Food for Thought

[muggiwhplar]

Before I go into this post, Id like to state that Im a psychology major and in one of my classes, my professor lectured on the correlation between money and happiness, and things to consider before getting a job. After thinking about how it affected me in real life, I couldnt help but draw parallels to how similar the concepts are in RS. So a lot of the things I discuss here are drawn from that lecture. The rest is just food for thought which should serve as a reminder to how you spend your time. I think most of youll find this interesting, and I hope you can interpret and agree with my thoughts. You can PM me if you want to see the lecture that I derived a lot of this out of.

 

 

The first topic which Id like to cover is the pursuit of money and happiness (note that this same principle can also be applied to other things such as skills and experience). Happiness can also translate to the amount of fun youre having while playing RS. In both reality and in RuneScape, a common belief seems to be that the more money you have, the happier you are.

 

 

By following this idea, it implies that someone who has a higher bank value or total level than you is happier than you are. It is safe to say that this is inaccurate.

 

Next we come to a more realistic perception of how things actually are:

 

 

That is, the more money you have, the happier you are up until a certain point. Past a certain point, money stops influencing your happiness. Now, in real life its been shown that past an annual income of about $30,000/year, people dont get any happier. This is mostly because thats all you need to cover your basic needs (food, shelter, etc.). After that, its just things you think you need to be happy.

 

When it comes to RS, the way I see it is that theres no average income for players. Instead, each player has their own, personal set income which limits their happiness past a certain point.

 

Unfortunately, there are always players grinding away for hours on end doing things they dont enjoy in order to gain experience or money because they think itll make them happier. The tediousness of the activities often just leads to stress and boredom. I feel that a lot of people have forgotten that RS is a video game, and as such, the main purpose of it is for you to have fun. When youre getting stressed out from playing a video game, doesnt that say something? Like maybe you should find a new video game or hobby? After all, logically, why would you want to spend your free time on something which leads to stress instead of enjoyment?

 

Heres a few things to think about:

When trying to figure out how to make money, would you rather pick the option with the most income per hour, or would you rather pick the option with a decent income but is fun to do?

When you got off Tutorial Island, you had 25gp in your inventory. Hopefully, you have way more than that noware you having more fun now than you were in your first week playing RS?

If youve ever done something to cause you to lose a considerable amount of your wealth, how did you react? Did you become upset or stressed out?

 

I think past a certain point, RS becomes less about having fun through exploring the unknown and becomes more goal-oriented. This doesnt necessarily mean that it still cant be funit just means you should realize that RS is still just a game. Thus, when planning your goals, you should make sure youre having fun working on your goals, and not just stressing yourself out and wasting your free time. As an MMORPG, most of the fun comes from the journey to your goals, not the completion of the goal. I dont see the point in setting goals which arent fun to pursue. For example, runecrafting is my lowest skill. I see no reason to train itit used to be one of the best reliable money makers, but nowadays it is easily overshadowed by boss hunting. I find runecrafting very tedious, boring, and slow and yields no benefits for me to train. As a result, I never train it :)

 

Another principle which I would like to mention is something called the adaptation principle. That is, how we are now is neutral and so happiness is more than what we have now. Thus what we have now is not enough and we need MORE to be happier. After we get MORE, that becomes the new neutral and we still want MORE. It never ends! Theres nothing in our brains that tells us good job, youre done. We wouldnt be very productive as a species if there was.

 

Similarly, we often judge our own happiness based on others, and we usually compare ourselves upwards to others. If you see a PK video for the first time, you wish you could PK and kill everybody you saw and get rich (reason for the massive influx of pures?). If you see someone get an Armadyl hilt from God Wars, you may want to go boss hunting because you wish you had that kind of success. We generally just compare ourselves to those who are seemingly faring better than we are on the game... this can lead to unnecessary/irrational stress.

