Chat

Chat is the main source of communication. It is the method of communicating and speaking with other players of the game and comes in a variety of methods to do so ranging from public chat to clan chat. Players can also talk to NPCs (using chatheads) and the chatbox is used for game messages.

Chat Interface
The chat interface is located in the bottom left of the game window. It displays various chat and game messages in the message box and has a series of buttons to control what is displayed in the message box, namely the All, Game, Public chat, Private chat, Clan chat, Trade, Assist and Report abuse buttons.

Update: 21 May 2008: Another option is added, Quick chat. There is a small speech bubble button after the player's name. An option was added to change the clan chat's message colour on the Private Chat Setup/Clan Chat Setup button.



Left clicking a button toggles the dialogue window to show only messages related to that button. To see all messages the player must click the All button.

Right clicking a button allows the player to choose which types of messages of the button's type that are displayed in the message box. Types include:
 *  On  - All messages of the message type are displayed in the message box and main screen. Messages from players on your ignore list are not shown.
 *  Friends  - Only friends and moderators’ messages are shown in the message box and main screen.
 *  Off  - Only messages from Player moderators and Jagex moderators are shown in the message box.
 *  Hide  - All local messages are shown in the main screen, but no messages appear in the player's message box except, once again, that of a Player or Jagex Moderator. This option only appears for the Public button.

Many players use the  Hide  option when they go into heavy populated areas so that the sheer quantity of messages won't flood the message box, thus allowing trades to be easily seen. Clicking the Trade button has the same effect.

Note: Chat from player moderators and Jagex moderators (excluding the Quick Chat) is always shown in the main screen and message box, regardless of your chat settings. The ignore list is the only way to get around this.

Message Box
The message box is a part of the chat interface located in the bottom left of the game window above the chat interface buttons. It displays chat and game messages.

It is possible to change the size of the message box if, under graphics settings, your screen sizing is set to resizeable or fullscreen. To do this, click and drag the transparent arrows to the desired size.

All
All is a chat interface button that displays all messages in the message box. It is the leftmost button on the chat interface. In resizable mode, this button will also toggle display of the entire chat interface.

Game
Game is a chat interface button that shows all game messages. There is a filter option that filters out any repeated game messages. It is the second button on the left on the chat interface.

Public Chat


Public chat is a chat interface button that displays the current public chat mode. It is the third button on the left on the chat interface.

Left clicking the button toggles the dialogue window to only show public messages. To see all messages the player must click the All button.

Right clicking the button allows the player to choose the Public chat mode. Modes include:
 *  On  - All local chat is show in the main screen and chat box. Chat from players on your ignore list is not shown.
 *  Friends  - Only local friends and moderators’ chat is shown in the main screen and chat box.
 *  Off  - Only chat from player moderators and Jagex moderators is shown in the main screen and chat box.
 *  Hide  - All local chat is shown in the main screen, but no chat appears in the player's chat box except, once again, that of a Player or Jagex Moderator.

Many players use the  Hide  option when they go to heavy populated banks so the talking doesn't flood the chat box, allowing trades to be easily seen.

Anyone who is within 8 squares (including diagonal) can hear what you say, regardless of your chat settings. Anyone further away remains clueless.

Note: Chat from player moderators and Jagex moderators is always shown in the main screen and chat box, regardless of your chat settings.

Private Chat
Private chat is a chat interface button that displays the current private chat mode.

Left clicking the button toggles the dialogue window to only show private messages. To see all messages the player must click the All button.

Also, pressing the Tab key will show your most recent message(s).

Right clicking the button allows the player to choose the Private chat mode. Modes include:
 *  On  - Anyone can private message the player, except people on the player's ignore list.
 *  Friends  - Only the player's friends and Jagex moderators can private message the player. Other players will see the player as offline in their friends list.
 *  Off  - Only Jagex moderators can private message the player. All players will see the player as offline in their friends list.

This is usually used to avoid other people talking to you by switching the private chat to off.

Prior to 14 November 2001, players had four privacy controls, public chat, private chat, trade, and online status. Whether players appeared online was determined by the "online status" setting, not private chat. Be careful when turning private chat "On" because anyone who adds you, whether they're your friend or not can contact you via private messages.

