Squeal of Fortune Update

[Blazer]

There are new ways to earn additional, free spins through playing RuneScape:

Squeal of Fortune prizes: Tickets for two extra spins can be won as prizes on the Squeal of Fortune itself.

Monster drops: Most monsters around the world now have a rare chance of dropping a spin ticket (a single-use item that adds an extra spin to your allowance), with the exception of creatures in minigames and Dungeoneering.

Non-combat skilling activities: Any activity that can score you a Shattered Heart strange rock also has a separate, rare chance to earn an extra Squeal spin – added right on to your current spin count.

Weekly Distractions & Diversions: Each week, one of four D&Ds will give a guaranteed spin for completing a particular action within the D&D. Regular details of which D&D will earn you a weekly spin can be found on the Squeal of Fortune reward screen. The four D&Ds, and the required actions within them, are as follows:

Circus: Complete any one of the four performances: Magic, Ranged, Agility or Firemaking.

Penguin Hide and Seek: Exchange penguin points for coins or XP by speaking to Larry or Chuck.

Evil Tree: Attack the evil tree.

Shooting Star: Mine any star, and receive XP from doing so.

The Monthly D&D – Troll Invasion: Starting your first Troll Invasion attempt of the month, either as a combatant or a skiller, will earn you an extra Squeal spin.

Being a RuneScape subscriber is another great way to get more chances to win. Members get 2 free daily spins rather than just 1, and have exclusive access to the D&Ds listed above. Also, members have access to 182 great quests! If you require more spins, or simply prefer to save some time, you can purchase various spin packages. to do this, simply click the "buy spins" button within the Squeal of Fortune interface.

Finally, soon you will also be able to earn free Squeal spins as rewards for completing any quests. The team are working hard on this feature, and we expect to be able to provide it to you before the end of April. When you spin the Squeal of Fortune, your free, daily spins will be used first, following by the spins you earned through RuneScape gameplay. Finally, any purchased spins will always be used last. Here's an insider's tip - if you want to spin faster, just double-click the big, red button to stop the wheel early!

For further information on the Squeal of Fortune extra spins, click here to view our forum FAQ.

In Other News, It’s no longer necessary to log out and back in to access the Squeal of Fortune interface once it’s closed. You’ll find a Squeal of Fortune button in the bottom-right corner of the game screen.

[Memphus]

Hi,

You asked why I cancelled my membership. My reason is the same as the tens of thousands of other players who are also cancelling their memberships, and the same as the tens of thousands more who will be in the near future.

You, against your own rules and years of promises, added micro-transactions to the game. This is completely against the entire spirit and philosophy of Runescape. Now players can buy their way to high levels and fortunes.

This single update, if not reversed, has the potential to do more permanent damage than even the removal of the Wilderness did (which by the way, the game never truely recovered from, you simply waited TOO LONG to bring it back). The game will slowly fade away, you will lose more and more and more members over time, without gaining any new ones to replace them due to the fact that there are 100,000 superior micro-transaction MMORPGs out there. The one appealing factor of Runescape was of course, the fact that real world wealth did not allow players to get ahead in the game. That appeal is now eliminated.

Good luck with the self-destruction of your formerly legendary game.

Sincerely,

Will Wheatley,

Memphus2k,

11th-year Runescape Veteran.

[Memphus]

Wow, I got a personalized response. I am impressed.

Hi there Will,

Thanks for getting in touch and for your feedback.

The Squeal of Fortune has been a very popular feature of RuneScape since its launch and players have asked us how they can get more spins. We got together to figure out new ways to do this and decided all of the new options launched this week were the best way to go about it. Being able to buy spins is just one of the many ways that we've added; you can get some from Distractions & Diversions, killing monsters, skilling and doing what you normally do. If you're not willing to wait for your spins to drop then you can go ahead and buy them instead.

One of the things we’ve long said is that we don’t want real life circumstance to affect people’s RuneScape success and this is still the case Will. While it is possible to purchase spins, there is a limit on the number you can buy and of course for those without the real life means to purchase spins we have the spins you can achieve from your normal in game activities.

Glad you called RuneScape legendary, even if it was formerly. We’ve got a vision to ensure it stays great for years to come and have a load of great ideas for the coming year and beyond and would love to see such a long standing member as yourself with us for the ride. J If there’s one thing we love it’s Loyalty. J Loyalty and cake.

If you’ve got any other questions for us Will then please do ask I’ll be happy to answer your questions.

