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INTRO

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The key to any good game is the rules. If a game had no rules at all, there’s only one name for it: “Horseplay”. I guess all it involves is making a lot of noise, playfully beating up the closest person, and trying to annoy your guardians as much as possible.

Look, my point is that Runescape is not horseplay (though it might be sometimes). Runescape’s got rules. 15 of them. And ironically, only one of them applies to actually playing the game rather then what you are allowed to do with other players.

But then, I guess Runescape doesn’t really need other rules. There is no “illegal” way to toy with the Chaos Elemental, after all.

Anyways, for those who are unaware of them, or just don’t understand them, I suggest you keep on reading, because these guidelines can help SAVE your Runescape life. Ladies and gentlemen: The Runescape Rules and what they really mean!

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THE RULES

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Rule 1 – Offensive Language

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Summary:

Rule 1 states that you cannot use offensive language anytime in the game. That includes both swearing, extreme threatening, offense, and abuse.

Swearing by itself is usually censored, but anyone who tries to get around the filter or someone who curses a lot anyway can get reported for this rule.

Extreme threatening includes threats to “find out where you live”, “hack your character unless you cooperate”, or anything to do with real life that someone can really get scared by. Not just that, but doing it over and over again and following the person around, PMing him when he logs on, etc. can get you into deeper trouble.

Offense is almost the same thing; threatening, taunting, and overdoing it in the process. Saying “I’m gonna PK you” isn’t really offensive, but don’t over-do it is all I’m saying, because I’m sure anyone in the wilderness only needs a 1-time warning before realizing it.

Finally, abuse involves making fun of someone’s values, cultures, and beliefs in a way that you know they wouldn’t like it. Some people can even over-react to it, so don’t insult ANYONE’S culture even though you don’t think that there is anyone nearby that abides to it.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

Of course they do. Runescape is supposed to be fun for everyone and should not cause any discomforts anywhere. Plus, Jagex strives to make this game something that younger audiences can play, and we as older people should really set an example that will affect their outlooks on the future in a positive way.

… uh, that means that we want to show these younger kids that we are “gooder” than them.

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Rule 2 – Item Scamming

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Summary:

This rule tells you how to legally scam items from- I’m joking. This rule states that NO PLAYER is allowed to try to unfairly trick another player into giving away an item of great value. This includes showing off a very rare item for money when the item is not rare at all, trading something to a player and switching it at the last second in hopes that the player would not realize it, and trying to sell an item that is claimed to be a hundred times better than what it really is.

I don’t yet know why, but sometimes players like to show off very rare items, but before they are put in the trade screen, they ask for a “showing fee”, and then display the item in another trade window. 98% of the time, this is a scam, except for those 1 or 2 people out there who want to be paid to put up a party hat or disk of returning in the trade box. Nobody should believe ANY of these people and pay them, even if they really are going to show off their party hat.

The false trading scam usually occurs with either switching an item with an alike but less valued duplicate, showing off a false amount of money, or messing up the player’s trade screen by adding and removing items in such a way that impatience will take them and they’ll wind up receiving nothing in the end but a good laughing at. Jagex has put up the second trade screen for good reason, and that is for players to carefully check it and see if they’re really receiving what they should be. Someone lagging is no excuse; you can take your time and wait for him to click all the buttons properly as well as check the second trade screen. After all, the trader is usually not the one lagging, and if he is, he can take his time too.

Lastly, the false item representation is the easiest to track. This includes claiming to upgrade an item or selling a special type of enchanted armor for a ridiculous price. There is NO WAY (yet) to upgrade an item, and if an item looks like a regular iron plate mail without any additions to its examination, name, or looks, then it really IS an iron plate mail and should only be bought for 600 coins.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

Yes. The Jagex Team is really firm with trying to ensure that everyone you meet can be trusted when you try to buy something off them. Scamming in itself is an art, and if all who scam were allowed to practice it, nobody in Runescape could be trusted anymore.

… however, I’m not so sure if that is really a bad thing. Until everybody in the world can learn proper sportsmanship and to respect his or her fellow player, no stranger should be trusted.

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Rule 3 – Password Scamming

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Summary:

This is similar to item scamming, except taken one step further. A player is not allowed to try to trick other players into revealing their Runescape passwords by either asking for it, offering to trade his own for it, or offering to level up the player’s character.

Players should never ask for other players’ passwords, and players who are asked should NEVER tell them, even if they claim to be Jagex Staff. Trust me, Jagex doesn’t NEED your password in order to do something with your character.

