The Time MMORPG'S Threatened my Life

I thought high school was crazy enough by the spring of Grade 9. If it could calm down that would be chill. It already felt like four years. DANGER! DANGER! It only continued acceleration.

During computer class, we did what we weren't supposed to: play video games. Not getting caught was a game in itself. The school would combat with filters, but work-arounds were found. A cycle of upping security, and kids breaking it.

Jesse asked if I played a game called Runescape. I thought about an account that still had a 10 year ban on it. I hadn't bothered to play since the hacking wars of grade 8. I told them the story. [https://shopping-feedback.today/confessions/a-place-little-romeo-belongs] They were shocked and wanted to see the ban, so I tried to log in.

"We could share an account," Jesse suggested.

I hesitated, "I don't know..." sharing was different with a guy I trusted during elementary, Jesse seemed erratic and unpredictable. I made an excuse, "I wouldn't want to get you banned too," but it didn't work.

"Just don't use a bot to play for you, I already got a strike for that," he intended to use a different kind of bot instead, a real life boy.

I already got my own warnings on cheating so I had no argument. He convinced me, which really wasn't too hard if you poked enough. I wouldn't have to start over. I agreed and went to work.

And that's what I did, while Jesse was out doing drugs, getting drunk, and getting frisky with girls; I was slaving away at the account. We'd figured out that getting to level 99 in one stat, was the equivalent of getting to 90 twice. Getting to 90 was daunting enough.

I was grinding away at Woodcutting and Fletching. Logs were worth a pretty penny on their own, but the possibilities were endless with commitment. Magic levels. Crafting levels. It was ingrained for me to be a cheapscape.

The game had become so popular in 2006, it's involvement with real-world currency skyrocketed. I wasn't the only one working on that Wood Cutting skill. It was the only skill, other than fundamentals, that JB was working on. He got to level 95 by Christmas. I was quite amazed at his tenacity over those few months.

After Christmas, a good friend Milli got a hold of me. His brother had a tonne of cash. A couple years younger and dumber. He asked how much JB would sell his Woodcutting account for. We never thought we'd be offered money for an account and didn't know what a 40 attack, 40 defense, 95 woodcutting account was really worth, if anything.

Milli's brother threw out a number: $200. We were shocked and had to check with Milli because we felt like we were ripping his little brother off. Milli said it was his brothers money and he could learn his own lessons. JB sold the account for $200.

I was amazed, but even more amazed when he made a new account and went straight to 99. He hoped to sell another account.

Jesse and I were standing outside of school one lunch. He'd started dating a girl from the city and was going to call her. I made a joke about him being whipped since he didn't seem the type of guy to worry about calling a girlfriend. He just kept saying she was loose. For some reason, even though the world was huge, I asked what her name was.

"Katy," he said.

For some reason, even though the world contained tonnes of Katy's, I was curious if it was the one I knew, "What's her last name?"

"Marbles,"

"You're dating Fish-sticks?!" I burst out laughing.

"Fish-sticks? You know her? Why's she called Fish-sticks?"

"It's a good one, just call her that when she picks up," It was funny that she was too good for this weird, nerdy boy, but was dating a druggie who did things with other girls.

After her loving intro, Jesse piped up, "Hey Fish-sticks!" and I could hear her tone completely change. She was furious, wanting to know where he'd heard that nickname.

"Jory. I didn't know you two knew each other?!" he said, seemingly loving to piss off his girlfriend.

"What an ass hole!" she said angrily, hanging up as her boyfriend continued to laugh.

I'd become inconsolable, but she seemed like his type of crazy. He kept asking how she acquired the nickname. I wasn't sure I could trust Katy to tell her boyfriend, so I figured I should. You don't want secrets in your relationship.

Jesse was crying from laughing so hard. I was because he found it so funny and I was sure that was the end of the relationship. He'd never let her live it down. I could only imagine how it would feel having your other half reminding you of the worst things in your life.

