Runescape dev builds 'World 666' to celebrate decade-old glitch massacre

Today Runescape developer Jagex added a new world to Runescape Old School, World 666, as a tongue-in-cheek celebration of an infamous glitch that caused several players to go on an in-game player-killing spree 10 years ago.

It's a nice example of how a developer might create in-game events and locations that celebrate its community of players, even if the players in question are mostly remembered for taking advantage of a glitch that let them kill other players in supposedly "safe" zones where PvP combat was forbidden.

Sometimes known as the 6/6/6 glitch since it occurred between June 6-7 of 2006, the "Falador Massacre" saw players who had been taking part in combat arenas inside a player-owned house party booted out of the house by the server -- while retaining the ability to engage other players in combat anywhere in the world.

Some players took advantage of this bug to travel to in-game cities like Falador and go on player-killing sprees, which eventually led to Runescape mods stepping in to fix the glitch and ban some of the players.

Ten years later, those Runescape Old School players participating in World 666 were teleported to a special event in Falador to commemorate the 6/6/6 glitch. Runescape Old School, of course, being the legacy version of Runescape that Jagex has been running on multiple servers since 2013.