Jagex announced it has fired a moderator of Old School Runescape after it was discovered the individual had been pilfering in-game currency and items.
The studio’s action was confirmed in a post on the Runescape site, which noted the dismissal came following the discovery of irregular activity during routine checks. Tracing it back to a mod of the Old School version of Runescape, Jagex moved quickly to neutralise any impact it had.
Following the firing, the dev set about returning items and GP (in-game currency) to affected users – not something that usually happens when things go missing like this, but as it was caused by a Jagex employee it’s fair to say there’s a different approach at play.
If there are doubts as to how seriously Jagex is taking the issue, the statement points out police are actively involved and further comments will have to wait until after investigations are complete.
“We pride ourselves on the passion and integrity of the JMods that work for Jagex and we hold them to the highest standards,” the post read, “However, we are not afraid to take tough action and make difficult decisions if someone cannot meet those standards.
“We will dust ourselves off, and move on. Old School is at its biggest and strongest since launch, but we still have much to do, not least a mobile launch which each day gets closer.”
An update confirmed no card details had been compromised; users were only at risk of having lost in-game items and currency.
With Runescape as a whole bringing in almost a billion dollars since its launch in 2001, acts like this are something Jagex takes very seriously. It’s nice to see the claim that community is everything isn’t just lip service, too.