I just... don't get it.

I don't get how people get enjoyment of having a imaginary value of numbers and to strive to have the most... I get that you want a lot of crowns, but not even playing the game and playing the market all day... is that really fun?
To the point were you treat it like a job, so you can get the "best" stuff and be the "richest" in the game... then what? You don't play the game for fun anymore, you just strive to get a higher number? Why?
I really don't get why people do it, I need someone to explain it to me. :/
In many games, most MMORPGs among others, there is no clear 'score' mechanism. Wealth substitutes for score in the game, and some people play games very much to get the highest score possible - or when there's no score, the highest wealth.

but not even playing the game and playing the market all day... is that really fun?
Not all time is equal. I can have my spiral knights window open on the AH screen, but most of the time be doing other things on my computer. Maybe checking bids, maybe talking with guild mates, maybe answering new player's questions. Playing in the clockworks requires my full-time concentration. I can log on for 10 minutes and check the AH/game mail, but clearing only one floor in the clockworks is a waste of time and CE.
All day long, you may see lots of people at the market, but that doesn't mean that they aren't also playing the real game when they can.

I get whar your saying.
Theres a guy i know who has 40kce
2DA one with ctr med.
He just sells and crafts for noobs and price is doubled. He dont even have a single almirian seal :(
Im a perfect example of this thread.
I stopped doing runs about a month ago.
I still come on to chat and play the market though.
I currently have more CE than almost anyone i know. But i have nothing to spend it on :P All of the gear i buy is usually resold, or used for a nice costume :)
I rolled 2 vh ctr sealed swords 30 minutes into the update, i sold them both. Now i have a ton of CE with no use for it.
Why?
There is not much content in this game. I got tired of doing runs but i don't wanna quit the game yet, in hopes of better updates (like yesterday's)
And for me, playing the market is pretty fun. My money is like my "score" almost. People spend hours on their lil games on ipods and in the arcade to get the high score? I spend hours on SK to also get the "high score". Everyone has their own opinion on what the "Score" is in SK, for me it's how much CE i have. It's different for everyone, and SK has a market where, if used correctly, will allow people to dominate.

You can Un-Bind a Static Capacitor for me? :D

like to collect things, to accumulate things. I find accumulating wealth to be quite fun. I like watching numbers go up, actually, scratch that, i like watching an "earned" number go up.
When i played yahoo chess, i loved slowly inching my rating up over 1800.
I like watching my bank account grow monthly.
I like watching my CE and crowns slowly creep up. (altho now they are low, b/c i made purchases....and it bothers me to see them so darn low. but i do like my new weapons....well, when i play the game, which is rarely.)
I like working out, and watching my #s in weight lifted slowly getting better, and feel like i'm making myself better one day at a time. I like feeling like i'm better than i was last week, and will be better next week than i am this week.
I like "grinding" at things and getting better. I like the metrics that measure that "better," i like the collecting things of value and i like watching those things collect more value. I enjoy the accumulation of the things I do (not the things i have so much, lol, i'm not a hoarder, at least not of material things).
I think it all depends on how you are hardwired as a person. I think that people with a more obsessive personality get caught up in such collection/accumulation activities.
and lastly, good sir. The fact of the matter is, as ichiban said, the game doesn't have a lot of content. I am 90% bored of it. Rather than eek out that last 10% of fun i have left, i'd rather bide my time, collecting gear, ce, and crowns. Wait for more content to be added, and then finally burn out on it in the future, and enjoy that last hurrah with better gear, and on new content. (why play my last 20 hours of fun doing more endless jk runs, when i could do it fighting new bosses x, y, and z.)
Some people simply like bartering and selling stuff. Also herding money. Like me. But I'm also a huge spender.
I simply like having money and being a merchant. Though that doesn't mean I don't play. I sell stuff when I'm out of energy.
People have different opinions and find enjoyment in different things, which can include arbitrary numbers. Fire is hot. More at 11.