just will not take off. A casual MMORTS that resets every month or so...)
Mechscape/Stellar Dawn - Failed twice now (SD was placed on official hold by Jagex maybe a month ago? It wont be coming back)
Thirdscape - Scrapped and made into Dungeoneering (Which is okay, but means they are placing all of their money on runescape's success)

Transformers Online - Honestly looks promising for its intended audience, but nothing I'd ever play. And who knows with Jagex's track record right now. Stellar Dawn looked exactly this same way and has since been "cancelled" twice now.


So Jagex only has two games left in development that are going to fund their company. Runescape which is seeing the seemingly desperate addition of microtransations to fund itself and Transformers Online which does not seem cater to a large enough audience to be successful.

If Runescape crashes they really do not have anything left.

[Tristabella]

I saw this on the RSOF and thought it a well written reply when Jagex asked why this player cancelled his membership
Quick find code: 15-16-918-63700031

After cancelling my subscription I decided to email jagex with my reasons for quitting. As you may guess it's down to the SoF update. To be honest with you the response I got made me rethink my cancelling but the solid slap all qp cape owners recieved today has changed my mind.

I also was not going to post this email on here as I felt they had been so candid with me but at this stage I no longer care. They have well and truly ripped apart a game I once had so much respect for and I have also lost all respect for jagex.

My original email and the response are below:

Dear Sir/Madam,

As per your request on feedback as to the recent cancellation of my ongoing subscriptio I decided that I should email you with my reasoning.

I have quit as a direct result of the introduction of the "Sqeel of fortune, buy more spins" update. I am not against the introduction of micro transactions into a game like this. I realize that an income needs to be generated, especially after the reduction in profits in the last financial year and the recent shift in the overall ownership of the game. I do believe that having a direct shop to purchase cosmetic items would have been a much better way of implementing this update.

There are many reasons I am disappointed with this turning point in the game. Firstly, it is the u-turn in Jagex's original mantra that they would not allow any individual to gain an advantage due to their wealth outside the game, therefore creating an environment in which all players have an equal opportunity no matter what walk of life they come from. This recent update has completely turned its back on this ethos and I am very disappointed in this.

Secondly, while I am sure every care has been taken to make sure of the legality of the "Squeel" I do believe the spirit of the update is a disgrace. As a company I am sure you realize that to the players involved feel that the items obtainable have an inherent value due to the time and effort expended in their acquisition. Therefore players are being goaded into spending money on the opportunity to gain more spins and therefore increasing the possibility of gaining one of these items.

To the letter of the law this update is legal. In spirit I find it completely immoral and it sickens me to my stomach to see a company I once thought so well of peddling a poorly disguised gambling game to individuals as young as 13. I find it completely deplorable and therefore have decided after my subscription expires I am no longer willing to pay money to a company that has so clearly been bankrupted of its morals.

Please don't reply with an auto-generated response, it would just add insult to injury. If you do wish to reply please attempt to allay some of my concerns that these new practices will continue and I may reconsider my cancellation,

Thanks you for your time,

[Tristabella]

And the response:

Hi Barin,


Thank you for sending your feedback to us, we do want to know what our community thinks and we appreciate you spending the time to tell us. It is a shame to see you leave the members community because of the Squeal of Fortune update, but we understand your views and are happy to take them onboard for any future changes we make to RuneScape.


It's clear from your message that you understand why we introduced micro-transactions, but the way they have been implemented is the part you are uncomfortable with. I do like your idea of having a shop for purchasing cosmetic items. In fact, this was thought about as an option. The reason we've chosen to go with the Squeal of Fortune was because we wanted the update to have an element of fun about it. Some players see this as gambling, which isn't the case. We ensured there was no risk of loss to it at all. The last thing we want is for players to pay and get nothing, that's just not fun. This is another reason why we chose the Squeal of Fortune, it allows players to take part without having to purchase anything. Only extra spins have a charge attached.


You've spoken about the original 'Jagex mantra', this is a tricky subject to cover. We do not want players to buy their way through RuneScape, but you also have to consider there are organised groups already selling services that do exactly that. The main downside is they will use illegal activities to do it, often using stolen accounts and credit cards to provide their service. This relates directly to the bot busting update that we released. My main point is that we have to factor in many things when we release any update, this inevitably ends up annoying some players along the way.


Once again, thank you for your feedback, it is listened to and taken on board.


