I Miss RuneScape

I'm struggling to figure out how to vent about this, or if there's anyone it would be appropriate to vent to, so in the meantime I'm just venting here.

I miss Old School RuneScape. It's been over a year since I've played, and I've been feeling the itch and the pull of nostalgia.

I stopped playing for a very specific reason, and that reason hasn't changed. The CEO of Jagex, Mod North, cancelled 2025's in-game Pride event after it was basically completed. The reasoning he gave is that Pride is a lot more controversial now than it was in the past. Just say you're catering to bigots, because that is quite literally what you're doing.

The idea that Pride is more controversial now than just about any time in the past is asinine. I wasn't around then, but there's no fucking way the implementation of a Pride event in the game in the first place didn't cause an uproar. In this community? Come on.

The Old School team has a lot of queer developers. They put their soul into the game, and put effort into crafting well-written events that don't shove anything in your face. They just have a theme of queerness. If someone doesn't like that, they don't have to participate.

Taking an event and quest that was basically completed and represented your own developers in a way they felt proud™ of, and canning it because being gay upsets some people, is corporate bullshit at its worst. But I'm not convinced it's not just based on North's personal opinion. I mean, what other justification would he have? The one he made does not work unless this is also true.

Anyway, so yeah, now I'm furious all over again.

But I fucking miss the game, and the queer developers are still making content, and presumably still writing great queer characters. (I wouldn't know; I haven't played since.)

Can I justify playing again?

I still buy Nintendo games despite awful practices. I still play ESO and have a Plus subscription despite their predatory monetization and performative allyship.

But I don't touch anything Harry Potter because fuck JK Rowling. I also have never returned to Overwatch because of controversies at Blizzard that are now many years old.

My boycotts are my own convictions and obviously don't really affect anything. I put my wallet where my mouth was for OSRS and it seems I was one of very few. I'm the only person who cares that I'm not playing this game.

Fuck.