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Fansite Q&A - Questions


Hello!

It's time for the fansite Q&A session. For more information about fansite support, please see the Fansite Information thread in the General forum.

Any questions are welcome, however I will not be able to answer questions relating to specific fansites and why we have/have not yet supported or recognised them.

Please use this thread to pose your fansite-related questions. I will then answer these questions in this thread.

Thanks,
Hohbein


Thread opening soon...


http://services.runescape.com/m=forum/foru...34,579,59920574

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Hello!

Please find below my answers to the questions posed in this thread.

Thanks,
Mod Hohbein


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Zen Jedi asks:

Draynor Here!

Question #1: Are you planning on giving fan-sites better sources for parsing information regarding the players and contents of RuneScape itself, such as the lite hiscore page we're all familiar with? Regarding this, a Grand Exchange "lite page" would be ideal, seeing as there's a lot of different price checkers and such out there, would surely lower your bandwidth use.

Question #2: In addition to the question above, you should display the levels of the users on the hiscores even if not ranked, just don't display a rank on that specific skill.

Question #3: The Recent Re-opening of RuneScape Classic was pretty neat, will you be providing us with access to user stats / hiscores on the RSC side? Or is this whole RSC thing completely temporary?

Question #4: Are you going to release new features on the website/in-game to eliminate the need for fan-site/3rd party tools?

Question #5: Why was the Java Applet version of the world map discontinued? I believe it would be much more useful than just a .jpg version of the map This way users could check the map without logging in.

Question #6: Have you ever thought about making a client like the official one, but for Mac? I, at least, could sure use one. I hate removing the navigation bar and status bar and everything from my browser window as it affects all of the windows.

Question #7: On what grounds were the visitors for the JaGEx office selected? I heard a few of RuneHQ's staff were invited, just wondering if only long time site staff were selected.


First of all, hi everyone!

1 - This is something pretty much every fansite has asked me about and I understand how useful it would be. That said, there are some technical/logistical limitations that currently make this difficult. But, it's something I know everyone wants and it's definitely at the top of my 'what fansites want' wish list!

2 - Thanks for the suggestion - I'll pass that on to our development teams.

3 - This isn't something I'm working on so couldn't give you an answer here I'm afraid.

4 - I don't think we'd look to create tools that fansites have already created. Why? Because you guys already make fantastic tools and, really, there's not much need for us to do so.

5 - I can't answer this one, but I'll strive to find out and will let you know.

6 - Again more of a development question, not something I can answer with any certainty.

7 - Yep we invited the RuneHQ guys to Jagex. They've worked with us since we started fansite support (as well as a few other websites) and we love what they do. They aren't the only fansite we'll ever invite - we'd love to have more over and I'm sure we will in future, but we had to start somewhere!


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SS Priit asks:
Will Jagex develop more 'stats-lite' like webservices? Some examples would be to get a lite hiscores, or lite GE utilities to check 1 item or a lite search in GE. I mean, we developers can always parse your data as long as you use some kind of text output like HTML, so why not save yourselves bandwidth and develop some more lite webservices?

Bonus point if you could also make them output XML and current technologies, maybe as an option to the CSV output that you are using now. This would not only help almost all of serious fan-sites but also other utilities that everyone uses, like forum signatures for adventurer's log, or trackers that are everywhere now.

Please think about it, and tell us what are the Jagex plans for this kind of services.


As I've mentioned in my answer to Zen Jedi above, I know this is something that'd be really useful for fansites and it's at the top of my wish list for you guys. But, unfortunately I can't say whether this will be a possibility.


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Gmvasek asks:

Would you more support non-english fansites? And probably focusing around other (non-english) language-oriented RuneScape communities?

One more question: Would you provide us some light version of other website services, like the Adventurer's log or maybe "hot" topics on forums?

Thanks for answer,
Gmvasek ~ Czech and Slovak RuneScape community


Alongside English fansites, we currently support fansites in 7 different languages, and we're reaching out to more all the time. While non-English fansites tend to be much smaller in terms of how many people visit them, we totally understand the value they bring to their respective communities and want to support them in what they're doing!

As above, 'lite' versions of website features is something I know people want - it's on my wish list.


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Arazat asks:

Both Mark Gerhard and Mod Markg have registered accounts on MechScape World and posted several times, do you know if there will be more of this type of interaction on other fansites in the future?

What lies ahead for extra support concerning fansites?

What should fansites do about advertisements which promote products or websites which are against the Jagex rules?


Good question! So far no, we haven't been posting on any fansite forums. I think one of my main concerns is that we don't want to look as though we're 'taking over' a fansite's forums. There's nothing to say this will never happen though.

What lies ahead? Well, loads! Over the past 9 or so months we've come really far, we're offering a number of key areas of support to the fansites we're supporting. I have some things planned for the future (which I won't go into detail about now as they may not happen), but I'm really keen to hear from fansites themselves about what support they want from us.

Competitor advertising is something that damages the RuneScape community (by pushing players away from RuneScape) and will ultimately damage our loyal RuneScape fansites. We understand it's not always easy to remove competitor adverts, but fansites looking for support need to understand our stance on this and show that they are willing to work with us by doing their best to remove competitor adverts.


