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An Analytical Essay on the Impacts of Bots on the Economy of Runescape [4]
Hello, I would greatly appreciate if you guys could review my essay below and point out corrections, mistakes or things you'd implement. Cheers! :)
An Analytical Essay on the Impacts of Bots on the Economy of Runescape,by name here
What are the impacts of bots on the world's most popular MMORPG's economy known as Runescape and are they negative? Before I dive into this topic we first need to understand what a bot is. Technically bots (also known as Autos, Autoers, Macros, Borgs, and Macroers) are players who use illegal third-party programs to gain advantages over other players while being away from the game. Don't be too quick to judge those who run this kind of software though. Lets begin our analysis first.
As Runescape continues further into its successful career and players complete existing content, Jagex the developers, are forced to implement new updates into their game to keep players constantly intrigued and interested. This may seem harmless but actually disguised is a highly sharp, double edged sword. Take for example the automotive industry, as more efficient and cost effective cars are released this causes the previous or older models to slowly become upgraded from and unused. Although in Runescape items from old updates are still required. These are usually gathered and sold by beginning players.
Sounds like a foolproof system, no? You would be correct if the ratio of new content to new accounts created were equal. Due to updates being pushed faster than fresh players can fulfil their duty, a black hole begins to slowly creep in. Effecting everything from the economy to newly released content. This is where automated programs come into play... To do the dirty work.
What are the effects of this black hole I speak of? Without a continual source to supply the market, prices will begin to fluctuate. At first small but eventually reverberating until becoming apocalyptic leaving the economy in a state of utter peril and disorder with the only salvation being a complete restart.
What are the consequences to a restart of the economy? The largest one is it would undoubtedly be the end to tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of players recurring membership payments. Causing Jagex's annual profit to plummet immensely and in turn shortening Runescape's lifespan by an astronomical value resulting in devastating loss for the developers.
Another beneficial quality that bots bring into the game is the fact that they help keep the market from becoming over saturated. This is accomplished because macros run for long periods without human input meaning that they need a hefty number of items to last the spell. They do this by bulk buying items.
How does saturation occur in Runescape and what are the ramifications from it? If the demand for an item is substantially lower than the amount the suppliers are bringing into the market it becomes flooded (saturated). This results in dramatic price reductions that of which bring the consequence of less profit to the provider. The aftermath is a ruined market value for the item and a slaughtered motivator for players that gather the resource. Yet again... Bots to the rescue.
At this point, it seems as though macros play a crucial role in Runescape's economy. They are the prevention from having the market thrown into an unstable state as they provide a constant supply of regularly bought items. Not only that but they also escape market permeation with their mass buying of high stocked items. From our analysis we can conclude that the impacts of bots on the worlds most popular MMORPG's economy known as Runescape are most definitely positive.
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Unsure as to why this thread had a name change occur, haha. Anyways... All help is still greatly wanted and appreciated! :)