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Towards the end of last month, two players were permanently banned from Runescape. They had not broken any rules. When I first heard this story, I reacted like I guess that most of you are reacting right now. 'Yeah, yeah, they must have done something! Botting? RWT?' I've seen screen-shots of their ban logs. Fargrist and Vivathia were both manually removed from the game, no reason given. They naturally appealed. Their appeals were rejected within hours. No evidence supplied. Still no reason given. Of course, we can all jump to one massive conclusion. Fargrist has been very vocal in his criticism of Squeal of Fortune. He orchestrated one of the biggest and most eloquently debated anti-SoF threads on the RSOF. It was called Tick Tock Jagex and only died with it reached max. posts. He also went to a national newspaper, the UK Gambling commission and other external people to express his views about SoF. He came to me. But what about Vivathia? She did nothing but marry the man. She even used SoF on a regular basis, albeit only the free spins. She lost her account and we can only assume that it's through association. I've agreed to allow Vivathia to tell her side of the story through my blog, as she has none of her own. Fargrist has just started one, which will be used as a back-up for the Tick Tock Jagex thread and other public documents. It includes their copy of Vivathia's Say. What follows might look like a candidate for tl:dr. But I urge you to do so. It's a very moving testimony, straight from this lady's heart. Over to Vivathia. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Thank you for allowing me my own Opinion (rant).. yes I even rant at my husband (aka Fargrist) As you know by now I'm his other half, Vivathia.. the long suffering wife.. ok, well I don't suffer that much, I just make sure I nod in the right places, I've sat here for.. I'm not too sure how long, my minds a blank when it comes to anything SoF related, and I've listened to my husband discuss it (this is the part where I nod in the right places) I'm neither against, nor for SoF.. heck, I take my free spins and run with it, it's got me a level here and there and it's got me a nice shiny new outfit too. But my husband feels strongly about it and I happily (but silently) back him for his own beliefs, but do my own thing regardless. But, it seems that due to my association with Fargrist's account, my account has been banned, association through the same credit card used to pay for membership. I really don't know what makes me mad, I can admit to feeling mad at the man behind Farg for pushing this SoF thing, my main thought when he got banned was, "what about me?" (Disclaimer, they didn't give a reason as to why we got banned, so I can only assume why he got banned and the reason I got banned was the association with him) I'm more than mad, I was really upset, heck I got upset when way way back when I first started and I got trade scammed and I bought a mith pickaxe instead of a rune for 25K + my adamant pickaxe, when the guy did a last minute swap in the trade window without me noticing, I did the usual I'm not playing, but Farg went out and worked hard mining gold ore to make that money so he could buy me a rune pickaxe and cheered me up. So I am very upset at the fact that I've lost my whole account. I had some great times and have some really good memories from the people I met in game, be it having been a brief meeting or something that became more of a long term friendship. So, my point of view is just as important as fargrists and my anger is directed to the fact I've never voiced a like or dislike about SoF, Fargs side of his banning is very much SoF related, mine, I wish I knew. how I feel, I've played this game for 8 years with my husband, our skills are pretty similar here and there, we've worked(skilled) together, we've helped each other out, one helping the other out with one skill as the other helps with another.. there hasn't been one quest done where we haven't done it together, we've individually solved quest problems helped the other out where and when needed during quests, we've stood and watched during big fights should one of us die. I've never botted, never swore, never scammed or done anything against jagex rules and conditions.. it's not in me even if the above was allowed, I like fair play, I like a reason to play, to work hard for the rewards of all I put into it, I don't care about having the most cash or items in game.. you only have to look into my bank to see that. For me it was the content of the game, the skills and quests, mini game and every other reason that makes a game interesting to me, including a shared gaming interest with my husband in which we've laughed over many silly incidents, more so when he accidentally attacks me in the wildy or so he tells me that is was only an accident, or he's escorted me to places I don't like and I die anywhere and I get to blame him. The game meant a lot to me, for the laughs and teasings we had over it, I have so many stories to tell of the adventures Vivathia and Fargrist had, people will roll their eyes at and probably not find amusing, but it's stuff we still do laugh about. So many "do you remember when's" gone for and with no reason. This whole incident has really take away a lot from me because of their treatment and the loss of my respect in the company that took over a game I once used to enjoy playing. I feel shocked at jagex company for their lack of caring, my appeal denied by an automated reply.. my ban status updated with "appeal denied". No one has read my appeal, no one has told me the reason I was banned, I know no one will, I'm happy for this to go to court, For me its not about SoF, but about getting my account back, I'm 99.9% sure I wont ever play Runescape again, I'm 100% sure I wont if Fargrist doesn't get his account back because it wont be the same playing without him.. but that's a different Story. I still want my account back because it has nothing but an immaculate record of fair play and I'm prepared to fight for that. I can only think Jagex assumes we're a couple of kids who wont make a fuss, rather than a middle aged married couple, one of us *points at Fargrist* being hot headed enough to take it as far as he can.

