AMA - Mat K

[Mat K 173]

23 hours ago, Vanuckle said:

What is the best way for clans to approach Jagex in order to get the hugging mechanic back into the game?

The mechanic where you can go around an object (IE; a wall, rock, or tree) and the people attacking you get stuck on the other side.

This was a trade off between better pathfinding or hugging. The only way I can see to get it changed is to have two seperate pathfinding systems which would be a big overhead to manage in the engine.

[@Brian 2,796]

14 minutes ago, Mat K said:

Hey Brian, how you doing? I've been really well. Back in the 00s there was a lot of reticence to do something for clans. But towards the end of the 00s people realised the importance of them. It took about 5 years to get the idea of a clan system onto the roadmap. But persistence seemed to work. All the conversations we had did help as each conversation gave me more evidence to get clans prioritised.

Shame really that it took so long and came too late. The launch of RS2 with the introduction of multi combat wilderness was a real opportunity to make the game about clans. The "golden era" was long over by time clans started to get recognition. Game seems to be very much about solo playing now. Maybe there's a lot more revenue in that.

[Echliurn 7]

10 minutes ago, Brian said:

Shame really that it took so long and came too late. The launch of RS2 with the introduction of multi combat wilderness was a real opportunity to make the game about clans. The "golden era" was long over by time clans started to get recognition. Game seems to be very much about solo playing now. Maybe there's a lot more revenue in that.

I always personally thought the clan world stagnated because our generation didn't entirely care for the safe clan wars sort of thing that came out late on and then its a hard sell trying to convince a ton of new players to fight for 5+ hours in the wilderness and lose rune sets/money.  It was sort of possible back in the original game because of just how big the playerbase was and sites like tip.it/zybez flourishing.

[Rekmdm 0]

How can we convince Jagex to do PvP updates? Asking for a friend...

Favorite Era of Runescape? You can list two, 1 by nostalgia, 1 by objectivity.

Why are website updates so hard to do? Is there really only one IT guy? Boss highscores broke highscores. They "cant" do hc pvp only ironmen because there's no one available to the highscores. Boss highscores took forever because of the same reason. The poll on the website still doesnt separate skipped votes. Like what is the deal?

On a similar note. Jagex has had record breaking profits in 2018 and 2019 and now 2020 surely. How come there are less employees than during pre eoc era then? How can the investors not recognize the potential growth and just dump resources into the game? OSRS makes half the profit now yet has less than half the RS3 devs not even counting mtx artists. Is there anything we can do to help OSRS get the staff it deserves/needs?

So back in the day, there were St. louis worlds, canada worlds, florida worlds, etc. Were they all hosted in said location or were they all just hosted on one server location and then the worlds were given specific areas? 

Thoughts on Venezuelans invading OSRS and farming gold to make a living in their crumbling economy?

I feel like Jagex never really gets that the majority of their playerbase is in the USA. When you picture the playerbase, did you think to yourself you're making games for americans or did you picture that you made games for your fellow countrymen? 

 

 

 

[Pengy 109]

In some ways, the gaming community is a hive of scum and villany. Despite the many wonderful people, the clanning community in particular is known for nefarious acts. Do you believe there are any ways in which companies such as Jagex can combat these negative aspects of gaming? Do you believe that if people's online profiles contained identifying information, this would decrease their willingness to abuse others in and out of the game?

[Lavigne 900]

On 8/19/2020 at 10:54 PM, Lavigne said:

What is the biggest headache the clanning world has caused you? Other than anything involving ROT or AF.
Which clans from the RS2 era were you most fond of, if you followed any at the top?

How much influence did Andrew have on content updates after the Gowers no longer held a controlling stake in the business

Think these are the only questions left unanswered.

 

But been great to read some of the other answers - thanks. Like Ash, you were one of the few that actually looked like you cared.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Lavigne

[Tika191 1,099]

Haven't read through all the questions yet and I'll reserve any of mine for once I'm sure they aren't just repeating other peoples, but wanted to just say thanks for everything you've done for the game. As @Lavigne said above, you seemed to be much more involved in our little niche of the game and always came across as one of the "better" moderators from my perspective. Hope you're doing well and enjoying life.

[@True 2k8 3,215]

Favorite RS clans to watch/pay attention to over the years?

[Mat K 173]

On 8/19/2020 at 9:15 PM, Eric said:

Do you agree or disagree with jagex hands off approach when it comes to people getting scammed hacked etc?

 

for example if someone gets hacked and all their stuff taken they’re just out of luck, but in games like wow the gms usually will recove your items and ban whoever stole them or the account.

