The Day RuneScape Deleted Almost Every Bot

On October 25th, 2011, RuneScape changed overnight. Jagex launched one of the most aggressive anti-bot updates in the game’s history: ClusterFlutterer. The update targeted the technology used by what Jagex believed was around 98% of the bots they were seeing in-game, and the effect was immediate. World populations dropped. Heavily botted areas became strangely empty. Millions of accounts were removed. And within the same week, RuneScape would go on to set a Guinness World Record after 7.7 million bot accounts were banned. For a brief moment, it looked like Jagex had actually won the war against bots. But that victory didn’t last. In this video, I take a look back at Bot Nuke Day, how ClusterFlutterer actually worked, why RuneScape became so empty afterwards, how the economy reacted, and why bots eventually managed to return. We’ll also look at the bigger question: If Jagex managed to wipe out almost an entire generation of RuneScape bots in 2011... why can’t they just do it again today? Let me know what you think below. Credit to O3 Studios for letting me use their soundtrack - OSRS Music but its 80's Synthwave -    • OSRS Music but it’s 80s Synthwave   Credit for using clips from Runescape Youtubers: @Frostdragonrsbuddy @Runescape @Based af @MotePlox @Quirky Elephant @RSTrill @Saiyanryu @The Act Man @GameAppeal Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:18 How Did Jagex Manage It? 03:04 Jagex Had Been Building Something In Secret 04:11 Bond Giveaway 04:23 These Bots Became Smarter Than Ever 05:43 Bot Nuking Day 06:34 Where Did Everybody Go? 09:09 The Runescape Economy Started Changing 10:34 Destroying Bots Hurt Real Players 11:46 The Bots Came Back Could Old School RuneScape ever have another Bot Nuke Day? #OSRS #RuneScape #OldSchoolRuneScape