 

I had thought about all these things and how they related to RS last semester when I took the course. Though, over spring break it hit me pretty hard. I dont have much time (or interest) to play anymore, though over break time when college stops and everyone goes home, Im usually incredibly bored so I come back to RS for a little while. This spring break I wanted to kill Tormented Demons because it sounded like fun... in two days I made 100M in profit there. The funny thing is, before I had all that money I had wished I had more money to be happier on RS. Though looking at the big shiny cash pile in my bank, it hit me. . . money could no longer make me any happier. I didnt need money anymore to have fun. I havent spent my profits on anything really, nor do I intend to.

 

Not too long after this revelation, I guess I finally came full circle on the affect of money on happiness... For those of you who dont know, my original account, muggiwhplar, was banned for smuggling blood runes out of Barbarian Assault in June 07. It was 30M/hour, and I did it because I thought I needed money to have fun. If I had understood how unimportant money was at the time, Id probably still have that account.

 

I admonish you to just play RS for what it is a game. You should never get too stressed out over it; if you do, its probably time to take a break for a while. I also want all of you to think very carefully about how youre spending your time on RS. Are you just grinding away because you think when you finally complete your goal, youll be having a lot more fun? Do you log on and just stand around doing nothing for about five minutes, and then log off? Are you only training skills to kill time? If youre not having fun anymore, or if youre getting stressed out from playing, theres no reason for you to keep wasting your time on here. RS isnt going anywhere itll always be waiting for you if you want to come back.

 

...With that said, Ive gotta study for exams this week and go to work early in the morning. Maybe if I can find some free time, I'll go maim some noobs in the Duel Tournaments again. Until then, though, I'll see you guys next summer ;)

[DeeKay]

Well written. But the one important thing you didn't address is addictiveness, which is a psychological thing as well, and much like crack, once you had it, you'll be coming back for more.

[muggiwhplar]

Well written. But the one important thing you didn't address is addictiveness, which is a psychological thing as well, and much like crack, once you had it, you'll be coming back for more.

 

Yeah, there's a lot of topics and examples I which I had to omit, for the sake of trying to remain somewhat concise and to the point w/o going off on too many tangents, unfortunately.

 

Addiction's not really something I wanted to get into... Social psychology is what intrigues me; clinical psychology is just depressing lol. I feel like I'd get 2nd-hand depression or something from pursuing that career path, if that were possible :P

[RangingRoy]

Well written. But the one important thing you didn't address is addictiveness, which is a psychological thing as well, and much like crack, once you had it, you'll be coming back for more.

 

Yeah, there's a lot of topics and examples I which I had to omit, for the sake of trying to remain somewhat concise and to the point w/o going off on too many tangents, unfortunately.

 

Addiction's not really something I wanted to get into... Social psychology is what intrigues me; clinical psychology is just depressing lol. I feel like I'd get 2nd-hand depression or something from pursuing that career path, if that were possible :P

 

 

You are a smart guy, and to be honest, my expertise (if I can dare to call it that) is in sociology, not psychology. However, I'd like to ask a few questions/make a few points in hope of getting a bit of banter bouncing backwards and forwards.

 

Surely most game models now revolve around grinding. Even something like MW2, which is a pretty standard FPS, has grinding elements to it now. Is this necesserily a bad thing? Some of the most popular (and addictive) games of all time, Counter Strike, as an example, has no grinding. Is it really terrible to spend three hours on runescape working at a goal so that you get your reward? It's a short term goal in runescape terms, but I think for any other hobby or game it's not that long. Why is it a problem that people have to be bored to get their reward.

 

To bring it back to the money point though. [cabbage], right, I've got to go, but I will be back later to finish this post and make some points, great thread though pal!

[potatohead]

You make amazing points here, and even made me question my reason for playing the game... which has been questioned to exhaustion already. But, after reading your (very well-written) post, I think I find myself unique. I was once one of those people who played for the most money or the most exp/hour... until I realized... it's not fun that way. Then I quit. Just like a bad relationship, if it's doing more bad than good, I leave.

 

After about a year, I decided to give it another go, because I had a realization that it wasn't Jagex's fault that I wasn't enjoying their game... it was mine. Now I'm back, and I find myself incapable of making more than 20m at a time. I'll get 10m, and lose interest in the game. For me, the fun is in making money from nothing. So I'll get 10m, and spend it all. Then I'll watch it grow back into something noticeable. This is the way I have fun in Runescape, so that's what I do.

