Colombia or Chile countries, where Marinez is a member of the family.

PvP (player against player) areas are aplenty including the sudden life-and-death drama that is Duel Arena to the frenzied atmosphere that is Castle OSRS gold  Wars. If I were looking for something more relaxing, I could go relax by the river in Lumbridge or any town's market and enjoy watching the virtual world go by.The character looked through a tunnel. At once, the herbiboar appeared and the herbiboar attacked, stunning it. Cartoon stars surrounded the herbiboar's head. The person reached out, removed the herbs from the creature's back, and obtained more than 2,000 points.

Over the next few weeks, Marinez continued to hunt herbiboars, putting in more than 36 hours on the task. "There are times when I don't like this game ... however, when it's for money I'll tolerate it for a moment," he messaged me in Spanish in the following message, adding "It's simply my job. From that, I'm capable of living."

Marinez 20, who is twenty year old "does provide services" for other players in Old School RuneScape, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Players from all over the world pay him, typically through Bitcoin, to take on quests and to level up the skills of their characters as miners warriors, or hunters.

In Venezuela which, as of 2019 it was reported that 96 percent of population had less than the global poverty line that is $1.90 daily, as per a survey conducted by an Venezuelan university. Marinez has done better than most.

In addition to the pocket change he gets from a nearby pizzeria, he makes approximately 60 bucks a month on RuneScape that is enough to purchase cornmeal for arepas and rice for his son and sister. However, for Marinez who is online, it doesn't mean just arepas. It's about escaping, even if he thinks the medieval fantasy video game boring.

In the midst of one the most severe economic recessions of the past 45 years outside of a war, he and others in Venezuela are turning to gaming on video as a means for survival and potential relocation. Playing video games doesn't imply being in front of a screen. It can mean movement. Hunting herbiboars in RuneScape can fund the cost of food today and also the future of the world for Colombia or Chile countries, where Marinez is a member of the family.

In in the Caribbean Sea in Atlanta, just 2,000 miles away from Marinez and the home of Bryan Mobley. As a child, he played RuneScape incessantly, he told me over the phone. "It was amusing. It was a method to avoid homework, and shit like this," he said.

The 26-year-old Mobley is a different person to the game. "I do not consider it to be any longer a virtual space," he told me. According to him, it's more of a "number simulator," which is similar to virtual Roulette. The increase in the supply of currency that is in-game can be a source of dopamine.

Since Mobley began playing RuneScape during the 90s there was a black market that had been bubbling up beneath the game's economy. In the lands of Gielinor there is a possibility for players to trade items such as mithril's longswords, yak- armor, plants harvested from herbiboars, and gold, the game's currency. Eventually, players began exchanging Buy OSRS gold gold in the game for actual dollars, a practice known as real-world trading. Jagex, the game's developer is against these exchanges.