I'm stuck at Platinum 3, I'm not forcing myself to play to rank up because I stay with my betting style and limit.
Smart.
It's amazing how often you see players making low variance dice bets because they want to get to the next vip level so bad.
Plat 3 => Plat 4 is 1.5 million wagered and the base bonus is $1600. Imagine wagering 1.02x dice for the last 20% - you will 100% lose somewhere around $3k without any chance at all of winning all in order to get that $1600 bonus.
That's the way the VIP levels are build on all casinos. As a player you will always want to play more just to achieve the next level. Even as a small gambler, Ihave the same, when I am close to a new level, I will always want to play more or even play a little bit more riskier just to achieve the new level.
I doubt everyone approaches it the same way. For example I believe that we should not be focusing on gambling that way at all, I don't even check where I am in vip level, I just gamble the way I do and if I happen to hit a VIP level during my gambling then it is a good surprise for me. That is all we should be focusing on, we should be gambling the way we want and not the way casinos want. They can talk about responsible gambling all they want and could ban people who want to, but they will also try to get you to gamble more than you could afford to lose as much as they can, why? Because that is literally the whole business idea, to take your money in mathematically guaranteed way for them.
This doesn't make any casino bad, they are great source of entertainment, stake is one of the places I have the most fun in my life, it is amazing, only if you careful play and do not lose a lot.