The game isn't easy. To boost a character's agility from  OSRS gold one to 99, the highest level, it would take more than a weeks of constant play according to a complete guide released by the game's creator. After they received more than just their allowances at the age of 18, players like Mobley, who works at a data center, decided to avoid the grind of leveling up their characters and the expense of expensive items, and the often monotonous early stages on the first game.

Others, like Corne who is 21 years old, a software engineer who hails from Arnhem, Netherlands, who declined to give his name, but placed bets on gold, and by an extension, the real currency, in battles with other players. "I am a fan of money. It doesn't matter if it's real or in RuneScape it's nice to have" the man said on an email.

Horn buys the majority of his gold via intermediaries, who purchase gold in bulk from gold producers who then sell it via websites such as El Dorado or Sythe. Horn believes he's spent anywhere between the 4,000-5,000 euro mark, which fuels what he believed at one moment was a gambling addiction.

The moment players such as Corne as well as Mobley have returned into RuneScape with the hunger and pockets of adulthood, the game's black market expanded. It was reported by players that there were a lot of Chinese gold miners, but there were others profiting off the popularity of the game: Venezuelans such as Marinez.

On the 12th of March 20th, 2020 Marinez began to apply in a police academy located in Caracas the capital city of Venezuela and to pursue an occupation in law enforcement. The following day, the Venezuelan government released its first two COVID-19 cases.

The government also closed all schools, shut down the borders between Venezuela as well as neighboring countries and put six states as well as Caracas under quarantine. Marinez was left stranded on the road and then hunkered down at his uncle's house in a city that was more than 50 miles away from his capital.

After two months, Marinez came back to Maracaibo, "without any money in my pockets," he said. He tried to find a job but couldn't find any in the market for jobs destroyed due to the pandemic. It also led to a prolonged economic downturn.

Ten years ago, Venezuela, a petrostate under the presidency of Hugo Chavez, witnessed a decline in oil prices. 2017 was the year that price of a barrel fell to almost $50 from a high that was more than $100 in addition, there was a resurgence in sanctions against Venezuela. U.S. instituted wide-ranging sanctions against Venezuela's dictatorial government.

"When oil prices began to decline and the country was left with no funds to import goods," said Alejandro Velasco Professor at New York University who specializes in Venezuelan political issues, in an interview by phone. "As an outcome there was no money really to buy RuneScape gold  sustain the economy."