Kind regards,

Mod Luke T

Billing Support Team

[Moto Bro]

It may have been personalized but they're still trying to convince you that RS is better than ever because of their recent decisions. And they're still in denial that they've ruined the game. Silly Jagex.

[Memphus]

Hi,

Thanks for the personalized response. I must say, I am quite shocked to recieve one, that is not something I would expect from my experiences with Jagex in the past.

I must point out though, how horribly flawed your logic is in this portion of your message:

> One of the things we've long said is that we don't want real

> life circumstance to affect people's RuneScape success and this

> is still the case Will. While it is possible to purchase spins,

> there is a limit on the number you can buy and of course for

> those without the real life means to purchase spins we have the

> spins you can achieve from your normal in game activities.

Using that logic, you could also open a cash for gold shop, and as long as you limit the amount of gold purchases per day, you could use the same argument that players who do not wish to waste real money on gold could just earn gold through other means in-game.

To claim that Runescape is going to "continue to improve" through updates like this one, you are simply reinforcing the decision that myself, and thousands of other players have made, and will make in the near future, to quit completely. The death of Runescape is now imminent. I fear that the damage is already irreversible, check online and see how many high-levelled accounts are now for sale, compared to before this update. Maybe Jagex needs to stop being sheep to the Insight Venture Partners, and actually sit down for a meeting with them and explain to them that updates like this may result in a short-term boost of income, but ultimate destroy everything longterm.

- Memphus

[Mike]

>Sheep

[Memphus]

Damnit, I sent that with a typo. Should say "ultimately" not "ultimate". Now I sound like a damned moron.

[Memphus]

Hey again Memphus,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I do see your point, but let me assure you the Squeal of Fortune is simply meant to be a fun little minigame which adds to the overall experience rather than a method of furthering your RuneScape account such as a goldshop or similar would do.

We do have big plans for RuneScape and really want to continue to invest in the RuneScape team and game itself to bring you guys great new content as much as we can. Please trust me when I say that RuneScape still has a firm footing and is definitely not close to death. We’re still spritely and youthful with only a few minor ailments which we’re working on. J

What I’ll do is pass on your comments to the relevant team Will. If you have any other points you would like to put forward please do let me know.

Kind regards,

Mod Luke T

Billing Support Team

Just this one: The primary business plan of Insight Venture Partners is the liquidation of internet-based companies. Just check their history. Runescape is doomed. It's very sad to us players that the Gowers sold a majority share (55%) to them I wish that we the players could have the opportunity to buy back those shares.

[Memphus]

Here is the petition for everyone to sign:

http://www.change.org/petitions/insight-venture-partners-stop-putting-profit-before-players-in-runescape#

[Veggie]

It's good to see you're getting personalized responses, but it's not good to see that Jagex employees are oblivious (or avoiding) the issue at hand. ~40% of the loot from SoF is experience. Getting experience lamps for paying cash IS furthering your account's progress and is an unfair advantage. Unless, let's say, the in-game ticket finds (from D&D's, skilling, killing) were limited and that purchasing spins made you approach that limit. That would at least level the playing field so that "impatient people" don't have to do random dumb shit like chopping evil trees but people who aren't willing to pay have the same opportunity for spins by playing the game. The spins could be handled like penguins in that sense, and people could "buy" the points if they really wanted to.

That or remove the experience lamps from the wheel altogether. Seriously, if you're going to claim something doesn't give an in-game advantage - give people something that doesn't give a goddamn in-game advantage. Give them the fucking tattoos or swag stick or whatever the shit they have on the wheel. Don't give people a chance to get 800k xp/hr just for paying money - unless they plan to implement an equal opportunity for non-buyers.

[Cpatel23]

Vigilant Foe yumad?

[Veggie]

Vigilant Foe yumad?

yes sir porque porque

[ReDrOc]

Jagex putting gambling into the game full of 13 year olds. Great idea!

[Memphus]

Just mailed off this letter.

On behalf of the

RuneScape Community.

6th April 2012

Daniel Clough

Jagex Ltd

220 Cambridge Science Park

Milton Road

Cambridge

(UNITED KINGDOM)

CB4 0GF

Mr Clough,

I am writing to you for the interest of your product: RuneScape in regards to a recent piece of content: The Squeal of Fortune. I hope that this will be both informative and interesting for you to read and I suggest getting a light refreshment to read this over.

