Taking the First Issue 2 - Runescape Is Not Healthy For Children and Other Living Things
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There is a new fad taking over children’s lives. Following the example of various MMORPG’s before it, Runescape, produced by Jagex Ltd., is a game where players take control of a character they create. They can customize how their character looks; they can battle other players; and they can complete quests. But Runescape is slightly different than other MMORPG’s before it. It has a surprisingly large number of younger children taking time out of their days to play the game. The reason for this may be one or more of a few things.
First, the game does not have very high system requirements, and can even be played within a web browser. This makes it easy for people to play while in school, at home, at a friend’s house, or anywhere they can connect to the internet. Secondly, there is a free version of the game. This free version offers fewer quests, and not as high levels that can be achieved. Rob, the former Runescape-player who has provided a testimonial and information for this article, says that he played this free version for about 3 months before moving on to the paid service.
When players join this paid version, the real problems begin. First, they (or their parents) are paying for this game. At $13.95 every two months, they are now paying about 84 dollars per year to play this game. Also, because they are paying, players feel more obligation to play the game, and they want to reach higher levels for their characters. Moreover, they become addicted to it, and cannot stop playing it. Rob tells us of his addiction in his testimonial:
“When I first started, around October of 2004, I hardly had any idea of what I was getting myself into. It started off innocently enough; just a few minutes a day, but then its addictive energy soon took control of my life. I found I was playing in English, Spanish, Physics and even Algebra class if I had the time. I attend a private high school, and have a massive school load. With getting home around 5, and 3 hours of homework I was going directly to my laptop and playing 4-5 hours a day. My school is a laptop school, and I have numerous frees during the day. Always, any free time I had went to Runescape. My other friend played Runescape, and we used to talk about it. I went to online forums and chatted with about 2,000 other people like myself. I found that my successes and failures in the game and forums dictated my actual life, I was angry when I died, and even when I would go to my grandparent’s beach house, the laptop came, and on to the neighbors wireless I went. After my one year anniversary, I had bought things on EBay for a total of about 700 dollars, just to make myself better in the game, so not only did the game take away my life, but a lot of my money. I never used to hang out with my friends, I play the trumpet 5 years running now, and I had stopped practicing, essentially, it had consumed my life.”
Rob sums it up quite nicely. The “addictive energy” that consumed him and “took control” of his life is the very energy that is unhealthy for players. At the time I write this, there are 156377 people playing Runescape. That is 156377 people who are currently getting no physical activity, 156377 people who are probably currently having no real human contact. These people are just like Rob; they are addicted to this game and are being consumed by it. Rob himself writes of going to his grandparents’ beach house, probably very beautiful, and with very nice surroundings, and the he says that when he arrived, “on to the neighbor’s wireless I went.” The time consumption this game causes is one of the smaller problems. Probably the most major problem is the spending of money. On top of the $84 per year, players buy items and upgrades on EBay. In one year, Rob says he had bought $700 worth of “things” so that he could “make myself better in the game.”
This game had taken over Rob’s life. His “successes and failures in the game and forums dictated my actual life.” He was addicted. After spending over $750 and countless hours on this game, Rob decided it was time to quit. He writes that, “Once I decided to quit, I had to find out how to do it, I tried half ass quitting, just leaving Runescape for a while, and staying on the forums, but it didn’t work. To keep it short, I started playing less, seeing my friends more, and began to tell people on the forums and stuff that I was leaving.” He says “it was one of the hardest things I had ever done in my life.” He had his mom change the password, but that didn’t work. In the end, Rob deleted all shortcuts, bookmarks, and links to anything Runescape-related. But one task remained. “Then came the hardest part, I cancelled my membership, and gave all my items to my friend.” He had done it, he had cured himself of the epidemic, the disease that is Runescape.
41 Responses to “Taking the First Issue 2 - Runescape Is Not Healthy For Children and Other Living Things”
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i think that it is true that you get addicted to the game but as fast as me and my friends at school got addicted we got sick of it, we all got up to lvl 60 we got sick of it
so people should not panic when they relize they play it to often just wait it out lol.
im currently playing world of warcraft and that has not
made as much of an impact on my life cause i know not to
get addicted because it costs a hell of alot more then runescape.
maybe people should send the bit extra for
world of warcraft, play it and then get sick of over paying
for it.
you guys r fuckin fags. everyone i know that plays runescape (which is alot of people) is healthy and extremeily active.
am lvl 57 and i won a runnig medal. this is a waste!
