Why is RuneScape Addicting?
This question means different things to all of us. Over time RuneScape has evolved and the reason why we play the game could have fluctuated, maybe it was to pass time, maybe your just a little kid with nothing better to do, or maybe it was the pure fun factor of the game that had you coming back for more like that girl you know in school. Its different for all of us, but ill tell you guys about me.
I started playing RuneScape in December of 2004, and i was around 12 years old. I had alot of time. I wish i had that much now. Anyway, you know, tech was still evolving, its always evolving. I was just simply hooked on the game. I started off with a level 70 that my friend told me to cut wood for him. Little did i know he was using me to make cash, so i made up around 300k gold and one day i tried to login and i couldn’t! Well turns out my friend took the runescape account back. But there is one thing i realized after that, i was good at making money. I knew how to work hard and achieve, and since there were no macro bot armies or anything back then well, legal gold making was easy!
So i got my best friend into playing it with me and we both made brand new characters. From there forth we would spend every waking moment we had on RuneScape. We made money the hard way, and quite frankly to be honest, we made alot of money the easy way. We designed scams and tricks for people to fall into, we got tons of santas, masks, and even a few phats. As time passed, playing the game didn’t just revolve around making money, but it went into pking, where we spent hours training pures. It went into main skilling, which i spent hours and hours questing/and obtaining my skills. I wanted to be the best since there was nothing else important.
…Or so i thought.. i started to get older and my school work started to slack. But by playing RuneScape so much, i kinda didn’t care. I put RuneScape in front of my work, my grades started to slack, and my parents started to get infuriated, especially since they are so strict about grades. My life started to rot. But of course, instead of fixing it, i just found “refuge” by playing RuneScape. It was like a drinking addiction, i just had to have more.. to fix things that i thought weren’t fixable, or better yet, i was too lazy to fix them.
My life rolled by and i started to finally realize that Runescape is killing my life. I quit, or maybe, im not sure what happend. It’s like one of those relationships that have no trouble but eventually, they just simply fade with no hurt. So around my 15th birthday, i put the MMO games away. My logins became less frequent, and soon, i rarely even thought of it. But RuneScape had already taken its toll on my life, i became a geek. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing. It taught me to be the young man i am today. I got into computer programming, learned alot of life lessons, and well, it made me grow as a person. Im not sure exactly how, but it did. I was one of the lucky ones i’d say. I was smart to begin with and RuneScape came out to be at least a bit beneficial to me.
….But this isn’t the case for everyone.
How do you know when your addicted?
I remember one of the funniest thing’s i still remember seeing in RuneScape was this quote by a couple of kids in Varrock East Bank. Excuse the profanity by the way.
“Omfg! My ****ing mom is telling me to go outside and play”, “I hate this *****”, “Ill be back later”
Still reminding myself of that moment just makes me crack up. It also tells you a lot about how young these kids actually are and what their saying. I mean honestly, you can see kindergarteners running around screaming “****”!!
Well, we all have our own idea of addiction to something but in my personal opinion, i would say, you devote most of your free time, and maybe even your work time into playing it. But as the above example shows, it could just generally be obvious.
How do i stop my addiction?
Ok your in for the lifetime classic, THROW AWAY YOUR ACCOUNT!
I’m serious about this one too. It does actually work, but it might just be a little hard. But heres a list of other ways i thought up on how to quit.
- Many of us have routers at home, and 95% of them provide website blocking. Ask your parents to block RuneScape.com and tell them seriously to never unlock it again. Unless at the rare chance that your parents play too, or you have another sibling, it will work.
- Go get your a$$ outside. Im not joking, don’t be lazy and end up like one of those fat kids you see stuck in their bed. Sure, it sounds harsh, but wouldn’t it be great if people stopped dying from heart attacks?
- Spend time with people. This can be very serious. Girlfriend, parents, friends, anyone! Go do things, goto the beach, hang out outside, skatepark, basketball, anything that doesn’t involve sitting around.
- Study! or.. attempt to! You learn something both ways and comes in more handy later in life. Trust me im not saying sit around and be a nerd. But devote at least an hour to your books, it’ll help you.
- Play MMORPG‘s, ok, this may sound completely pointless, but once you do establish a fine line of control over your time, go ahead and play! Our new tech world wouldn’t be the same without geeks like us.
