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DO NOT ACCEPT THIS APOLOGY FROM JAGEX - (OSRS)
Date 2025-01-17
Type news-opinion
Video youtu.be/cGiq6OwLovw

Summary

Gnomonkey reads the apology from Jagex CEO Mod Pips about the conjoint membership survey and argues it is hollow: full of excuses, sidestepping and no accountability for trying to monetize players, with only a vague promise to improve player support. He lists the concrete action he wanted instead.

Outline

  • 0:00 Intro: recap of the survey and why he is unhappy with the CEO's response
  • 0:56 Reading the apology: what Gnomonkey looks for in a good apology
  • 2:28 Survey excuses: research mode and randomness of the survey
  • 4:27 What Jagex commits to: ads, AFK timers, exclusive worlds, client and plugins, player support
  • 7:00 General principles and the closing of the apology
  • 9:20 Overall summary: it feels hollow and fake
  • 10:00 ChatGPT test: why the blog feels like a nothing burger
  • 10:48 What I wanted: concrete action on support, account security and recovery
  • 12:04 Player support problems and personal experiences, call for a plan of action on Monday

Topics covered

Opinion: Jagex CEO survey apology

  • (0:30) Just before a weekend in January 2025, the CEO of Jagex, Mod Pips, published a response and apology titled Membership survey: an update from Mod Pips, Jagex CEO, about the conjoint membership survey.
  • (0:30) The apology said the survey caused frustration, anger and concern, that major mistakes were made, and that Jagex got caught up in research mode while rushing a project with a research partner.
  • (0:59) Gnomonkey says a good apology for him requires accountability and actions to remedy the situation, and he does not feel the CEO's post provides either.
  • (1:31) Gnomonkey says the apology's framing of an unfiltered range of ideas is an excuse, because the ideas in question, such as ads and charging for enhanced player support, are what people are offended by.
  • (2:29) Gnomonkey says the problem was never the randomness of the survey's combinations, but what Jagex was willing to sell, and he says this repeats the sidestepping of the previous blog post.
  • (3:00) Gnomonkey says Jagex repeatedly saying that gameplay would not be affected feels hollow, since the monetization structures were built around gameplay-adjacent features like clients, plugins and support.
  • (3:58) The apology said no firm plans were in place and not a single line of code had been written for any of the survey's ideas, and that the survey had been halted.
  • (8:59) Gnomonkey says there is no admission in the apology that Jagex was trying to monetize or squeeze more money from players, and he says a single line stating that it was greedy and wrong would have gone a long way.
  • (9:09) Gnomonkey says he does not care about promises and wants to see action, since players have lost trust and he wants to know how Jagex will get it back.
  • (9:39) Gnomonkey summarises that the apology feels hollow and fake, and that he does not accept it and hopes the Old School community does not either.
  • (13:14) Gnomonkey tells viewers not to accept the apology and says he wants Jagex to produce a plan of action when it returns on Monday.

Opinion: Conjoint membership survey

  • (0:00) Gnomonkey recaps that the Jagex survey asked what players would accept being monetized with, including ads, removal of client access, removal of plugin access, enhanced customer support, enhanced recovery, VIP worlds and titles.
  • (0:30) Gnomonkey says what frustrates him is that a lot of people are okay with the survey and the response.
  • (2:04) Gnomonkey says players were unsubscribing in such numbers that the Jagex website's unsubscribe page was returning a 404 error.
  • (3:07) Gnomonkey says even suggesting ideas like in-game ads, shorter AFK timers, or making improved player support cost extra undermined player trust.

Advertising

  • (0:00) Gnomonkey says the survey's mention of ads was one of the things people were upset about and that he does not want ads entering the game.
  • (4:27) The CEO's apology said Jagex will not include in-game advertisements in any regular paid membership, but may explore ads in free-to-play in the future, though there are no plans currently.
  • (5:01) Gnomonkey says the only plan of action so far on ads is ads in free-to-play, which he says is not what he would have gone for to rebuild trust.
  • (21:19) Gnomonkey notes in a later segment that Jagex confirmed it will explore ads in free-to-play, and says players answering that as fine because it used to be a browser game does not apply today.

RuneLite

  • (5:05) The apology said Jagex will not reduce AFK timers for any paid membership, and committed to ensuring that any subscription provides access to the full suite of core game content.
  • (5:31) The CEO's apology said Jagex will not make plugins or features on the official client paid options, and does not plan to gate features behind paywalls, including for community clients such as RuneLite and HDOS.

Player support

  • (6:05) The apology said improved player support should not require additional charges, that changes to baseline support are already in progress, and that Jagex hopes to talk more about it soon.
  • (6:34) Gnomonkey wants concrete details on player support improvements, such as hiring more people or reducing response time to a day or two, since support has been one of the worst aspects of Old School for years.
  • (12:04) Gnomonkey says Old School's support system is effectively through Twitter and Reddit, and that you may need over 2,000 upvotes on Reddit to be heard.
  • (12:04) Gnomonkey says the large streamer Odablock was griefed on stream by someone abusing bugs to kill him, messaged moderators for days, and no action was taken.
  • (12:38) Gnomonkey recounts that in RuneScape 3 he needed his membership transferred and it took two weeks to get a response, with a passive-aggressive reply.

Account security

  • (11:03) Gnomonkey says he wanted clear steps for preventing accounts from being hacked, better account security, and better account recovery options after a hack, and says the apology only mentions player support.
  • (11:03) Gnomonkey says Jagex has already raised membership prices relatively recently, charges per character slot, and had considered splitting character slots and selling them at different rates, and suggests it could instead give a free Ironman with the main account.

ChatGPT

  • (10:01) One of Gnomonkey's moderators gave a prompt to ChatGPT asking why the apology feels like a nothing burger, and ChatGPT answered that it acknowledges mistakes without specific accountability or concrete action, which Gnomonkey says shows the apology fails even a cold machine's test.