In the MMORPG Old School RuneScape, new servers were opened. However, due to a bug, some players were able to transfer their wealth from other servers to the new “Fresh Start” worlds. The developer Jagex did not approve of this action and permanently banned the players. They, however, claim that their action was legal.
What happened on the worlds? On October 19, “Fresh Start” worlds appeared in Old School RuneScape, meaning servers where all players start from scratch again. The economy, the high scores, and the Worlds First can thus be relived.
However, “a small handful of players” managed to bring gold from their other servers into these new worlds using a bug. Jagex noticed the error and permanently banned these players and all their accounts. They also removed the gold and the resulting damages as much as possible.
How are the banned players reacting? They feel wrongly banned. Allegedly, Jagex even allowed bringing gold to the new servers.
Jagex allows the transfer of gold
Why are the players protesting? In the announcement for the “Fresh Start” worlds, Jagex stated that the transfer of GP (Gold Pieces – the in-game currency) is allowed. It states:
We have received a number of questions regarding our stance on the exchange of GP from the main game in Fresh Start Worlds (or vice versa). We want to clarify that the exchange is not a bannable offense. However, it is risky, so we advise against doing it. Players must accept the risk that they may be scammed in the process.
Via RuneScape
This exact example is also raised by Twitter user Lil Guthix (via Twitter). He is puzzled that there would be bans: “You can’t be banned because of a bug when 90% of the community relies on such bugs.”
However, it is unclear what Jagex meant by “Wealth” in the original statement. On Twitter, users claim that items were also smuggled to the new servers. Moreover, other players argue that there is a difference between obtaining gold legally or exploiting a bug.
The community is divided on whether a permanent ban was really the right decision based on Jagex’s statement.
RuneScape is one of the older MMORPGs that is still popular today:
Additionally, some players have posted screenshots of people who still have great wealth on the “Fresh Start” worlds and have not been banned. Generally, many users on reddit and Twitter think that the launch of the new servers has been anything but successful and post numerous memes to match this, including a picture saying “0 days since the last time a mistake was made.”
What do you think about the new servers? Should it be allowed to bring gold to a “Fresh Start” world?
Around RuneScape, there was also a very entertaining story last week. A streamer had a bet going and was not killed for 605 days:
