A lot of these players were like Mobley. They played RuneScape in their teens, and then looked back fondly on the sharp graphics and the fun  OSRS gold  soundtrack. Even though these 20- to 30-year-olds had time to themselves when they were younger but they had to take on responsibilities beyond their homework.

"People are working, have families potentially," said Stefan Kempe another popular producer of content for RuneScape who has close to 200,000 subscribers and goes by the username SoupRS as part of an interview. "It's an obstacle to how much time they have to play all day long."

It can be quite tedious. In order to increase a character's agility from one to 99, the most powerful level, it's expected to take more than one week of continuous play, according to a detailed guide published by the developer. With more than just their allowances as teenagers, players like Mobley, who works at a data center, opted to skip the hassle of advancing their characters and the expense of expensive items, and also the tedious early parts that the games offer.

Others, like Corne the 21-year-old computer programmer born in Arnhem, Netherlands, who declined to give his name, but put bets on gold and by extension real-world currency, on fights with players. "I love money. It doesn't matter if it's real or in RuneScape the world of RuneScape, money is a nice thing to have" the player said during a call.

Horn buys the majority of his gold via intermediaries, who purchase gold in bulk from gold farmers and then resell it on websites like El Dorado or Sythe. Horn estimates that he's racked up between 4,000 and 5,000 euros fueling what he rs07 fire cape service  believes at some moment was a gambling addiction.