Duplication glitch

The partyhat duplication glitch was the most famous glitch of RuneScape Classic, exploited on 7 November 2003. Its effects continue to have an impact on the economy of RuneScape today.

Execution
The glitch was not an attempt to duplicate items. A player named "Sixfeetunder" had been experimenting with RuneScape by using a third-party program called AutoRune in an attempt to simply trade the scythe. Although the player never managed to trade the scythe, he did discover how to create any non-stackable item. Therefore, the glitch did essentially duplicate the item, creating a new one although you didn't even need to own the item to "duplicate" it, so it's more appropriately called "item creation."

The glitch was performed by trading with a player, and then using AutoRune to enter the numerical value that corresponded with a certain non-stackable item to have an item pop up and be traded to the other person. For example, the number for the Rune 2-handed sword was 81, so that value would be entered into AutoRune and the player who was trading with the one using AutoRune would be able to receive that item. The quantity of the item is shown as 0 on the trade screen of the player creating the item but it would show up as a quantity of 1 on the trade screen of the player receiving the item.

In his excitement, the experimenter revealed to very few people how to execute the glitch. These players then created several items, the most expensive at the time: specifically partyhats and dragon square shields. The most expensive item, the purple partyhat, was created most amongst them. Within days, hundreds of players knew how to execute the glitch.

Effects
Jagex permanently banned some players who were caught abusing the glitch. Jagex couldn't trace the party hats/crackers, and so only a few accounts with suspicious amounts of party hats were banned. The only party hats that were lost were the ones on the banned accounts, as no party hats were deleted (this was confirmed in a Jagex News update the day of the event). As Jagex did not roll back the servers, the most expensive party hat, the Purple party hat, dropped to become the least expensive. As confirmed by Jagex over 100 accounts were reverted back and are now active. Although very few of these hundred still play.