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

Greed and Money Obsession Gambling Addiction

Addiction to online games is a massive and growing problem and not unique to RuneScape. What makes the issue so alarming on RuneScape is how many of the addicts are children.

While Jagex makes a token effort to educate gamers, encouraging them to maintain a “healthy gaming lifestyle”, they impose no limits on how long a player can be online. The company says it doesn't “encourage people to play for more hours than is reasonable”. They never says what they consider “reasonable” to be, however, which gives both new players and parents little guidance. There are gamers who spend upwards of 60 or more hours a week playing the game… and some a lot more than that. Some players have been known to play nearly around the clock except for short naps.

I can recall a situation from my own experiences. I had a friend online whom I used to sell items that he would resell (he was a merchant.) He told me about someone else who would buy some of my items, whom he said was his nephew. Then a few days later he asked me to stop selling to the nephew. I was puzzled as to why, and he told me that the nephew was addicted to the game and he was trying to get him to play less.

My friend's nephew was 10 years old.

Like most of the serious issues in RuneScape, even discussing addiction problems in the RuneScape community forums is prohibited by Jagex, which means addicted kids afraid of approaching their parents or teachers can't easily get help.

Another well-known consequence of addiction to playing RuneScape is young kids who skip school or pretend being ill so they can stay home and play. (So much for “educational”.) A telling quote from a 13-year-old in a RuneScape forum discussion (language and punctuation cleaned up for the site):

“I have been desensitized by this game, and had to quit due to my addiction. In order to pass school I actually got myself banned on my level 95. It set me free: grades went up, happiness went up, weight went down (the only good thing going down lol).”

It is absolutely essential that the parents of kids who play RuneScape take a proactive role in limiting their playing time. Jagex may not limit the number of hours a player can be online, but you certainly can. Also watch out for kids playing when you are not around, at friends’ houses and at school. Do not underestimate the addictive nature of this game.

Greed and Money Obsession Gambling Addiction