The Tip.It Times


Issue 5999gp

Quantity or Quality

Written by and edited by Tip.It

July 24th, 2009, marked the beginning of a complete overhaul to a system put in place in RuneScape Classic: this being the Player Moderator system. Mod Hohbein discussed it as a change from the basic police force of RuneScape to a Moderator being a community minded player. This change was generally thought to be a good idea because it would encourage the players and Jagex to interact and bring more popularity to the dying events held in the Events forum. However, is it really a good idea to introduce a volley of Moderators, who are more community minded and not necessarily the right kind of people who can handle the power accompanied by the crown?

After many attempts to popularize the community management section of Runescape, by running events such as the Jagex cup, Jagex has seemed to finally resort to making community involved players into Moderators and therefore implying that is now the way for players to get a crown. As many of us know, a silver crown is one of the most sought after objects in the game and some players have been trying for years to "achieve" it. Now Jagex is basically waving it in front of their face and after years of saying Jagex would NOT accept requests or suggestions for Moderators, they open a thread and ask for applications. So now not only do players have a better chance at "achieving" the crown, they also are able to suggest themselves and their friends, a right previously reserved to Player Moderators only. Not only is this bad enough, but Jagex started off this new wave of Moderators by giving the majority of maxed players (f2p and p2p) a crown of some sort. About 200 new Moderators were made, with 80 of them being maxed out on their skills. So what could a change in standards and the selection process lead to?

With the scramble to now recruit more players into the sphere of community management and therefore more Moderators, Jagex has managed to overlook some things they may not have in the past. The selection process was broadened and the "requirements" lowered, causing some sub-par Moderators to enter the system. Today, about four months after the focus change, those sub-par Moderators have finally begun to show through the cracks. These sub-par Moderators are starting to make decisions such as muting players based on whims or bias opinions on the subject and not the true interpretation of the rules.Due to the pride Jagex takes in their Moderator team, action is rarely taken unless the injustices are severe. The decision Jagex made to change the whole Player Moderator basis was a major one to say the least. And this leaves some players to question whether it was the right idea or not. It all boils down to the question of quality or quantity. In which Jagex has chosen quantity in order to improve a rarely used part of the community forums. Now do you believe it was the right idea to sacrifice the quality of Moderators to do so?


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Will you use Menaphos to train your skills?



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