While I do have buyers remorse, which is I it's own problem, and I am also a little funny with money, where I will blow thousands for something that revolves around my job/work, because I see that as an investment into my income, but, when it comes to other things, no so much.
Anyway, the way I handle games is simple. I put aside $20 a 'paycheck', well more like $20 twice a month, ($40 a Month total) and while this is not much overall, really, that is my gaming fund. It's controlled, it's set aside, it's my game money to spend as I want. And I spend it. The second I put in my account, it is either goes into my steam wallet, or into the game I am playing currently, it never sits around to be spent on something else.
In doing this, I have always had funds to buy the games I wanted to buy, or get the things in game in I wanted to get. The few times I broke this system were when expansions comes out, and I will just buy the expansion, and still set aside my gaming money.
Sure, games can be free to play, and some people get all stingy on this, or treat it like a challenge, or simply do not have a lot of money, and this is their way to stretch their dollars, but as I see it, if it is worth the time of my life, for me to invest my life hours spent into that game, it's worth money.
I cannot for the life of me, think that I would I spend time doing something, and feel that it was not worth a single cent, if that happens, I would strongly wonder why I was doing it to start with, and this applies to anything. I mean, I would not be building a deck if I thought the deck had no value, or was not worth spending money on, etc, etc. To each their own on that one.. you do you, I'll do me.
Anyway, that I how I handle it, I just set aside a rationed amount, and play with that.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
I'm the same way, I'll spend money on various things from week to week without giving it a second thought, but when it comes to buying a video game I hesitate. I think a big part of it is because of free to play games. For example, I downloaded Secret World Legends, played to max level and got 50-something hours out of it without spending a dime. So then if I'm checking out a single player game that I know may only give 15 to 20 hours or so of gameplay, I have a tough time justifying the cost. It's like, "Hmmm, $30 to $50 for 20 hours of gameplay, or $0 for 50+ hours of gameplay..."
I used to go to a couple of electronics stores in the area and game shop all the time...it was before digital download...I would spend at least an hour or two reading all teh boxes and game guides trying to get an idea if I would like the game or not and if it was worth the money....At that point, not much was free.....We spent and it wasn't an issue, but as the free stuff started coming along then it did change the picture...
.Alot of the brick and mortar places that carried games went out of business, and alot of the game companies went to digital download instead of box sales......With digital downloads, I don't feel I get my moneys worth alot of the time.....With the box, I got discs, maps, game guides, coupons for other products, etc etc etc.....and I don't like to compare it to spending on other things like food or other entertainment....
I'll have to admit that I make over $100 an hour. So the cost of a game is nothing. I buy games all the time, if they have good reviews, and sometimes hardly play them.
I also stay subbed to multiple MMO's, even when not playing.
However, I spend almost nothing in any cash shop in a game. Don't care much about cosmetics, and don't want to rush to the end game. I don't mind grinding for a while to get something.
I could be a whale, except I don't buy anything in the cash shops and certainly never buy loot boxes. I also almost never give any money to the kickstarter efforts.
I could be a whale, except I don't buy anything in the cash shops and certainly never buy loot boxes. I also almost never give any money to the kickstarter efforts.
Is that because you don't see it as value for money? Or because the whole notion of it doesn't appeal to you at all?
Since i'm single i really can't comment on that part, but for the rest of the OP post i'm the opposite. If I have $100 dollars to burn i eat cheap so I can have more money to spend on games. Both expensive and cheap food will end up in the toilet when I get home so yeah... I kind of rather spend more money on longer lasting things. I've always being like that. A $200 dollar bottle of fine wine just to pee it 20 minutes later? mmm suddenly that cheap Night Train looks delightful, and i have enough cash left for a couple of full priced games, or a bunch of older ones.
But then again, i'm single. Money management does change when more people get involved.
Since i'm single i really can't comment on that part, but for the rest of the OP post i'm the opposite. If I have $100 dollars to burn i eat cheap so I can have more money to spend on games. Both expensive and cheap food will end up in the toilet when I get home so yeah... I kind of rather spend more money on longer lasting things. I've always being like that. A $200 dollar bottle of fine wine just to pee it 20 minutes later? mmm suddenly that cheap Night Train looks delightful, and i have enough cash left for a couple of full priced games, or a bunch of older ones.
But then again, i'm single. Money management does change when more people get involved.
Eh..
you still end up eating cheap, you just have less for games regardless.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
I think this is an area where younger folks have a leg up on older folk like me. I've been able to change my mindset, but it's harder for a lot of mature people to see 'value' in the cyber'verse and the content. NFTs, crypto, movies, music, games....... The fact is, these things do have value, even on a consumer level. It's a fact, not a 'should or shouldn't be'. The quicker people get that into our brains, the more settled we'll be.
The fact is that 1 gold piece in a game matters to people (not all obviously). We've got to stop ridiculing people for this IMO. It's really no different than when (in this example) when the United States moved from the gold standard. No longer was money backed by gold. It was hard for many people to wrap their minds around the fact that a dollar isn't just a piece of paper because it didn't have anything behind it. Value is what people place in things or cyber things.
I kind of bridged that divide when I bought my Kindle. I buy books for it and it took me a bit for me to reach the 'I own these books' Once I made the leap there, movies, music and other things followed. I do still like physical things, but I'm now MORE comfortable in owning and seeing value in digital things.