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Xi Chair Xi asks:

For any game, Fan Art is an important aspect. We do not have many websites regarding RuneScape fan art, but with the release of the players' gallery, fan art has become more successive in RuneScape, and artists on Youtube have wowed many spectators to their art for a while now.

Many of the items in-game come from fan art concepts, such as Sir Tiger I's dragon boots and various item concepts from Micahdc.

I only know of two websites that are dedicated to art regarding RuneScape.

How would Jagex be able to use this to their advantage in order to promote and/or encourage the creation of Fan Art, so that Jagex may possibly use it in the future?


Completely agree, some of the fan-made artwork we see through the gallery is absolutely astounding. Artwork-based competitions are planned for the future, as we really want to encourage people to do more of this sort of thing.

How would we be able to use dedicated RS artwork fansites? Well, lots of ways spring to mind and I couldn't put them all down here. I'd love to get them involved in competitions we run, for instance.


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Hi there Hohbein!

I’m going to keep my question quite short, as I have little to discuss about this topic, and nothing much to pad it up with! So here we go:

What are Jagex trying to do to increase help with fan sites? Are they going to start (for example) adding some of their events on the forums? Or even better, make a thread for them to have threads for their website (When Jagex trusts that they are a safe site) to post events?

In case you will reply with “The events forum is just as good”, I just think maybe a separate forum might be a little better (personally)

Thanks for your time!

Regards,


Hi!

Actually we already advertise fansite-run events both in our forums, and via our social networking pages such as Twitter/Facebook. You can check out our events thread .


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Laieta asks:

Will you try to support RS art in any way?

Will you support art related fansites too?

I have no idea what are your future plans right now about PG but do you think you could tell us more about it? I readed your PG developer blog and there are many new ideas.

Do you think we will see some improvements in PG? will we get new galleries more often?



As I mentioned above, we love artwork and yes, we are looking at ways to encourage players to get involved in the Player Gallery at the moment. Can't comment much on this as nothing is certain.

Absolutely, we already support a couple of fairly 'niche' fansites.

I really can't comment on the Players Gallery too much - but as I said before, encouraging players to get more involved is something the CM team are looking at, yes.


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Arbiter Ryan asks:

•Some fansites have the same adverts as you do, yet you do not support them. How come is that?

•Would discussing a unrecognized fansite be a mutable offence? (I.E. in one Tip.It article, it has a direct link to the RSW for the GE's Common Trade Index)

•Do you think this list will be expanding for years to come?


There are a huge number of fansites out there. As much as I'd love to reach out to all of them at once, I am only one person and these things take time. But yea, I'm always keeping an eye on the Recommend a fansite thread and will reach out to more fansites as and when I can.

I can't say what sort of offence you'd receive for discussing a non-recognised fansite, however yea, discussing a website which hasn't been included on the recognised fansite list (which can be found here) may result in action being taken against your account.

Absolutely, the list has continued to grow and will continue to grow.


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Zetris asks:

will runescape have there own fan site created in the future (100% safe) or wiki related features that jagex will own and managed by players/mods?


Interesting question! No would be the answer. we aren't in competition with our fansites, we're working with them. I'd hate to think the creation of an official Jagex 'RuneScape' fansite would be seen as an attempt to overshadow the incredible hard work that our fansites put in. Also, 'fan' sites should be made by fans, not by the creators of the game! (Of course we're fans of ourselves, but you know what I mean ).

(thanks for the tip - links in the first post now fixed).


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Wildy Medic asks:

The FunOrb Wikia is supported by Jagex, what about the Runesape one?


As mentioned in the first post of the Questions thread, I can't comment on any specific fansite and why we are/aren't supporting them. Sorry!


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gf_S0n_lol asks:

Hello Mod Hohbein, if , at the moment, I only have 1 question. My question is why does the Runescape Filter censor the word '*****'? While Sals Realm is allowed. Thank you .


I can't comment on why certain words are or aren't censored - that's for our censor team to decide.


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Zen Jedi asks:

Are we allowed to promote our fan-site in-game if we are on the recognized/allowed list? Or does this only count on the forums?


Yep, both in-game and on the forums is fine. I'd advise against pointing people toward specifics sections of any website though, as players can't be sure what that section might include.

Also, I'd probably steer clear of outright 'promotion' of a website - we still don't want to see people standing in the GE spamming 'visit this website for great guides!' - it'll only annoy people.


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Rotje Rot asks:

Are you going to support clan sites too(same way as fansites)?


This is something myself and Mod Timbo have been considering. While some Clan Sites also offer the services of a fansite, I think in general a clan site is a different kettle of fish to a fansite and the sort of support we offer fansites now might not translate well to clan sites. But, we are really keen to support clans as much as possible and, who knows, maybe there's something we can do here (I can't commit to anything though, as this is Mod Timbo's area of expertise).


Varken9 asks:

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Hey Mod Hohbein!

I would just like to say that I really love the way Jagex has changed. Player visits - Fansite support, all wonderful idea's. I wish you the best for the future!

