Second hand RWT is a topic on which Jagex has given very confusing and even outrageous statements. To clarify everything and really understand where Jagex stands when it comes to second hand RWT we will take a chronological look at their statements.
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What is RWT
Real world trading -RWT- also known as RMT, short for “real money trading”, means exchanging virtual currency, like GP, for cash. While some games allow this, the only legal form to obtain coins with cash in OSRS is by buying bonds from Jagex and then selling them on the GE for GP. This is also the only way cash flows back to Jagex, so logically they will try to condone and take action against any other party who tries to profit off their game.
While RWT in itself does not affect the economy of the game in any way since it transfers wealth from one player to another, for a large majority of cases the traded GP is obtained through illegal or game breaking activities such as credit card fraud, scamming, luring, account hijacking, or botting. RWT is therefore bad for the game since it is considered one of the main incentives for all these other behaviours. Jagex rules state that “if you buy things from Real World Traders, you are also encouraging cheating and account hijacking“.
What is second hand RWT
Second hand RWT represents the innocent act of trading with someone who did RWT. Basically if you trade someone who RWTed you’re guilty of second hand RWT because you obtained GP that was originally sold or bought, and there’s no way of knowing with a hundred percent certainty whether someone or anyone in the game RWTed or not as long as their account is not banned. Jagex mods do have the tools to investigate this, but even then it can take them some time to be able to say for sure. As a regular player there’s no tool. So is something as simple as trading someone you can’t know for sure RWTed bannable? Jagex has given quite a few statements about this, but first let’s take a look at some reasons why you might want to trade someone in game off the GE.
Why OSRS players trade
We all know that OSRS is a solo MMO, but playing with a clan can take your game to another level through events and the social aspect. If you’re in a clan, and there are quite a few great clans out there some you can check out in the clan spotlight section, you’re also quite likely to make friends and friends occasionally trade each other.
And since you’re in a clan you might want to participate in clan events which more often than not feature event prizes, giveaways or drop parties. Even more so, you could group up with other players and tackle bosses or raids and decide to split the loot.
As a regular player you could also trade randoms at GE in hopes for a 10k girlfriend or that a stranger would double your money or who knows what else.
- Trading friends / clan mates
- Clan events prizes
- Loot Splits
- Trading strangers at GE
First warning – June 17th 2022
On June 17th 2022 JagexHelpFrost gave a first statement on Twitter (now X) mentioning that “The problem is, if the player you receive a split from has obtained wealth through RWT, then that will link your account to the rule breaking, and risks a ban. I would only accept splits from players you know very well, and trust”. Since this post didn’t receive too much attention (under 200 retweets at the moment of writing this in 2024), not too many players noticed it, and it went almost unnoticed.
Reddit blowup – June 20th 2022
A few days later, on June 20th, someone posted a screenshot of the tweet on Reddit where it blew up with over 3,8k upvotes where Mod Trident tried to rectify the situation by stating “just to clear up any confusion, receiving splits are not going to result in buyer warnings or bans as previously mentioned here, regardless of whether or not the sender has a history of gold buying/selling. Apologies for any confusion caused”.
Was this an attempt to cover up something or is this really the case? Looking at all the false RWT posts and especially checking Mod Twisted (u/JagexTwisted) comment history and all the unbans he performed you might really question if this was an attempted cover up or not. But there’s more.
The Final blow – January 30th 2024
The final blow received by the community when it comes to second hand RWT and false RWT bans came from Mod Ayiza himself, who, on January 30th 2024 stated “to be absolutely clear if someone in your clan RWT’s and they’re adding gold to the pot then you may get slapped as a result, so tell your clannies to be clean and play by the rules”.
His statement infuriated the community because regular players have no way of knowing whether someone RWT’s or not and it’s not like anyone can tell their clannies who do RWT to stop and they would. On top of this, the language he used was very condescending and the information he revealed infuriating in itself since everyone ever participating in a fun clan event could be at risk of losing their account with no straightforward way to appeal a false RWT ban.
He also stated that “given the nature of how RWT bans are handled I don’t think anyone has to be really worried. They’re checked manually for accuracy before action is taken. That being said, I won’t say there is a 0% chance on the off-chance someone tries to use Clan Bingo as a way to RWT”.
But this statement just makes us go back to all the false RWT bans and to the non-appealable status of RWT bans. It is more than a matter of if you get unfairly banned you can just appeal the ban, and even if you do there are other things to consider like lost GP or membership days which Jagex doesn’t always offer.
Another Reddit Blowup – Jan 31st 2024
This fairly and surely had a blowup on Reddit one day later when a user posted a screenshot of the tweets. The reddit post gathered close to 3k upvotes and close to 1k comments.
There, Mod Ayiza gave yet another statement commenting on his previous takes on the matter and trying to minimize that mistakes can happen with bans. You can read it in full on reddit. I will not insert it here, but I will insert the reply to his comment which is way more valuable.
“When a mistake happens, like you said they do, what is the best way to appeal an RWT ban which was given as a mistake, considering they are not able to be appealed? Sounds kind of bullshit to me.
Non-Appealable ban mistakes on Jagex’s end, affecting accounts players have invested thousands of hours on, should have some method besides praying for a response on Reddit or X”
There was no reply from Jagex or the J-mods to this…
Aftermath
If you do get a false RWT ban and you are lucky enough to get unbanned, you might have the surprise of having your legit hard worked GP stack taken away, even though it was a false RWT ban, like it happened to this player. You might also be unlucky enough as to not get the membership you lost while being falsely banned back. Here’s a lucky case that did get their membership refunded. You could also get banned from your clan or have your reputation or friendships ruined, and ultimately your trust in the game and in Jagex could be completely shaken – even if it’s not you who got a second hand RWT ban.