As you will very much be aware, the RuneScape team launched an update to the game feature: ‘Squeal of Fortune’. This update had the clear aim of creating revenue for Jagex Ltd, we – the community can only assume that this had the intention of increasing the revenue for the company, we the community want to support your effort in increasing the revenue for Jagex.

As you know The Squeal of Fortune allows players, on a daily basis, to spin on a roulette-style wheel containing different levels of prizes which can assist you at various levels in the game. This can range from useless items such as cabbages to free experience and untradeable items which are very expensive on the game market. The company now allows the player to earn extra tokens for spins during their day-to-day gaming experience, however also allows the player to purchase more spins with real-life currency; Which we, the community, think is wrong.

The community broadly speaking accepts the concept of the Squeal of Fortune and its mechanisms; however it expresses particular concerns over certain aspects. It encourages, whether you are willing to accept it or not, gambling in a game where minors as young as thirteen are free to play without parent supervision. This is morally wrong and could result in abnormal and risky behaviour being normalised in teenagers which could at its worse proceed to gambling addictions.

RuneScape has always been advertised as a roleplaying immersive game, upon logging in the player is transported to another world full of life to explore, the ability for the player to suspend their disbelief is lost when they log in to see a goblin icon moving across the screen every day. Therefore one proposal the community is pushing for is a designated place for players to teleport to if they feel the need to gamble.

There should not be a way for players to buy spins using real-world currency.

Some of the high level players, loyal customers and frequent membership buyers feel that the ability to buy vast amounts of spins will inevitably allow players to buy their experience as there is a very high chance of obtaining a lamp with the ability to increase experience on a player. This depreciates the value of experience in the game where it has been previously grinded, you should note that the players accept the changing state of the game and that Jagex are attempting to reduce the amount of ‘grind’ in the game to level up. However this is different to aforementioned ‘reducing of the grind’ this is quite simply paying for experience points.

I am therefore writing on behalf of myself and the RuneScape community, asking for you to do something about the Squeal of Fortune. There are suggestions for experience lamps to be removed from the available prizes of the Squeal of Fortune or a more favourable suggestion of no longer take payments for spins, we would happily have membership increases to see this happen.

To remind you of a statement that the company has previously made: “We don’t want players to be able to buy their way to success in RuneScape. If we let players start doing this, it devalues RuneScape for others. We feel your status in real-life shouldn’t affect your ability to be successful in RuneScape." Yes, things in the corporate environment change – no, the game shouldn’t be monetized in a way that is detrimentally game-changing. There are other ways to monetize a game and this is an obvious quick-fix to fix the hole in the cash-flow bath.

Since the update, the forums have been swamped with players showing distaste to the update and suggesting alternative ideas for monetization. I suggest that you read and collate feedback and present the fact that you have done so to the community at large so that they can see you take on the feedback – this should be standard for every update, especially ones creating a rift in the game. Furthermore, your staff should be better-prepared for responses to queries and arguments on the forums – staff in Community Management often post responses on the forums with incorrect information or explanations. Forum posts are one of the main sources of official Jagex Mod quotes and you should expect for them to be cited across the internet.

We hope that you do take on board the comments made in this letter and agree that in the future the community should not have to send letters to your desk to allow their voices to be heard.

Signed

Will Wheatley

Memphus2k

[Barny]

Lol, thought free shit everyday was bad enough but now you can spend real world currency to buy it??

i don't want to live on this runescape anymore

I'm impressed at the level of customer service, though.

[Grave Wizard]

Wow your quite a writer Will ever join a newspaper? Srsly?

[Memphus]

Wow your quite a writer Will ever join a newspaper? Srsly?

No, to be a newspaper writer you have to have a strong left-wing political bias.

[Memphus]

Mod Chris L resigned from Jagex over them trying to muzzle him on the SoF controversy. He tried to bring to attention how the vast majority of players are morally opposed to the update, and Jagex needs to stop lying to the public by pretending the update is "super popular" (just because everyone spins the wheel, it does not mean they like the update or the unfair advantage real world wealth gives players).

[Veggie]

Mod Chris L resigned from Jagex over them trying to muzzle him on the SoF controversy. He tried to bring to attention how the vast majority of players are morally opposed to the update, and Jagex needs to stop lying to the public by pretending the update is "super popular" (just because everyone spins the wheel, it does not mean they like the update or the unfair advantage real world wealth gives players).

uh no

[Devin]

Where'd you find that out, Memphus?