I really do try to avoid politics and non Gaming-related matters as much as possible on our site. However, sometimes it’s almost impossible not to touch base with political matters, and a perfect example of that would be the ongoing economic collapse of Venezuela and the current hunt down of Venezuelan gold farmers in “Runescape” (the old-school version of the game). I for one already knew about the terrible state of Venezuela and the suffering that the Venezuelan socialist/communist regime has caused the Venezuelans (make no mistake, there is a Communist dictatorship in Venezuela. As Nicolás Maduro more or less rules the country with an iron fist), because I have talked to a handful of people that are currently lives in Venezuela. Well, long story short, all of them have told me that they are struggling to afford food, medicine and whatnot…

So when I heard the stories about Venezuelans farming for gold in the old-school version of “Runescape”, I simply couldn’t help myself from thinking about a real-life version of “Hunger Games” (the only difference would be that it’s set in the “Runescape” universe instead). I’m of course aware that it’s against the rules to be a gold farmer in “Runescap” (it’s the same rule for pretty much every other online game there is). However, when you’re trying to survive against all odds, you tend to care very little about rules of that kind.

You see, Venezuelan Bolívar (it’s their currency) is now worth even less than the World of Warcraft currency (digital gold). So it’s no wonder why Venezuelans are now farming for gold in “Runescape” like there is no tomorrow, because they actually earn fifty cents per hour by doing so, and that’s much more money than they would earn from having a “real” job in Venezuela (it’s a matter of the strong US dollar Vs the super weak Venezuelan Bolívar). Nevertheless, something’s gotta give, because it was just a matter of time before other “Runescape” players would start to get rather annoyed by the Venezuelan gold farmers (thus the rather large amount of comments on the Runscape thread over at Reddit).

In other words, from now on it will be much harder for Venezuelans to farm for gold in “Runescape”, because other “Runescape” players are now hunting down Venezuelans gold farmers as it was some kind of a mini-game/sport (as seen in the picture above), and speaking of which. I just spotted a really good Youtube video on the matter by Glink (you can watch the video further down the page). In the matter of fact, here’s the actual description for the video:

“An investigation into the Venezuelan gold farming that goes on in Old School Runescape. Surprisingly, farming Green Dragons in the Wilderness is enough to make a living in wake of economic collapse in Venezuela. “BUT THAT’S NOT REEEEEAL SOCIALISM!” – Glink

So if you prefer to watch (or listen) to a video instead of reading through a lot of text, then you should check that video out for sure. On a personal level though, I just feel sorry for the people of Venezuela. So I’m trying to figure out a good way to help people out over there. As for the part about the Venezuelan gold farmers in “Runescape”. Well, I don’t like gold farmers more than anyone else, but if that’s what it takes to stay alive, then so be it (my point would be that I would do the very same thing myself if I had no other options).

And with that said, what’s your take on this matter? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!

Credit:
Supperdude9‏

Source:
Reddit
Steemit
Polygon

More by Robin Ek:

• The unique horror game ‘Hoarder’ has just been announced for PC
• The story-driven investigative adventure, ‘Rainbow Billy: The Book of Fears’, has just been announced for PC
• The wholesome and story-rich roguelike, ‘Solstride’, has just been announced for PC
• Antstream Arcade just teamedup with Xbox to launch retro classics for game pass members
• The stylish noir stealth action-adventure “The Shadow Syndicate” is coming to PC and consoles in 2026

Tags: Gamer, Gamers, Gaming, Gold farmers, Mmo, RuneScape, Venezuela