An Old School RuneScape Liz Truss troll circulating on Twitter offers Britain’s recently-resigned prime minister to take another jab at fixing the economy — but this time, with merely a game world at stake instead of an entire country. The game’s new fresh start worlds give would-be players like Truss an opportunity to experiment with the MMORPG‘s virtual environment while also granting lapsed players another reason to return to RuneScape.
After a tumultuous 44 days wherein inflation rose to record highs, the value of the Pound Sterling sunk to record lows, and numerous key allies quit or stepped down from government leadership positions, Truss threw in the towel, seemingly outlasted by a head of lettuce. Although the country faced economic issues before her brief tenure, an ill-considered financial plan shattered confidence both in the UK and abroad, with many holding Truss primarily responsible for the recent economic shakeups.
So, it’s only fitting that a video game would encourage Truss to try again by inviting her to experiment within the economy within its game world, where even the most ill-considered choices won’t impact anything beyond some lines of software code.
“Looking for a Fresh Start @trussliz?” the tweet from the official Old School RuneScape account begins. “We’ve got a fresh economy, where you can really make a difference! This essential catering worker needs a helping hand during this cost of living crisis, he can’t even afford his own ingredients!”
The tweet, which also links to an official blog post covering Old School RuneScape’s fresh start worlds, now has more than 10,000 ‘likes’ and more than 2,300 retweets.
The joke plays into British citizens’ fears and concerns over the rising costs of everyday items such as food and home goods. However, in offering Truss a fresh start, it ties into the game’s recently-introduced Fresh Start Worlds, which have no established economies or high scores.
Other than being fresh, Old School RuneScape’s fresh start worlds are functionally the same as the main game. They’re meant to invite new players into Old School RuneScape, as inexperienced players may feel intimidated trying to keep up in worlds alongside those who have been playing the game for a very long time. These fresh start worlds will then carry over into the game’s main game in six months, or four-and-a-half months longer than Truss’s tenure.
The idea is to attract new players and let them explore the game, allowing them to develop and grow at their own pace — something Truss unfortunately wasn’t able to do as prime minister of the UK.
Fortunately, you don’t have to be a former prime minister to begin. The blog post provides complete details as to setup and instruction, granting anyone the opportunity to see whether their decisions can wreck an entire economy.
If you’re itching to get into the game, you can always check out our beginner’s guide to RuneScape to learn the basics. If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll want to learn about six exciting ways to play RuneScape that you might not already know.