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RuneScape is increasing their membership price by 50%, and Reddit is trying to censor it (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 months ago by Buttflapper@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

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Runescape is jacking up their subscription prices next month, going from like 12 bucks to 14 bucks a month. The increases range from 20% to 56% in price depending on currency. Players are PISSED about it especially since the company got bought out by some investment firm earlier this year, and they see it as a shameless cash grab.

Here's a mega thread about the price increase on Reddit. Overwhelmingly negative feedback on the price increase

https://www.reddit.com/r/2007scape/s/samPRjFSCn

So I decided to make a post on Reddit basically asking in a neutral way if it would deter people from playing.... And I was met with the most hostile, toxic keyboard warriors basically telling me "maybe stop working at McDonalds and you can afford it" and defending the company for the price increase. After an hour, my post was removed, and I was banned for a year without any explanation.

I'm honestly in shock that I would get banned just for asking a question, like they are that angry about people talking about the price increase?

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[-] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 79 points 3 months ago

Not a big surprise on the Huffman Shitshow. A lot of subs over there are insanely toxic. But yeah, a ban for that? That's crazy.

I didn't even know RuneScape had a subscription! I think I briefly played it about 15 years ago. Good game, I just don't have the time to play it, unfortunately. I assume you play? What's the community like over there?

I just looked up their pricing and it makes sense for them to have an optional subscription. $14 a month is in line with other similar games (e.g. wow). Would be nice if they had a couple of tiers of subscription. Maybe a $7 and a $14. But that might complicate things. How much can you do on the free mode?

[-] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 56 points 3 months ago

My brother has been playing for years and has a few paid accounts. Here's how he explained it to me. All paid accounts had their prices locked in until you cancelled them. His first, and main, account had a price of $5 a month because he first bought it 15 years ago.

There are also "ironman" modes that exist in the main game. It's an option at character creation that will restrict your account from trading with other players forcing you to obtain all items on your own instead of just buying them from the trade board. Since you need to make a new character, this is also another payment. My brother has two ironman accounts.

There are "leagues" which are new temporary servers where the rules are different and XP gain is incredibly fast. You're given tasks to complete before the "league" ends and are awarded cosmetic items based on how much you complete. This requires its own paid account to play. My brother has one of these too.

In total he spent about $20 a month on the game for his various accounts. This change to the subscription will set every single one of his subscriptions to $14 a month raising his monthly payment to something like $56 a month which is ridiculous. He plans on ending all of his subscriptions since there is now no incentive to stay subscribed (the price is no longer locked in). So my brother, a long time and devoted customer, will play the game less and give less money because Jagex is hoping most people like him won't go through the hassle of unsubscribing.

He, and lots of other long time players, are hoping that Jagex does what other MMOs do and allow multiple accounts for one subscription price.

[-] pimento64@sopuli.xyz 22 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

You don't need a separate account to play Leagues or any other temporary game modes. You are correct however that you do need to pay a separate membership for each character unless you're okay with that character only being able to do F2P activities.

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[-] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 18 points 3 months ago

Oh wow, that's a huge monthly increase. Thanks for explaining the pricing system.

[-] Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world 17 points 3 months ago

20 years ago it was $5 and maybe like 10% of skills were locked behind it. I noticed very little impact from it. But I'm pretty sure end game stuff was locked. IIRC, dragon armor was locked and may have been the best armor.

I'd be surprised if that general model changed significantly.

[-] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 3 months ago

The model hasn't changed, but as development of new content has continued, 95% of new content is subscription only.

That said, I can't speak for Runescape "proper" aka Runescape 3, the current "main" version. I've heard a lot of concerning things about all sorts of mobile game style predatory shit going on there.

I've only played Runescape 2, now called "Old School Runescape", which is a fork of the game from (I think) 2006.

Essentially, right around that time they completely overhauled combat, stat progression, and a bunch of other stuff, and called it Runescape 3. A lot of people didn't like the changes and started hosting custom servers from before the changes.

