How a Pixelated Rainbow Spurred a Virtual Riot in RuneScape
The popular retro MMORPG Old School Runescape, a nostalgic derivative of developer Jagex’s most popular title, has seen players revolting in the pixelated streets of Falador against an LGBT+ Pride event scheduled for Thursday 8th June (better known as election day to fellow Brits). The in-game riots, attended by both anti- and pro-LGBT+ protesters, come only days after what could be considered one of the most unifying weeks in the game’s history.
The event was announced with a small, innocuous tweet on June 5th from QA Analyst ‘Mod Wolf’ stating it was an “honour to announce a small holiday event of mine will be coming to [Old School Runescape] this Thursday to celebrate #Pride2017”. Later that same day, a thread appeared on the game’s subreddit opposing the LGBT+ Pride event, which currently stands at 6.8k upvotes at time of writing. Following this backlash, Old School RuneScape’s product manager ‘Mod Mat K’ released a statement on reddit, announcing that “Pride 2017 is something we wholeheartedly agree with and are proud to support”.
The major backlash from the game’s community comes from feeling that pro-LGBT+ views are being ‘shoved down their throats’ and a concern that a pride event is too political for the game. Player and reddit user FindsContext states they feel Jagex are trying to “shoehorn in political, idealogical [sic], or other people’s opinions on sexuality into my gaming experience”. Over the next two days, what began as irate players clashing over Jagex honouring its LGBT+ playerbase descended into a virtual riot in the town square of in-game location Falador, a place where many player protests have taken place in the past.
This in-game riot has since seen players donning frog masks (in homage to the meme-turned-’alt-right’-symbol Pepe), skull banners and plain white robes to contrast the rainbow symbolism of LGBT+ Pride (and, in many cases, combined with a pointed hat to emulate the clothing of the KKK). While homophobic slurs are hurled, nooses are strewn through the square and violent acts against LGBT+ individuals spam the chat, pro-LGBT+ counter-protesters are wearing rainbow coloured clothing, pink capes and are littering the area with brightly coloured flowers. It is, on all accounts, one giant, laggy, pixelated mess.
This controversy over an in-game event which “takes up a total of 7 map tiles” juxtaposes the events of one week prior, when Jagex released the most challenging game boss so far. Players with maxed skills took to Twitch to livestream their attempts to beat the boss, with 2 days passing before player and popular streamer WooxSolo was the first to defeat it. Over the two days in which the boss went undefeated, Old School RuneScape fans demonstrated a sense of unity and community not often seen in video games. No matter where you were in-game, players were all watching the streams, with WooxSolo at one point having the most viewed stream on Twitch. And more than this — everyone was talking. Whether you were fishing, cutting down trees or playing one of Old School RuneScape’s many minigames, normally silent players were all talking about the race to defeat the game’s new boss and win the new ‘Infernal Cape’. The community was so captured that the subreddit post celebrating WooxSolo’s victory became the most popular post on the subreddit, with 21.7k upvotes.
So how did a community in celebration become a pit of rampant homophobia and hatred? Whether players are willing to admit it or not, RuneScape has an ongoing problem with anti-LGBT+ sentiment within its community. As popular player and videomaker AutumnElegy notes, there was negative feedback when a character in RuneScape 3 was revealed to be gay. Playing Old School RuneScape as a bisexual trans woman I’ve personally become well acquainted with the bigoted views of some players — and while I truly believe the players that hold these views are in the minority, homophobic and transphobic attitudes dwell in every corner of the game. Many close friends of mine are LGBT+, and when talking with them about the backlash for the in-game Pride 2017 event, some said they thought it was “completely expected”. For many LGBT+ players, these riots are not a shock, but an expected reality. From the backlash to this event, it has become very clear that this event was truly needed.
As was witnessed during the recent controversy over trans women being rejected from an online gaming tournament, the world of video games is so often hostile and uncaring towards LGBT+ individuals. So for Jagex to host an in-game LGBT+ pride event — even in the face of negative feedback — is an incredibly meaningful gesture for all LGBT+ players. I know I’ll be enjoying Old School RuneScape’s Pride 2017 event dressed in all my flamboyant, colourful, hideously clashing pixely clothing.
