Player Moderator

Player moderators (colloquially pmods or just mods) are normal RuneScape players chosen specifically by Jagex staff to help during their normal play by monitoring the game for rulebreakers and take appropriate action when rulebreakers are found. They were added to the game on 14 June 2004.

Abilities
A player moderator has two ways of dealing with rulebreakers. The first is the Report Abuse option. There is a separate Jagex staff section that check abuse reports by Player moderators, making sure that appropriate action is taken against rulebreakers much quicker. The second way is through a 48-hour temporary mute. If a player is being particularly defiant towards the rules, it may be that a mute is required so that he can no longer talk, disrupting his attempts to scam, advertise websites, or bypass the filter. Once again, mutes are quickly checked by Jagex Staff to ensure that they are correct, and incorrect mutes will be promptly lifted.

Player moderators have a silver crown next to their name when they speak in game, and their text can be seen even by players with public chat off. You also see their words in the private chat if you have turned private chat off. On the forums there is no visible differentiation between player moderators and regular players, and any claims of a player that he is a player moderator should be ignored and reported to a forum moderator.

How player moderators are chosen
Player moderators are chosen specifically by Jagex staff based on their behaviour and maturity in RuneScape and on the forums, and the accuracy and quality, not quantity of abuse reports. Messages sent by other players to Jagex regarding their helpfulness and accurate abuse reports against their character are also taken into account. Jagex will contact the player through the Message Box 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.

Misconceptions
Player moderators cannot change their levels except through training like normal players, nor do they receive free items or membership from Jagex. Any player may become a player moderator regardless of membership, and therefore player moderators do not work for Jagex. Despite popular belief, player moderators are not simply high combat levelled players, nor are player moderators necessarily chosen for their time devoted to the game. Player moderators are not obliged to help anyone as their cooperation is entirely voluntary. Player moderators do not have any special abilities besides priority reports and the ability to mute troublemakers; they cannot lift any bans or undo Jagex actions against an account, force through any major game changes, changes to the censor, or return items to hacked accounts.

Extra
Player moderators have access to an extra forum on which they can discuss moderator issues with others. They also have access to the player moderator centre, linked to from the main page. However, Jagex states that content discussed within both of these areas is strictly confidential, and any player moderator who reveals content within these areas will lose their moderator privileges.