 

[This was more of a self discovery post than something contributing to a cause.] Regardless, you provided an enjoyable read for my breakfast. :thumbup:

 

Now off to class... :cry:

[RangingRoy]

You make amazing points here, and even made me question my reason for playing the game... which has been questioned to exhaustion already. But, after reading your (very well-written) post, I think I find myself unique. I was once one of those people who played for the most money or the most exp/hour... until I realized... it's not fun that way. Then I quit. Just like a bad relationship, if it's doing more bad than good, I leave.

 

After about a year, I decided to give it another go, because I had a realization that it wasn't Jagex's fault that I wasn't enjoying their game... it was mine. Now I'm back, and I find myself incapable of making more than 20m at a time. I'll get 10m, and lose interest in the game. For me, the fun is in making money from nothing. So I'll get 10m, and spend it all. Then I'll watch it grow back into something noticeable. This is the way I have fun in Runescape, so that's what I do.

 

[This was more of a self discovery post than something contributing to a cause.] Regardless, you provided an enjoyable read for my breakfast. :thumbup:

 

Now off to class... :cry:

 

 

I'm similar to this. I'm level 93 range and I've never chinned any of it. I'm also not going to chin any of it. I'm going to get a completely natural 99 range, on monsters I enjoy fighting, Steel Drags, Green Drags, Fire Giants etc. Why? Because I am want to enjoy the process of getting to 99. Then when I get 99. I'll pwn the pking world. Twice as much fun from the journey.

[Myweponsg00d]

 

This is my version of the curve. But in my picture, the lowest $ ammount represents what I deem "necessary" to play the game. Anything more than that, I feel should be spent or given away as much as possible. This is one of the reasons I really didnt like the trade updates. Every christmas I used to stand in the middle of varrok and give out some rune sets, and smith free armor (my bars) to anyone who wanted it. Its still possible to do this, but it just isn't the same.

[999134]

Whew wall of text, Pretend it's broken up better with paragraphs

 

Losing 90% of my mains bank turned out to be a good thing in some ways for me, after that have hardly played on main for th last 6 months apart from maybe hand cannon rushing a bit. Seeking something to do I started experimenting with alternative accounts, originally made a zerker which I enjoyed doing quests for over again bit over 70 str was too much of a grind and I gave up. The. Trying a hybrid range Mage dds pure I hit the same barrier at 80 range even though I had got 99 before this had not been through training just as a means to an end.

 

After those two accounts I realised that making account through grinding was not my idea of fun. This was when I started looking into low level pures like obby maulers and summ tanks, my first summ tank sailing tank I had great fun on but after 66 summ I hit a wall of having to earn 30mil+ for a dfs or getting summoning up furthur, so I just finished off pking with barker toad and having great fun abeit uining the Account ( ironically I was not far off buying a dfs from pking drops after ruining the acc ).

 

My dfs pure which I'm so proud of today came about mostly by accident, started off as a weak defence pure with addy and I decide to try hunter, after the first hour or so started to really enjoy it, didn't stop till hitting 95 and seeing my 25mil cashpile, a dragonfire shield pure was only 10mil away :o , now that I was heading for a goal I found hunter boring catching chins just for money, so I tried imp hunting which turned out to be great fun! Even with alot of moaning about dfs prices being 35-40mil to hyt chat I enjoyed catching many many dragon imps and the thrill of seeing one spawn and thinking 'o look I just caught an imp worth more than most peoples bank!'. After I finally got a dfs and plenty of cash to spare, I realised I was still only 62 defence :(.

 

People often call me mad or more often a botter but I enjoy soul wars even after getting well over 1k Zeal on My accounts so again even though it took awhile I enjoyed getting 75. Then I had it! A level 24 with a dfs and easyily one hitting people in bh, this is where I should say my goals didn't make me happy but I still feel good about getting the account even more so than 99 range (first 99). Now I had the account it still felt a little underpowered so I decide to get summoning up, easier said than done

though! Even with the exp weekend this involved me getting 2k crimsons with 1 Att/str which again I found quite enjoyable although having that huge amount of charms and not being able to use them was torture!