 

i feel like this would have discouraged a lot of the phishing/ratting/hacking if they knew jagex would recover the account and ban the people who took them.

The biggest difference between wow and RS is that RS doesn't bind items to accounts which means it would be easily abusable. If Jagex offered this service 99% of the requests would be fraudulent. Seems like this would open pandoras box.

[Mat K 173]

On 8/19/2020 at 9:50 PM, His Lordship said:

Hi Mat K,

Firstly, thank you for your immeasurable enrichment to our lives with all that you did. I loved the way you led the OSRS team, and I loved your work long before that too.

Second, my question: Why did you not take stronger measures to de-platform/refuse to publicise Reign of Terror in the game, knowing that this clan would hack, spy, DDoS and troll other players? Do you not think that remaining neutral was implicitly an endorsement of that behaviour?

Cheers buddy.

The biggest issue with that sort of thing is that Jagex never had any evidence that they were doing this and Jagex didn't want to become the "internet police". ROT were not the only ones doing it either, it get very prevalent at one point.

[Mat K 173]

On 8/19/2020 at 9:50 PM, Kieran said:

Do you support a football team? If so, who?

Liverpool (supported them since I was 10)

Do you have any influence on runescape even though you are no longer working for them?

I don't think so,

What would you like to see in OSRS in the future?

I would like to see something new that has never been done before. Currently most big updates are bosses or a big quest, I want see something game changingly cool.

 

[Mat K 173]

On 8/19/2020 at 9:54 PM, Lavigne said:

I second the footy team question.

Still Liverpool

Are you able to name any of your pre-EOC clans during your time in clanning? Were most of them RSOF clans?

I led Sleeping Dragons and was in Gladz and Jaguars amongst a few others whose names I had forgotten.

What is the biggest headache the clanning world has caused you? Other than anything involving ROT or AF.

I can't think of any big headaches that they caused, the biggest headache was getting the right support for clans from Jagex.

Which clans from the RS2 era were you most fond of, if you followed any at the top?

Dark Slayers and Damage Inc I think.

How much influence did Andrew have on content updates after the Gowers no longer held a controlling stake in the business?

Until he left Andrew had veto on updates, but I think he felt more and more marginalised as time went on and then left.

Speaking of Andrew, what's he even up to these days?

He made a new company called Fen Research and they have just launched a new game (it's a mobile kids game so don't think it is a rehashed Mechscape)

 

[Mat K 173]

On 8/19/2020 at 10:04 PM, Geezerpunk said:

Hello Mat, hope all is well for you. 

All is great.

What is the shadiest thing you ever did while working at Jagex?

Wrote a new drop table for Shades but it never went in.

Why didn't you unban my original account in 2007 ? 

Because you were being a dick?

 

[Mat K 173]

On 8/19/2020 at 10:07 PM, The End said:

Were you surprised how long OSRS has lasted and the surge in popularity since the initial opening in 2013?

As a follow-up to above, how long do you anticipate OSRS will continue to thrive?

I wasn't surprised, although no one at Jagex thought it would last longer than 6 months.... glad I proved them wrong. Looking at how the game is performing and the general lifecycle of MMOs I'd say you have at least 10 years left.

[Mat K 173]

On 8/19/2020 at 10:10 PM, C6 Chris said:

Thanks for doing this, should be really interesting.

1. How are you doing during the pandemic? Hope all is well and wish you good health. 
2. What has been your favorite update to OSRS since the launch?
3. Are there any particular updates you wanted to see that never happened?
4. Favorite era of RS and why?
5. Do you think the 75% poll requirement has created issues within the game (ex: wilderness refresh/clan based updates hard to pass)? Do you think more updates should be done without a poll?
6. Did you/Jagex ever consider making party hats, Santa hats, etc. “rare” in OSRS? If so, was the idea rejected immediately and why?
7. What do you think of events such as DMMT?
8. Want to join your fellow boomers in this here clan?

Also, you're hilarious:

1. Yep, all good. Been working from home since February so just getting fat and drinking too much.

2. I think DMM.

3. I wanted to see sailing happen, I used to play a game called Bounty Bay Online and I envisaged sailing being that but in OSRS. Would've allowed a whole new direction for the game.

4. 2005-7 as that when I was most active in clans.

5. The poll system was great for the first few years of OSRS, I think it is now not fit for purpose and should be revised.

6. We polled whether we should and the answer was that they shouldn't.

7. I thought they were great, I think the mistakes and errors became part of the story. It was done to create entertainment and it certainly did that.

8. Currently part of ROT sorry. (not really)