Socialism

Venezuelan Victims of Socialism Are Using RuneScape To Make Money

Venezuelan players mine in-game resources and turn hours of gameplay into dollars or cryptocurrency.

Katarina Hall and M. Nolan Gray | From the June 2026 issue

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(Photo: M. Nolan Gray)

As uncertainty surrounds Venezuela's political future, the ripples of change are being felt not just in Caracas but in the unusually complex economy of a decades-old browser-based game.

Over the past decade, tens of thousands of Venezuelans have logged on to Old School RuneScape (OSRS) not simply to play but to work. As hyperinflation hollowed out salaries and traditional jobs disappeared, Venezuelan players mined and collected valuable in-game resources and achieved coveted level 99 status in in-game skills, turning hours of gameplay into dollars or cryptocurrency.

The impact of Venezuelan players on the game's internal economy was at one point so significant that local instability in the real world could upend the game's internal marketplace. When blackouts hit or when Venezuelans fled the country in large numbers, prices inside OSRS would shift almost overnight.

As Venezuela's trajectory shifts once again, OSRS serves as a reminder that the boundary between virtual and real economies isn't as clear as it might seem—especially for players whose livelihoods depend on both.

A Browser Game That Outlived Its Era

RuneScape first launched in 2001 as a Java-based browser game created by the brothers Andrew and Paul Gower. The game combined simple mechanics with endless grind in a virtual world blending high fantasy with wry British humor. Unlike most other massively multiplayer online (MMO) games of its day, RuneScape could run on nearly any computer with a dial-up connection. A free-to-play option allowed kids to log on without having to hassle parents into paying a monthly subscription.

Trucking, bartering, and exchanging has always been an element of the game, with players buying and selling the commodities—lumber, ore, herbs—needed to achieve the coveted level 99 in each skill. While never intended as a core game mechanic, "playing" the economy rapidly emerged as a central joy of RuneScape. Players spontaneously organized bottom-up markets rivaling real-world markets in sophistication. Infamously, some people would even purchase in-game relationships, giving rise to the "buying gf" meme.

Misunderstanding the importance of this virtual economy, the game's developer, Jagex, instituted economy-wide price controls and trade limits in 2008, hoping to curb the real-world sale of in-game gold. The update set off a wave of protests in virtual cities across RuneScape as players demanded the restoration of "free trade." Jagex relented two years later, but the damage was done: The brief abolition of free trade—along with unpopular updates to combat mechanics and the introduction of "pay to win" mechanics—led many players to quit the game altogether.

The story of RuneScape might have ended there. Instead, the franchise now exists as two separate games. The original evolved into what players now call RuneScape 3, while in 2013—by popular demand—the developers revived a 2007-era version of the game known as Old School RuneScape.

The older version now has approximately 10 times the daily player count of the newer version. In........

© Reason.com