also chekc out the like 4 people you have on this
and also everyone that is porting… its their fault. they play all the time. other people dont get a life and stop abusing a company tryin to make money
I agree- runescape dominated my life until I quit. It’s the best thing I ever did. I see two possible futures for me- 1. Successful +happy. 2. Unsuccsessful and depressed. Giving up runescape pushed me towards future1 1 and away from future 2.
yes you guys need to fuck yourselves and jump off a bridge.
and what the fuck r u looking at it only cost $5:00 a month to play runescape as a member i have no idea what u guys r looking at
yeah im sory for that stuff i said my friend got carried away lol. i respect this ite for the people who spend all of their time playing runescape. but it only takes a bit of my extra time so i try to eat i better diet and i stay the way i was from the time i started playing. good luck with your site it wont fail =)
im addicted to the cpu a little too much. but i never experienced into members so im still addicited when i get bored of members around 25 years old i will quit it and achieve my dreams becoming a nfl player thank u for showing this people that is addictied. but if anyone that wants me help exp of members email me at music_killer_man@yahoo.com.
wtf is this runescape took over my life but im not complaining like sure its fun and all but really its not bad for u just cuz u say it is well guess what im the doctor now and i say its good for u continue to play runescape everybody dont listen to these asswipes they r just trying to make u have a horrible life runescape is so fun u should spend time with friends i learned that the hard way and lost all my friends so i moved to another town and quit runescape for 2 months thanx peace mofos!!!
runescape is so fuckin gay i spent 3 years of my fucking
life playing it fuck all you gay fukin god dam gay fucking
bitches that play runescape A-duh im chopping down a fuckin oak tree wow look at me im fishing for stupid fish fuck them dam fish fuck the dam goblins fuk farming and fuck jagex
what the fuck are you talking about runescape isn’t addicting its just
the dumb ass nerds that don’t have lives girlfriends are probly gay and have
nothing to live for that get addicted you dumb ass cock sucking motherfuckers
runescape is not addictive i have time to spare i go on it i agree i missed only 1 homework item cause of it but i never since its fun r u all stuid u all should play it again become a member. i agree when ur trying to get 60 atk it gets a lil addicting but when ur just hanging on it its fun so for all the parents who are agenst or people who are ex scapers screw you!
hi sup guys iam a creater of counter strike i helped make gunbouned an maple story but runescape lol this game is really adictive but i can give runescape players free stuff just leave ya pass an user on my emali at georgebailey93@hotmail.com i can get u every thing i can hack into runscape and stel it of the creaters i have had some skills taught to me from bill gates ty bill gates ya grate any way u no wat to do guys p.s. its all in ya heads
dudes another thing i wsa 68 cruel gamer and jagex kiked me for a reason that was stupied i played 4 years on that account its so fuckin pissing me off now its a stupied game fkin jagex wtf man they dont care they just wanna make a quick dolloar fuckin wankers
for thoses kides out there dont give in there people like u an me makin games that make people atraced to them and now my bro s like a george can u show me how to play runescape i was like omfg not him now…………..any ways lucky theres a site like dis thanks guys………u can talk to me if u dis a gree just add georgebailey93@hotmail.com an i willl answer all ya questions
dude sup guys runescape is fucked man just fucked up people playing a fucked up game
you guys are gay ass wigers who try to act hard i play runescape and im on my school restling team one of the best in my school u pussys say stuff on here but i know damn well if u seen me u wouldnt say shit.im a lvl 111 acc on runescape and im no nerd i dont even play eeryday so go fuck your self wigers!
[…] To all Runescape fanboys, n00bs and l33ts alike, Everytime you leave a comment on my Runescape article, you always seem to prove my point. Seriously, do you see it? Allow me to quote: […]
any1 hu gets addicted must be serious idiot,
runescape is fun but its not that addictive,
and will every1 stop saying rs is stupidly addictive as it just isnt
uh yeah runescape is lame as shit , all you guys who play it are gay, i dont care if your active or not, its still lame
Interesting story, but thats just one game, and I admit its a popular “free MMO” there are MMORPGs out there with far more people playing than that. You also have to understand there are online stores that sell money, items, and power leveling(basicly they will take all the effort out of the game for you). Its interesting that you bring up game addiction from Runescape, because people often get bored of such games, and move on to more expensive games, and they keep on doing that again and again… we are talking $30-60 per game, and $10-20 a month on service charges. People will spend an extreme ammount of money on games and countless hours everyday.
