TruthScape.com  9  The Truth About RuneScape's Community and Its Impact on Children       9  Specific Dangers and Behavioral Concerns in the RuneScape Community

Gambling Addiction Item Scamming, Account Scamming and Luring

Jagex has put into place a set of 15 rules for RuneScape, some of which are meant to stop cheating in the game. These include prohibiting account sharing, the use of third-party software, sharing items between characters owned by the same player, and buying or selling RuneScape items for real money. Unfortunately, some of these rules are inadequately enforced.

One serious problem is people who use automation software that lets their computers essentially play the game for them, letting them get gold or high levels automatically without even needing to be present to play; these are called “bots” (for “robots”) or “autoers”. Jagex does prohibit this activity, but enforcement is lax, and cheating using these programs has become widespread (see Figure 85). Players try to report these fake players, but the reporting facility is crude, and the reports rarely effective, so players get jaded and stop trying.

There are whole companies that create “bot armies” to earn millions in RuneScape gold, which they sell online for real world cash. Lazy and dishonest players buy this RuneScape gold, or even buy whole accounts. This in turn leads to other problems, like fake sites promising cheap gold that trick players into giving away their login information, so they get “hacked” and lose all their items.

Other forms of cheating have become so widespread that many players consider them perfectly acceptable. For example, it is considered quite normal to share items between accounts owned by the same player, even though it is illegal. New players do it because they see older players doing it, and it's so common that many don't even think it is against the rules.

The use of “autotypers” is also widespread; these are programs typically employed by merchants to type the same buy or sales pitch over and over. While technically illegal, this is done by so many thousands of players that it's not even enforced.

What impact does all this open cheating have on players? The ones who are solidly honest tend to get angry and disgusted; the ones who would only go along with rules if others do tend to then rationalize cheating themselves. I knew a friend in the game who started merchanting; she openly told me that she was getting an autotyper because she needed to compete with everyone else who was using one.

What new players learn is simple: cheating is okay if it's not too serious and you can get away with it.

Gambling Addiction Item Scamming, Account Scamming and Luring