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

Cheating Friendship - and Betrayal

Even more nefarious and widespread than cheating in RuneScape is scamming: using lies or deception to trick a player out of his or her money and items. Literally dozens of different scams have been developed over the years by the “RuneScape underworld”. The problem gets worse and worse, due to the growth of the game, the poor reporting feature, and Jagex's lack of action to make game changes that would eliminate the frauds.

Some of the more common item swindles include switching a cheap item for an expensive one at the last second in a trade; changing the quantity of an item; tricking someone into going into a dangerous place so they die; manipulating prices or misrepresenting the price of items; and flat out “confidence schemes” where a player befriends a “mark” and then makes off with a “borrowed” item. These are discussed extensively in the section of TruthScape devoted to item scams.

Scammers can be reported, but the reporting system is poor, and often the scammer gets away scot-free. Even when reported, it is common for no action to be taken. I personally have observed a player attempt to item scam me and reported him, only to find the same player still online trying the same exact scam, day after day after day.

A large segment of the gaming population takes a “blame the victim” attitude when it comes to scamming. A typical quote is: “if you're too stupid to realize it's a scam, you deserve to get scammed.” Getting tricked out of hard-earned items and then being told it is your own fault can be devastating to a child.

Potentially worse than being scammed out of an item is having your entire account stolen. Some real lowlifes spend their time trying to trick players into revealing their passwords or downloading malicious software that can steal login information. They then “hack” into the account and transfer all valuable items to their own accounts, or just sell the account. Players routinely spend months or years developing a character and earning items, then log in one evening and find it all gone. This is covered in the TruthScape section on account and password scamming.

Finally, there is the matter of luring, where nasty people lie to the innocent to trick them into getting killed. For several weeks, Jagex actually legalized luring into the Wilderness, which resulted in an explosion in this activity. Fortunately, the company changed its mind and made luring illegal, and has also recently taken steps to prevent it, such as putting in the Wilderness ditch, but there are still many who try it. See the discussion of the legality of luring for a comprehensive discussion.

Cheating Friendship - and Betrayal