Eventually they made an official version, called it Old School Runescape, and have been developing it side by side with "normal" Runescape since.

Old School isn't predatory in my opinion. Outside of occasional "leagues" on special servers with specific challenges applied, there's no FOMO. The f2p game has plenty of content enjoyable on its own. The subscription just unlocks a mountain of more content, including alternative ways to level up through early game. Technically you can advance faster with a subscription, but that's due to having more options to turn into an over optimized plan, not some shit exp multiplier or something.

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[-] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 69 points 3 months ago

Shout out to the open source Runescape remakes

https://rsc.vet/ - 2003 era remake

https://2009scape.org - 2009 era remake

https://darkan.org/ - 2012 era remake

There are other open source remakes (2004, 2006) but they're not as popular. I've actually contributed upstream to all 3 of the above, it's a very nice community!

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[-] ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com 59 points 3 months ago

The difference between $12 and $14 is not equal to 50% of $12.

[-] Weslee@lemmy.world 60 points 3 months ago

There are other currencies in the world.

Euro is going from 8 to 12.5, which is higher than 50%

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[-] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 23 points 3 months ago

OP said it's 20% to 56% depending on currency.

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[-] Sanctus@lemmy.world 47 points 3 months ago

"Invest Firms" are doing this all over. My company as well as several other prominent southwest construction companies just got bought out, too.

This is the end game of capitalism. Firms buying other firms to squeeze every dime out of them. Its about to get fucken bumpy.

[-] schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business 39 points 3 months ago

I mean this with all the love in the world, but you're surprised that mods, in a gaming subreddit, are complete assholes?

This last year reddit has just been fucking trash all around, and I just... quit going, even though I still have things that the Fediverse just plain can't provide any useful content for.

Not because of anything spez did, or whatever stupid-ass money seeking bullshit they're trying next, but just that the content is crap and has gone from interesting and useful to trash. For example, the selfhosted subreddits went from cool software to being stuffed full of people who do NOTHING but argue about hosting email, and marketers telling you how easy it is to host something you can use to spam people. Just a degradation from good to shit.

And, even when it's not immediately obviously worse, it's still full of shitty bots, and the mods run around like they're fucking royalty and we should lick their boots.

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[-] ExcursionInversion@lemmy.world 22 points 3 months ago

Might have been banned for talking about the new pricing outside the mega thread tbh

[-] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago

For 1y though? Mod defo has microscopic pp

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[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 19 points 3 months ago

Reddit mods being reddit mods is not reddit censoring you.

[-] tilefan@lemm.ee 17 points 3 months ago

it kind of is

[-] Siethron@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago

Small note. This is only for new members. From their email to existing members:

"If you’re already a paying Member via a monthly or 6 monthly subscription, then nothing will change, as long as your subscription remains active, we will continue to honour the same price you’re paying now as part of our “Grandfather Rate” which is explained in more detail in the FAQ below."

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[-] 45D@sh.itjust.works 17 points 3 months ago

Honestly for an MMO it's still a good price. MMOs in particular people sink a tonne of hours into, so it's pennies per hour which (like gaming in general) is a pretty good rate for entertainment. That doesn't mean huge mark ups like these are anything but infuriating.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Runescape should have tiered membership for multiple characters. For example, one character for $10, three for $20, ten for $50, etc. This would make it easier on player's wallets, and frankly it would encourage people to play the other game modes.

Having said that, I think the larger problem is that the people that develop the game get peanuts for pay. Most of them are fans of the game and just want to work on it, but doing so shouldn't trap them to a low income. It's not a good sign when developers can leave the company and earn a higher salary streaming Runescape content.

What can you expect when the company is owned by an investment group.

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[-] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago

I was literally looking at playing again with the Sailing announcement

Now it's... No. I remember $5 back in the day and that was awesome.

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 7 points 3 months ago

It's not a popular opinion, and I'm sure I'll get downvoted for the reminder, but what is $5 then in 2024 dollars? Just to keep a perspective that inflation does happen, and $5 is not a lot of money now.

