Rule Seven Protest

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The Rule Seven Protest was a player-initiated event which started on 2 January 2007 shortly after an update to Rule 7 in which SwiftSwitch, among all other third party toolkits, were banned. Members united in world 27, activating Retribution and shouting "save ss," or, "no ss no rs," and pleading for Jagex to reverse the resolution. Most players were not protesting: they were spectating the protesters, lighting fires, begging for items from players threatening to quit, casting teleother spells, and following moderators. Smaller gatherings occurred in F2P. In world 81, players collected in Varrock square. The Official Forums were also affected, with the Rants forum reaching over 500 online users. Players were also gathering in the Ice Plateau, being tele-othered from Falador square. These users were engaged in shouting "save ss," as with the square, and were PKing each other. This riot would most likely influence the techniques of later protests in the game, most likely because Jagex responded to the player's riot. Therefore, players began to use riots to try to influence and threaten Jagex.

[edit] The Rule Seven backtrack

SwiftSwitch has always been a subject of much debate, with Jagex staff giving differing views on its status. Until this point, it seems to have been permitted, but not recommended. The knowledgebase is currently inconsistent on this, with guidelines for 3rd party toolkit authors, on meeting the "no advantage" condition. The question Can I use a 3rd party toolkits? is still answered on the knowledgebase in terms of "yes, but be aware of the risks".

[edit] Images

[edit] Legacy

The Rule Seven Protest eventually led to a review of Rule 7 by Jagex, resulting in a different stand on 3rd party toolkits. Today, 3rd party toolkits may be used, but only if it follows these guidelines:

• 1. Must not conceal ads by misuse of display area
  2. Must not violate "FULL" world select indications
  3. Chat must be moderated according to RS rules
  4. Links to rule breaking websites may not be included
  5. It must not skip the Main page
  6. It must not automatically make repeated page/content requests from the website or otherwise make excessively bandwidth intensive requests from Jagex servers

Point 3 is a potential sticking point for any toolkit which includes a chat channel.

Point 5 was a problem for World Switchers (Such as SwiftSwitch). Though with the change in how worlds are selected, World Switchers are no longer needed.

There are also claims that Jagex's introduction of the Clan Chat feature was to discourage the use of SwiftSwitch and other similar programs, instead favouring a in-built multi-user chat system that negated the needs for 3rd party IRC chats. However, SwiftKit, an updated version of SwiftSwitch that is entirely legal, is still used as it allows other features that Jagex does not have in its existing chat interface.

v • d • e Riots
2007	Rule Seven Protest • 14 Hour Riot • Pest Control Riot • Duel Arena Riot • Mod Hasmo Riot • Pay to PK Riot
2008	Unbalanced Trade Riot • Wilderness Riot • Graphics Riot
2009	Protect Item Riot