Have you checked the messages.log file to see what's happening?
On another note, how long is the pause that you are using between loops? Visionaire doesn't like it when the loops are really fast between each other & can cause the engine to crash - especially if you remove the pause entirely. There needs to be at least a 20ms pause between loops, but 100ms or higher would be safer.
Anyway, I would recommend using the display object text & linking it to an interface, that way you only need 1 action block for that. Technically you don't even need the update text action block as you could combine it inside of the update timer action block.
display object text "<vs=playtime>" (link the object text to an interface assigned to your character)
pause for 1000ms
values "playtime" + 1
jump to action part #1