Splitting private chat The button to "split private chat" i.e. have it displayed in cyan characters above the message box, and not in red characters in the message box, is located in the Game Options part of the Runescape control panel.

On 25 May 2010, the option to change the colour of your split private chat was added. To change the colour, click on "Split Private Chat" in the options menu.

Clan Chat


The Clan button is a chat interface button that displays the current clan messages mode.

Left clicking the button toggles the dialogue window to only show clan chat messages. To see all messages the player must click the All button.

Right clicking the button allows the player to choose the clan chat mode. Modes include:
 *  On  - All clan chat is show in the messages window. Clan chat messages from players on your ignore list is not shown.
 *  Friends  - Only friends and moderators’ clan chat messages are shown in the messages window.
 *  Off  - No clan chat messages will be shown in the messages window.

Trade


Trade is a chat interface button that displays the current trade messages mode. It is located on the bottom of the screen along with All, Game, Public chat, Private chat, Clan chat, Assist and Report abuse buttons.

Left clicking the button toggles the dialogue window to only show trade messages. To see all messages the player must click the All button.

Right clicking the button allows the player to choose the trade mode. Modes include:
 *  On  - Anyone can request a trade or challenge (e.g. duel) the player, except people on the player's ignore list.
 *  Friends  - Only the player's friends can request a trade or challenge the player.
 *  Off  - No-one can request a trade or challenge the player.

This is usually used to avoid being bombarded with trade or challenge requests.

In RuneScape Classic, trade and challenge were separate options.

Assist




Assist is a chat interface button that displays the current assist messages mode. It is located on the bottom of the screen along with All, Game, Public chat, Private chat, Clan chat, Trade and Report abuse buttons.

Left clicking the button toggles the dialogue window to only show assist messages. To see all messages the player must click the All button.

Right clicking the button allows the player to choose the assist mode. Modes include:
 *  On  - Anyone can request assistance from the player, except people on the player's Ignore List.
 *  Friends  - Only the player's friends can request assistance from the player.
 *  Off  - No-one can request assistance from the player.

Reporting Abuse




The Report abuse screen is used to report rule breakers in the game to Customer Support. To access this window the player clicks on the 'Report Abuse' button under the message box in the lower right hand corner of the chat interface. The reported player can potentially be punished, ranging from 0.1 black marks to a permanent ban.





To report someone breaking the Rules of RuneScape, players must type in the name of the offender in the gap in the middle of the window. Then continue to page two, where you see 3 categories, which are split into fourteen different criteria. Please see Rules of RuneScape for more information.

Once the rule that has been broken has been selected, the report abuse window will close and the message "Thank-you, your abuse report has been received" is displayed in the message box.

The sent report includes a log of all chat, trades and other actions performed by the reporting player and the player being reported. Currently, at least sixty seconds must elapse between reports from the same player.

Opening this screen is one step in the tutorial Learning the Ropes.

Guidelines

 * A report should only be sent if someone is definitely breaking the rules. If the report abuse form is misused by reporting for the sake of it, the reporter can be banned for misuse of Customer Support.
 * A player can only be reported if they have spoken or traded within the last 60 seconds. This is to prevent someone from accidentally misspelling a rule-breakers name and getting banned for false reporting. When reporting 2 or more abuses under 60 seconds the next message shows up: "You already sent an abuse report under 60 secs ago! Do not abuse this system!" Player moderators do not see this message.

Chat Filter


The chat filter is the censor in the RuneScape chat system that is in effect in both the RuneScape game and the RuneScape forums. The chat filter automatically blocks any words that Jagex deems inappropriate or potentially harmful, including but not limited to:


 * Any swear words or offensive names, hate words, and certain other words that could be inflammatory;
 * Parts of URLs ( "http://", "www", "com", etc.), and names of popular search engines (e.g., Yahoo!)), since advertising websites is in violation of RuneScape rules, and strings of numbers and periods such as 111.222.333.444, as these can be a website's IP address.
 * The word "Google" was removed from the chat filter on 09/26/09
 * Words that can be used to ask for personal details (such as "email"); "address" and "phone" were censored until a relaxation of the censor in 2009. This was due in part to a large number of players misspelling Phoenix (misspelled Phoneix) and having it come up as "*****ix". The filter also allows you to say some of the older swear-words, such as sod and git.
 * The EXACT spelling of one's password. In the event that the password is typed, a message appears in the game tab: You appear to be telling someone your password - please don't! If you are not, please change your password to something more obscure! It is not recommended that players test this feature, as mistakes or differences in the spelling could give away their password.
 * The names of pornographic websites.
 * The names of male and female genitalia