 

Then came 76 summoning which is another rs goal I feel happy about, the thing about this meant I was pretty much unkillable in bh (acheiving what you talked about as a invincible pure). Before and after summon levels I had not put much though to my cash, but with several swhs/vls it was pretty big. My main skilling hobby also brought it over 20mil before imp update and well over 40mil after. I spent some of this cash on skilling in super fast ways (farming with poh trees gem cutting) and even buying planks for 99 construction(which I an still to do...).

 

It made me think of money very differently after a dfs and barrows I have the top end gear I can buy so have nothing to spend my cash on. My cashpile keeps growing

becuase my favorite passtimes (imps an pking) are very profitable so money has become worthless almost to me, I rate how well I'm doing by number of imps caught or how many players I've killed ( I often fight as a lv 35 agasnt 70+ in bh and although I might die 2 times for each kill nothing beats bringing someone risking and out to kill you who is 40 levels higher). Of course money brought me happyness in runescape(my dfs fo example) but not through the direct pursuit of it and only to a limited extent using it.

 

I could go on with why I think my way is the most fun but it's 7am and I'm typing on an iPod....

[Racheya]

Definitely an interesting read. At the moment I'm sprinting towards the goal of making 10m to get a Staff of Light and I'm about half way there. But I've gotten bored. I often don't find many moneymaking activities to be fun. One of the most fun things I like to do is mage at Castle Wars - it's why I'm getting a SoL. Yes, it's a drain on my bank but if I'm having fun that's all that matters. The problem is that sometimes to be able to have fun you need to do stuff you don't want to, like farm or craft natures. I think it's the same in real life.

[warrior5024]

Christ, so this is what happens when you study at Zombie monkeys.

This is what annoys me about the "efficiency era." While it might maximize Exp to Gp relations, it leaves out the reason to log on, which is fun. This is why I hope they don't update rewards on games like Castle Wars: it shouldn't be about having to play the games to get tools *Cough SC cough* it should be about enjoying the games for what they are.

Concerning the money issue, most players who come across huge quantities of cash very quickly end up quitting, as they have no idea what to do with it, and they are reluctant to spend it, for fear of that pile disappearing. Very, very few players pull the Andrew Carnage maneuver: accumulate as much wealth as possible, then give it all back.

 

Small story here: When i decided to get 99 Construction, after nearly a year of being at level 90, I stopped myself and thought, "I could use this cash to buy 99 Prayer, or something useful for boss hunting, a far more practical skill." An efficient player would have made that decision to offer bones, but Construction is my favorite skill, so I went with what was most enjoyable. I'll never regret that 140m choice, even with Herblore and Prayer as expensive as they are now.

[Lacoste]

Only recently have I played for fun on rs, the first few years were a a joy, the third one on however it was a pure grind. Now adays, I do the one thing i genuinely like, which is ANYTHING with combat, hence my skills are particularly low and by low i mean like some still in the level 30s, being, 130+ apparently its not good for my level to have such low levels, and they say you should get 70+ and I go, why? Why would I want to train skills I dislike? I play for fun, so I will train what suits that :)

[toast647]

I think the most fun I ever had on RS was when I was a low level discovering everything, or when I first started monster hunting. I always log on and log off within 5 minutes, or just stand in edgy bank. I just don't enjoy it as much as I used to anymore. I'd say another reason why it's not fun, basically ALL my main friends have quit over the past 4 years. I am still not satisfied with my levels, but I just don't *want* to train them.

 

I feel like I'd get 2nd-hand depression or something from pursuing that career path, if that were possible :P

 

Haha :D

[Mazhar]

I've done a lot of things that annoy me (TDs are the most annoying monsters to kill on RS and I still managed to get myself 15 claws), and even though corp hasn't paid as much as TDs and I spent maybe 5x as much time there, I would still rather do Corp over TDs any day.

LS corp + a media player with 10 different shows multiple seasons long to pick from at the same time= happiness

[Carl]

Very enjoyable read, Muggi.

