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"All" redirects here. For the armour class, see Armour#All.
For information about this Wiki's chat, see RuneScape:Chat.
Chatbox

The chat interface

Chat is the main source of communication among players in RuneScape.

Chat interface[]

The default location of the chat interface is in the bottom left of the game window, although this can be moved to wherever players wish it to be. 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. There are also several tabs to switch to, which display the contents of all messages received, or only those from one chosen type; Friends Chat, Private Messages, Clan Chat or Guest Clan Chat. Access to the Emotes interface is through the chat interface, and there is a toggle for displaying online status to all, friends or no-one, and toggles for always-on mode and chat badges. The Report Abuse button, help button and examine settings are all located here too. In the Legacy interface these toggles can be found by right-clicking the "All" button at the bottom left-hand corner of the chat interface.

Chat interface panel

The chat interface panel.

Server Wide Announcements[]

Server Wide Announcements are messages displayed when a player achieves certain milestones, such as level 99 in a skill or achieved the completionist cape. These messages are displayed to other players if they have their broadcast messages set to Broadcast messages - onon. However, server-wide announcements are not displayed if broadcast messages are set to Broadcast messages - offoff.

Chat box[]

Chatbox Resized

Example of a chatbox that has been resized

The chat box is a part of the chat interface located in the bottom left of the game window under the chat interface buttons. It displays chat and game messages and contains a prompt for typing.

The chatbox can be resized, if the game interface isn't locked in position, by clicking on the edge of the box and dragging it.

Pressing Esc can be used to clear the current text in the prompt. Shift + / can be used to move the cursor to the previous/next character. Shift + / can be used to move the cursor to the previous/next space character. Shift + Home/End can be used to move the cursor to the beginning or end of a message. Pressing enter when the prompt is empty will open up Quick Chat.

Tabs[]

All[]

All button

All Chat is a chat interface button that displays all messages in the message box. It is the leftmost button on the chat interface. Messages can be sent to Friends, Clan, Guest Clan or Group chats from this tab, using /, // , /// or //// respectively. Responses to private messages can be sent from here by pressing the tab key. (To "cancel" a private message and return to typing in local chat, hit the Esc key. If there are any characters already typed in the chat prompt, hit the Esc key a second time.)

This tab is where local chat is displayed. Local chat messages can be toggled so that messages from Local Chat - onall players , Local chat - friends onlyfriends only, or Local chat - off no-one appears in the chatbox. Turning local chat to "Off" does not stop it appearing in the main game window, only in the chatbox, and Jagex moderator messages will appear in the chatbox regardless of settings.

Game messages and server wide announcements also appear in this tab. These can be toggled so that Game messages - onall messages appear, Game messages - filteredonly some appear, or Game messages - off none appear.

Typing /P will take the player into the All Chat tab.

Private[]

Private button
Logging notification

When a player logs in or out, all their friends are notified.

Private Chat displays messages from private messaging discussions with other players. Only the player the message is sent to and the one sending it can see these. Unfiltered game messages, server wide announcements and friends logging in or out will also be displayed in the Private tab.

Up to 255 characters can be sent in a private message[1] - more than other types of messaging. As such, multiple lines of text can be messaged to a friend within private chat.

Friends[]

Friends button
Main article: Friend Chat

Friends Chat displays messages from whichever Friends Chat the player is currently in. Typing a / is not needed to send a message to a Friends Chat if in this tab. The filters for this tab can make it so Friends chat - allall messages, Friends chat - friends onlymessages from friends, or Friends chat - offno messages appear in or from this tab.

Typing /F will take the player into the Friends Chat tab.

Clan[]

Clan button
Main article: Clan Chat

Clan Chat displays messages sent and received in the Clan Chat that the player is in. Typing // is not necessary if players are in this tab. The filters for this tab can make it so all messages, messages from friends, or no messages appear in or from this tab.

Typing /C will take the player into the Clan Chat tab.

Guest Clan[]

Guest button
Main article: Clan Chat

Guest Clan Chat allows players to talk to a clan whose chat they've joined as a guest. Typing /// is not necessary if this tab is active. The filters for this tab can make it so all messages, messages from friends, or no messages appear in or from this tab.

