Hello everyone, I’m back with another article this month talking about the recent update regarding Jagex’s new way to gamble away our money below the legal age. 😀 Now compared to my last article, I think this is going to be more of a rant so be ready to get infuriated at me and then defending what you think about this update in your own words in the comments below.

Now I have recently fallen off the RuneScape map so this is just my fair opinion about it. Jagex recently released an update where you can, put simply, gamble your hard earned money away even if you are not of the legal gambling age in most countries. Now in order to do this, you need a verified PayPal account (which means it is linked with your bank where they can directly take money out of it when you purchase the spins), a credit card, or some other method of payment I had never heard of. Now most people are going to go with the credit card option because you need to have access to cheques in order to use a paypal account (which is really the only good part of this update, the fact that Jagex makes sure you need a verified account to make the purchase). I personally bought the 75 spin option because I am 18 so I am allowed to gamble my money away and secondly, I wanted to see if they would do something for the people who bought spins (and by that I mean give them a much higher odd at getting a rare item like what the Crate buying system for the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer does) but it does not. The best thing I got was a rune platebody which I already have many of, so overall it was a waste of $20. I know some people who got lucky (Riceay13 with this lucky Arcane Spirit Shield) but in order to get there, it took him 168 spins. This means about $40 to get an item that can’t be traded in any way, shape or form.

Now think what you want about the above because considering they are going to do this for a random chance event (gambling) the next logical step for them is to do a Team Fortress 2 style micro transaction model. A store ingame where you can buy any item in the game for some amount of money but they cannot be traded and to also make it fair, you cannot bring it into any PvP area. PvE is alright as you are not fighting some other human who might not have the money to buy the item you buy (an Armadyl Godsword as an example). Now you might be thinking if you play TF2, “But Tim, you can use those items in TF2” and to that I say, they cannot be crafted in any way, shape or form. Now you may think that isn’t that bad but that means if you want to get a hat (because let’s face it, the only reason people play TF2 is to get hats) like the Bonk Helm which I have never, ever seen as a drop, you need to craft it. Now you can buy the Bonk! Atomic Punch but then you can’t use it to craft something, so you need to wait to get it as a drop, which could take a long time to get the items you need for a certain item or you can get it through a trade, which could also take as long because you need to barter to get what you want. Overall, only way I would see micro transactions working in RuneScape are if they make those items not tradeable AT ALL and if you ONLY allow you to buy items that you can get in the game, not any exclusive items unless they are only for looks, and even then it’s pushing it as people are just going to wear those items to show off how rich they are.

Overall the micro transactions would bring in a lot of money, but Jagex needs to make sure that they are doing it in moderation, I think they should only allow verified PayPal account because that will do two things, make sure that the people buying the Squeal of Fortune spins are of legal age (or at least have some sort of income) and with PayPal, you get an email as soon as you make the purchase so parents can keep track of the purchases towards something that is just pixels and bits. I hope you enjoyed my rant which I don’t want to call a rant about micro transactions. Next months, depending on how I feel at the time, might be what my cousin suggested to me about what I should write about, how to get prepared for a Skill of the Month competition (which you guys know I like to go big or go home :D). So ya, all I have for now, Tim Out!