 

I think the most fun I ever had on RS was when I was a low level discovering everything, or when I first started monster hunting. I always log on and log off within 5 minutes, or just stand in edgy bank. I just don't enjoy it as much as I used to anymore. I'd say another reason why it's not fun, basically ALL my main friends have quit over the past 4 years. I am still not satisfied with my levels, but I just don't *want* to train them.

 

I feel like I'd get 2nd-hand depression or something from pursuing that career path, if that were possible :P

 

Haha :D

 

This is exactly my situation; I login for a few minutes every few days and log off. I want to train my stats up; I want to achieve the levels I wished I had when I was a newb starting off, in the best days of this game. I lost complete interest in RuneScape a year or so after I begun playing, that year was just amazing, having not explored everything in the game so much was just...Wow. Venturing into areas Id never heard of to find there were more people there training a skill which I had yet to begin was just so I dont know, warm? The feeling was great, I know that much.

 

However, as above stated also theres a certain level of addiction included into the game which is past boredom. You play because you feel its necessary. I know that was me for a long time and I just end up standing around doing nothing for hours. And its certainly something I didnt want to do.

 

To touch on something else you brought up, If you dont enjoy it, dont train it. However, to many its not possible to just ignore that skill or that goal, because only by completing that can you reach the enjoyment from something else. E.g. getting level 99 Runecrafting, Agility and Miningnot because you want to, but because its necessary to achieve that level 2,376 and feel youve completed the game.

 

Likewise with money, I dont think many can ever say they have enough. I know I reached the point where I simply had enough and had no need to get more. However, to most even if theyve reached the stage where they can buy all they need to progress with their daily activities theres never quite enough money sitting around. The, Oh, I may need 50M morejust in case. I know that happens to a lot of players, and it did so with me for quite a while.

 

I believe if many players just took a step back to review what they have done and what they are doing and actually weigh it all up, theyll realise they arent enjoying playing RuneScape anymore. The tough part is taking that step back. Im glad I did.

The only thing that keeps me here is Tip.It and the friends I have remaining on RuneScape.

[Perakp]

The problem today is that there is no practical way to lose all that hard earned cash, once you get hundred of millions of gp all you can do is get some more 99 skills. Earlier you could just stake it at the duel arena. Ofcourse you could try playerkilling in 3rd age armor but that would be stupid.

 

Risk vs reward balance is lost for high levels nowadays, if it was balanced we wouldn't have to think "am I playing for fun or just because I had fun playing last year?" all the time.

[Zepheras]

The problem today is that there is no practical way to lose all that hard earned cash, once you get hundred of millions of gp all you can do is get some more 99 skills. Earlier you could just stake it at the duel arena. Ofcourse you could try playerkilling in 3rd age armor but that would be stupid.

 

Risk vs reward balance is lost for high levels nowadays, if it was balanced we wouldn't have to think "am I playing for fun or just because I had fun playing last year?" all the time.

 

I'd like to see your example of practical ways to lose money. Staking doesn't look like one to me. It's just another moneymaking method.

[3hitm4g3u]

I play to own other people. Sometimes I need to grind to be able to do that. Nothing wrong with grinding a boring skill/activity if it'll let you do something fun afterwards.

[InkofDeath]

Similarly, we often judge our own happiness based on others, and we usually compare ourselves upwards to others. If you see a PK video for the first time, you wish you could PK and kill everybody you saw and get rich (reason for the massive influx of pures?). If you see someone get an Armadyl hilt from God Wars, you may want to go boss hunting because you wish you had that kind of "success." We generally just compare ourselves to those who are seemingly faring better than we are on the game... this can lead to unnecessary/irrational stress.

 

 

Every time I see someone do well in RuneScape or at any activity in any video game or in anything in real life, I get the urge to do whatever it was and achieve that success or experience. Every time I see someone hit level 99, I just have to consider the two or three ways I would go about getting that 99. And then if I would get to the point where I'm trying to act out this success and I fail, I just couldn't play RS for a while. Perhaps this is why people eventually quit. They just realize that they keep failing at their goals and even if they were to succeed at their goals, someone else would have achieved something greater, so what is the point?

