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The Truth About Luring in RuneScape The Fundamentals of Luring in RuneScape

My discussions of the legality of item scamming and rules about account scamming were both fairly short, because Jagex rules and policies on those activities are clear cut: both types of scamming are not allowed. When it comes to luring, though, matters become much more confusing; I urge you to read this topic carefully so you understand the issues involved.

There are two main reasons why the legality of luring is a complex issue. The first is that Jagex has created a great deal of confusion by first not being clear about whether luring was allowed, then deciding to legalize luring into the Wilderness, and then changing its mind again and making that activity against the rules. The second is that there are many activities that are called “luring”, and only some are considered illegal even under Jagex's most recent rulings.

Let's start with a brief history of recent Jagex rules and policies related to luring. Until recently, luring has simply not been mentioned in the rules at all, which led to a lot of confusion. Different players would ask on the forums or send queries to customer service and get conflicting answers, depending on whom responded and what type of lure was mentioned. Many people, including myself, maintained that luring that involved lying to victims was deception for personal gain, and thus should be illegal based on Rule #2 in the RuneScape Rules of Conduct, which says that “lying to other players for your own personal gain is not in the spirit of the game.”

Then, on February 22, 2007, Jagex stunned the ethical players of RuneScape by declaring that luring into the Wilderness was legal and would no longer be a reportable offense. They said that luring outside the Wilderness would still be illegal, though. Compounding the problem was how this policy was handled: no update was made to Rule #2, no prominent announcement was made, and discussions of it were not allowed where people would see them.

The decision led to an outcry on the part of outraged players, including myself, who watched as luring exploded in popularity due to happy scammers being emboldened by the decision and bewildered victims not knowing about it. Jagex stonewalled on the issue for many weeks with ridiculous excuses for the decision and its cover-up, while some long-time players quit in protest and others campaigned to get the change undone. In fact, this fiasco was one of the motivations for me to create TruthScape.

Fortunately, on March 29, 2007, Jagex pleasantly surprised the ethical players of RuneScape by reversing the February decision. They made luring into the Wilderness illegal and announced it properly—on prominent forums and the RuneScape home page. For the first time, they also added the following to Rule #2 as an example of an item scam: “Luring players into the Wilderness under false pretences.” Of course, because of all the changes, there are still a lot of confused people, but it was still most welcome to see Jagex taking the moral stance, especially the comments made by Andrew Gower, the head of the company (Figure 117).

And that brings us to the other issue: the many different types of luring that exist. The core of the problem is that luring often involves the Wilderness and player killing (PKing), which is an area of the game that can inherently involve deception. For example, it is common for people to carry great equipment but not wear it, so others will think they are unarmed and attack them. This is not very honest, really, but it's common in the Wild and not illegal.

Jagex could not reasonably prohibit all types of deceptive behavior involving the Wilderness, so they had to try to make a objective “dividing line” between what is considered item scamming and what is not. That dividing line, as Jagex said in Rule #2, is using “false pretences” to get someone into the Wild where they can be killed. This was further clarified by a Jagex staff member on the RuneScape forums, Jon H, who said the following:

“Some players seem to think we're still being unclear about what we consider luring, and what the difference is between a “luring PK” (illegal) and a “non-luring PK” (legal).

I personally don't believe we have been unclear, but I shall attempt to make it even clearer.

Rule 2 says you're not allowed to lie to other players for your own personal gain.

If you tell lies to another player to entice them into a situation where you can kill them, that is against the rules.

If you tell no lies, you are not breaking the rules.

Honestly, it's that simple.”

Well, no, Jon H, it actually is not that simple. For example, within the Wilderness itself, it is common for someone to “tell lies to another player to entice them into a situation where you can kill them”. This, however, has been said to not be a violation of Rule #2 by other Jagex employees, because Rule #2 only applies to lying to people to get them into the Wild—it does not apply to a player who is already there.

As you can see, there is still plenty more that Jagex needs to do to clarify this situation. However, as of this writing, the standard quoted above is the most clear that I have seen, and so is the standard I am using here as well. Based on this information I have divided my discussion of lures into three categories (plus obsolete lures, which are ones no longer possible or relevant):

• Illegal Wilderness Lures and Scams: These are lures (scams) where lying or deliberate deception is involved in tricking the victim into the wild to be killed. They are prohibited based on Rule #2; fortunately, many were stopped when Jagex implemented the Wilderness ditch on April 18, 2007.
  
  
• “Legal” Wilderness Bait Luring: These lures involve players who try to entice you into coming into the Wilderness, but who do not openly lie to you in getting you to do so. They are therefore considered legal - but you still need to know about them, so I still cover them. (This includes deception used to lure people from one location to another within the Wilderness.)
  
  
• Non-Wilderness Luring: These scams involve tricking players into getting killed outside the Wilderness, either by monsters, natural hazards or problems with the game itself. In most cases they are illegal, but not always, so you need to check the topics describing each one.

Note that in some cases, Rule #4, which prohibits cheating and bug abuse, comes into play as well. There are some lures into the Wilderness that involve abusing bugs to “drag” players into the Wild against their will. Many scams related to player owned houses also involve abusing bugs to cause players to be killed even though this is not supposed to be possible due to combat in a house.

Again, as mentioned above, there are still gray areas—even with respect to activities called “lures” outside the Wild. Despite all of my experience, hours of discussing scamming issues and a great deal of research performed, there are still some situations whose legality I am unsure about. I will note these cases where appropriate as I describe them.

The Truth About Luring in RuneScape The Fundamentals of Luring in RuneScape