- Get a girlfriend! not a gf. ps: c’mon, you know the difference.
- Finally, be creative! I can’t obviously cover everything you can possibly do, but go out and do what your heart tells you to do.
So yeah guys, really. Life isn’t anything that should be given away to a company, but like my story. Something like this can compell you to learn cool things and do some awesome experiements. So thats really all i have to say, i hope you guys take this advice.
Well written article, and yeah i do agree with the things that are given above, you need to prioritize your life before you play games
÷1
Well written and i am also amazed by how much even under 10 yr olds sware.
Some of this tho can be linked to the parents
Nice article, I totally agree with your points.
Some kids are getting extremely addicted, and their social lives suffer.
I totaly aagree, it used to rot my life, now im playing less frequently, i only get on now to hang out with buddies i miss from when i moved across the world. Very well said.
very well written good points too
please read this i just quit rs and this quote “It’s like one of those relationships that have no trouble but eventually, they just simply fade with no hurt” now thats a nice quote and it completely applies to me cause that how i have quit ive been playing for like 4-5 years now and i just cant see the point anymore n its a waste of time ive got so many other things to do. also i believe researching these kinds of addiction after u stop playing help the healing process and encourage u to quit lol thats the only reason im on this site gl quitting all and get a girlfriend they r so h0t!
I knew I was addicted, when I was playing 12-hour days and I developed a hunched back, eye problems, vision worsening, my joints started aching, etc.
I did the right thing and limited my playtime to 1-hour a day, just in time for the school year
Good luck.
Regards,
Gnarfard.
yeah i have same prob but unfortunetly im 16 and i started rs almost a year ago and i am addicted i play anout 3-4 hours a day at rs =( and i know thats its wrong but too hard to quit my rs name is abdulshakoor
very very well written. I’m addicted too. i made more than 5 acounts but from now on they will never be online anymore. I’m quitting now!
:o 
hey…. everytime i play, i play for like 8+hours a day, very extremely well written aritcle…., but i don’t play very much… just every other weekend or so…. im addicted, but i like it, i dont think i will stop, but if i decide to, it will probably be because of what you said… thank you so much for this great article….
Dude like woe, i’m like totally addicted i play this game all hours of the day, homie. I need runescape anonymous meetings.
Good article! I am currently addicted to runescape. I hate the outside world. I love to dive into the world of runescape! I am one sick puppy with no friends, no job no family. Just sit here and play runescape for about 12 hours a day.
I’ve gotta be honest here, as much as I hate to admit, I’m like totally addicted to Runescape.
I started this stupidity in December 2005 then quit out of boredom sometime around October of 2006, and then I came back to the game mid 2008. Me being a stupid fuck head just had to log back in on that boring day of summer vacation!
Who ever knew this game could ruin anybody’s life. A couple of my friends irl who are now quitters knew about my addiction but as everyone else I know, they have no fucking clue I play this crazy up game
Nice article.
I have been slacking a bit cause of rs, Im gonna take a break at one of the hardest point of the year: school break.
give me strength…
this is a great article man
athough i’m addicted to rs now and i wasted most of my christmas break playing, it gave me some idea of “improving skills” kind of thing. now i just want to improve my own “levels” of doing something, like “crafting” (knitting) or “mining” (geology stuff) or whatever… =)
and i droppen all my gold to a party chest =) made someone happy
This addiction isn’t just for kids.
My husband eats to the point of making himself sick to have an excuse to sit up at night – until 3:30 to 4:00 a.m. – and play Runescape.
A friend of ours is 51 years old. She gets her 14 year old son off to school then plays Runescape and chain smokes the rest of the day.
They live on welfare and the trailer is so filthy you can’t see the floor. The cat box doesn’t get changed for weeks.
I know the economy is bad and life can be hard. Everyone needs some recreation, but escaping into a make believe world to this point and bragging about spending hours clicking a mouse to “grow a potato” then complaining about not having enough money to make the trailer payment is pathetic!
well i dont know what happened with me, i started in 05 played till 07 i quit all until this last christmas break wehn i asked my freind for my old password. now im addicted again. and i dont know what happened but i never hang out with my freinds anymore. they just dont call me, i talk to them at school and such but yeah this fuels my addiction i guess.
Very well written, i’ve been playing for four years and have tried to quit multiple times, now i think i’m just going to take the big step and get rid of the account. Just outta curiousity would you reccomend going out with style and leaving or going out with a bang and getting banned by jagex so theres no chance of ever coming back?
