'RuneScape' lightens offence policy

The tribe at "RuneScape" has decided to lighten up a little with their new Offence System. By no means are they ignoring offences, but they are willing to give their players a second chance and believe that people learn over time from their mistakes. (Instead of getting a slap on the hand with a ruler, you're just being put in the corner with a cone hat.)

Offences that you made over a year ago could quite possibly be gone from your record. You will no longer receive black marks for your mistakes and will instead see the offences on the Offence Appeals page. There will be two pillars: one that records offences that are bad enough to result in being banned, and another pillar that records offences that only result in being muted. This will make it easier to see where you stand within "RuneScape" law.

Players that have an account that is currently banned or muted will be allowed a chance to submit an appeal. Then the "RuneScape" support team (jury of your peers) will reassess your offences and decide if you're guilty or not guilty. This will especially benefit those who have had their account stolen and abused. In addition, if you have ever had a membership on the account and have put in a large amount of game time, after 21 days, you will have another opportunity for an appeal.

Some organization has been implemented for the reporting of abuse. Here are the three headings in which you can categorize your reports under:

Honour - Offences in relation to cheating such as scamming, real-world trading, macroing, etc.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. - Offences related to inappropriate behavior like bullying, obscene language, discrimination, etc.

Security - Offences related to real-world safety such as requests for real-life contact information, advertising, etc.

Receiving a mute or in-game ban will also result in the same action on the forums. This so players are treated equally when they are playing the game and when or on the forums.

If you currently have a ban or record of an offence, you might want to check out the status of that record because these changes could effect how long that offence will last. Since this whole new offence system is a large change, the website features have already been launched, but the in-game interface will be released with this week's server reboot.

Posted by Nikki Lee
May 13th, 2009