The reasons why you say Runescape is addictive is only part of it… I believe an even bigger part is social. You have friends that play, and you want to keep up with them, or you want to be better than them. The more people you know, the more reasons you have to stay. Many gamers lose intrest when they lack the social aspects of the game. If their friends leave to another game, or start a new game, they will often follow. Usually its where your friends are that draw you in.
~Dan
I play and i’m still active. I have alot of friends. Beat that.
Hi,my name is Danni and i am a 12 year old girl.I first got into runescape by a friend,then i was addicted to it i played it 2 hours a day (and i knw u guys play it for longer)but i think wat i had ws addiction.and i must sae its and awesome game,kinda!but why im writing this is because people r
so addicted to thez games and it is really unhealthy,i am very active i play sqaush,netball hockey,water polo and i am captain of the boys rugby team,hw many of u girls r captain for a bois team that oviosly shws i am fit and i am
there is more things to do then look at screen for 2-5 hours a day!just get out ther and STOP bein so dam addictive!
I think it is addictive, I play way too much but it’s not that I only play runescape. It’s fun but it remains a game. I only really keep playing because a few of my friends also keep playing.
who aggree’s wit me that runescape sux balls!
I THINK RUNESCAPE IS ADDICIF BUT IT IS STILL A GOOD GAME IT WASTE HALF URE ENRGY AND IT MAKE URE
[.][.]’S BAD
man if any yall wanna quit give me ya cash my account name is khaymanb and im addited so im on like 24/7!!!
so please gimme money i am on in world 103 falador
I think that it is not the game that is hazardous to people, but rather people who force themselves to play constantly. ill admit that once i moved to members I found myself playing more and more, because of the competitive nature of the game you feel pressured to make money or become higher level. now i only play when i ahve nothing else to do. as with every other “addiction” you are your own worst enemy if YOU decide to let it dictate your life, then it will. if thats you… you probly dont ahve much of a life to dictacte anyways, peace always- vashmere- lvl 90 with full dharocks
Yuo guys can suck my balls
Runescape is not a disease you stupid son of a bitches cancer is so shut your fucking big ass holes up
Runescape is only 5 bucks assholes world of warcraft is 15 bucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the game at 1st costs 50 bucks!!!!!!!!!! whatt the fuck!!!!!!!!!! go fuck ur mom
fuck you gay faghes this is the most puccies game i have ever played if i knew where you lives i would beat the shit out of every 1 of you bitches….. fuck you guys and your ptathetic runescape addictive lives!!!!!
by the way im the collest kid around so dont mees with me bitches
tyler gallagher i live in the usa new jersey! north new jersey
ok im done listening to yall crap about runescape im a lv 60 and not bored of it and this is my second account because my first 1 got stolen and danni u can suck my ball and kiss my ass if yall want to look for me my name is “Zenatho”
so for of u who like runescape keep rocking dudes and i agree with “my milkshake”
and i will always be on playing
im a lv 60 and not bored yet after my first account beind stolen so who ever is still playing my name is “zenatho”
and fuck danni but rock on “my milkshake” look for me ppl i will be on runescpae everyday
oh yea but if 1 of yall quit ill be on take take ur items off ur hands
a great game if you have a notebook and a tv. at the same time or play ps2 at the same time.many hi levels are emos ,and would die with out the game . im cb 115 ,1508 totals , 80 mil gp . trust me nerds arent that crazy only losers living a lie play like i do. i would not play if i didint have a laptop and only had a monitor.i HAVE TRIED WORLD OF WAR CRAFT AND GUILD WARS but those simply Were NOT ADDICTIVE AND I WOULD RATHER PLAY PS2 GAMES At THE SAME TIME I PLAY RS.shut up hatas ….
rs is addictive it ruins lifes, but hey its prety special if you give into ^_^ and that is the truth
THIS SITE IS KINDA RITE. ALL I DO EVERYDAY IS PLAY RUNESCAPE AND B4 I USED TO B 1 OF THE FITTEST IN MY CLASS AND WEN ATHLETICS DAY CAME I CAME LAST BY A MILE AND MY MUSCLES WERE REALLY SORE SO DONT GO STAYING INSIDE ALL THE TIME GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY GAMES INSTEAD OF COMPUTER GAMES CUZ I PLAY IT FOR LYK 9 NHOURS EVERYDAY SO DO THE RIGHT THING GUYS
I NO ITZ ADDICTIVE I STILL CANT QUIT