In a small stone chapel on the edge of a medieval wilderness, two women are getting married. Attendees wear rainbow capes, glowing armor, and top hats.
A scantily clad muscular man with angel wings officiates. Over the brides' heads, yellow text reads "I do."
>>> Belgium Defeats United States 4-1 to Reach World Cup Quarter-Finals
This is RuneScape, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in the Tolkienesque realm of Gielinor.
Turning 25 this year, it has become a crucial virtual social space and part of daily life for thousands of players.
Lancashire-born Amelia, one of the pixelated brides, met her wife on a dating app but bonded over their love of the game.
"Our first and second date was pretty much exclusively talking about RuneScape," she recalls.
Morgan, a 26-year-old from the Midlands, is one of Amelia's closest friends.
They met through the game and run UWU Girls, a RuneScape clan Morgan founded to cater to players across the gender spectrum.
"We do IRL meetups, and for a lot of these women, it's been their first meetings with strangers online," Morgan says.
From Browser Game to Billion-Dollar Empire
RuneScape began in 2001 as a pet project of Cambridge undergrad Andrew Gower.
Its humble graphics and grindy mechanics weren't revolutionary compared to titans like Everquest and World of Warcraft.
But its simplicity, free-to-play browser access, and optional subscription made it unstoppable in the late 2000s.
Today, there are more than 300 million accounts across all versions, and lifetime revenue exceeds $3 billion.
