TruthScape.com  9  The Truth About Personal Health and Safety in RuneScape

How Safe is RuneScape? Dealing with People in RuneScape Who Want to Meet in Real Life

One essential step to making sure you stay safe on RuneScape is to keep your private information entirely private. You should not give anyone in the game (or on third party “fan sites” or similar places) information about yourself.

Remember that RuneScape is a fantasy role-playing game; you are supposed to be playing as a character, not as your “real self”. So keep it that way! Nobody needs to know who you are, so don't tell them. And don't ask others either-it's not only a bad idea, it's against the rules.

If you tell people information like your name and address, you could put yourself at serious risk. Of course, other players are curious about where their friends are located, so I think it's alright to tell other players what country you live in (but don't ask!) I would not go beyond that though. Even if you give someone a tiny bit of information, they may ask for more later and piece together a lot about you, without you realizing it.

Remember that RuneScape friendships are not real friendships. It's very easy to get fooled into thinking someone online is a real friend and can be trusted with your personal info, but you really don't know anything about them. They could be lying about everything they tell you (see Figure 76).

Also remember that real Jagex staff members have a gold crown next to their names, and that Jagex staff will never ask you for personal details. Don't get fooled by staff impersonators!

Here are some of the personal details you should never share with others:

• Name (any part of it).
  
  
• Home, school or work addresses.
  
  
• Home, school or work phone numbers (including cell phone numbers).
  
  
• Home, school or work email addresses.
  
  
• Instant messenger names or numbers. Use the RuneScape chat.
  
  
• MySpace page names or other personal Web pages (this is also against the rules).
  
  
• Credit card numbers or other account numbers.
  
  
• Age. There are two reasons for this. First, it can be used to help identify you when combined with other information. Second, it may increase the chances of you being targeted for abuse: children and teens may become the targets for predators, while adults are often harassed by younger players.

Finally, be sure not to tell anyone your password, which can result in your account being stolen. Also, don't reveal your PIN or the answers to your recovery questions, which are an important means of getting your account back if it is stolen.

How Safe is RuneScape? Dealing with People in RuneScape Who Want to Meet in Real Life