Typing /G will take the player into the Guest Chat tab.

Group[]

Group button
Main article: Grouping system

Group Chat displays messages in relation to the Grouping System and the group players are in. Players can chat between those in their particular team or those within the activity. Typing //// is not necessary if this tab is active.

Typing /T will take the player into the Group Chat (Team) mode in the Group Chat interface. Typing /Gr will revert the Group Chat interface back to the standard Group Chat. Alternatively, players may type ///// to send individual messages to their team specifically, without altering the Group Chat mode.

Trade and Assistance[]

Trade and Assistance button
This article is about the chat tab. For information on trading with other players, see Trading Guide.
This article is about the chat tab. For information on assisting other players, see Assist System.

Trade and Assistance displays trade and player assistance requests. Unlike the Friends and Clan Chat tabs, this tab also includes a panel filter to allow the display of Local chat.

The All chat tab consists of two separate panel filters that can restrict the display of either Trade buttontrade requests and/or Assist controlassistance requests. These can be toggled to On, Friends Only or Off.

Reporting Abuse[]

If thou see someone claiming to be a staff member and asking for passwords, use the report abuse button to summon forth fiery demons of wrath and vengeance and drag their character to the pit of eternal tedium where such scammers deserve to dwell eternally.
 
Guthix

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 AbuseReport Abuse button found near the top right corner of the Chat interface, on the right side of the filters panel. The reported player can potentially be punished, ranging from 0.1 black marks to a permanent ban depending on severity of the rule-breaking.

Report step 1

Step 1

Report Abuse

Page 2 of the new Reporting interface

Report interface (lobby)

Reporting abuse in the lobby

To report someone breaking the Rules of RuneScape, players must select the name of the offender by clicking on the line of text in the chat selection box. On the next screen, 15 different rule violations are displayed. Selecting the appropriate rule will submit the abuse report to Jagex.

Once the report has been sent, the report abuse window will close and the message "Thank-you, your abuse report has been received!" will be displayed in the message box. An option to temporarily add the reported player to the ignore list will be presented.

The sent report includes a log of all chat, trades and other actions performed by the reporting player and the player being reported.

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.
  • Bots (along with any other rule-breakers that do not appear in chat) can be reported by examining them then clicking the red flag at the top left corner of the examine interface.

Profanity filter[]

The Profanity Filter is the "censor" in RuneScape. It will block any inappropriate words or sentences in RuneScape or in The RuneScape Forums. There is now an option to turn off the Profanity Filter, but some text will still be blocked. It will block any of the following words (if the Filter is turned on):

  • 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, since advertising websites is in violation of RuneScape rules, and strings of numbers and periods such as 111.222.33.44, as these can be a website's IP address.
    • The word "Google" was removed from the chat filter on 26 September 2009[2]
    • The game filter will often block two or three letter words which are preceded by a comma (,) or full stop (.). For example, ", it". This is because these words are used as internet top-level domains.
  • 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 profanity filter turned on

Jagex have said that the filter is in place "to maintain a good playing environment for all players."[source needed] 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).

The profanity filter turned off.

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[3]. 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[4]. 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.

On 9 February 2011 an update was released which allowed players to turn off the Profanity filter which allowed players to view and say words which were previously filtered. Websites and passwords are still blocked by the censor as this is still breaking the rules, as well as bypassing the censor, even with it turned off.

Origins[]

In-game chat was underwent a massive change after an update on 14 November 2001. Before this update, asterisks were not used, and the entire line would only be visible to the speaker if the filter was triggered. Instead of actually censoring words, the new filter replaced it with the closest acceptable word in the dictionary. The filter was notorious for changing non-offensive chat; some players had their usernames completely or partially censored, even when they were not offensive. This was removed the next day and replaced with a filter that blocked out certain words.

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!

JagexUpdate:Latest RuneScape News (14 November 2001)

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.