The spring break approached and their relationship had ended. Between new girls, new drugs, and illicit businesses Jesse ran, he was hardly playing. He didn't mind coming on every once in awhile to marvel at the progress or currency I'd accumulated.

But he grew more emotional and angry. He kept trying to get me to partake in his lifestyle. I'd watched the progression, and it didn't look like anything I needed. I wasn't interested in hoping on his crazy train. I didn't want to do stuff that seemed to be corrupting his little kid brain.

While his binders contained the most profane stuff, mine often contained the name of a love interest. I just didn't have one at this time. That was new.

Jesse was pretty excited for Spring Break though, his family was taking him to New Zealand. That was cool with me, I'd have the entire break to grind, my woodcutting was almost level 90, fletching shortly behind that. He said he wouldn't have much time to get on.

I went to log in the first weekend, but couldn't. I tried a few more times but the password wasn't working. I checked to make sure I was putting two spaces in between the names, a tactic used to help confuse hackers. Nothing worked and the account owner was in New Zealand.

I thought, F$^#, another persons account I was on that got hacked. I went to work getting it back myself. In doing so, Jagex's system told me the password had been changed, not recovered [not hacked]. I put my detective suit on.

Jesse hadn't messaged me. I figured he'd have been on the first days and when someone hopped up on drugs doesn't notice five million gold pieces missing, assumptions run high.

When he did come on to MSM Messenger, all he said was "F$^#". I'd just lost everything tied to the account and another portion of my life, this wasn't even close to a "F$^#" situation. He didn't seem very worried which raised more red flags.

I messaged JB to tell him what happened but even over messenger he was a terrible liar. I played it up like I believed Jesse. JB didn't seem shocked either. I steered away from that and said I was bored, we should hang out. He agreed, not realizing it was a shakedown. After introductions, I started probing, his face told it all.

"Where's my gold JB?!" I said as he laughed, saying he didn't know, "How much are you getting paid? I'll double it!"

He laughed harder, "I'm not getting paid,"

"Then why are you involved?!" I asked frustrated.

"I dunno... Seemed like fun," he said still laughing.

"$20. I'll give you $20 and you give me the new password. I won't even tell Jesse, I'll tell him I hacked it back," thinking back and wanting to avoid the days of hacking wars. He agreed to the terms and conditions. I made a second account and put my money on it just in case.

Messenger flashed shortly after, it was Jesse. "Where the F$^#'s my gold man?!"

"YOUR gold?! F$^#, I made that while you were out NOT playing the game," toning it down, not wanting to piss him off too much. I wasn't entirely sure how far down that drug rabbit hole he was.

"I don't care who made it, it's my account. I want it back, now!"

This was what I'd worried about, "You can have YOUR account back, I'll just keep MY gold," I said.

"When I get back from New Zealand, MY gold had better be on there and password back. If it's not, I'm going to F$^#ing stab you Jory," and he logged out, leaving a timid nerdy boy with a stab threat.

I was scared. I couldn't figure out if he was crazy enough to actually stab me at school. I hoped he wouldn't though and held onto the money. He hacked his account back, but I used new recovery questions to get it right back. His motivation was far less than that of my Grade 8 bullies. I also used random answers and my passwords were more complex for 06, a string or sequence of numbers.

I got worried about the threat as the end of Spring Break approached. I'd had all the gold, so really the only thing left was to get stabbed. I didn't usually involve adults, but this was one time I had no idea how to proceed.

Mother said no more sharing accounts, knowing about the prior hacking wars. I'd learned that one by now. She called the school for a meeting who actually dealt with something, kind of. Jesse wasn't allowed to utter death threats or face serious consequences. Eventually he got over it and I'd hardly be able to guess he'd planned to stab me at one point.

His life, like mine, only got crazier and crazier. He gave up on Runescape so I played for awhile. I hoped to sell it like JB. I had no luck there, and I only continued to grow anxiety over it. It wasn't worth the life investment anymore.