Update:SoF Feedback Response
This update was added on 4 May 2012.
It’s been two months since we released the Squeal of Fortune and we wanted to take the opportunity to respond to some of the player feedback, correct some misconceptions about the popularity of the update, motivations behind the update and importantly outline why it’s also here to stay.
First of all I want to say thank you to everyone who has sent us feedback about the recent Squeal of Fortune updates. We designed the Squeal of Fortune from the outset to be a fun and light-hearted feature to RuneScape, giving players a new way to receive free rewards every day they log into RuneScape. As with many of our updates, our members always receive extra benefits like double the free spins daily and we have evolved it since launch – providing all of our players numerous additional ways to earn free Squeal spins within the game.
As with all content we add to RuneScape, we went to great lengths to ensure that the Squeal of Fortune would enhance the playing experience without undermining what makes the game truly special for millions of players every day; we truly believe we have succeeded in both priorities.
We recognise that some in the community have mixed feelings about the Squeal of Fortune and, whilst we spend a great deal of time and effort creating game experiences that resonate with the majority of our players, the reality is due to the epic size of our community it simply isn’t possible to please all of our players all of the time despite desperately trying too. Therefore our philosophy has always been to do what is right for the long term health of the game, a fact many of the long standing player will know I’ve consistently done over the years irrespective of the initial pain, with the not so distant Bot nuke a great example. I can confidently say that we have always been rewarded for doing the right thing in the long run and the reality today is that the game is not only consistently improving but our community steadily grows year on year.
That said, all the feedback we receive for our updates and how the community engage with it is still extremely important to us. We have been reading your posts on the forums and listened to your concerns. As a result of your feedback, we implemented some changes to the way Squeal of Fortune works, such as adding new ways to receive extra spins as in-game rewards and also introducing additional payment protection for all in game purchases as soon as players notified us it was a concern.
Naturally the team and I are saddened that some players are upset about free spins and some also don’t like the ability to also purchase additional spins, however, the reality is 90% of our members are enjoying the Squeal of Fortune on a daily basis and over 70% of our free players utilise the Squeal of Fortune daily too - making it some of the most widely appreciated content release to date. The majority of our players also continue to take advantage of the many free ways to earn extra spins, so it’s certainly here to stay.
The stated concerns from players regarding RWT'ing, gambling or using the Squeal of Fortune to buy their way to success is simply not true and not possible given the design of the system. Whilst we have seen most players take advantage of the new rewards and many choosing to purchase extra spins, we have not witnessed any abuse of the system despite monitoring it extremely closely.
Looking forward, RuneScape continues to grow more than ever, both in terms of innovative compelling content as well as the size of the community. With the launch of The Runespan last Monday, a major graphical performance upgrade yesterday (which has already seen a significant portion of the community benefit from over a 100% improvement in game frame rate), it should be evident that we just gearing up for our most exciting and biggest content year ever........... including a complete upgrade to the combat system later this summer!
You’ll naturally all hear a lot more about this in the very near future so watch this space.
Thanks for reading ... and have fun,
Cheers,
Mark Gerhard
Jagex CEO