Rsorder OSRS and competitive aspects
Old School RuneScape (OSRS), the classic version of the popular MMORPG RuneScape, has recently enacted a significant change by banning deathmatching—a popular form of Player vs. Player (PvP) combat. This decision, driven by the game's developer Jagex, aims to address issues surrounding fairness in PvP and, perhaps more importantly, to curb the spread of Real Money Trading (RMT) that has increasingly plagued the game's community. While this move has been controversial among players, Jagex hopes that it will improve the overall gaming experience by fostering a fairer PvP environment and taking steps to dismantle RMT networks within OSRS gold.
This article explores why Jagex took such a drastic step, how deathmatching contributed to RMT, and what this change means for the PvP community and OSRS as a whole.
The Rise of Deathmatching in OSRS PvP
In OSRS, PvP has long been one of the most engaging and competitive aspects of the game. The Wilderness—a vast, dangerous area where players can freely attack each other—has become synonymous with high-stakes PvP, with its risks matched only by the rewards. Within this PvP ecosystem, various forms of combat and challenges have evolved over the years, and deathmatching became one of the most popular.
Deathmatching is essentially a form of PvP where two players agree to fight each other until one of them dies, with the victor claiming the loot of the defeated player. Unlike regular PvP encounters in the Wilderness, where players might attempt to escape or teleport to safety, deathmatching is a fight to the end. Because of its straightforward format and the significant amount of buy RS gold involved, deathmatching became a frequent choice for high-stakes gamblers who wanted to "fight" for in-game wealth, often in an organized, rule-based manner.
While this may sound like a fair way to engage in PvP, the deathmatching scene quickly became problematic. Organized groups known as "clans" or "deathmatching clans" emerged, enforcing complex rules and creating mini-communities around deathmatching. Unfortunately, these groups also attracted those who wished to exploit the system, and deathmatching soon turned into a hub for RMT.