 

 

This is exactly my situation; I login for a few minutes every few days and log off. I want to train my stats up; I want to achieve the levels I wished I had when I was a newb starting off, in the best days of this game. I lost complete interest in RuneScape a year or so after I begun playing, that year was just amazing, having not explored everything in the game so much was just...Wow. Venturing into areas I'd never heard of to find there were more people there training a skill which I had yet to begin was just so… I don't know, warm? The feeling was great, I know that much.

I used to be in this situation. About six months after I had 'really quit', I would log in wanting to train something but then just growing bored very quickly. Was very depressing at times. However the exception here is that if I was 600 exp away from a level, it was much easier to not get bored, when compared to 20k exp needed to level, I just couldn't handle more than 2k exp.

I find that I enjoy activities far more if there is no end goal. If there isn't a reason why I am doing it, other than I was just interested in doing it and did not consider what I would get out of it. When this happens I have fun. I wonder if this has any topic in Psychology that could be further read upon as it is rather interesting. If anyone could link/inform, I'd appreciate!

[Dupin]

Very well constructed.

I agree with most of what you've written. Looking at my stats, no one would guess I have spent about 6 years on Runescape and didn't have more than a million gp until a year ago, when I completed WGS and sold the dragon armor piece. However, the connections between RS and real life are a bit off. In Runescape, achievements and goals are very definite. For example, if I were to decide I want 99 fishing, that goal would be exact. If it takes me months of dull grinding (*cough*afk TV-watching*cough*), so be it. The achievement, and that feeling of success, provides the happiness I was looking for. Real life does not have these definite achievements, nor does it have clear paths to success. Therefore, in real life it is much more common for people to be misled about what actually makes them happy.

[stonewall337]

For me, its the journey. That is why I grind. Most of the time, what I get isn't worth it. But getting TO the goal is.

 

Also, I congratulate people on good luck. Pretty much gave up on jealousy. I have fun, that's what matters.

[rangeor]

I'm dealing with a common problem right now. I want to barrage in castle wars, but am extremely reluctant to spend my 20m cash pile. I know that three months ago I would have done anything to have this amount of money, yet now that I have it I'm too afraid to spend it :lol: I have nothing else I actually need; all I'm really doing right now are slayer and tormented demons, so I don't need any of that money actually. Yet I'm afraid that one day I'll need to spend it on herblore or prayer or summoning. Or possibly better slayer gear; perhaps if I don't spend the money and save up soon I'll have enough to buy a set of bandos or maybe even an sgs!

 

... But after reading this thread and the replies, I said [bleep] it and bought a set of ahrims, an sol, 1k barrages and some cw braces. Woot :}

 

At least I think TD's are a lot of fun even though I'm terrible at killing them. At least I have a chance of making money with them :P

[Central_Keeper]

You make amazing points here, and even made me question my reason for playing the game... which has been questioned to exhaustion already. But, after reading your (very well-written) post, I think I find myself unique. I was once one of those people who played for the most money or the most exp/hour... until I realized... it's not fun that way. Then I quit. Just like a bad relationship, if it's doing more bad than good, I leave.

 

After about a year, I decided to give it another go, because I had a realization that it wasn't Jagex's fault that I wasn't enjoying their game... it was mine. Now I'm back, and I find myself incapable of making more than 20m at a time. I'll get 10m, and lose interest in the game. For me, the fun is in making money from nothing. So I'll get 10m, and spend it all. Then I'll watch it grow back into something noticeable. This is the way I have fun in Runescape, so that's what I do.

 

[This was more of a self discovery post than something contributing to a cause.] Regardless, you provided an enjoyable read for my breakfast. :thumbup:

 

Now off to class... :cry:

 

I had the same revelation when I was playing the game to a certain degree. I started the whole RS thing back when I was in university, and since I have lots of notes to read through, so I thought RS is a great game for it. Still, it would depend on different personality and their view on things. I consider myself quite dull and I don't get bored on stuff that quickly, I could play the same game over and over again even if they are decade old (to this extent, I still play NFS Hot Pursuit and Thief the Dark Project, and one of them is demo too, yeah, I can play a demo for over 11 years, I know that level design like my own place)

 

For the most part, when I grind, I am usually doing something else, mostly reading or talking to people. So in essence, I didn't really waste any time, I always try to be productive when I train in RS like reading reports, or in recent years, figure out how much tax I have to pay.........(without afking of course).