I was a very bad runescape addict but I slowed down when I has a girlfriend I didn’t play much nice job on the guide man. ps: I still play once in a while not a bad thing
i only play about 1 – 2 hours a day thats not im not an addict right
sorry but what i meent to say was im not a rs addict right?
im not a kid or anything but my mom made me quit i cant get on even if i try she made her passwords for dads,hers,and my usernake wne u first log in on the computer she want let me play til next year she says im more sociable wen im not playing…runescape is the worst addiction it will neve rbe stoped…peace,btw i dont think i will ever quit
fuck u all bitches!
I started in 05 and have tried to quit many many times. This games a disease!! I finally did quit, though. I gave my account to my friend and he changed the password. My addiction never affected my social life, but sitting down, playing for what feels like minutes, and seeing you’ve been playing for 2-3 hours sucked. But, as I played many other games, I realized something. It’s an RPG! It’s just another type of a game! If you have all your priorities straight, good social life, grades, and DONT RANDOMLY HEAR THE MUSIC THROUGHOUT THE DAY, then play! There’s nothing wrong with playing video games! Runescape is more beneficial in respect to learning life lessons than any other game, from learning to enjoy yourself without getting addicted to the game itself. Strictly control your time just as with ALL OTHER HOBBIES, and you’ll be fine. Rs isn’t a sin! My names techmage22 if you wanna talk or play
Well I realy liked this Article, I’m currently On the border between quitting and playing, If I quit Runescape, What would I do? If I go out with my friends, We’ll just go and get into trouble. Can anyone here help me :’(, IT’S ruining my SOCIAL LIFE FOR GOD’S SAKE!
im 22 years old, i played runescape back in highschool like 2004, i only played it a lil tho, so i didnt get addicted, thankfully i could only access the internet at school, now i have a job where i work the graveyard shift and its so boring, so what do i do? play runescape, lol made a new character, and i play it a couple of hours on my shift, addicted? not really, just helps pass the time at work, so here’s my advice, limit ur time that you play runescape, 2 or 3 hours a day. no more then that, space out the time, not all 3 hours at once, take a break, do stuff, go outside, or at least get out of ur seat and get some pringles and a snapple and look out the window, stretch your legs, talk to a friend, preferably a real friend you know in life, not runescape, lol. hopefully that helps
zomg you are all noobs. thank the universe you noob sellouts are quitting. ^_-
I started playing runescape in 2005 and I’m suprised how much it has improved in the last four years. Suprised by how it pulls in people with ease and how it feels like your “forgetting” something on the game every time you step away from the game. I have stopped playing in 2007 only because another games were more interesting to me then RS. I am so thankful that I got out of that addiction because school work is nearly impossible for me right now, and if I still held on to that addiction, then I would be screwed in school.
PS: Sadly, my brother is addicted to this game. He spent the last 7 hours on my laptop creating goods which he sold on the Grand Exchange in RS. Apperently he found a way to make hundreds of thousands of gold with only a Level 3 character by marketing.
What’s up. I’ve been playing RuneScape for longer than any of you have. Over the years i’ve had 5 accounts. My current accunt that I play on is near maxed. GG mutha Fuckas
I like runescape. Its actually quite fun and entertaining and definitely beats boredom.
Op, it probably is/was only addicting to you because you chose it to be. As far as I know, noone forced you to play and there must have been a time or two when you felt as though you should be doing more productiove things rather than chilling out in the lands of Gielinor.
My point is, runescape was only addictive for you because you were too weak of mind to step away.
“The weak deserve to die(or in your case, quit), so that the strong may flourish. This is the creed of Zamorak.” -Unholy Book’s Last Rite Passage, Runescape
Have fun with the game. Just don’t let it consume your life. I started playing the game off and on in 2002 at the age of 13. It slowly consumed my life bit by bit until 2005 when my mother got me high speed Internet as a birthday gift. This then allowed me to stay on the net for prolonged periods without the parents knowing because I wouldn’t be tying up the phone line on dial-up. I played nonstop in 2005; 6-8 hours on school days and up to 20 hours a day during the summer when I was raising combat and a few other skills to 99.
