Runescape is the number one free-to-play, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game in the world. An MMORPG is a game that allows players to interact with each other in a virtual world. Runescape is set in a medieval-fantasy world with plenty of tongue-in-cheek references to modern times and pop-culture. A Runescape autominer is a program that allows players to do an in-game task automatically.

Even though Runescape enjoys a free-to-play version, players must pay a monthly fee to access all areas and equipment in the game. Players can go on quests, fight one another, play mini-games, own houses, raise pets, and work jobs. They spend countless hours training their avatars to fight with magic, melee, and ranged styles. In-game money can be made in several ways. The most common is to train a gathering or crafting skill such as mining, farming, smithing, or fishing. Some skills gather raw materials while others use those materials to craft other items. This leads to trading and selling in a virtual economy.

Raising your skills in Runescape can take months and even years. Players must do repetitive tasks over and over again to slowly raise their experience level in a given skill. This has lead to the creation of automated script programs to do these tasks for the player. These programs can make the avatar carry out tasks while the player is not even present. This can lead to fast leveling, powerful characters, and the quick gaining of in-game wealth.

Many players use these programs, also called BOTS, for their own progress. Others use BOTS to obtain in-game cash and items that they can then sell to other players for real-world cash. Some even level characters just to sell entire player accounts. There are whole rooms in nations such as China where gamers work to amass in-game wealth which is then sold for real currency.

With this new type of industry, traditional players began to cry foul and to feel as though they could not compete for items and resources with the massive amount of BOTS running around in the game. This lead to rules and terms of service agreements that outlawed the practice within Runescape. Anyone using such a program is subject to have their account terminated. If they have a pay account, they can still lose it without reimbursement.

Runescape has put a lot of systems in place to prevent the use of BOTS. There are now limits on how players can trade items and money. This is meant to prevent players from buying items with real cash. All skills have random events that can happen from time-to-time to weed out auto-players. The events can cause a player to lose items. Mining with autominers is a popular way to quickly make money. Runescape has slowed this down by making pickaxe heads occasionally fall off. Autominers will lose their expensive tools and be flagged as a potential rule breaker. Regular players can simply pick up the pickaxe head and reattach it with a click.