Why people play RuneScape

t's sunday again, and time for a new edition of the Global RuneScape Herald. At first I didn't have any good ideas to write a new article. Even that party yesterday didn't change anything (if you drink one beer, it does not really affect your ideas for new articles). And today, I wondered why people actually play RuneScape, so... Why not write an article about it? In this article you will find mainly my own ideas, but also some I have read in a article about the use of games once. I do not remember which issue of the Dutch gaming magazine Power Unlimited it was, so please do not ask me. I do not really feel like searching three volumes of the magazine for it. So far my introduction to this article, enjoy!

Now... Why do people play RuneScape, or actually, why do they play games at all? Many people will say: "I play games because it is fun." But why is it fun to play games? "Well it is fun because, well... it used to be fun before the head editor of the GRS Herald asked me why." You'll probably get answers like that. Well, it is a little bit different.

Time to quote from runescape.com, actually, to quote from the rules, Rule 12, Real World Item Trading, why Jagex has that rule:We have this rule for three reasons: Firstly because we don’t want RuneScape to be just a game in which you can buy your way to success, if we let players start doing this it devalues the game for other players. We feel your status in real-life shouldn’t affect your ability to be successful in the game. Secondly we cannot monitor the transactions made between players outside the game, and if players swap items for external benefits we can’t see, to us it looks like an unbalanced suspicious trade. Thirdly, often when players attempt to break this rule and sell items for real cash the items are actually stolen, so you could even end up getting in trouble for receiving stolen property. If you purchased an account you might find it suddenly returned to the original rightful owner and yourself out of pocket. Source: www.runescape.com

Ok, now there we see a main reason why games are fun to play: We feel your status in real-life shouldn’t affect your ability to be successful in the game. Now that is pretty much the first thing. A lot of people are not satisfied about who they are in real life. They want to be someone else, but that is not possible, so they play games. In a game, you can do whatever you want without consequences in your real life. Especially MMORPG's, like RuneScape, are good to feel better about yourself. If you are poor, and you spend your spare five dollars a month on RuneScape membership, you might be a millionaire online, with a full set of party hats.

Now you might think "Hey, that's cool, poor people can feel better about themselves thanks to games." But nothing is perfect. If your life online feels much better than your real life, you might just keep playing more and more. It's very easy to get addicted to games which seem to have endless possibilities, like RuneScape or the even more popular World of Warcraft.

I am sorry this article is a little bit short, but I don't have much time, so you will have to read this one for now. But do not worry, there will be another one next week. If you have any thoughts, comments, or ideas for future releases, feel free to post them in our forums.