Another good man left Runescape today. In reality, it's not the day that Egghebrecht walked out - that was when Squeal of Fortune was introduced to the game - it's merely the moment when his membership finally ran out. You can read all about it, in his words, over on his blog. So many people going. Their names are in danger of merging together, a list on a memorial board, while new players rush into the breech never knowing that Runescape was once a game that we enjoyed and had fun in. A stress relief. A social gathering. A place to have pride in our own achievements, based on the merits of our play. One of the few places left on Earth where hard work meant something (if only in pixels), rather than the weight of your wallet. I hate microtransactions. I hate Squeal of Fortune. I hate the endless goodbyes and the bam, bam, bam erosion of all we built. So let's not forget those who have stuck to their principles and laid down their swords. Who's gone now? No-one at Sal's needs an introduction to Egghebrecht. I'm writing this largely for whoever else may be reading. Egg has a heart as big as his community spirit. I doubt there is anyone in his orbit who hasn't, at one time or another, borrowed his Bandos or his Godsword or whatever other weapon may be needed. I've known him log on especially to loan these things out. Last year, Jagex was all about clan building. Egg was that ethos personified. He was in at least two clans to my knowledge, keeping up with both concurrently. No event was too small for him to show his face. No player too noobish not to gain his support. But most of all, his humour kept those clan chats laughing. No matter how bad my day, I always cheered as he typed 'hello', or, in his case, 'bump'. But what most will remember of this remarkable player was his ever patient insight into (legally) making money within the game. I was able to afford 90% of my expensive things by following his advice. I learned to do things like look after my kingdom to its full advantage; buy battlestaves; and use my gp to generate more gp, instead of letting it fester in the bank. No need for fast-track spins of game-breaking squeals, when you had Egg's research, calculator and tips to hand. He made it more fun. He even tricked me into enjoying maths on occasion; because it was in the context of Runescape, I hadn't realised that it was maths. He represented Sal's Realm in the hidden forums, letting our voices be heard there. We owe him that debt. It is players like Egghebrecht who are leaving now. What future can Runescape have on the other side of the SoF updates? None that I'm too keen to see. Goodbye from Gielinor, cariad. You'll be sorely missed by those who remember what this game was and what kind of players it lost to greed.

I quit smoking recently and told myself id celebrate by wasting the money i didn't waste on smoking on the wheel. I bought $100 worth which gets you 450 spins. I wanted xp for dung cause i hate mini games and dont care about tokens, so i used every lamp i could on dung. After 450 spins this is what i got. 1.320m xp Would be more if i used on a higher skill. I used on 76 dung. Got to 79.5. You would have to figure out how much xp is between 76 and 79.5 to see how much xp i got specifically to dung. Medium lamps were giving me around 7.5k each. A medium lamp on a 99 is like 17k. So there would have been a significant greater amount of xp won if i would have used it on a higher leveled skill. 392k coins. about 1m gp in items All of the dragon ceremonial all but the gloves of the queens guard. I also noticed that once you get almost all the pieces of the guard and the dragon, 50k stats appearing as a reward (up until that point like first 400 spins i didn't see anything over 5k besides the 10m super rare reward) This leads me to believe you will not see 500k as a reward till you get both sets. (once you get an item from a set you can not get doubles) This also leads me to believe you have a better chance of getting items like devine and god swords if you get all the sets because they will not take up space as prizes. Do i recommend this? No. it will cost you around 1300-1600 for a 99. get like 1.5m gp and 1m xp for $100?. Not worth it.

