Runescape Bots No More
By: | Jan 25th 2012
Jagex Games Studio, the developers and publishers of the MMO game Runescape, have won a two-year legal battle with the developers of RuneScape-specific macroing/botting software which has been a proverbial thorn in the backside of the company -- or at least until the release of the game's "Bot Nuke" update in October 2011, that is.
The judgment against brothers Mark and Eric Snellman, who had been trading bot implementations under Impulse Software, resulted in them being ordered to pay Jagex damages. In addition, an injunction was placed upon them to prevent them from ever developing botting software for any Jagex product; helping other people develop or use botting software; or discussing Jagex, the lawsuit or RuneScape.
Jagex have been engaged in a number of legal battles over the past couple of years to tackle the concurrent issues of botting and gold farming within RuneScape, and the adverse impact it has nhad on the game and its valued community. The result announced today is a significant win for a games company, and could ultimately set a precedent for future legal cases regarding this kind of abuse.
Mark Gerhard, CEO & CTO of Jagex, stated: "We began the legal action against the Snellmans over two years ago as a part of our ongoing commitment to ridding RuneScape of bots and gold farmers. Faced with this significant challenge we have continued to demonstrate that we will never shy away from difficult battles, we don't compromise on taking the right course of action and, regardless of the time, money or effort involved we always do what it takes in order to protect our community." He went on to say: "We have spared no expense fighting this case, as demonstrated by the seven figure bill this action has cost, but the point of this and other cases of its kind, is that we will continue bring to justice those who set out to harm the game or our beloved community. We are delighted to say that we have convincingly neutered them after a very long battle."
This announcement follows the news that the bot-breaking update has been a huge success for the company. Jagex developed a suite of code obfuscation tools -- code named the 'Cluster Flutter' and coupled with various other countermeasures both technical and in-game -- which have effectively rendered 98% of all in-game bots obsolete. Neither iBOT nor any other bot developers have been able to publish working updates to overcome the "Bot Nuke" despite their continued efforts to do so.
Mark Gerhard added: "Technically speaking this is a veritable arms race, there is no permanent triumph in cyber security. The only serious long term strategy is to ensure you continuously innovate well ahead of the challenges faced today; that way you should hopefully always be a few steps ahead in the future. I'm happy to say 1337 Ninja's are already well underway with 'Optimus' Jagex's next generation obfuscation and encryption framework which will be released shortly."
Speaking about the Bot Nuke, Daniel Clough, VP of RuneScape said: "Jagex have been working on anti-botting and gold farming measure for a very long time and have continually been ensuring that the games integrity and community are protected. This action has been central to both our longevity and success over the years and I'm sure it will put us in very good stead for the years to come. We launched 'Bot Nuke Day' in October and instantly wiped out 98% of all the bots in the game. We are delighted with the results of our efforts so far and are pleased to hear the positive comments from our players. The economy has settled down over the past few months, the game has truly been flourishing since then and as a result the team and I are all looking forward to a great 2012 for RuneScape."
As a condition of this case, the Snellmans have been ordered to give up all websites, domains, source code and customer details to Jagex -- along with full customer details pertaining to anyone who has ever developed scripts for iBOT, and who have subsequently proceeded to sell or re-sell those scripts.
Gerhard concluded with: "The result of this case against the Snellmans should serve as a serious deterrent for anyone who continues to be involved in developing botting software or scripts or even maintaining or supporting those involved."
Our opinion: This is great news for Jagex and hopefully will allow them to continue to run Runescape in the way they want it to be done.
The judgment against brothers Mark and Eric Snellman, who had been trading bot implementations under Impulse Software, resulted in them being ordered to pay Jagex damages. In addition, an injunction was placed upon them to prevent them from ever developing botting software for any Jagex product; helping other people develop or use botting software; or discussing Jagex, the lawsuit or RuneScape.
Jagex have been engaged in a number of legal battles over the past couple of years to tackle the concurrent issues of botting and gold farming within RuneScape, and the adverse impact it has nhad on the game and its valued community. The result announced today is a significant win for a games company, and could ultimately set a precedent for future legal cases regarding this kind of abuse.
Mark Gerhard, CEO & CTO of Jagex, stated: "We began the legal action against the Snellmans over two years ago as a part of our ongoing commitment to ridding RuneScape of bots and gold farmers. Faced with this significant challenge we have continued to demonstrate that we will never shy away from difficult battles, we don't compromise on taking the right course of action and, regardless of the time, money or effort involved we always do what it takes in order to protect our community." He went on to say: "We have spared no expense fighting this case, as demonstrated by the seven figure bill this action has cost, but the point of this and other cases of its kind, is that we will continue bring to justice those who set out to harm the game or our beloved community. We are delighted to say that we have convincingly neutered them after a very long battle."
This announcement follows the news that the bot-breaking update has been a huge success for the company. Jagex developed a suite of code obfuscation tools -- code named the 'Cluster Flutter' and coupled with various other countermeasures both technical and in-game -- which have effectively rendered 98% of all in-game bots obsolete. Neither iBOT nor any other bot developers have been able to publish working updates to overcome the "Bot Nuke" despite their continued efforts to do so.
Mark Gerhard added: "Technically speaking this is a veritable arms race, there is no permanent triumph in cyber security. The only serious long term strategy is to ensure you continuously innovate well ahead of the challenges faced today; that way you should hopefully always be a few steps ahead in the future. I'm happy to say 1337 Ninja's are already well underway with 'Optimus' Jagex's next generation obfuscation and encryption framework which will be released shortly."
Speaking about the Bot Nuke, Daniel Clough, VP of RuneScape said: "Jagex have been working on anti-botting and gold farming measure for a very long time and have continually been ensuring that the games integrity and community are protected. This action has been central to both our longevity and success over the years and I'm sure it will put us in very good stead for the years to come. We launched 'Bot Nuke Day' in October and instantly wiped out 98% of all the bots in the game. We are delighted with the results of our efforts so far and are pleased to hear the positive comments from our players. The economy has settled down over the past few months, the game has truly been flourishing since then and as a result the team and I are all looking forward to a great 2012 for RuneScape."
As a condition of this case, the Snellmans have been ordered to give up all websites, domains, source code and customer details to Jagex -- along with full customer details pertaining to anyone who has ever developed scripts for iBOT, and who have subsequently proceeded to sell or re-sell those scripts.
Gerhard concluded with: "The result of this case against the Snellmans should serve as a serious deterrent for anyone who continues to be involved in developing botting software or scripts or even maintaining or supporting those involved."
Our opinion: This is great news for Jagex and hopefully will allow them to continue to run Runescape in the way they want it to be done.
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