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“What makes an MMO truly special”: Hundreds of Old School RuneScape players have become monks and started a holy war after a pilgrimage got out of control
On July 18, a large assembly of Old School RuneScape players gathered at Edgeville monastery and journeyed through the Wilderness zone toward Revenant Caves dressed as monks of Saradomin, one of the game's theological factions. Armed only with healing supplies and religious conviction, the unarmed group deliberately avoided combat engagement, instead seeking to criticise player-killers they encountered through elaborate roleplay.
The religious pilgrimage provoked an organised response from the opposing Zamorak faction, which has announced plans for a counter-pilgrimage targeting their home base on July 25. The event demonstrates how MMO players create emergent narratives and community-driven experiences that operate independently of designed game systems, converting competitive spaces into stages for collaborative storytelling and cultural expression.
In short
- Hundreds of Old School RuneScape players organised a pilgrimage on July 18 through the Wilderness PvP zone as unarmed Saradomin monk characters
- The event prompted a rival Zamorak faction to organise a counter-pilgrimage scheduled for July 25
- The incident exemplifies how MMO communities create emergent roleplay narratives that transcend the game's designed competitive mechanics
Explained simply
Old School RuneScape is an online role-playing game where thousands of players inhabit a shared fantasy world. The game features competing religions and gods that players can choose to follow and roleplay as representatives of.
On 18 July, hundreds of players organised a pilgrimage dressed as monks of the Saradomin religion, journeying through one of the game's most dangerous areas. Rather than engaging in combat, the group used creative storytelling to criticise other players known for attacking defenceless characters.
These events demonstrate how players independently create their own narratives and elaborate performances within the game world. Such community-driven experiences operate outside the game's official systems, transforming competitive spaces into platforms for collaborative storytelling and shared cultural expression.
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