Before I go into the fine detail about my trip to Jagex, I want to address the contentious issues of Squeal of Fortune and the NDA. I know that many of you reading will only be interested in those, so it'll save you wading through the rest of my waffle. There was a NDA, as we all knew that there would be. It wasn't the one on the door, that everyone has to sign. It was a separate, single-side of A4 letter, which was handed to me by Mod Poppy. It was in plain English, not legal speak, and it did not even seek to silence me beyond the hours spent in Jagex Studios. Even then, we're talking restrictions, rather than shut up about it. In a nutshell, the NDA stops me giving away spoilers or compromising player safety or game security. As far as I'm concerned that's fair enough. As for Squeal of Fortune, I knew my duty there. It was to ensure that I'd raised player objections wherever and whenever the opportunity arose to do so. I did that. I crow-barred some opportunities into the mix. I handed over the Sal's Realm questions, which mentioned it. I talked about it constantly throughout the afternoon. Poor Mod Poppy, Mod Murray and Mod Emma F heard it so often that they must have inwardly cringed whenever someone inadvertently gave me an opening. They all had the patience of saints and never once told me to STFU with SoF protests already! Short of standing in the stairwell or central courtyard and screaming it, so that even the people working on Transformers, 8Realms and the like heard all about it, there's little more that I could have done. With the emphasis on 'little more'. I was halfway down the motorway when it occurred to me that I'd missed the biggest opportunity of all. I'm sorry. I called myself every form of freaking noob when I realised, but by then I was roughly at junction 28 of the A14, battling through a torrential downpour in the dark, and the moment had long since past. Right at the end of the day, I'd briefly bumped into Paul Gower. I should have complained to him about Squeal of Fortune, but it didn't cross my mind. I don't know why. It had more than crossed my mind all day long to the point where I sounded like a stuck record. All I can think is that the tour was officially over with Mod Poppy just ninja-ing an extra hour on the end (in her own time) to show me the rest of the building. I was tired, hiding cramps, but utterly fascinated by all that I was seeing. I relaxed too soon and for that I'm really sorry. If my remit was to waltz in there and get Squeal of Fortune taken down right now, then I was never going to win. If it was to get the words said, the impact understood, the pure emotion of feeling that we're all losing our game, then I did it. Hand on heart, I can say that dozens of J Mods heard that plea. They all listened intently. None of them apologised for it.Your Tweets and Facebook messages, while I was there, helped too. I did my absolute best. I was invited as a guest of player support only as a result of an article I wrote on Internet Safety and as much as I tried to crowbar SoF into every conversation Mod Murray made clear from the moment I arrived that we wouldn’t be discussing it that day, we would be discussing only player support related matters. I don't even have any impressions to share with you about the future of micro-transactions. I wish I had. For the rest of the trip, I'm going to unfortunately have to direct you over to Wizzley. Sorry!

Hey guys, The Squeal of Fortune was released earlier this month, and I think it's clear that the majority of the RuneScape community seems quite discontent with the ability to buy spins for real life cash. We've been listening! We sent Jagex a message regarding the SoF, including our own thoughts and opinions of how it has impacted RuneScape (mainly in a negative way), and we're hoping that we can get their attention and make a difference. The following is the message we sent to Jagex. I'll keep this topic updated with any news as it comes in. :)

Over 15k comments in a single thread against Squeal of Fortune and still no word from Jagex. That's just one thread, the forums are full of them. Perhaps the JMods got muted for Real World Trading. I know it's Easter, but you'd think that someone somewhere would recognise a train wreck when they saw one. It feels planned that the microtransactions were released this week, so that the bank holidays could be used as an excuse for prolonging the lack of response. Nothing feels too insidious to level against the company right now. They've already pre-empted my lowest expectations. Do I agree with Squeal of Fortune? Of course not, for all of the reasons that I laid out here:Uproar Over Jagex Microtransactions. But there's something more personal too. It bothers me that I've put in all of this work, since December 2006, and now others can simply buy their way to my stats. That's annoying and I've already seen the devaluation in action. Someone in the GE earlier said that they had 98 Runecrafting. My immediate thought was, 'I wonder if that was legit or bought.' I didn't say it aloud, but someone else did. I watched the Runecrafter have to justify their levels, when just a week ago, they would have been held in immediate high esteem. Incidents like that are going to become endemic, aren't they? It bothers me, but what's worse is that the last bastion of merit, in my life, has now been sold out. The old lie that hard work equates a great and stable future has never panned out in real life. it did in Runescape. Putting my life on hold to gain my MA never did pay off in the promised riches. Standing at a bank for hours, grinding longbows actually did get me the fletching levels. I've stood by and watched nepotism and middle class money promote people, with less experience and fair fewer qualifications, above my head. I've never seen anyone shoot ahead in Herblore or Crafting without putting the hours in. I've had to put up with being patronised and presented with piles of extra paperwork, because I had the affrontery to be deaf in the Job Centre. But in Runescape, all things were equal. All avatars started the same. All banks were made or broken according to a player's choices. All monsters were defeated on a player's merit and skill. Luck only played the smallest role and that was only beating an algorithm, not divine intervention. Then Jagex sold us out too. Real life money made it into the game with sanction. They changed the rules and the terms and conditions right in front of our eyes; and didn't even have the decency to announce it. Our egalitarian principles turned out to be so cheap that 110k people still played the game, while only 15,000 of them registered their complaint on the forums. Only 18 sought out places like Develop, where just two months ago, Mark Gerhard rushed to contextualise a damning story. They're reading there and taking note. Only one has volunteered to take a 7k strong petition into the very offices of Insight Venture Partners. It feels like game over. This week has broken my heart. I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep- while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream? Edgar Allan Poe .