Same with services. Player password trading is not allowed, and 99.8% of the time, they are trying to deceive you. If you see anyone trying to offer these sorts of services for your password, or even doing it to someone else, report them.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

Of course! It just wouldn’t be worth playing Runescape if people were allowed to steal each other’s characters, would it?

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Rule 4 – Cheating / Bug Abuse

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Summary:

A player is not allowed to abuse a bug in order to gain an unfair advantage in the game. This includes super-training a skill, duplicating items, or tricking other players into doing something that really shouldn’t happen to gain an advantage over them.

Super training a skill involves training on something that is missing a trigger or aspect to it. For example, it used to be that you could pickpocket a knocked-out villager 5 times flawlessly in Pollnivneach before you’d have to flawlessly knock him out again, and that resulted in training 50 times faster then pickpocketing Ardougne knights. Players were reported to soar from level 50 to level 90 thieving in 2 days! However, this bug has been fixed, and you can only pickpocket someone twice with a 40% chance of knocking him out.

Duplicating items is self-explanatory. You’re not allowed to duplicate anything if a glitch allows it. A long while ago, someone found out how to duplicate party hats in Runescape Classic, and that resulted in a colossal market crash. Jagex Team members had to log in all over Runescape and confiscate the party hats while searching out the guilty party. Such glitches, if discovered, should be IMMEDIATELY be reported to Jagex PRIVATELY (meaning you can’t tell anyone else about it).

Finally, tricking other players to doing a glitch is not allowed. This includes making someone break one of the previous bug abuse rules or luring them into a glitch location where they might get stuck. I have yet another example of this: In Runescape Classic, there used to be a bug that involved a bronze hatchet, a cabbage, and a knife that allowed you to equip multiple knives and bring your strength bonus up as much as you wanted. I watched a friend get told how to do this, and as a result, an in-game program activated that killed his character while flashing “CHEATING IS NOT TOLERATED IN RUNESCAPE” in his chat box. I used to have a picture, but I lost it a long time ago. Mind you, he didn’t lose anything valuable, but a PK wearing full runite with a skull would have experienced something completely different if he was tricked to trying this.

These are examples of the types of bugs and glitches you are NOT allowed to take advantage of in any way, and should instead immediately report to Jagex by Customer Support.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

Well, yes they do, but only to the extent that a player uses this bug over and over again. If a player realizes it, I think he / she should at least be allowed to try it 2 or 3 times in different manners to see what is triggering this bug and if it’s only a 1-timer, then report it immediately afterwards without continuing.

Also, there are some bugs that are more for the manner of fun rather then advantage. Case and point – the POH chair bug where trying to follow a person in the fight arena while sitting in a chair and then eating immediately afterwards makes it so you can perform sit-down mind attacks in the fight arena, and after 2 minutes, you stand up with the permanent holding-a-weapon position (gotten rid of if you die or leave the house). I personally don’t think this sort of bug abuse should be punished, so long as the player doesn’t gain anything.

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Rule 5 – Jagex Staff Impersonation

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Summary:

Nobody is allowed to pretend that they are part of the Jagex Team in order to trick other players into giving away something, most often their password. They may sound professional, but if there is no crown next to their name, they are liars.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

I actually don’t really think that Jagex really needs this rule. Anyone claiming to be Jagex is usually in for items or a password, which directly violates rules 2 and 3, making it somewhat unnecessary for rule 5. Plus, Jagex have already stressed to us that Jagex Mods and Player Mods have crowns beside their names, and that anyone without a crown is faking it and you should NOT believe him or her, even if they really are undercover Jagex (110% unlikely). I’m sure that most everyone who’s played Runescape long enough to grow attached to their characters would know this.

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Rule 6 – Account Sharing / Trading

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Summary:

You are not allowed to trade or share characters among other people, even if you know them in real-life. This includes buying and selling characters and sharing a character to train him. One of the only reasons Jagex put this rule up is to prevent players from losing their characters to what they’ve been led to believe is a done deal.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

I’m actually questioning this rule as well. They’re our characters, and we can do what we want with them. So long as we understand that Jagex is not responsible for the loss of your character or your characters possessions, sharing characters shouldn’t really be illegal. Also, trading characters is very risky, as anyone can lie about their password, so I highly doubt that anyone would think of trying it.

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Rule 7 – Macroing

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Summary:

Using a program to automatically make your character do something, usually gain exp in a skill, without much involvement or supervision from the player is strictly forbidden. Macroing is easy to detect, stupid to do, and harshly consequential. Not just that, but half the time the sites in which one downloads a macroer from sends a key logger or a virus to steal characters. Macroing also includes auto-typing, so DON’T!

