Jagex Games Studio, the company behind the massively popular free online RPG RuneScape, has today earned a triumphant victory over botters and cheaters across the globe. The company has long been embattled in a legal war with Eric and Mark Snellman, two brothers responsible for the development of RuneScape-specific botting software used by thousands of cheaters and exploiters to tip the game in their favor.
As of today, the battle appears to be won. The court issued a judgment against the brothers, demanding that they pay damages to Jagex and preventing them from developing software for any Jagex product. They?re also barred from discussing the case or helping other people develop or use botting software. It?s a decisive victory for Jagex, and the case could stand as a precedent for countless similar battles being waged by MMORPG makers and botters.
Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard had this to say on the win:
?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.?
Botting in RuneScape, for the moment, appears to have been dealt a devastating blow. We?ll just have to wait and see how other bot-makers react to the case.
Do you think botting in an MMO is wrong?
Source: MMOSite