"I [private-messaged] him because I met all the requirements, which was online at least six hours every day," Perez writes. "He instructed me exactly what to do and the way to do it. My first'job' was smelting [runite] bars at the blast furnace. I had been making close to 75 cents an hourover $150 dollars a month." Perez now earns $200-300 per month finishing"orders" for additional OSRS gold players, which entails carrying out particular jobs on their accounts. He operates between seven and five days per week, for at least eight hours every day. "My entire life has taken a sudden twist," Perez writes. "I'm kinda depressed. I miss faculty a lot and I'm nowhere near where I need to be in life."
Despite this marketplace, the trading of RuneScape commodities is contrary to the game's terms and conditions. It is an issue that Jagex, the creator of RuneScape, has been working to tackle for any number of years. In 2013 Mark Gerhard reported that 40-50percent of RuneScape's busy RuneScape player base in any given month was buying gold. Jagex will prohibit any RuneScape players that it suspects are breaking the rules, but there is a threat that lots of Venezuelan RuneScape players are eager to take. Many gold farmers have their accounts, where they perform legitimately: accounts, and farming accounts, basically'burner' accounts, so that they use only for earning money.
With a high demand for farming, many RuneScape players out Venezuela believe areas of RuneScape are currently governed by it. RuneScape's market is exactly like any other market -- it's greatly influenced by the economics of scarcity, and the expanding amount of folks farming gold and items at RuneScape is affecting prices for a variety of unique items. The level of the impact became evident once the catastrophe in Venezuela escalated to a new level early last year.
In March 2019, the power network of Venezuela collapsed along cheap RuneScape gold with a rapid succession of blackouts struck the country, leaving millions without power or water. At their summit in March, these blackouts were happening almost every hour for a week. Hospitals were some of the worst areas. "A hell of a lot of people died due to the power cuts," Martinez explains. The issues are still affecting people now, and some believe they will continue long into the future, until the problem with the government is resolved.