Bots Successfully Nuked

This quote was taken directly from RSBuddy's lead developer and owner, Jacmob, a mere 2 weeks after the ClusterFlutterer project was put in place by Jagex to stop botting.

For those of you who don't know, RSBuddy was the most widely used botting client in RuneScape.

Why have you put an end to RSBuddy’s bot client?

Bots have changed the gameplay of RuneScape. With the use of bots becoming increasingly widespread since the introduction of free trade, and the recent announcements by Jagex, it is clear that bots have become flagrantly detrimental to the game. If you’re like any of us and you enjoy playing RuneScape, you’ll have noticed that bots are anti-social and make the time you spend playing feel diminished in worth. At the same time, bots are abused heavily by gold farmers to ruin the game to a significant extent only for their profit. We hope to assist in the selfless movement by Jagex in fixing this problem and hope that you will join us in playing the game with real people.

To some this will seem like a quick change of heart. See my interview with Ability44 on YouTube.

Is this the end of all botting in RuneScape?

Yes. I am confident that you will not see the return of major bot clients to RuneScape, and that the small number of simple 'auto-clickers' and 'screen-scrapers' that remain will be dealt with very soon.

Another bot site says they’ll be up soon; why shouldn’t we believe them?

The other bot sites out there may claim for a bit longer that they will fix their bots within the next few days or weeks: Had I decided to release RSBuddy 1.5 to the public, it would have required another overhaul just a few days later. The fact that no other botting sites had any update ready by the end of last week shows how exceedingly far behind they are. Don’t hold your breath.

I know another huge MMO that hasn’t dealt with bots; what makes RuneScape different?

Removing bots from the game requires both commercial investment and the time of talented developers with other updates to work on. I haven’t seen any other company willing to take that hit; it requires a huge amount of care for the game we’re here for.

I used RSBuddy on my account, am I going to be banned?

The information we have on customers and users is private and won’t be used to ban any accounts. We hope that you have come to understand why botting has no place in the game and take this opportunity to become part of the RuneScape community.

I purchased a premium script, am I entitled to a refund?

If you purchased a script within 7 days of the update last Tuesday we will happily refund your purchase on request. Any purchases made before this time are not eligible for refunds. Information on subscription changes is available on our subscriptions page.

This is the end for bots, not for you!

It’s not only you that doesn’t have a bot client to use. RuneScape is a social game for humans to play. If you feel that there was anything botting did to keep you interested in the game, please join the discussion of what updates would remove any need for them.

More Information

BenTellsAStory interviews NoEffex, Trigoon, Arbiter and myself on YouTube.

My RSN is 'Gouraud' (after the shading algorithm). inb4 spam. I'll be on IRC as usual.

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F.A.Q.

Were you threatened with a lawsuit?

Nope. RSBuddy is currently taking legal action against another site though.

Did you actually finish RSBuddy v1.5?

Yes (and brought it to RuneFest).

Will screen scraping ('colour') bots be taken down soon?

Yes. It's good to leave the easiest to deal with last.

Why the count-down?

We needed time to prepare for this announcement and couldn't say anything in the mean time.

I honestly couldn't be much happier to hear this news. I've been skeptical since the release of the nuke a couple of weeks ago that bots perhaps may find a way around the system yet again. This post all but confirms that the majority of botting in RuneScape is dead.

... and there was much rejoicing.