2011 overhaul[]

The Prisoner of Glouphrie and Gnome Graphical Rework update introduced an option to turn the chat filter, now renamed profanity filter, on or off at the player's discretion, since according to Jagex "RuneScape has a maturing player base."[5] The default option is on: the filter works normally. When turned off, it only filters "kkk", IP addresses (to prevent hacking/key-logging), URLs, the word "zybez" (removed in October 2014), 2-letter country codes used for Internet domain names, various website names, and the player's password.

Chat Settings[]

Chat settings

The Chat Settings section, located within the Gameplay settings tab.

Chat settings can be accessed through Game Settings, under the chat settings tab. Here the player can change the colours of each chat (public, private, clan, guest clan, group, group team and Twitch).

Other settings include:

  • Timestamps
  • Chat prefixes
  • Ability to click through chatboxes
  • Hidden login/out messages
  • Enable/disable in-game chat effects
  • Splitting the Private chat into a separate transparent section
  • Hide clan login messages

Social[]

Social settings

The Social tab, located in the Community interface.

The Social tab allows you to see many different interfaces such as the Friends List and Clan Chat. By unlocking the interface, each individual chat tab can be dragged out of the Social tab and placed onto the user interface.

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.

Basic chat effects[]

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: colour:Text

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: animation:Text

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.

Advanced chat effects[]

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: effect:Text

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: colour:animation:Text

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.

Alt codes[]

An alt code is a way to type special Unicode characters into the RuneScape chat box in the Windows operating system. These codes enable players to type characters which are not available on the standard keyboard. To use Alt codes, the player must hold down the Alt key and then press a specific code of numbers on the right side of the keyboard. The player must also have the Num Lock key turned on (i.e., the LED above it is on). It is not used often, since not many people know about it, but when it is used, users often gather around him/her asking him/her how he/she did it. It often is used to draw attention to a statement in chat or on the fora.

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[]

  • 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 a 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.

Badges[]

These badges (icons) appear in all chat channels.

Note that the Forum moderator crown Forum Moderator badge does not appear in-game. Forum Moderators are only identified on the forums, not via in-game chat.

Trivia[]

  • In the early days of RuneScape Classic, the chat filter would replace the blocked word with the word "Cabbage".
  • In RuneScape Classic, chat colours were used via @colour@, a notable one being @ran@ which made the message flash rainbow colours.
  • Also in the early days, the filter would not replace words with asterisks; rather, it made it so that the message with the offending terms would not appear to any other player.
  • On 14 November 2001, Jagex implemented a controversial filter in which players could use only a limited dictionary. After much protesting, this was removed.
  • Admin commands used to 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 for normal players. This was due to the admin console being changed to pressing the ` key.
  • The chat filter on the RuneScape Forums blocks the phrase "Insight Venture Partners", the name of the majority shareholder in Jagex.
  • Jagex Moderators have the ability to private message a player even if the player's private chat is set to 'off'. To reply, the player has to change their online status.
  • When using Local Chat, players are limited to 80 characters (255 characters for Private). These limits include prefixes, such as "/" to chat in other channels. For example, when speaking in Clan Chat with the prefix "//", players are limited to 78 characters of displayed text.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Update:The Pit
  2. ^ Advertising websites. Rules of RuneScape. Jagex Ltd. (Archived from the original on 2009-09-09.) "You are not allowed to actively advertise in any of our games or forums. This includes advertising any website or product, and no web addresses are allowed."*
  3. ^ Reporting Abuse. RuneScape Customer Support. Jagex Ltd. (Archived from the original on 2009-09-09.) "If the chat filter has starred-out one or more words, you do not need to report the player that used the starred-out language."*
  4. ^ Inappropriate language or behaviour. Rules of RuneScape. Jagex Ltd. 2009-05-12. (Archived from the original on 2009-09-09.) "You must not use any language that could be considered offensive, racist, obscene or otherwise inappropriate. This includes swearing. ... What about mis-spelling an offensive word to disguise it? Is that okay? No, please don't do this. In fact, mis-spelling an offensive word or using symbols to replace letters to avoid the chat filter is considered even worse."*
  5. ^ Prisoner of Glouphrie and Gnome Graphical Rework.*
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