MMORPGs shape the memories of many people. But for some, the love for online role-playing games is so great that it changes their lives. This is now told by a 30-year-old man: He had lived for 6 years as a monk in a temple in Wales. But the call of OldSchool Runescape (Steam) was apparently too strong.
This is what the man says: In a YouTube video “I stopped being a monk to play RuneScape,” explains the now 30-year-old, who is known in the MMORPG as Ben Xi:
- He discovered RuneScape for the first time at the age of 11 and dedicated “his entire childhood” to the game
- He spent the last 6 years of his life as a Hare Krishna monk in a temple in Wales
- He has now left this temple to gain more freedom, which he also spends in Oldschool RuneScape
“No one quits RuneScape”
This is what he says about the MMORPG: Ben Xi says that RuneScape is “deeply rooted in his being,” and it is hard to break away from it. No one completely quits the MMORPG. It becomes a part of one’s self.
For the 30-year-old, spirituality and video games are not mutually exclusive. But to be spiritual, one does not have to meditate all day; one can also devote oneself to “one’s nature. “
He then explains what he learned during his years as a monk. The philosophy of his faith says that spirituality and attending to one’s duties and obligations do not exclude each other.
As an example, he recounts that a great warrior came to Krishna and asked whether it wouldn’t be better to give up his life as a warrior and go into the forest to meditate with the yogis. But Krishna called him a fool for such ideas. He must follow his nature. In the forest, he would only disturb the yogis by pushing them into military order.
Just as it is the nature of the warrior to be a warrior, Ben Xi apparently sees his nature in playing RuneScape.
RuneScape is the ideal MMORPG to do something else on the side
Why RuneScape in particular? For him, RuneScape is the ideal MMORPG because it has simple and relaxed gameplay. It is ideal for watching a video with a lot of text contributions or listening to a podcast at the same time.
Because RuneScape requires only half the player’s attention – so he can still work on himself or deal with being a monk at the same time. Thus, he combines spirituality with his own natural way.
He describes how his day looked as a monk: He got up at 3:30 in the morning, devoted much of the day to meditation, prayer, and the study of ancient yogi texts. When you live like this for years, it becomes second nature.
How is this discussed? For most people commenting on the video, spirituality is not the focus, but rather many RuneScape jokes are made:
- The player needs to max out “Prayer” first
- The bro surely has 99 “Praying” in real life
- The quote “You never quit RuneScape, you just take breaks” comes up often
A comment on YouTube says: “At this point, I really believe that all roads lead to RuneScape”.
We have often described the extent to which the MMORPG “RuneScape” occupies the lives of its players. There are sometimes absurd records that mainly show how immensely much time one can dedicate to the MMORPG: Player catches the same useless fish in MMORPG 1,000,000 times – lasted about 3,500 hours
The title image is a symbolic image. It comes from Андрей Бетев at Pixabay