Jagex has said that the filter is in place "to maintain a good playing environment for all players." The filter automatically replaces any inappropriate words with asterisks. For example, if a player typed the word "password" into the chatbox and pressed Enter, it would come out as "********" (the word "password" is censored in order to prevent password scamming).

Abusers of the filter can be reported to Jagex via the Report Abuse button. Players cannot be reported for filtered messages; in such cases Jagex claims no rule was broken as the chat filter did its job. Over the history of the filter, players have devised ever more creative ways, including use of a modified version of leet, to slip by the filter. Deliberate avoidance of the censorship mechanism with the intention of attacking or harassing another player is considered a serious violation of the Rules of RuneScape. However, Jagex's attempts to anticipate all these variations have resulted in more and more combinations of letters being censored, and it is not uncommon for the filter to censor inoffensive words accidentally.The internet slang word "pwn" was censored, as the "pw" in the word is a common abbreviation for the word password.

Changes to the chat filter are generally classified as hidden updates.

Origins
In-game chat was first censored after an update on 14 November 2001. Before this update, the chat was completely uncensored. The filter was notorious for censoring non-offensive chat. Some players had their usernames completely or partially censored, even when they were not offensive.

"I have also reprogrammed the chat filter in the game itself, to use a more effective system. This is another feature which has been heavily abused, and I'm not willing to put up with it any longer. The new system only allows a limited vocabulary to be used. The new RuneScape chat is only intended for role-playing within the game, not for talking about real life!"

- 14 November 2001 Update

2006 overhaul
On 16 May 2006, the chat filter was overhauled. Symbols, such as /, which had been completely locked out, are again permitted, and many words, such as the aforementioned "pw", can now be used. The filter was improved to allow additional symbols, such as vowels with accents as well as §, £, and °. Some non-Latin characters, such as letters in the Cyrillic alphabet, which had appeared as asterisks like a filtered word, are rendered as question marks.

This update has also caused some problems. Some words were removed from the filters in error while some are now filtered for no obvious reason. For example, in some instances, when pluralizing words, replacing the -s with -z now often results in censoring. Typing nothing but an "s" also resulted in a filter.

2009 overhaul
An update in 2009 saw a relaxation of the filter, and some words that may be considered mild swearing, or may be used to give out personal information, are no longer filtered.

Bypassing the censor
The Chat filter can be bypassed by players by substituting certain letters and symbols in order to make a normally censored word visible in the chat window. If the goal of bypassing the filter is to be offensive or to harass another player, it is a reportable offence.

The only allowed instance to bypass the filter to express terms purposely censored, is using LGBT-like terms correctly. This means someone can state their sexuality and not be punished, but discrimination against still applies.

Chat Effects
Chat effects can be used to manipulate the text that appears above a player's head when text is entered into the chat screen. Chat effects can change text colour or animate text. Chat effects are often used by players to attract attention, especially when advertising a trade. In order to see chat effects, the player must have the 'chat effects' option turned on in the options screen.

Text colour
To change the colour of text, put the desired colour followed by a colon, followed by your text. Always remember to use a colon, as the effects will not work without one. Do not put any spaces in between the colour and the colon, although spaces between the colon and the text after it are acceptable. Other symbols such as semicolons do not work.

Format:

Example: "Green:I love this dragon armour!" will cause " I love this dragon armour! " to appear above the player's head.

A list of all chat effects which can be used to change text colour can be found in the Colours section. A list of all basic chat effects which can be used to change text colour can be found in the Basic colours section.

Text animation
To animate text, put the desired animation followed by a colon, followed by your text, as with a colour. The same rules apply.

Format:

Example: "scroll:RuneScape is the best!" will cause "RuneScape is the best!" to scroll into and out of view above the player's head.

