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PC Gamer
PC Gamer
Ted Litchfield

Even though Old School RuneScape was 'not built to have a LAN setup at all,' it just had a live esports tournament with 4,000 attendees: 'We were doubting at times whether we actually can pull it off'

Mỹ Old School Old School Runescape Jagex
Three Old School Runescape characters standing in a row, the lead pumping his fist in the air.

On Saturday, June 20, something weird happened here in Chicago: 4,000 people gathered in person (and over one million tuned in to the stream) to watch Deadman All Stars, a PvP tournament of Old School RuneScape. Even with my only RuneScape experience having been getting cyberbullied in it by half of a pair of evil blonde twins at my middle school circa 2006, the good vibes were infectious.

Old School is hot and, by almost any metric, in a new golden age surpassing its original run in the aughts. But MMO PvP as a live esports event? It shouldn't work, but it did, and I got to talk to Old School RuneScape creative director Kieren Charles about how Deadman All Stars came together, as well as the logistical challenges of bashing a 25-year-old MMO into shape for it.

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