2007 Servers Are A Big Scam?

[ClickMe]

Okay so I am just going to quote the one below as I really can`t be bothered or have time to quote them all... Jagex must already have these servers somewhere as they were the ones that they used back in 2007 and so what extra are we getting?

We played the 2007 servers for free so why should we have to pay now? What is the difference? They were the ones that wrecked the game and lost their base of gamers so they should try hard to bring it back. I wouldn`t even mind if they were to place ads on all the pages if they could just make it free...

I mean all you have to look into is the age range that the game is set for. How is a 13-23 year old going to afford an extra £15 just to play on a server that they could of played on years ago for free?

Jagex would also have to take drastic action on the private servers as are you going to pay for a service that is offered for free by the private server owners? I think not .

Before I start, OP is an illiterate moron who has been proven wrong publicly by his own signature.

The only reason I'm throwing in my comments is to provide my opinion to some of the other nice responses.

JaGex are in no way at all scamming anybody. They're providing a service that has been highly requested by their base revenue - depending on revenue received gives them the price.

Is this not what all companies do? If you have a clothing brand:

They sell their clothing at a reasonable rate depending on the demand.

If they then have a mass demand for a product and offer to go to retail - they do so at a lower cost with more widely distributed revenue.

This is what jagex are doing, with a larger revenue - they can bring down the prices as they don't need as large of a margin per player.

 

Okay so I am just going to quote the one below as I really can`t be bothered or have time to quote them all... Jagex must already have these servers somewhere as they were the ones that they used back in 2007 and so what extra are we getting?

You are getting the ability to play RuneScape as it was in 2007, not 2013 nor as 2003 RSC.

We played the 2007 servers for free so why should we have to pay now? What is the difference? They were the ones that wrecked the game and lost their base of gamers so they should try hard to bring it back. I wouldn`t even mind if they were to place ads on all the pages if they could just make it free...

Because we're in 2013, not 2007. They charge for the use of RSC, so charging to use an older version, since it's a hinderance for them to do so seems logical.

I mean all you have to look into is the age range that the game is set for. How is a 13-23 year old going to afford an extra £15 just to play on a server that they could of played on years ago for free?

Give it some time, i'm sure Jagex will drop the price. If anything, they want to discourage you to play 2007, and they want as many people playing their current version. The high price of the lower band will also encourage more people to renew their membership as to reach the next level. Smart tactics.

Jagex would also have to take drastic action on the private servers as are you going to pay for a service that is offered for free by the private server owners? I think not .

There is an aura about official servers that knocks Private servers out of the water. Primarily the worry that it won't get shutdown the next day, and all their hardwork lost.

Jagex needs to pay to host these new servers. It's not an instant thing. They also need to write this new system whereby everyone is wiped upon entry to 2007scape, provide seperate hiscores, fix bugs in the current August 10th backup.

In reply to you thinking it's a scam. Hardly. We get something in return for the payment, which is stated in black and white. There aren't any hidden costs that they will secretly charge us, nor will there ever. This is not a fraudulent scheme, this is just Jagex trying to do whats best for them as a company.

 

[Rent]

Mate no offence or anything but read the FRICKING facts before posting I simply just like people to sign up to the site under me it is not compulsory so you do not have to sign up... I just someway or another need to make the money so I either have to charge for them or do the free way which I prefer which is to get referrals!!!

precisely what Jagex is doing...

 

[nefiathin]

Okay so I am just going to quote the one below as I really can`t be bothered or have time to quote them all... Jagex must already have these servers somewhere as they were the ones that they used back in 2007 and so what extra are we getting?

We played the 2007 servers for free so why should we have to pay now? What is the difference? They were the ones that wrecked the game and lost their base of gamers so they should try hard to bring it back. I wouldn`t even mind if they were to place ads on all the pages if they could just make it free...

I mean all you have to look into is the age range that the game is set for. How is a 13-23 year old going to afford an extra £15 just to play on a server that they could of played on years ago for free?

Jagex would also have to take drastic action on the private servers as are you going to pay for a service that is offered for free by the private server owners? I think not .

you're telling me a 13-23 year old couldnt afford 15$ a month? stop being lazy kid, i mowed lawns for $100 a week at age 8, there is so many ways to make 15$ a month, your arguement is invalid, they are a business, hosting the server isnt free, server fees are ALOT of $$.

 

[Lame]

Learnt he definition of a scam. Its a money grab. They are not stealing our money. 750k was a stretch to begin with with only like 1.4m actual members. They knew it you should have known it.

 

[Steingraber]

I don't think it's a scam it's just good business.

 

[pkerpure9]

Someone previously posted on the forum that Jagex knew that there would not be enough votes to make 2007 rs free. They also knew we would get enough to lower the additional membership fee from 15 to only 5. That way they increase their membership prices to $10.

 

[Fendle]

What you don't understand is, Jagex is a company. They pay on average my guess is around 30K a year to their employee's they need to have a development team for the server they can't just give you it for free.

 

[Cheese Toast]

It costs a lot of money for them to run an entire server so it's understandable that if not many people vote to play it they will have to charge a higher amount. Similarly with the dev team that they will employ if we get xx amount of votes, they need paying and jagex needs to make money from it.