Now for my questions:

#1: I understand there are rules which clans have to follow to get support? But there are some really big fansites, that I can't name, that have a big impact on the Runescape Community too. Mainly the clancommunity.

They can't have support because there is content on that site which is against the Runescape rules/spirit of the game. Is there still communication with them, or does jagex doesn't want to have anything to do with them?

#2: I know that you sent the letters to invite the people to Jagex. Do you know if regular players could also have the opportunity to visit Jagex HQ? Or will there always be competitions that you have to win?


Hi Varken! Thanks for the feedback, glad you're happy with everything.

1 - Any communication we have with fansites is between Jagex and the fansite - for this reason I'm afraid I can't answer this question. Sorry!

2 - We would love to do more player visits. A lot of the feedback we've had is 'but how do regular players get involved!'. I think competitions is one good way, but perhaps there are others. It's something we're aware of and are thinking about.


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Laieta asks:

Will you support art related fansites too?


Absolutely, we already support a couple of fairly 'niche' fansites.

_______________

How I can find them? maybe you could add what kind of fansite is each one at "Recognised fansites" list?

I would love to find any runescape art related site.


When I say niche, I mean that certain fansites specailise in different areas. So, some fansites have brilliant guides, while others might focus more on their events community. It'd be difficult to label each fansite on the recognised fansite list - but I agree maybe there's a way for us to categorise fansites more effectively.


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gf s0n lol asks:

I've heard some kid get scammed by a clan site. So my question is, are you going to allow clan sites?


As above, the clan community is Mod Timbo's area. The way we support fansites wouldn't necessarily work for clan sites, but it's something we can consider.


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Reichwulf asks:

Mod Hohbein

I use rune tips (tip.it) for all my needs rather it be quest, skill calculators or even guides.

I was wondering if such fan sites, as these will be published or even intro related into runescape, to run onside of such as links on runescape or even a referance to reward to the users and owners of fan sites, for an overall great job, and help runescape users as well.


I couldn't say for sure, but I do like the idea of having more information about fansites on our website, as well as our forums. As for in-game, that's not something I've thought about before, but thanks for the suggestion!


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Hard Powered asks:

Hey there,

My fansite 'RuneScapez' has recently had some brilliant ideas to perhaps solve the problem with clan sites wanting recognition - (in short) we're planning to give OUR support to clans, by giving them slots on our Twitter**** and Facebook accounts, and are in the process of building some forums specifically for clans to use. This isn't all there is to it, but in future, when you've recognised us (working on the things you mentioned), would you consider supporting US in a perhaps 'non-generic' way as you do with fansites, and help us to support these clans indirectly through our fansite?

My reasoning for this was to ease off people wanting you to support clans directly, which I know you can't do so easily.

Thanks,
Matt


Hello!

As I think I mentioned earlier, I'm keen for fansites to let me know what they want support with. If we were to reach out to your fansite and this was something you wanted our support with then we could certainly see what we could do, although I can't say for sure that we'd be able to support this.


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cabbage0wnz asks:

for fansites do jagex have their own fansite?If not will we be seeing this in the future?I think it would be good addition to branch out to new players.


As mentioned previously, no, we don't have any plans to do this. I'd be worried that creating a Jagex-run fansite would be seen as 'competition' for our other fansites, and that's not a position we want to be in.


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Okay guys, I need to wrap this up now. Thanks so much for all your questions!

Cheers,
Hohbein
Aslancsc
what kinds of questions could we ask, I have none whatsoever that I can think of.
Max
Some questions could be:

What lies ahead for extra support concerning websites?

What should fansites do about advertisements which are against the rules of RuneScape/another product?

At what point does a website become a fansite? Does it completely have to focus on RuneScape or other Jagex products?

Ren
Question #5: Why was the Java Applet version of the world map discontinued? I believe it would be much more useful than just a .jpg version of the map This way users could check the map without logging in.
The answer for anyone who cares is that some browsers/computers didn't like having multiple Java applets open, and I guess instead of going for Flash/JavaScript they just went basic.
killrrhubarb
It's good to see Jagex planning to increase the support and help of fansites in the future. This is good, It shows that they have definitely become more community-orientated.
Alex
It's closed now, which is a bugger. I wanted to ask about RS blogs, and the Jagex stance on mentioning them.
JJ17400
Thank you for posting all that, some interesting stuff.
Crash Jordan
QUOTE (Ren @ Nov 20 2009, 07:39 AM) *
Question #5: Why was the Java Applet version of the world map discontinued? I believe it would be much more useful than just a .jpg version of the map This way users could check the map without logging in.
The answer for anyone who cares is that some browsers/computers didn't like having multiple Java applets open, and I guess instead of going for Flash/JavaScript they just went basic.


The answer is Java has a memory allocation limit that they can't pass, and it's not possible to open up another. That's why the map replaces the rest of the game when you open it. Another example of this is why you can't have two RS HD's open.
Lord John
Pretty much it's just him going "Um... I'm not part of development, can't answer that." Kind of a pointless Q/A. Why don't they get someone from development to answer the questions? [/common sense]

I would love to see the (made-up)response to:

Tell me at least three benefits of being an Official Fansite apart from appering in an obscure forum thread and fansite discussion.
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