A list of all chat effects which can be used to animate text can be found in the Animations section.

Multicoloured text
In addition to basic colours, there are several chat effects which cause text to change colours while it is displayed. In practice, these effects are used no differently than basic chat effects.

Format:

Example: "flash1:The RuneScape Wiki rules!" will cause "The RuneScape Wiki rules!" to flash between yellow and red while it is displayed.

A list of all chat effects which can be used to cause text to appear in multiple colours can be found in the Multiple colours section.

Combining effects
Animations and colours can be combined for maximum emphasis. To combine colours and animations, type the colour first, followed by a colon, the animation, another colon, and finally the text. Remember to type the colour before the animation, as both effects will not work if the animation is placed before the colour.

Format:

Example: "green:wave:Do the wave!" will cause "Do the wave!" to float in a wavelike motion in green text above the player's head.

Animations that change colours also come before regular animations.

Example: "'''flash2:scroll:Pretty colours!" will cause "Pretty colours!" '''to flash between cyan and blue text while scrolling across above the players head.

Colours
All chat effects which can be used to change the colour of text are listed in the subsections below. Note that all text, no matter the colour, will have thin black shading.

Basic colours (Do mention that basic colours do not work from now on due to an update.)

 *  Red  - Red colours the entered text red.
 *  Purple  - Purple colours the entered text purple.
 *  Green  - Green colours the entered text lime. Lime is a shade of green which is brighter and lighter than regular green.
 *  Cyan  * - Cyan colours the entered text cyan. Cyan is a shade of light blue similar to aqua. Note that "Blue:" will not work.
 *  Yellow  * - If "Yellow:Text" is entered, the text will appear as if the player hadn't used a text colour, as the default text colour is yellow. The "Yellow:" will be automatically removed.
 *  White  * - White colours the entered text white.

* Note that background colours were added to make light-coloured text easily visible, and will not appear in-game.

Multiple colours

 * Flash1 - Flash1 causes the text to flash rapidly between red and yellow eight times.
 * Flash2 - Flash2 causes the text to flash rapidly between cyan and blue eight times.
 * Flash3 - Flash3 causes the text to flash rapidly between darker green and pale green eight times.
 * Glow1 - Glow1 causes the text colour to fade slowly from red to orange to yellow to green to cyan.
 * Glow2 - Glow2 causes the text colour to fade slowly from red to pink to purple to blue to purple to pink to red.
 * Glow3 - Glow3 causes the text colour to fade slowly from white to light green to green to light green to white to cyan.

Note that seven colours are listed in the description of the Glow2 effect, while only six colours are listed in the description of the Glow3 effect, and only five colours are listed in the description of the Glow1 effect. This is because Glow2 causes text to fade from red to blue to red again, between which it passes through pink and purple twice each. Glow3 causes text to fade from white to green to white to cyan, while between white and green it passes through light green twice. Glow1 causes text to fade from red to yellow to green to cyan, while between red and green it passes through orange. None of these effects causes the text to appear for a longer period of time than another. Glow2 and Glow3 only have more colours listed than Glow1 because they pass through more commonly recognised colours more times while fading. Glow1 is unique in that it has five different colours listed in its description, while Glow2 and Glow3 only have four. Glow1 causes text to appear in the most individual colours of any chat effect.

Animations

 * Wave - Wave moves the text in a wave motion as if the wave is coming from the left.
 * Wave2 - Wave2 moves the text in a wave motion as if the wave is coming from the left also, but unlike Wave, Wave2 moves the text slightly more horizontally, as opposed to more vertically like wave.
 * Scroll - Scroll moves the text from right to left across the screen. No matter how much text is typed, the text will appear for the same amount of time, so if more text is typed, the text will move faster. Is often used for advertising for "shops", or for telling a list of items the player is selling.
 * Slide - Slide slides the text downwards from out-of-sight to appear in the normal position in which text appears. It is also used a lot for advertising.
 * Shake - Shake moves the text for a second in a wave motion, then stops and flattens out and stands as normal for a second.

