Runescape Addiction: Why Not to Take This MMORPG Lightly
When you first begin playing Runescape it’s probably just because it is a fun game that your friends told you about, it takes you away from everything and you get really into it. You want to reach the next level, and you want to surpass your friends and get the most coins. What most people don’t realize right off the bat, however, is that it’s not quite as easy to stop playing as it was to start. That’s an understatement.
Many ex-players refer to it as “digital crack” because you find yourself thinking about it even when your not playing, so your entire day becomes consumed by it. Usually it doesn’t happen all at once, it creeps up on you. This is a difficult feeling to explain to someone who has not played it yet, but it has been speculated that something about the game plays off of the same receptors in your brain that would normally deal with gambling and impulsiveness.
It takes a long time to reach your maximum level (which is 99) and there are many many skills to work on. So imagine having 25 skills, all with a maximum level of 99, and it takes you roughly 3 months of playing 4 hours every day to reach 99 in even ONE of those skills. Now calculate how long it would take you to max out all of your skills to 99. Adds up nicely doesn’t it?
Free players who can’t afford, or won’t pay the $5 a month for membership don’t have access to all 25 skills, but they do have access to about 16 of them and that still adds up to several years of playing. Now add on top of all the skills…drum roll please…. the quests! There are tons of them and there’s new ones being added all the time. This is just scratching the tip of the iceberg though.
So either all of these features can be a blessing, or a big curse that causes your descent into the computer monitor and ends with your soul finally belonging to Jagex. A word to the wise, be careful and realize the addiction potential this game poses. It’s a great game…just be careful. There are plenty of stories floating around the net that describe some hardcore cases of Runescape addiction (I know that sounds slightly comical, but seriously though) and some of them are pretty shocking.
It’s up to you to use good judgment and moderation.
