TruthScape.com  9  The Truth About RuneScape's Community and Its Impact on Children       9  Specific Dangers and Behavioral Concerns in the RuneScape Community

Game Addiction Cheating

As if the risk of addiction to playing weren't bad enough in a game geared towards children, RuneScape also contains many elements that are either implied or blatant gambling. Consider that in Las Vegas, kids aren't even allowed to watch the players—on RuneScape, they are the players.

Many of the best items in the game can only be obtained by killing monsters or engaging in activities that have a random reward. In essence, players are gambling that the time and gold they spend will pay off with a handsome payout. For example, an activity called a “treasure trail” can end with rewards worth only a few thousand gold, or an item worth over 100 million. In a new minigame called Barbarian Assault, the only way to get the best rewards is to engage in gambling—the game openly and shamelessly calls it “gambling”, too.

And then there is duel arena, where players can engage in “staking”, which is player versus combat for items or gold. Higher-level players are known to gamble millions or even tens of millions of gold at the duel arena, sometimes with disastrous results. With such large amounts of money involved, cheating and scamming are rampant.

One time I ran into a very clever player at the duel arena and we struck up a conversation. He was a frequent staker but would also get very upset when losing money. I spent quite some time trying to educate him about the dangers of gambling, and telling him to get help in the real world. I also reminded him that RuneScape was supposed to be for fun, and if he wasn't having fun staking he should do something else. He was grateful for the help, and did leave the staking area for other activities.

The next day, he was back staking again. When I asked him why, he said he didn't want to stake any more, but he needed to keep staking. He was hooked on gambling in an online game at the age of 14.

All the proof you need about how dangerous this situation is can be found in the fact that some players have made the “transition” from staking RuneScape items to staking real-life money using the RuneScape duel arena.

Here are some of the signs that a player has become obsessed with staking and is at risk of becoming a compulsive gambler. If you find that several of these characteristics describe the behavior of someone you know at the Duel Arena, you should consider speaking to that person about getting real world assistance:

• Preoccupation with staking
  
  
• Continually increasing the amount you stake
  
  
• “Chasing losses”: thinking you need to “make back” stakes you've lost
  
  
• Staking items you can't afford to lose
  
  
• Feeling like you know you should stop staking but can't
  
  
• Staking because it takes your mind off real world problems
  
  
• Borrowing gold or items from friends to stake with, or begging others for gold or items
  
  
• Engaging in scamming (in RuneScape or the real world) to get funds for staking

Game Addiction Cheating