Common mistakes
While using chat effects, it is important to remember not to make any of these common mistakes:


 * Not using a colon.
 * Placing the animation before the colour when using colours and animations in combination.
 * Using "Blue:" (there is no "Blue:", only "Cyan:", although the Flash2 effect does cause the text to flash between cyan and regular blue).
 * Placing spaces between effects and colons.
 * Using "Flash:" or "Glow:" alone without specific numbers.
 * Using "Wave1:" (there is no "Wave1:", only "Wave:" and "Wave2:").
 * Using "Wave3:", "Flash4:", and "Glow4:" (these effects do not exist, as there are only two Wave effects, three Flash effects, and three Glow effects).
 * Misspelling colours or animations.

RuneScape Classic
In RuneScape Classic, you are able to change the text colours by using an @ sign before and after three letters of a word. Multiple colours could be used in a single line of text. Coloured text was available in private chat.

Glow and flash colours are not available. Text movement is also not available.
 * @dre@ = Dark red
 * @cya@ = Cyan
 * @mag@ = Magenta
 * @red@ = Red
 * @bla@ = Black
 * @gre@ = Green
 * @gr1@ = Green
 * @gr2@ = Green
 * @whi@ = White
 * @ora@ = Orange
 * @or1@ = Orange
 * @or2@ = Orange
 * @blu@ = Blue
 * @yel@ = Yellow (as the original text it is yellow this is really not useful)
 * @ran@ = Random (runs through all the colours quickly and randomly)

Trivia

 * There is a glitch in which text turns white while a player is writing a message to a friend. The specific cause is unknown, but this tends to occur on an account's first login, after the Tutorial is finished without logout.
 * There is another glitch in which text can be seen even though a player has their public chat turned off. This may happen very quickly right as they log in and another player says something near or at the exact same moment.
 * On 13 January 2009, a few censored words became uncensored.
 * In RuneScape Classic, the chat filter would replace the blocked word with the word "Cabbage". An example would be, "You are a cabbage." This was changed since it confused a lot of players.
 * On 14 November 2001, Jagex implemented a controversial filter in which players could use only a limited dictionary. After much protesting, this was removed. Jagex is not the only company to have used this system; Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom had a similar chat filter.
 * When the new Report abuse system came out, players who selected to add reported players to their ignore list will still be there, the next time they log in. This has now been fixed.
 * In censored swear words, if using ALT codes to create a capital version, for example, C*CK, the censor adds a * where there is no letter. In this case, C*CK would be censored as COC*K
 * On 8 July 2009, Jagex changed the in-game font with the release of Mobilising Armies. This was to stop making inappropriate symbols such as the merging of 'QPW' (which resembled an ASCII penis). Many players disagreed with the change and Jagex reverted the font the next day, except for the letter W, 'q' and certain other letters, which remained changed.
 * On 3 December 2009, Jagex changed the in-game font once again to 'The Mobilising Armies Font'. Again, the players disagreed with the change and were especially annoyed with the 0s looking like 8s. Jagex has not fixed this update. They changed the 0s to 'the old/new/old zeroes'. It does not have a line through it like early RuneScape 2. After that, the zeroes looked very similar to the letter O. The line through the 0 was in part to prevent people naming characters names that were difficult to report. As of now, it is like that again.
 * The public chat list has room for 80 characters.
 * Starting around the release of the Quiet Before the Swarm quest, when talking to an NPC while wearing certain headwear (such as the Black Cavalier), some hairstyles would stick out through the headwear.


 * In the original RuneScape 2 and RuneScape Classic login, players were able to see the original text colour effects (@red@) in the username box. This has been fixed in the current game, however you can still use it on RuneScape Classic


 * In RuneScape Classic, players are able to type in "~007~" and have their highligther moved over depending on the value. This is abused in order to make their names colourful, or to act like different characters. This is yet to be fixed. The number could be an easter egg as 007 represents James Bond.


 * Admin commands begin with "::". Before, any chat that began with "::" would not appear, and the player would receive an "admin command not recognised" message. The message was later removed, although the chat would still not appear. Currently, any chat starting with "::" will show up, at least for normal players. This was due to the admin console being changed to pressing the ` key.
 * When RuneTek 5 was released, text that players were saying did not have a drop shadow, and the colour of yellow was paler. This was fixed shortly after.