Kind regards,


Mod Peter

Billing Support Team
__________________________________________________________________

I found the response interesting, I really would have much preferred if they'd went with the cosmetic item store. The thing that annoys me the most about the SOF is the fact that there are both items that people work extrememly hand to get and also experience lamps. I've seen some of the forums responses on the RSOF where people have bought spins and have walked away with a very nice chunk of XP...and the fact it goes completey against what Jagex originally set out to do...that people would never have a real world advantage in the game.

[Xardnor]

I find the following quite interesting:

The reason we've chosen to go with the Squeal of Fortune was because we wanted the update to have an element of fun about it. Some players see this as gambling, which isn't the case. We ensured there was no risk of loss to it at all. The last thing we want is for players to pay and get nothing, that's just not fun.

So then getting the usual 50 coins after paying real money for it is fun?

[zerocoollll]

It's been two months since we released the Squeal of Fortune and we wanted to take the opportunity to respond to some of the player feedback, correct some misconceptions about the popularity of the update, motivations behind the update and importantly outline why it's also here to stay.

First of all I want to say thank you to everyone who has sent us feedback about the recent Squeal of Fortune updates. We designed the Squeal of Fortune from the outset to be a fun and light-hearted feature to RuneScape, giving players a new way to receive free rewards every day they log into RuneScape. As with many of our updates, our members always receive extra benefits like double the free spins daily and we have evolved it since launch – providing all of our players numerous additional ways to earn free Squeal spins within the game.

As with all content we add to RuneScape, we went to great lengths to ensure that the Squeal of Fortune would enhance the playing experience without undermining what makes the game truly special for millions of players every day; we truly believe we have succeeded in both priorities.

We recognise that some in the community have mixed feelings about the Squeal of Fortune and, whilst we spend a great deal of time and effort creating game experiences that resonate with the majority of our players, the reality is due to the epic size of our community it simply isn't possible to please all of our players all of the time despite desperately trying too. Therefore our philosophy has always been to do what is right for the long term health of the game, a fact many of the long standing player will know I've consistently done over the years irrespective of the initial pain, with the not so distant Bot nuke a great example. I can confidently say that we have always been rewarded for doing the right thing in the long run and the reality today is that the game is not only consistently improving but our community steadily grows year on year.

That said, all the feedback we receive for our updates and how the community engage with it is still extremely important to us. We have been reading your posts on the forums and listened to your concerns. As a result of your feedback, we implemented some changes to the way Squeal of Fortune works, such as adding new ways to receive extra spins as in-game rewards and also introducing additional payment protection for all in game purchases as soon as players notified us it was a concern.

Naturally the team and I are saddened that some players are upset about free spins and some also don't like the ability to also purchase additional spins, however, the reality is 90% of our members are enjoying the Squeal of Fortune on a daily basis and over 70% of our free players utilise the Squeal of Fortune daily too - making it some of the most widely appreciated content release to date. The majority of our players also continue to take advantage of the many free ways to earn extra spins, so it's certainly here to stay.

The stated concerns from players regarding RWT'ing, gambling or using the Squeal of Fortune to buy their way to success is simply not true and not possible given the design of the system. Whilst we have seen most players take advantage of the new rewards and many choosing to purchase extra spins, we have not witnessed any abuse of the system despite monitoring it extremely closely.

Looking forward, RuneScape continues to grow more than ever, both in terms of innovative compelling content as well as the size of the community. With the launch of The Runespan last Monday, a major graphical performance upgrade yesterday (which has already seen a significant portion of the community benefit from over a 100% improvement in game frame rate), it should be evident that we just gearing up for our most exciting and biggest content year ever........... including a complete upgrade to the combat system later this summer!

You'll naturally all hear a lot more about this in the very near future so watch this space.

Thanks for reading ... and have fun,

Cheers,

Mark Gerhard

Jagex CEO

A very long way of saying deal with it.

[Xardnor]

the reality is 90% of our members are enjoying the Squeal of Fortune on a daily basis

That particular quote seems to be stretching the data that they have. Enjoying? No 90% of the members use thier daily spins because it's there and if you don't use your spins, the annoying little goblin shows up on the screen every time you log in/change worlds etc. Even if you dismiss him. Even if people used sof on a daily basis, I would suspect it is more "Utilizing" than "Enjoying."

That may just be my opinion, but does anyone actually "Enjoy" sof?

[Dr Brad]

That may just be my opinion, but does anyone actually "Enjoy" sof?

If I get a lucky divine, then yes!

[zerocoollll]

i enjoy it as much as a random event its nice getting random exp sometimes