RuneScape Introduces a New Form of Punishment to Cheaters

When it comes to online games, the biggest headache that a developer has to deal with are cheaters. They ruin every ones fun and gives them an unfair advantage over other players who have actually invested time and effort into the game.

Over the years, developers have tried to think of new and interesting ways of punishing those cheaters. To name some examples if you are caught cheating by Microsoft to boost your Gamerscore, it will be wiped out and replaced with a label that says “CHEATER.” Blizzard like to be boring and simply block you access to your account. Rockstar will throw you into a special server that is home only to other cheaters which could make the game very annoying to play, especially if everyone has unlimited health. But now Jagex, the makers of the popular browser-based MMORPG RuneScape has thought of a rather interesting way of dealing with their cheaters: Execute them! Well the character not the actual cheater.

The biggest problem RuneScape has to deal with when it comes to cheating is something called “Botting” in which players use third-party software to take over the player’s character and essentially play the game for them. This helps them get better gear, level up and increase their abilities without them even needing to play the game. This gives them an extremely unfair advantage over other players that actually invest time into developing their characters.

To prevent this, Jagex has developed some new software that will detect if you are cheating or using a bot. If you are caught of said crime, your character will be caught and put under custody inside ”Botany Bay” where their character could potentially be permanently destroyed in a very fun manner!

Botany Bay is a new in-game area where the community votes on the cheaters and how they should they should meet their demise. Also while the votes are being counted you can pass the time by lobbing rotten fruit at them. Just to rub it in their face! Methods of execution include; being stomped on by a Dragon, evaporated in a burst of light by the RuneScape God’s and being eaten by a Giant Worm.

RuneScapes Lead Designer and Chief Executioner Mark Ogilvie commented: “Seeing rogue characters killed by dragons will be a very visual deterrent to other cheating players who now risk losing their character permanently.

We take a very hard-line on cheaters in our game and have taken the unique move to name and shame those who have been breaking one of our most important rules. We have wanted to do this for some time and we hope that by bringing the actions of those who cheat to the attention of the wider community, we can make a massive step towards eliminating botting from the game.”

Players who vote continuously will get new weapons and emotes to use in-game as well as helping the developers decide how they should kill the cheaters! You can also check out some screenshots of Botany Bay as well as a Behind the Scenes video below.

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/7HfXCd1hnXg” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen>