runescape

Anyone noticed how RUNESCAPE supposedly spells RUNE-SCAPE, but if you break it up differently, it spells RUN-ESCAPE? Subliminal messaging? Hmm.... Runescape is a massive multiplayer online computer game (MMO) where high-level players are to be simultaneously admired and pitied. Admired because they can "pwn" and do cool things in the game, but pitied because when you think about how they've spent HUNDRED OF HOURS accumulating a slight charge on a hard drive in Cambridge, it's kind of sad. (This includes me; I had an account with 500+ hours logged.) I think it probably is possible to play this game in a healthy way, i.e. while still having a normal, healthy life on the side. But only if you're not looking for HAPPINESS in the game. If you play this game because real life is miserable and you need an escape, you have a much higher chance of getting addicted. That said, if you're determined to get addicted to something to begin with, because you want a sedative, RS is a much better "drug" than cocaine, alcohol, or sex, because it 1) costs less, 2) is less destructive, and 3) wreaks its destruction more slowly, giving you (and the people who care about you) more time to turn things around in RL. In sum, RS is a dangerous drug. But as drugs go, it's one of the cheaper, less dangerous ones.