When I recently released my Safe RWT Guide, most people became instantly more scared to RWT. They took the release as a sign that Jagex was hammering down on Real World Trading, and that all trades were now a risk. This was not my intention with the guide, and in reality, trades are infinitely more safe now than they were in the past. This post will examine WHY trading is safer now than it was in 2007 and beyond.
Jagex is a business, and they are in the business of making money. This means providing an entertainment service (Runescape) which keeps players engaged and happy. The more engaged they are, the more the players will keep coming back. The more happy they are playing the game, the more likely they will become an engaged player. This means that they must make the experience of playing Runescape enjoyable, which in turn will make them more money in the long run.
Now, most people quickly draw a comparison between Botting and RWT. They say that Jagex removed botting, now they will remove RWT. Well, hold on. First off, botting and RWT are extremely different things. Botting was negatively impacting others players' experiences, DIRECTLY. If I want to mine from a Coal Rock, and a botter is there doing it, I need to work harder. Even worse, my hard-spent training time is rendered obsolete by the vast amounts of bots. If I need to spend 30 hours a week just to keep up with someone leaving a bot on at night, I'm going to lose interest. I will be UNHAPPY and DISENGAGED. I will quit Runescape and find a game where my time is valued the same as others'. Botting also tarnishes Runescape's reputation. If potential players hear that there are bots all over the game, they will not bother to play in the first place. They will search out a game where there is no cheating, and play it instead.
RWT has a much more indirect effect on the game. I mean, there are some skills which are buyable (Construction, Prayer, Herb), but in reality, everyone is still trading within the same set of parameters as the next person. And if you are training Construction with Oak Planks as opposed to Mahogany Planks, you don't think to yourself "I'm getting screwed". You think to yourself "That idiot is using Mahogany Planks, what a waste of money, I am using Oak Planks which are much more efficient." Because you still have the option of using Mahogany Planks, but you do not have the option to bot. The playing field is EVEN.
And before people say that RWT gives an unfair advantage through Real $ payment, I need to point out the obvious: P2P. If it is so unfair for people to pay $ to earn faster experience, P2P is unfair. I can level skills faster on P2P, and I can earn more profit on P2P, in comparison to F2P players. This is exactly the same thing that happens from buying gold. So players obviously do not think the way Jagex wants us to believe, people for the most part do not notice RWT, nor do they particularly care.
So now, what does this have to do with RWT bans? Simple. RWT buyers are Jagex's BEST customers. These are the players who have 3-4 members accounts, play legit, and simply buy some gold to help them along. They have shown willingness to pay for the service, and Jagex NEEDS them. In 2007, Jagex was banning buyers permanently for RWT. The strategy was: Destroy the income source for Sellers, and RWT will eventually disappear. Whoever came up with this plan for Jagex was probably fired. The plan was a complete failure; Sellers continued selling, Buyers (Jagex #1 customers) bought, and once they were banned, they QUIT!
What a disaster! Jagex was getting rid of its high paying customers, and RWT continued as strong as ever. They quickly had to move to a better solution, and they decided on Trade Limits. Almost equally horrible, this update alienated half of the Runescape audience. Membership dropped, activity dropped... Gameplay dropped. Runescape lost market share to games like Aion and WoW. Jagex tried many things to increase activity during Trade Limit era, such as adding an "HD" version of Runescape, and PVP Worlds. However, in the end, they realized that the game's true prosperity was only achievable by once again removing trade limits.
So now here we are today, and Trade Limits are once again removed. This was done for one reason: Increase activity on Runescape. Increase memberships, increase traffic, increase profitability. So when buyers ask me if they should be worried about a ban, I try and explain to them this concept. Jagex CANNOT AFFORD TO BAN RWT BUYERS. It DOES NOT HAVE A POSITIVE OUTCOME FOR JAGEX TO BAN RWT BUYERS. I challenge ANYBODY to describe how this action by Jagex makes them more money.
Now, do not confuse BUYERS with SELLERS. Jagex is more than happy to remove sellers. Sellers can have negative effects in-game (Chinese autotalkers, ehem), and contrary to buyers, in Jagex eyes are worth removing from the system. However, as opposed to 2007 and before, Jagex does not BAN sellers. They have a new system which is referred to as a Rollback, which involves them manually resetting the gold in your bank to 0. This has hit myself and several other Sythe members as well, but really only happens to medium-large volume traders. If you are trading 100-200m per week, you will not be rolled back.
So to conclude, RWT has no simple solution. Jagex will not be resorting to banning buyers anytime soon, as they have already tried and failed with this strategy. Botting should not be treated the same as RWT ingame, and I have shown why they are two very different things. It is always interesting to monitor Jagex and their policy towards specific activity, but right now RWT is still as safe as it's ever been.
