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When Florida inmate Hearsey, who asked to be referred to by their in-game username for this story, was finally released from prison after serving nine years since their arrest at age 19, there was understandably a lot that they wanted to do. As a near-lifelong Old School RuneScape player, one of the first things they did after getting out was make a new account and buy a fresh membership subscription for the MMO. "I bought a membership before I bought a steak or had sex," Hearsey said in a post to the OSRS subreddit.
"I thought about RuneScape everyday," they wrote. "When inmates in Florida were given tablets in 2017 (super locked, no internet), I downloaded every RPG and hack-and-slash game they offered in a vain attempt at capturing something similar to RuneScape. Never found it."
In comments on Reddit, they say that they were charged with attempted murder of a police officer. Official reports from the time confirm that nobody was harmed. In our conversation, they attribute the incident to an episode of paranoia reflecting a drug-induced spiral that they've since recovered from, and after ending their teenage years in a bad place and ultimately in prison, they say they're now working a stable job and living happily with their partner, and with support from friends and family.
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OSRS is, of course, also still a part of their life, to the point that they have the game's stat sheet tattooed on their stomach. In prison, the MMO even fueled ideas for original fantasy stories – Hearsey's contributions to an online writing group offered to select inmates as part of an online education opportunity trialed in Florida.
I really didn't think I'd see anyone beat the lapsed Welsh monk's OSRS story, let alone so soon, but Hearsey's experience may be the best proof yet that you don't quit RuneScape, you just take breaks. I'm still on a break myself. Hearsey got into the game in elementary school in a way that definitely resonates with me: when most kids were on Cool Math games in computer labs, some of the older, cooler kids would boot up RuneScape.
"I thought he said Room Scape," Hearsey recalls to me. "And so the first thing I did, I went and typed in Room Scape. And it was some text-based escape room or some crap. Anyways, nah, he told me RuneScape. So I got on and got stuck on Tutorial Island. Literally, I played Tutorial Island for like two months straight. I got like 40 Woodcutting, 30 Fishing. I was just skilling on Tutorial Island."
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What keeps them coming back to OSRS? "It's the only game like that," Hearsey reckons. "I don't care, any new game – I mean, I'm not super up to date with games, obviously, but there is no other game that has that. You know how TikTok is getting banned because of the dopamine, the addiction and stuff? If RuneScape would have come out and was hitting how it hit back then, they'd be trying to ban RuneScape.
"Some nights, I wouldn't go to sleep. We had this extra room in the house. We call it the computer room, and there was a bed in there. And one night, my stepdad, he'd get up for work at like 5:30. He saw me, he opened the door. He's like, 'What are you doing? You got school? Go to bed.' I was like, 'Oh, my bad.' Acting like I didn't know what was going on. So what I started doing was, when I'd hear him get up in the morning, I'd go hide under the bed and just turn the monitor off, and as soon as I heard his work truck crank, I would get back on the computer and play until it was time to go to school. And then right before my mom came to wake me up, I'd go jump in bed real fast like I was asleep."
None of the games Hearsey tried in prison – a limited selection of often junky games, they say, with few exceptions – scratched the same itch. "I don't know how to explain that feeling," they say. "And it feels nothing like a drug addiction. I may play for like an hour a night. Me and my girlfriend, we go out every weekend, hang out. I'm still really close with my family, but I just, I do not know how to explain that feeling, why I keep coming back for this many years. There's been times in my shadier high school days where I'd be power-leveling accounts and trying to sell them, and I've gotten scammed and lost everything, had to start fresh, and I didn't care. I was like, fuck it, I get to play more."
Returning to the game after nine years, which have seen a wealth of OSRS updates ranging from foundational changes to heaps of new content not present in the 2007 version of the game that was initially revived, has given Hearsey a bit of shellshock. If they'd been playing to see these things come gradually, "it would have been different," but getting hit with it all at once is almost alien. Their perception is a fascinating time capsule of the classic MMO's history and culture.
"I have to wiki everything, everything that I see people wearing," they say. "When I left, I want to say I knew everything about the game. Even in prison, I could sit there and tell everyone what level required what, where you went for this. I'm a freaking noob right now, and I played for that many years."
Getting access to games and reflecting on their memories of RuneScape were valuable comforts in prison, Hearsey says, and they also had access to a lo-fi version of the MMO's unmistakable soundtrack. However, they're mindful of becoming too hooked on the game again. "I was always feeling like if I'm not reading, working out, or writing, I'd feel guilty, like I was wasting my time in there," they say. "If I don't accomplish XYZ before I get out, I'm not ready to get out. I accomplished pretty much everything I wanted to, like learning about finances and just reading so many self-help books. I really got my mind right.
"But gaming, there have been nights. They re-released some Nintendo classics on the tablet right before I got out. Oh my god, they finally got good games. I probably spent three days non-stop, day and night, playing the first Zelda. I felt so disgusting. I haven't been reading, I haven't been writing. That actually made me start questioning. But what I can say is that there are [people] in there, not me specifically, that all they do is play games on their tablet and it works for them."
Hearsey mentions a friend whose mother, a 65-year-old Florida woman, plays OSRS on a more hardcore Ironman account. "All she does is babysit and play on her Iron all day long," they say. "And it kind of gives me hope. It's really a comfort. It is a comfort thing, like how some people binge watch TV shows over and over again, the same show. I can go look at the RuneScape login. You just go and hear that RuneScape main theme. You hear that and it's just more of a feeling than anything you can describe."
OSRS will remain a part of Hearsey's new lease on life, even if it's just a small part of it. "Having everything taken away from you is an experience that not everybody gets to experience," they say, "and it makes you appreciate – there's so much stuff I don't take for granted anymore. Just food, for example. I will literally eat anything. I was on a super organic vegan trip before I went to prison. Now I will eat anything. I mean, I know it's not recommended, but I just enjoy it a lot. I just enjoy stuff. I just enjoy everything so much more now."
