Making a wanted item isn't making a skinner's box, well not necessarily. I suppose it's a bit far-fetched, but relevance comes from the potential reward Jagex could have given. They could have given the cape incredible stats and perhaps access to resources that give ridiculous exp rates to numerous skills. The punishment would then stem from the fact that they don't have access to more elite content. The situation's already there nowadays; if you don't have the best skills (e.g. extremes, turmoil, chaotic weapons, high summoning, high combats) you're never going to get anywhere trying to fight boss monsters. You'll try, but there will always be a crasher that keeps you from succeeding. Therefore, you'll spend hours of your life grinding away to get the right skills you need to beat the crashers. Obviously that situation won't happen for a long time, since 120 dungeoneering isn't exactly the quickest thing to get. It would definitely be a problem in the future though. There was once a time where 95 prayer was an incredible achievement, but now look at how many people have it!