Another coincidence. Yesterday, the same young blogger whom I cited in my previous post has written an excellent article on the topic of 'Runescape Addiction'.
Just for the record, the screen-shot above shows my recently denuded charactor following a test run on one of the new 'pvp' servers. He is looking out dejectedly over the Lum River. LOL.
I was watching Dr. Phil the other night. Amazing! Here's a total video game addict. I would guess a "World of Warcraft" guy, but they never actually said. He's married with two small kids. His wife works. He does not. Not for a couple of years --- a perfectly healthy young man with family responsibilities. He does not even supervise the kids. The oldest plays video games in the same room. The youngest wanders naked through the house.
Questioned about his behavior by Dr. Phil, the man is vague and somewhat apologetic. The wife is about ready to throw him out.
This episode caused me to feel somewhat more lenient with myself towards my Runescape 'addiction'. In the approximate one year I've been playing, I've never missed work or neglected anything truly important. My correspondence writing and web design have suffered. And perhaps, my family would have liked me to say "hi" once in a while.
But, there's been a big improvement. I've picked up considerably in several neglected areas, but have not actually gone "cold turkey". What I've done is to play a good deal less, and for the most part confine my play to repetitious training activities rather than quests and other activities which would be harder from which to disengage.
Coincidentally, I ran across a blog article, Complacency, by a very dedicated young Runescaper in Singapore who mentions that he does something similar during exams. He finds that its easy to study and make canon balls at the same time.
Hmmm!
I started playing Runescape aproximately 6 months ago. A friend had sent me the link. In conparison to more popular games within the Role Play Game (RPG) genre like Everquest or World of Warcraft, Runescape is much easier to start playing. There is no software to buy, and you can play the free version indefinitely before deciding to subscribe for a modest $5.00/mo..
My initial take on the game was that it was very absorbing and an excellent source of mindless fun and guilty pleasure. But it became more and more guilt ridden as the spectre of addiction loomed ominously. For starters, just look at the date on my last blog entry.To my credit, I still went to work but it became visable that my virtual world was becoming somewhat of a retreat.
The term addiction is of course innacurate --- there is no substance involved --- but, we may be talking about something analogous. Clearly, almost any activity in which we become totally pre-occupied has the potential to impair our lives, make us less responsible or concernced, and/or cause social isolation.
But, at least one author, Edward Castronova (Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games) has a take on the subject which goes beyond a narrow and negative pop/clinical perspective. He indicates that there may be more to it than just compulsively wasting time. The phenomena is not going away and may have social and psychological implications for the future which are beyond the average person's wildest dreams.
I have learned quite a bit myself while hanging out in this virtual world and I intend to share it. A good deal of what I have to share is specifically about Runescape which although smaller than it's competitors, is no mere spin-off. It has a character and an educational value uniquely its own. And the dragons are really cool.