However, if you're getting less of a product with a lot of eye candy to hide that fact, then get the pitchforks back out. In the end it's a matter of if it's worth the cost, no matter what the amount is.

[-] yeldarb12@r.nf 11 points 3 months ago

I looked up an inflation calculator and it said $8.33 Cumulative inflation from 2004 to now is 66.5%

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 9 points 3 months ago

So with the enhancements since then $10 is probably a fair price. I just figure being okay to pay $12 but bailing for a few more dollars for a "luxury" product seems overblown, but again...it's up to the buyer on if they feel they are getting a good buy.

I never was a Runescape player, but I was hardcore Ultima Online in the early days. Looking at the newest versions out there, it's intriguing, but also so much more complex now that I think I'd enjoy watching gameplay more than playing it now. Age catches up to you.

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[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago

A lot of the gaming subs on Reddit suck. Especially /gaming, but not all of them. They’re full of industry shills and “git gud kid” types, and don’t you dare criticize anything the hive mind is softballing like a gaming magazine review.

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[-] Mojave@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

$12 to $14

...

50% increase

Pick one

[-] ABCDE@lemmy.world 28 points 3 months ago

Or learn to read.

[-] 2ncs@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago

Or change the title to up to 50%

[-] Gorely@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 3 months ago

That's it. Lemmy, ban OP for a year.

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[-] Cringe2793@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago

It's just RuneScape. Don't like it? Quit. Vote with your wallet.

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 28 points 3 months ago

Dude, I feel like if you're still playing RuneScape in the year of our lord 2024, it's more than just RuneScape for you at this point.

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[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 14 points 3 months ago

Were you banned from reddit or from that subreddit?

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[-] DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 3 months ago

Wow this is really bad ...I'm waiting for the PR saving face "we MiSsEd tHe MaRK" statement In a week

[-] AWittyUsername@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

Yeah then they "only" increase it to 13.89 instead of 14

[-] Meltrax@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, and I preface this by saying I do not fully understand the ins and outs of game development, though I am a software engineer (just not a game dev).

OSRS has made some absolutely amazing improvements in the last couple years. Almost every single update has hit perfectly with nothing but minor errors or complaints. New expansions and regions, new quests, new raid, weapon and damage rebalances, new bosses, new community events and special game modes, new updates to their clients both mobile and desktop, and most importantly a significantly better bot-busting system over the last few months.

This shit isn't cheap. That's a LOT of parallel systems and work, and OSRS continues to have 0 micro transactions outside of membership. True, RS3 and its cesspool of mtx helps fund OSRS, but I don't know how far that goes.

I'm OK with OSRS costing $2 more per month if it means that this current cadence of content of QOL updates marches on. Jagex has been absolutely nailing it and I'm very happy with them, and that's worth money to me.

[-] Benaaasaaas@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago

Keep in mind Jagex reported record profits last year, so this isn't about covering increasing costs.

[-] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 15 points 3 months ago

I used to be a game dev. Busy so can't reply atm but Jagex and OSRS make a LOT of money compared to everyone else already. Their subscription stats are insane

[-] vortexal@sopuli.xyz 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

The Reddit community is part of the reason I stopped playing RuneScape a few years ago. The in-game community was fine for the most part, as players would mostly keep to themselves or just talk with their own groups. But the subreddit would get super offended/aggressive towards each other for the stupidest things and the mods always seemed to make things worse.

I've always been of the believe that all online games with subscription services should always be $60 a year at most. If you do the math, $60 a year per player is way more than what single-player games make and maintaining/updating online games doesn't require as much work as making brand new games either.

And yes, I'm aware of the whole thing with the bonds and how they technically allow you to play the game for free but, at least compared to the old prices, they aren't as efficient as just buying a member and Jagex makes more money off of them. So, I still think that Jagex shouldn't change the membership prices.

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[-] Renacles@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

You should try the other subreddit, RS3 players are more than happy to pull out the pitchforks.