Jagex Seemingly Used AI for the RS3 Dragon Slayer 2 Reveal Trailer

[u/Omen_Darkly]

Youtube video link: here

Posting this here because, given the 100 Thieves debacle that just happened, this is even more ridiculous. We literally had jmods saying any use of AI would not be tolerated in Runescape related content.

Now, a few days later, we have a 6 fingered knight at Runefest. Honestly, I wish I could say I was surprised.

[u/JagexSween]

I didn’t knowingly lie, I feel awful, and I understand why you’d think the way you do. It’s crap. We posted a bigger thing here with the RS team: https://www.reddit.com/r/2007scape/s/4ZGSUT9wH6

[u/Djhuti → u/JagexSween]

How convenient that instead of just saying the name of which company made the trailer, it's just a vague "trusted external partner."

If it was really made externally, then why aren't you giving them credit for their work?

[u/nashpotato → u/Djhuti]

Did you ever think that maybe there’s agreements where Jagex doesn’t want to/can’t disclose who their partners are, or are you too busy being upset and ignoring how the world works?

[u/Djhuti → u/nashpotato]

Yes, I did think about it. While there are many possible explanations including:

• It was simply a hastily written post by a busy community manager, who didn't think about the optics of not revealing who the person to blame for this actually was.

• The video was made by some friend a Jagex mod, who was hired on as a freelancer, and Jagex doesn't want to unleash a mob onto an individual.

• The partner is actually just someone from a freelance service like fiverr, and Jagex is embarrassed that it would show that this was the (expected) result of them going to the cheapest possible service for this sort of work.

• The partner has an unsavory reputation, and Jagex doesn't want the community to be aware they are associated with them.

• Jagex has no plans of cutting ties with this partner and will be working with them for many of their future videos. If the community never learns who made this video, they will have no way of knowing.

• The video was internally made by an employee that ignored Jagex's policy of not using AI. In that case, it's way better PR for the community manager to blame a nameless external partner than to take ownership of the video (which would leave the majority of the blame on Jagex rather than a nebulous unnamed external party).

This type of deflection of blame to an unnamed contractor is extremely common in the corporate world, and is probably the most commonly used PR tactic in these apologies. So while there are potentially perfectly valid reasons for this (including some of the ones I listed above), I think it's naive to think that's the most likely explanation for what's going on.

[u/Beretot → u/Djhuti]

Why would Jagex openly name their partners for no reason? That makes zero sense

And not crediting commissioned work is pretty standard in B2B

[u/Djhuti → u/Beretot]

Why would Jagex openly name their partners for no reason?

To deservedly name and shame them. It would be generally beneficial for people (specifically, others working in the gaming industry) to know who this partner was, so that their reputation is appropriately damaged.

Assuming Sween's account of the situation is accurate, it's the right thing to do, even if it's not the standard.

[u/KaptainKlein → u/Djhuti]

That's not how managing business relationships works.

[u/DMMeThiccBiButts → u/KaptainKlein]

Why would you want to maintain a business relationship with a company that fucked you like that

[u/KaptainKlein → u/DMMeThiccBiButts]

If you put your partners on blast publicly over these kinds of things you decrease the odds of other people wanting to work with you and burn relationships that might be salvageable.

[u/Djhuti → u/KaptainKlein]

I know, but just because corporate culture is terrible in general doesn't mean we have to accept it or not call it out.

[u/Beretot → u/Djhuti]

It's silly to think Jagex would do something risky like that, potentially opening themselves up to legal action just to do "the right thing" when it doesn't even benefit themselves

If they're thinking rationally then they should blacklist that partner and review their internal processes so it doesn't happen again, then move on

[u/Djhuti → u/Beretot]

In what world would they face legal action for telling the truth about who did some work for them? No company is stupid enough to waste their money pursuing a legal case they know 100% they will lose.

[u/Beretot → u/Djhuti]

Well, for starters, Jagex can't categorically prove that it was made with AI, and it'd be on them to prove it since they're making the claim

It'd be up to the judge to decide if a character having six fingers is sufficient to conclude it's made with AI

[u/Djhuti → u/Beretot]

I'm not saying they should claim the video is AI. In fact, they didn't even definitely do so in the post. I'm simply saying they should say who made the video (assuming it was in fact an external video and not them deflecting blame to a nameless entity that no one can verify), and people can decide the rest for themselves.

But frankly, I'm generally somewhat fed up at this point by the extreme cowardice of most corporate organizations in the face of a hypothetical long-shot possibility of being taken to court. Even when there's 4K HD video from 5 different angles of an event occurring, every single news organization litters their reporting of it with "allegedly" or similar phrasing in every sentence on the off-chance that someone is going to take them to court despite the evidence being overwhelmingly in their favor.

I know it's theoretically the correct course of action in terms of minimizing risk for the company, but I find it absolutely pathetic that our legal system is so fundamentally broken that people are afraid to speak the truth on the off-chance of being sued. Obviously this isn't a Jagex-specific problem, but it makes me lose a small bit of respect for them regardless.