It is possible your opponent had something come up, stepped away, and couldn't get back before running out of time. That could be especially true if the game was even.
Most often it is done when losing but in any case the loss counts the same as checkmate from a rating standpoint.
Brand new here, and also new to chess as my rating will attest. :) What a fantastic site.
I played my very first game of Live Chess yesterday (15|10), and was surprised when my opponent stopped moving and let the clock run out. I subsequently searched the forums and found this was not uncommon here. (As an aside, the game was not breaking in either direction, and was fairly even, so I'm not sure why).
Now that I understand that this is a common phenomenon, my question is not to debate the practice, etiquette, etc., but to simply ask: why? The game shows up as a win for me. Does it not show up as a loss for the opponent when they run the clock out? In short, what's in it for a player to run the clock out vs. resigning vs. playing on and maybe losing? Isn't it all the same result in the end?
Thanks, and hope to learn a lot from all the fine folks here.
D