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

Yes, yes, and YES! Marcoing IS cheating, but with different letters in the word. Never EVER consider macroing, because you just can’t trust any of those sites. If someone can program a macroer, they can just as easily program a keylogger. That, and the game is just not fun when your skills are all at level 99 (see my anti-boredom guide).

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Rule 8 – Multiple Logging-In

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Summary:

If you have created multiple accounts, usually PK characters, pures, mains, etc, then you are not allowed to let them interact with each other by drop trading or logging in multiple characters and controlling them at once.

Jagex applied this rule a while ago, but it wasn’t always so. A long time ago (about 6 years), players made multiple characters and even armies of their own guys to combat others like a strategy game. However, the servers were just getting too packed by these armies, and Jagex felt that in order to allow any number of other players to use the server, they would have to restrict the number of characters one can control at a time to 1. Not just that, but it also helped stop the servers from lagging because of the extreme connections.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

I was about to say “yes”, but I got to thinking about it. On one hand, if someone logs in multiple accounts, he could use them to take up all the resources and train them all, leaving other players to work with whatever is left. On the other hand, controlling multiple characters is difficult work, and it’s not like they didn’t spend a lot of effort to build up their main character and buy all those items that he’s transferred to his weaker character. Maybe he would dominate the wilderness with these extra benefits, but there’s nothing stopping other Pker pures from making other characters they can train and earn this stuff from (besides, Pking is a gamble, and no one should have to rely on it).

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Rule 9 – Encouraging Others to Break Rules

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Summary:

A player is not allowed to try to convince someone else to break another rule. This includes telling them to scam, mentioning where to download a macro, saying that “Jagex doesn’t really mean this rule so you can still do it”, and (oh, here it comes) asking them to say a website or something abusive. Why would they do this? For the pure benefit of being able to REPORT them!

Hundreds of players have been falsely reported for something that they have been tricked or forced to do, and Jagex felt that something had to be done about these players. So they set up this rule for smart players to detect, usually when it’s occurring between two other people, and report, thereby saving that player.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

There’s no question about it, is there? Of COURSE Jagex needs this rule in place! Doesn’t it sound absurd that rule-breakers are getting praised for reporting those that they tricked into breaking the rules?

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Rule 10 – False Representations

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Summary:

You are not allowed to abuse the customer support by claiming to Jagex that you’re either very important or supply them with false information. That, and send in a million inquiries saying the same thing. When you’re using customer support, be sure to follow all the rules they state before sending in an inquiry, and try to find the answer in the manual by searching for it before you ask them about it.

I suppose they call it “false representations” because this rule also directly applies to players sending in inquiries and password checks pretending that they are other players and are just trying to use Jagex to steal passwords. Jagex is VERY uptight about this rule, and ANYBODY who asks for a password change for another character, even if it’s really his or her character and they forgot the recovery questions, will be breaking this rule and be punished.

So here’s my advice: Make your recovery questions memorable by you and only you. They’ll save your life.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

Well, if they want to make sure that their customer support can help players within at least a week, then yes.

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Rule 11 – Advertising / Website

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Summary:

A player is not allowed to advertise websites or even say “dot com” at the end of a sentence without getting reported for it. I’ll leave it at that.

Players are allowed to say their clan or community names, but they are not allowed to refer to other places on the Internet. This rule is mainly in place for security reasons.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

Now, being a victim to this one, I thought about it long and hard, and came to the fairly surprising conclusion that Jagex, in fact, does NOT need this rule. People on MSN, Yahoo, and other chat rooms and forums share web sites almost every day. Youtube movies, image shack pictures, even this article you are reading right now was advertised on Rsbandb, and you wouldn’t have ever gained access to it if Shane hadn’t advertised it on his forum.

What I’m really trying to say is that we are all pretty much used to and realize what sort of websites we can trust and which we can’t. Anyone can say a website anywhere, but its your own decision on whether or not to trust it.

If that’s the case, then why are we not allowed to advertise our websites in Runescape? To stop other players from being mislead to bad web sites, of course. But is that really necessary? Jagex has warned players in multiple different ways that accessing other websites is their own risk, but they never truly said that it should be forbidden to go to other web sites. They are not actually discouraging other Runescape fan-sites, they don’t mind that Runescape clans form their own home pages and sites (so long as they’re not advertised), and (oh trust me, this is good) they are advertising websites on THEIR OWN home page!

