Faced with a full 100% increase on taxes – from 1% to a harrowing 2% at the Grand Exchange market – Old School RuneScape players reacted the only way they knew how. The MMO has a storied history of in-game protests, so like the medieval farmers they technically are, players revolted against this exploitation (it’s actually probably a good thing) and one brave soul recreated their very own Boston Tea Party by chucking cups into the harbor.
As an American raised and educated in the South, the Boston Tea Party is one of those things that I saw romanticized within an inch of its life, but in fairness I’m pretty sure it did involve more than one dude throwing 28 cups of tea on the ground at the end of a port. But we all do what we can, and that’s what Reddit user Jesus-Bacon, a fittingly American name, planned as their grand act of defiance.
“You think the British would have learned by now,” they said, chanting “no taxation without representation” in their post title. “Let’s remind them what happened last time!” (Unlike many MMOs, OSRS does notably give players direct representation through in-game polls for many changes, though this tax update was not polled.)
RuneScape and Old School RuneScape developer Jagex is, of course, British. The best part? Jagex staff usernames have a gold crown in-game, so just like the tea hurlers of the 18th century, OSRS players are quite literally sticking it to the crown.
Jesus-Bacon was not alone, mind you. The endlessly inventive OSRS Reddit community had a lot of fun with the “casual doubling of our taxes,” roleplaying as everything from medieval serfs to the US’ tariff-happy Trump administration.
“The problem is trade imbalance,” one OSRS economist reasoned. “Monsters are exporting more alchables than they are importing.” (Alchables, for folks who don’t speak RuneScape, are items commonly converted into gold coins via the High Alchemy spell. Interestingly, the existence of “alch values,” or how many coins you get from alching an item, is actually pretty core to the game’s economy, as it effectively sets a price floor on many high-volume goods.)
“The rich mega rare billionaires should be taxed more because they have a greater ability to contribute without compromising their standard of living,” argues one sensible player. “We need to implement a progressive tax that increases based on bank worth. Start with 100m at 2%