 

[R2Pleasent]

I think Jagex knew quite well that the vote would break 250K, and not hit 500K. You need to realize, this is a huge company, who have discussed the numbers in board rooms with executives, drawn up charts, done hundreds of calculations. They know the exact price they want for these servers. They would not say "let's just have a vote to decide it". No, this company would not leave a huge investment decision up to people simply clicking "yes" if they are mildly interested.

Here's what really happened @ Jagex HQ:

- Board decides to bring in 2007 servers for $5 extra / month.
- Decide to promote server by holding a vote (worked great for Free Trade)
- Decide intervals which give 99%+ statistical likelihood to achieve desired level ($5/month)
- To make $5/month seem more realistic to community, set up a lower level (50,000 votes) which charges way more ($15/month). When the vote surpasses this, the community will feel a sense of victory, and feel as if they are saving money on the membership fee
- Set two other extremely unlikely levels (500K, 750K) which offer increased benefits. If these amounts are actually hit, then this means a bunch of new people have bought membership and will be a sizeable revenue in itself, and that the 2007 servers should be much more popular than originally expected. The board realizes the increase in base memberships surpasses its goals and withdraws the $5 extra fee.

Is it a scam? No, it's smart promotion, and good business planning. The profit margins Jagex makes on memberships are amazing. Anyone trying to say Jagex has high costs for the servers, employees, etc. are nuts. If 100K out of the 250K who voted play for one year @ $5/month extra (plus orig membership), you're looking at $6 Million USD extra annual revenue on just the bonus charge for RS 2007. That would cover over 100 employees (in reality, only maximum 10 will be put on this project), and plus would be enough to run the servers for decades. Think about it people, Private servers operate on revenues much smaller, and have much less access to resources. These votes/prices have very little to do with the "costs of the service".

So basically, the costs are there to INCREASE profit. These servers are supposed to make Jagex more money than their current state. The company is owned by shareholders, and shareholders always want growth. If the company makes $50 Million this year in profit, they want $55 Million next year. They aren't content with maintaining previous numbers. And that's the problem with all these companies. They always need to be trying to extract more money from us in the short run. They only look at improving from last year, or last quarter, instead of thinking how to prepare the company for the next 5-10 years. This is especially true for investors in the gaming sector.

So, while it may all seem like peaches and cream in the short run, the odds are the company has no idea what effect this split of their audience will have in the long term. If you feel like Runescape is outdated right now, and you have played and love the game already, imagine one those guys in the suits who is invested in Jagex. You see the revenues dropping, you see the game (which looks shitty to you when you compare it directly to COD and WoW), and you say to yourself "Fuck this, let's get whatever we can out of this before it collapses". These guys don't understand the culture behind the game and what has made it last long term. They only see a couple screenshots and mechanics which appear on the surface to be much more primitive than similar games. And they're the ones steering the ship.

 

[Rampage-Penetrate]

I think Jagex knew quite well that the vote would reach between 250K, and not hit 500K. You need to realize, this is a huge company, who have discussed the numbers in board rooms with executives, drawn up charts, done hundreds of calculations. They know the exact price they want for these servers. They would not say "let's just have a vote to decide it". No, this company would not leave a huge investment decision up to people simply clicking "yes" if they are mildly interested.

Here's what really happened @ Jagex HQ:

- Board decides to bring in 2007 servers for $5 extra / month.
- Decide to promote server by holding a vote (worked great for Free Trade)
- Decide intervals which give 99%+ statistical likelihood to achieve desired level ($5/month)
- To make $5/month seem more realistic to community, set up a lower level (50,000 votes) which charges way more ($15/month). When the vote surpasses this, the community will feel a sense of victory, and feel as if they are saving money on the membership fee
- Set two other extremely unlikely levels (500K, 750K) which offer increased benefits. If these amounts are actually hit, then this means a bunch of new people have bought membership and will be a sizeable revenue in itself, and that the 2007 servers should be much more popular than originally expected. The board realizes the increase in base memberships surpasses its goals and withdraws the $5 extra fee.

Is it a scam? No, it's smart promotion, and good business planning. The profit margins Jagex makes on memberships are amazing. Anyone trying to say Jagex has high costs for the servers, employees, etc. are nuts. If 100K out of the 250K who voted play for one year @ $5/month extra (plus orig membership), you're looking at $6 Million USD extra annual revenue on just the bonus charge for RS 2007. That would cover over 100 employees (in reality, only maximum 10 will be put on this project), and plus would be enough to run the servers for decades. Think about it people, Private servers operate on revenues much smaller, and have much less access to resources. These votes/prices have very little to do with the "costs of the service".

So basically, the costs are there to INCREASE profit. These servers are supposed to make Jagex more money than their current state. The company is owned by shareholders, and shareholders always want growth. If the company makes $50 Million this year in profit, they want $55 Million next year. They aren't content with maintaining previous numbers. And that's the problem with all these companies. They always need to be trying to extract more money from us in the short run. They only look at improving from last year, or last quarter, instead of thinking how to prepare the company for the next 5-10 years. This is especially true for investors in the gaming sector.

10/10.

Couldnt have said it better.

 

[Elena]

I don't see how it would be a scam honestly they are providing us with the product and if we have to pay an extra 5 dollar's it's really not that bad. I personally think it will be worth it and Jagex is a business so of course they are going to look for ways to make more money.

 

[nefiathin]

What you don't understand is, Jagex is a company. They pay on average my guess is around 30K a year to their employee's they need to have a development team for the server they can't just give you it for free.

only 30k?