At the moment, it seems unlikely for Venezuelans to switch to a different game because they only have access to very basic computers. With video games continuing to get more popular, I am interested to see if similar events start occurring in other games. In addition, when Venezuela lost power for a few days, half the Runescape player base disappeared and the in game economy crashed until the Venezuelans got back online (Video Gaming the System). As there is no limit to the amount of in game gold that can be generated, the Venezuelan “gold farmers” started causing inflation within the game. So many Venezuelans started playing Runescape that they actually started influencing the Runescape economy. Due to the hyperinflation in the Venezuelan economy, people started playing Runescape to make money because Runescape gold was more stable than the Venezuelan Bolivar.
Hearing about the World of Warcraft character that was sold in class reminded me of a similar situation in Venezuela where people would play Old School Runescape to make a living.
