The RuneScape account autotyper was popular when Jagex launched the online game in 2001. At the time, items could be won by performing a series of repetitive actions that required hundreds of clicks of the mouse which proved tedious and time-consuming for players.

This software led to what came to be known as account farming, where players collect or farm items by exploiting or over-exploiting repetitive elements or portions of the game. In RuneScape, for instance, this could mean killing a monster repeatedly to maximize your gains.

RuneScape is by far one of the most popular online games, attracting as many as 15 million of active accounts that earned it recognition from the Guinness Book of World Records.

But a game that’s so popular attracts hundreds of millions of dollars in reward points – “items” in RuneScape – and naturally attracts hundreds of people who try to circumvent the rules.

An item is earned or collected in various ways, one of which is by learning and honing a skill like mining, fishing or wood cutting. Players could also kill monsters and collect the items they drop. These items can be traded for real-world money running into millions of dollars and are the most sought-after aspect of the game.

The rules of the game have changed over time and Jagex, the creators, have introduced a series of changes and updates that have imposes several restrictions on the trading of items. But hackers and programmers have found ways to work around these restrictions.

So although there is a ban on the use of third-party software – called macroing – there are websites, forums and chat rooms dedicated to cheating and finding shortcuts to that pot of account.

Macros like RuneScape autotyper make use of bots or Web robots. These are computer software applications that run automated tasks at speeds that are much faster than the human hand and brain can perform. This could be useful, for instance, if you are a merchant on RuneScape and need to type in your sales pitch over and over again.

Apart from being tedious, this could be a daunting task if the player is a slow typer. No wonder RuneScape autotypers were so widely used.

But when Jagex discovered that players were relying on autotypers and hence cheating, they clamped down pretty hard. The RuneScape accounts economy was under threat of collapse by the forces of inflation and deflation in much the same way was in the real-world economy.

Jagex therefore reduced the extent of repetitive tasks to earn items and introduced the Grand Exchange. This placed severe restrictions on trading of items for real-world money.

The best defence against being scammed is to avoid macroing and use sheer hard work to win those valuable items!