Long story short, I stopped skilling and joined clans to focus on PKing but was bored of that by late 2006. I knew it was time to quit but RS had such a hard grip on my life. I was 17 and had nothing to turn to in real life; no friends, no high school activities, no job. I just droned through high school in real life and my clan activities in the game until Summer 2007 when I decided to quit the clan as I was enrolling in college.
As I said in the beginning, have fun with the game. Just don’t let it consume your life. Get out of the house and do stuff as the blog author said. I basically gave up on being a “normal” teenager so I could get 126 combat, high skills, clan respect, and essentially worthless millions in RS cash. My fault, yes, but I guess I wasn’t charismatic or smart enough manage an active virtual and real life at the same time. All that’s behind me now and I’m still working to improve as a person. Just giving my 2 cents to help fellow Scapers.
it sucked me in my friends started talking about it and i started playing soon i was level 69 so i liked it more and more but then i played more and became a addict swore at my parents lost the grades and became the runescape master so my mum canceled the membership i got pissed off im only 11 years old
If everyone here is quitting, I’ll take your accounts so that you won’t be tempted to play
.
I was also addicted to runescape…But through runescape I found out about private servers
(Private owned runscape servers)
Through them I found out Programing
So I guess I was lucky like you, I got something out of it =)
Ps. When they basically took out pvp I quit
Pss.Throwing away all your stuff really works!
Hi I’m 12 and not even realizing I was playing at least 16 hours a day nothin else but runescape luckily my bestie quit and he’s dad told my dad the addiction when my dad told be I had to quit I burst into tears really pissed off he then showed be this life saving article and I realized I know only play 1 to 2 hours a day luckily I’m not fat I didn’t play for that long add me cutie fl on runescape ps I guess it’s I’m to play 1 hour a day
I had been playing runescape since I was 13. I’m now 16 and have since forth quit runescape a year ago. I’m really glad I had quit because it was consuming my life and wasting all of my free time. I was so addicted and all I wanted to do was just go home and get on the computer when I was at school. Endless hours playing a pointless game that is basically unbeatable. Well anyway I quit about 7 months ago and since then my grades are a lot better! I feel much better about my grade and my social life. Anyway If you play runescape I’d strongly suggest not to get too absorbed into it, because I know just how fast time goes by when you’re playing it. Well have fun people virtually or in real life, either way what is life but a waste of time.
i wish the U.S government would launch a massive missle strike on the jagex headquarters!
this is so true. a guy i know was 2 hrs late to his wedding because he was playing runescape, and i heard of another who committed suicide because of his addiction. but i will say this; if you are getting addicted to anything, you need to take a look at our life because theres probably something wrong that you havent realised. GOOD LICKU TO EVERYONE WHO IS QUITTING
(i haven’t played runescape much but i was addicted to maplestory once) x
This is actually a really decent Guide I was addicted along time ago and i pity those who still are I think it’s the freedom of runescape which entices people but that’s just my ipinion what got me hooked was the ability to say anything and do anything without any consequences and of course that self satisfaction of when you’ve just bought your “new” armour or made your first million
This is odd… Your story is actually pretty much a replica of what happened to me. I was addicted, then it just faded away, (I also don’t exactly know why/how), and now I’m in computer programming (Well, technically iPhone programming, but same difference, heh).
Runescape was actually a big help for me, a starting point in my life that I never would have thought of at the time. Since Runescape I’ve made some really good choices that have led me to where I am now (I’m 16, now, fyi).
i aggre with this guy runescape is really supose to brain wash u to like it and spend many hour’s on it trust me i would now till today i just realized this but remeber dont spend your life on a computer it will make u regert it u miss hanging with firend are girlfriend are u might end up like zezima a fat person addict to it to so i would think this thourgh.
Yea dude, your pretty much right. I started playing it after i broke my shin playing football. I had to stay in my house for weeks even when school had started up. So i started playing and that next summer i was inside playing instead of outside doing things i wish i could have done.
Now im a senior in high school and the work load has increased alot. Now that i play soccer, i dont have any time to waste doing things like runescape.
i play runescape now but not for hour’si only play for a hour are so and log out and one thing try playing for a hour then playing something eles.
