The Tip.It Times


Issue 26899gp

Why do we Continue to Play?

Written by and edited by Kaida23

RuneScape is known throughout the gaming community as being very addictive. Often times, I stumble across people on sites like Reddit who talk about how much time they spent in middle school playing RuneScape. Personally, my main RuneScape account has been around since the tail end of 2005 and I’ve spent roughly 113 days logged into the game.

What drives us to spend so much time playing a video game? Imagine that you’re trying to explain RuneScape to an elderly gentleman who has never played computer games before. If you dumb it down enough, RuneScape can be described as a game where you are clicking on images on a screen. Critics often say that the game has no challenge and that all you do is click to increase your level. I often find myself asking why I play RuneScape. What makes the game enjoyable? The reasons are different for every person.

Many people who have maxed out their account have what is called ‘PMS’. In this context, PMS stands for Post-Max Syndrome. Maxed players find themselves asking ‘did I really enjoy playing or did I just enjoy having a goal?’ This is where a lot of players quit RuneScape because they may have realized that their time could have been spent doing something more useful or learning something instead of grinding toward a goal in a virtual world. Many players find that they don’t enjoy the game; they just enjoy working toward a goal.

Other players have found that the only reason that they continue to play RuneScape is because they’ve made friends in the game and they don’t want to lose them by suddenly logging out and never returning. My friends list is full of names that I hope to see online once again. A lot of my friends from the 2007 era have gone to bigger and better things. Many players don’t want to run off and desert their friends who still actively play.

One of the main reasons players continue to play RuneScape is because they have a sense of ownership over their achievements. They’ve taken their account from tutorial island all the way to end-game content like Nex and Vorago. They started off killing goblins in Lumbridge and they now own a party hat set. Personal achievements and ownership are one of the reasons why RuneScape is so addicting.

If you’ve been playing for a number of years like I have, you’ve probably taken a few breaks along the way. When somebody announces that they’ve decided to quit playing RuneScape, somebody almost always says something along the lines of ‘see you in a week’. Many players get the itch to come back to RuneScape after learning about new content or simply to check up on their friends. Eventually, they return to full activity and the circle of life continues.

There’s a small minority of players who have completed most of the content in the game. What keeps them playing RuneScape? The answer to that question is new content. Almost every week, Jagex releases new content to be enjoyed by all. Just this past week, Player Owned Ports v2 came out which will entertain players for many months to come. Other updates to look forward to are the Elf City, the Invention Skill, and many new quests!

A smart man once said “time that you enjoy wasting is not wasted time”. No matter what keeps you playing RuneScape, all that really matters is that you enjoy playing it.


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Tags: Future Updates and Speculation Player behaviour Recent Updates

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