Player Moderator

Player Moderators (colloquially pmods or just mods) are normal RuneScape players chosen specifically by Jagex staff due to their commitment to the in-game community. They are ambassadors of the game and help to maintain an enjoyable in-game environment. They were added to the game on 14 June 2004 and since then the team has grown to about 6000. Other types of moderators include Forum Moderators and Jagex Moderators.

Moderator abilities
Player Moderators can be recognised by the silver crown - visible next to their name when they speak in-game. The crown cannot be disabled or hidden. On the Runescape forums, however, there is no visible differentiation between Player Moderators and regular players. Anyone who claims to being a Player Moderator without a crown should be reported using the report abuse menu.

A Player Moderator has two ways of dealing with rulebreakers. The first is through priority abuse reports. All abuse reports filed by Player Moderators are directed to a separate group of Jagex staff members. The second way is through administering temporary, 48-hour, mutes with their report. Occasionally when a player is being particularly defiant towards the rules, a mute is required so that other players can no longer see his or her text. Mutes effectively stop any attempts to scam, advertise websites, or bypass the filter. However, a player muted by a Player Moderator may still use the Quick Chat feature. Once again, mutes are quickly checked by Jagex Staff to ensure that they are correct, and incorrect mutes will be promptly lifted. If a Moderator regularly mutes without proper reason, his or her moderator status will be removed. A Player Moderator's mute is not a punishment, it is a safety precaution to help prevent the player in question from causing any more harm to themselves or others. As soon as a Jagex Moderator checks the report, the mute is lifted and a subsequent punishment is then applied if it is needed. In addition, Player Moderators have rules upon when and when not to mute.

The messages written by a Player Moderator can be seen even by players who have turned their public chat off. Private messages sent by a Player Moderator are also visible when private chat is turned off, though Player Moderators are unable to send subsequent messages or see that the player is online via his/her friends' menu.

Player Moderators have access to additional forums and the P-Mod Room, in which they can discuss moderator issues with other moderators and Jagex staff. They also have access to the Player Moderator Centre, which can be reached from within the Moderators article in the Game Guide. Jagex states that content discussed within these areas is strictly confidential, and any Player Moderator who reveals content within these areas will lose their moderator privileges.

How Player Moderators are chosen
Player Moderators are chosen specifically by Jagex staff based on their truthfulness, maturity, involvement in the RuneScape in-game and forum communities, and by the accuracy and quality of abuse reports. They must also have a secure account. Players with black marks may become Player Moderators if Jagex feels that they have learned their lesson. Jagex will only contact the player via the Message Centre system to inform him or her that he/she has been selected to become a Player Moderator, and allow the player to accept or decline the position. Players selected to be Moderators will rarely be notified in-game, but never on the forums, or by e-mail. Though you do not have to play a certain amount of time, most moderators have played 1 year or more before being modded. It is mentioned that being on the forums helps being noticed.

Surgeries and the P-Mod room
The P-Mod Room is a special area within the game that can only be accessed by Player Moderators while a Jagex Mod is present. Only current player moderators can give the command to enter. According to Jagex staff, the P-Mod Room is "effectively a blank room that's a direct copy of an existing dungeon found elsewhere. That's to ensure that mods don't have access to anything that the rest of the community doesn't. I should also point out that it's not possible to practice skilling or anything while in the room as this could be considered an unfair advantage (take alching for example)." The room is used for surgeries, which are scheduled question and answer sessions where Player Moderators ask for advice about reporting procedures. All discussion during a surgery is strictly confidential. Before the December 2007 updates, surgeries would often be followed by a "Bot busting" session.

Prior to the addition of the player room, surgeries often took place in obscure locations within the game, such as a rarely visited room on a relatively empty world. This was changed because surgeries were often crashed, either inadvertently by wandering players, or those that received leaked information.

"Bot busting"
Before the 2007 updates made macroing unprofitable, macro users were very common. There would be a "bot busting" session once or twice a day, during which Jagex Moderators checked on places where bots were commonly located. Player Moderators regularly attended, although normal players were welcome to assist in the hunts as well. Since recent updates have imposed restrictions such as the trade limit, real-world trading has increased in difficulty; as such, "bot busting" sessions have been discontinued.

Players interested in helping with the fight against bots are welcome to follow these steps:
 * Go to a location where bots are known to reside. Advertising bots might be found outside of Lumbridge, at Bounty Hunter, or in the middle of the Grand Exchange, for example.
 * Once a bot has been discovered, the most important thing is to stay calm. Quietly report the bot under "Macroing". It's also not a good idea to tell anyone if a moderator is on the way or in the vicinity.
 * In the case of advertising bots, which should be reported under Advertising other websites instead of Macroing, kindly informing nearby players that visiting the advertised website is dangerous to their account security is advised.

Misconceptions
There are many misconceptions regarding Player Moderators and their abilities. The truth is:

Trivia

 * Player Moderators on RuneScape are also Player Moderators on FunOrb. However, Forum Moderators on RuneScape are not always Forum Moderators on FunOrb.
 * Player Moderators' crowns are not shown on the RuneScape Forums because they don't have any abilities there. This is also one of the reasons that Player Moderators are not allowed to reveal their status on the RuneScape Forums.
 * In circumstances that cause a Player Moderator to speak out loud without typing, such is the case with random events, the crown does not appear next to their name.
 * Player Moderators' chat will still show despite the usage of chat filters.Mod_crown_disappear.png