Yea, i can’t play for more than an hour now on -f2p- with out gettin hella bored. All there is to do is cut wood or make fire. Bullshit.
you make pretty good points. I am a runescape addict. i play anywhere from 2-15 hours a day. My parents have threatened to send me away . i do what ever i acn to play.. hacking the computer/network etc. i agree with some that there needs to be a runescape anonymous. If anyone is interested you can email me and I wouldnt mind setting that kind of thing up.
runescapefreac@hotmail.com
I have to say…admitting this takes GUTS..especially admiting about the going outside part, you should be glad you realized this at a tender age before destroying your life…how insightful about what you said about escaping into “Runescape” reality rather than face your own reality..I have seen and repaired shattered remains of families where one was addicted to this game…it just does not happen to kids, but to adults as well and it is sad.
Addicts lie, cheat and steal to keep going…they deny love, family and compassion and they live with the lie they are not addicts…even after they lose everything
i was a complete addict at runescape and i didnt even know it. i started playing when i was in 7th grade. during school i would just think about it non stop and whenever it came to my mind i would get butterflies in my stomach and had so much anticipation to get home and play it, it was the main thing on my mind when i was a kid. i would play hours on end and not do anything else with my life. the enjoyment i got out of playing that game was incomprehensible, and i cant explain why to this day.
one time i got scammed when i tried to sell something and i flipped out and started crying, i said to myself “im not playing anymore” and i did..for about a week and a half. there were so many things that kept reminding me of that game and i just had to play it again, it was down right disgusting. and due to it another year of my life was wasted with playing it.
i was pathetic, my brother and i would literally talk about it every second we could, we shared a room when my sister was born. we were so hooked on the game we literally would stay up every night and just talk about the game, thinking of things they should do with it and stuff we wanted, shit like that. we couldnt shut our eyes for 10 seconds without thinking of something else about the game and having another 30 minute to hour and a half converstaion.
i was an ok player, i never did any pking or stuff like that i was too afraid to get killed. i just wanted to make, money kill monsters, and get cool gear.
so towards the end of 8th grade my account got hacked by my closest friends that played RS with me. i got them into the game and they scummed me over. i let one of them use my account to help me do a quest and he had done several quests for me before, so i trusted him, and i did stuff for him too. i knew his password and he knew mine. im an honest guy id never do something like that to a friend. so i found out one of my neighbors played and he decided to quit and he had alot of good stuff he was giving away, so he gave me most of it. and when my friends saw me in it, they got so jealous. so one day the friend who did my quests called me saying my account got hacked, making it look like he didnt do it because he called me, and framed my other friend. i flipped out on him, and i didnt know who to believe, and i ended my friendships with them. and still to this day i dont know the truth, they both say the other person did it. i have no care for the game anymore, i just wanna know who did it.
so i tried to make an effort afterwards but it was way too much to play without the stuff i had. so i slowly and slowly stopped playing. and ive been runescape free ever since.
im a junior in high school now and i must say it did ruin my life, during the time i played it couldve had a life and due to that i have no life as of now. im not a nerd or anything, im far from one. i play football and alot of other sports for my school. but i kinda made a name for myself when i played RS in intermediate school, like i was an unpopular, not outgoing kid because i was too wrapped up in fuckin runescape. so now im not out going, im very sociable but i dont get asked to go places with people and stuff. so i dont do anything when im not at practices for sports. im the type of guy that has to talk to people to do something, people dont come to me unless im like “higher in social status” than them. so it really screwed me.
and there are certain times where my brother and i think back and talk about it sometimes, and then we get that sick urge of playing it again. and thats when i realized its like a sick drug that really should be illegal.
im very glad i stopped playing, and im actually happy my friend did hack me. if it never happened i would still be playing that game and not writing this. knowing what its like to play and be hooked on this game, i feel terrible for the players of today. and for those who read this that do play, look at all these comments, put them into consideration and stop playing. i am one of the unfortunate people who got screwed over by some pointless online computer game.
i recently looked up my friend in the high scores and hes still playing…a junior in high school, hes been playing since 7th grade.
so for the love of god, stop while you can. dont let my situation happen to you, but who knows you may have a positive outcome like other guys who posted here. but just stop playing.
I know where you’re coming from. I used to play too, but I stopped when I started getting as many hours of homework as I did school. My mother plays though, and she literally does nothing else. I would appreciate an email or something with your advice?
P.S. Seriously considering and intervention.
man, must of took you some time and effort making this, I have great thanks. Alot of things you said were the same in me
Hopefully i’ll quit someday, wish me gl 
peace out gl to u