Plus, many of us here are sane enough to know when a web site isn’t good. For example, in Rsbandb, Creepy killed a link to what was claimed to be a Runescape movie and used the proof that the site didn’t lead to a file with the extension “avi” or “wmv”. Any website that can be said on Runescape is guarded by all the other rules. If someone auto-types a website, you can report him for macroing. If someone says “Runescape Beta on so-and-so.com”, that’s Jagex Staff Impersonation. Either way, I think anyone would trust someone who comes up to them and says “go to –“ just as much as they would trust a “You’ve won a free Laptop” pop-up. Plus, with Firefox, AVG, McAfee, etc, every precaution has been taken to help ensure that even an idiot with a keyboard, a connection to Google, and a $50,000 computer can mix.

I personally think that Jagex is over-reacting with this rule and those who were reported for supposedly breaking it. If someone was actually shouting it out loud to the public over and over again, I would be concerned. However, the sharing of a favorite website between friends is more of a basis between whether or not you can trust that person to give you an OK web site as much as they would trade fairly with you. We just have to convince Jagex that we are mature enough to know when and when not to trust someone.

Jagex wishes that there will be a time where this rule will be removed and replaced with something less strict, but I hope that when it happens, those who fell victim to it are forgiven (Mostly, myself).

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Rule 12 – Real World Item Trading

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Summary:

You are not allowed to trade items in Runescape for real-life items or money. This includes in-game promises, E-bay, and even other websites advertising it. *Prods Shane*

The main reason Jagex brought this rule into play is that they want to keep Runescape as much of a virtual internet game as possible without subjecting other people to do more for it then just play and work at it. They would rather that other players do not buy gold coins for dollars because if something didn’t go right, Jagex would be responsible and get in a heap of trouble. So in order to remove that risk, they stopped it altogether.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

Yes, they do. People can go overboard with what they can get over the internet, and I don’t want anybody to have to spend more then they have to in order to play a game.

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Rule 13 – Asking of Personal Details

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Summary:

It is forbidden to ask somebody for personal details about themselves, which includes address, phone number, last name, and postal code. If you catch someone asking you this, I suggest you first warn him or her of the rule, and if they aren’t convinced, report him or her.

Minor things like hobbies and jobs aren’t exactly personal, but if you feel uncomfortable answering them, then you don’t have to.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

Definitely. People have been known to mistakenly give away their personal information, and bad things happen to them. There are lots of untrustworthy players out there who appear nice and friendly, but in real life, they can be way different.

Never give away your personal information when someone asks for it, and never EVER propose to meet a Runescape player in real life … alone, at least.

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Rule 14 – Misuse of Official Forums

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Summary:

It basically means that you must follow the Runescape forum guidelines and apply the in-game rules to the forums as well: No password scamming, advertising, encouraging others to break rules, etc. If you mis-behave extremely in the forums, then your actual character in game can be affected, but mostly it’s only based on forum privileges.

The forum Code of Conduct include: No spamming, flame wars, abusive content, off-topicness, converting other people’s posts into your own ideas, and pretty much anything else that any other forum forbids.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

Well they do, but there’s no real reason why breaking the other rules in the forums shouldn’t result in their actual violation rather then this one. All this rule does is ensure that players, instead of being muted online, are banned from the forums.

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Rule 15 – Advert Blocking

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Summary:

Try not to laugh, but Jagex actually made it an official rule that you are not allowed to block the advertisements they have on their home page. The reason for this is by advertising, the more computers that experiences these advertisements means the more money Jagex are paid. And if you think 40 000 members paying them $5 a month is enough, it’s not. Jagex still have to pay for bandwidth, electricity, site services … not to mention each of their staff, and there are more people working there then just the Jagex Mods.

Does Jagex Really Need This Rule:

… er, if you just read my thoughts about rule 11, then you’ll understand that Jagex are asking us to not do something that they are doing. We’re not allowed to advertise our websites, but look at what THEY are doing!

Yes, they need them to support their site, but they can’t be trusted. I got a TROJAN from one of those sites they advertised. A TROJAN! Fortunately AVG killed it, but I personally think that Jagex is trying to show off a bit too much of their power.

But they have a really good reason to advertise. If they didn’t, EVERYONE would have to become a member in order to play Runescape. This is just their way of getting money from free players without them actually having to pay. So does Jagex need this rule? Yes.

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CONCLUSION

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There you have it. Follow these guidelines and don’t break any of the rules, even if your friend promises not to report you for it like I had happen, and you will lead a very prosperous Runescape life.