Since the Deadman Finals on Saturday evening we’ve been investigating what caused the issue of players experiencing logouts. It was only once we had a solid understanding of the events of Saturday evening that we were able to issue any response. To make any statement in the heat of the moment, before we knew the cause of the issue, would not have been the right thing to do. We are now in possession of all of the facts.
In this newspost we’ll provide our perspective on the evening, offer insight into what was taking place behind the scenes, what was the cause of the issue and how we’ll resolve it, and also how we’ll manage instances like these going forwards.
During the Permadeath stage in Saturday’s Spring Finals, 160 players experienced a simultaneous logout. The moment we learned of this we began doing everything we could to determine whether it was a connectivity issue, whether it was an in-game bug, or whether it was something completely different. This investigation was taken very seriously, and utilised experts across various disciplines. Game developers, platform engineers, and system administrators were all involved in ascertaining just what was going on. Whilst we were investigating the cause of the issue, we were also assessing the viability of getting the affected players back into the Finals. Such an undertaking had never been done before, and we weren’t confident as to whether anything could be done. After some racking of brains we did learn that, in theory, it should be technically possible to ‘reset’ the Permadeath stage, where the fog would begin again, and players would be able to log back in. However, doing such a thing had never been tested, and there was no guarantee that doing this would even be successful or be free of other unintended consequences. Additionally, doing this wouldn’t be a ‘game reset’, as such a thing isn’t possible, and it would have meant that anybody who died in the Permadeath stage would still have lost XP and items. Lastly, we were, at the time, still unaware of what caused the issue. Without this knowledge we could not be sure that the logouts would not occur again. All of these factors led to the decision being made to continue with the tournament. We’re genuinely very sorry that the affected players weren’t able to participate in the Finals, but with the information available to us at the time, we made what we believed to be the best decision.
We have since identified the cause of the issue. A game bug, unrelated to Deadman, which looks to have existed in-game for some time but has never manifested in this way, was responsible for logging out the affected players. We can categorically confirm that it was not the result of a DDOS attack. The bug that caused this issue has now been fixed, and whilst the exact repeat of this will not occur again, we know it isn’t any consolation to those of you who weren’t able to compete because of factors outside your control. Having a bug like this manifest at the worst possible moment cannot be discounted, and so going forwards we will ensure a contingency plan is produced which will dictate any actions we take in the event of any disruption. The Summer Finals end date is June 30th 2018 and by this date there will be a contingency plan solidly in place. We’ll make sure it’s player-facing, so you know as well as we do in the event of service disruption, just what actions are possible, and what course of action we’ll take.
For the players affected, we’ll be granting the affected accounts automatic qualification for the Summer Finals. We’ll also be providing the accounts with enough Membership to allow them to participate in the Summer Finals on June 30th, and in the Autumn Season which will run until 2nd August.
Following each Season and Finals we put our heads together to determine what we could do better next. Following recent tournaments we’ve worked hard to improve the flow of the final stages of the Finals with improvements to splitting up clans and developing the 1v1 stages. Additionally, we’ve worked hard to improve the quality of the viewing experience, for the Spring Finals we implemented an improved heatmap, as well as an advanced spectator display. We genuinely are committed to making the Deadman experience as good as it can possibly be.
All 160 players affected by the logout bug have now been contacted via their RuneScape message centre.
There have been reports and allegations of specific individuals being targeted. Whilst we aren't able to police your individual IP address, we can help educate you with the best advice to protecting it. For the Summer Finals we'll also investigate making a number of changes to the format of the Finals which should help to mitigate the risk of such attacks. We will also be implementing a mandatory registration process in order to be eligible to compete, this will require the submission of real world information to Jagex prior to the beginning of the Finals.
A DDoS is an overflow of information packets sent to an IP address. Most personal connections won't be able to handle all of the information packets, and will then be effectively blocked from maintaining a connection until the attack lets up.
A DDoS can only work if the attacker has an IP address to target, so it's absolutely paramount to protect your IP address. We strongly recommend avoiding unfamilar websites, such as a clan's offsite forum, or untrusted VoIP servers, such as a clan's TeamSpeak.
If you suspect that somebody has acquired your IP address then it's recommended that you contact your ISP. The majority of ISPs will change your IP address at your request. Find a customer service or technical support contact at your ISP and ask for a new IP address. If for some reason they will not help you change your IP address, you can attempt to force an IP change by unplugging every PC, router, modem, or other network hardware and computer from the internet for a period of 24 hours.
Protecting your IP address is entirely your responsibility. Jagex is not responsible for your IP address becoming compromised, and your connection being targeted by others.
We do actively take action against accounts where we have credible evidence that they are DDoSing other players. You can submit any evidence to tipoff@jagex.com.
All of the above winners will be contacted via their in-game message centre as stated within the Deadman Mode Terms & Conditions.
Mods Archie, Ash, Ayiza, Curse, Ed, Ghost, Jed, John C, Kieren, Lottie, Mat K, Maz, Roq, Ry, Stone, Sween, Weath, West & Wolf
The Old School Team