 

I was never big on money anyways. My goal has always been getting to all my lvls to 99 F2P style. I never had the desire to get any rares of even trim armor in the first place because I don't think they are practical. I just quietly working in the background and the money just add up. To me, any money I make now will be devoted to certain skills in the game (notably prayer and RC) To coin the phrase, money is happiness, I also think it has different personal definition as well. To me, its how I play the whole RS thing without getting bored. I used to play lots, I realized I once got nearly 40mil xp in just 7 months playing time (back when I started in 2005) My real life wasn't getting affected that much since I still read and attend lectures and stuff. But I realized that once you get to a point, either level or the amount of time you are playing, you are playing video game after all. This whole revelation which I refer to it as "veteran mentality". It's that time then I realize that I could slow down and enjoy the game more instead of going all out get tons of xp and burn out at the end which usually result in quitting. (which I notice a lot of high lvl players do sometimes). Simply put, I could put in 3 hours per day training time to get my goal in 5 years, instead of spending 10 hours per day getting it done in 2 years. Just like other players said, the game is not going anywhere. I sometimes even take breaks from game to refresh myself and play again to feel all excited again.

 

While I was playing RS, I actually stop it for a while when I got into CS. The funny part when I talked to my gamer friend is I would say RS is mostly grinding involved, while CS is purely skill involved. While both statements have flaws in which I perceived later on, but in the end they are both games. Same with CS, I would spend almost 25 to 30 hours per week playing it to hone my skill and it can get very addictive with time flying by. That pretty much just make the point clear, even if you do quit RS, you are merely allocating all those time to another game anyways (unless you get a full or part time job, which is even better)

 

Since I graduate from uni and got a job, I started focus more on the job and less on RS, but its been good to me for the most part. Its kind of like if you eat too much of good food all at once, you get sick of it. But if you eat it once in awhile, it actually taste better because you enjoy it more. Furthermore, I am still going toward my goal, albeit very slowly, but I will eventually get there someday. That to me, is fun in a nutshell.

 

PS: I did took a Psyc course as an elective, I really do enjoy it, just hate the report writing, mid terms and finals which they like in essay format and find it very hard to have good marks in it. But I think its pretty good to understand psychological aspect of human nature which can be applicable in almost every field.

[Beaumonde]

Does anyone have any ideas for figuring out how much money you can acquire in game before it stops influencing your happiness? I'll also confess that I was shocked the real world value was $30,000/year, I feel like I would be unhappy making that amount of money, but I guess that's my perspective.

[HOSTiLE_KAi]

Does anyone have any ideas for figuring out how much money you can acquire in game before it stops influencing your happiness?

 

Well for me, around 700m. If I were to guess, a player who has 100m ish or an ags should reach the flat out happiness point. Unless it is a main account which would be around 300m. That's when they realize it's freaking 10 fold in terms of game hours to archieve further items like purple/ higher phats / ely/ divine OR the pursuit of further 99s.

 

For me, keeping this impossiblity in mind got me off RS as well as not having membership... UNLESS there is extra exp events then I would reconsider.

[Beaumonde]

Does anyone have any ideas for figuring out how much money you can acquire in game before it stops influencing your happiness?

 

Well for me, around 700m. If I were to guess, a player who has 100m ish or an ags should reach the flat out happiness point. Unless it is a main account which would be around 300m. That's when they realize it's freaking 10 fold in terms of game hours to archieve further items like purple/ higher phats / ely/ divine OR the pursuit of further 99s.

 

For me, keeping this impossiblity in mind got me off RS as well as not having membership... UNLESS there is extra exp events then I would reconsider.

I just had a whole other idea, it really depends whether you're F2p or P2p as F2p has less items and less space to store less items. So in general F2p's number would be much less then 300m or probably any of the other numbers you mentioned.