I certainly have some very specific rules about spending money on games.
I won't play any F2P game, and would certainly never spend money in a cash shop. This is simply because every F2P game I've ever played has either sucked outright, or the experience has been ruined by the cash shop. The fact that most F2P is unethical imo is just an extra reason to not play these games.
I almost exclusively avoid DLCs and expansions. This is down to a simple value comparison: do I want to spend £10 on a DLC, or £10 and get an entire game? DLCs just always seem way overpriced considering the lack of content. The exception is DLCs for sandbox games.
I never spend more than £50 on a game. And it's rare that I'll spend that much. This is again a value comparison - I'm not impressed by new shiney graphics, so im not gonna give you lots of money if you have good graphics sitting on top of 15 year old gameplay. I'd rather spend that money on the older game with the same gameplay.
I think the main reason for any hesitation when it comes to purchasing is that my enjoyment is 100% dependent on the contents of the game.
When you compare it to the cinema or a meal at a restaurant, your enjoyment is impacted by more variables, and those variables are predictable.
For example, going to a restaurant with your wife, you are guaranteed to be spending time with your wife (and i assume that is enjoyable), you are guaranteed to be sitting in with other people, you might even have a fun little drive involved. So, even if the meal is a bit shit, the overall experience can still be good.
Same with the cinema. Even if the movie is shit, I'm still going to enjoy the massive screen, the epic sound quality, the comfy seating, the popcorn and the drink.
If a game is shit, then the whole experience is shit. All the other variables are automatically at your baseline for what "normal" is. You already know what your living room is like, you already know what your office is like.
So, dropping money on such an unpredictable outcome is definitely understandable.
I certainly have some very specific rules about spending money on games.
I won't play any F2P game, and would certainly never spend money in a cash shop. This is simply because every F2P game I've ever played has either sucked outright, or the experience has been ruined by the cash shop. The fact that most F2P is unethical imo is just an extra reason to not play these games.
I almost exclusively avoid DLCs and expansions. This is down to a simple value comparison: do I want to spend £10 on a DLC, or £10 and get an entire game? DLCs just always seem way overpriced considering the lack of content. The exception is DLCs for sandbox games.
I never spend more than £50 on a game. And it's rare that I'll spend that much. This is again a value comparison - I'm not impressed by new shiney graphics, so im not gonna give you lots of money if you have good graphics sitting on top of 15 year old gameplay. I'd rather spend that money on the older game with the same gameplay.
I think the main reason for any hesitation when it comes to purchasing is that my enjoyment is 100% dependent on the contents of the game.
When you compare it to the cinema or a meal at a restaurant, your enjoyment is impacted by more variables, and those variables are predictable.
For example, going to a restaurant with your wife, you are guaranteed to be spending time with your wife (and i assume that is enjoyable), you are guaranteed to be sitting in with other people, you might even have a fun little drive involved. So, even if the meal is a bit shit, the overall experience can still be good.
Same with the cinema. Even if the movie is shit, I'm still going to enjoy the massive screen, the epic sound quality, the comfy seating, the popcorn and the drink.
If a game is shit, then the whole experience is shit. All the other variables are automatically at your baseline for what "normal" is. You already know what your living room is like, you already know what your office is like.
So, dropping money on such an unpredictable outcome is definitely understandable.
I agree. The experience is the biggest factor to me in these things. The most memorable things in my life are all about the total experience, not so much the thing itself. That's why the best of the best places to go and things to do go out of their way to make your experience as best as they can. Except modern video games, IMO.
I'm a cheapskate! I don't keep subs I don't use. I have bought like maybe a handful of full-priced games that weren't MMOs in recent years(RDR2, FF7 remake, Overwatch and Fallout 4 maybe?). I have pulled back a lot on the FOMO of deluxe collectors editions of MMOs, for the most part.
Not being able to score WoW's special edition with the panda pet must have scarred me for years , I think. I bought all the expensive junk I don't use in games I rarely play. WoW's decline did wonders for the FOMO psychology, though. It finally got the idea that these things don't last forever to really stick.
I think the main reason for any hesitation when it comes to purchasing is that my enjoyment is 100% dependent on the contents of the game.
When you compare it to the cinema or a meal at a restaurant, your enjoyment is impacted by more variables, and those variables are predictable.
For example, going to a restaurant with your wife, you are guaranteed to be spending time with your wife (and i assume that is enjoyable), you are guaranteed to be sitting in with other people, you might even have a fun little drive involved. So, even if the meal is a bit shit, the overall experience can still be good.
Same with the cinema. Even if the movie is shit, I'm still going to enjoy the massive screen, the epic sound quality, the comfy seating, the popcorn and the drink.
If a game is shit, then the whole experience is shit. All the other variables are automatically at your baseline for what "normal" is. You already know what your living room is like, you already know what your office is like.
So, dropping money on such an unpredictable outcome is definitely understandable.
Now see, we have a very different approach to games, and I think it's because I play with a static, as such, any MMO (or any multiplayer game for that matter) is more akin to going out to the pub with my buds.
Now I'll admit, when I am trying out a new MMO or game, on my own, it's all about the game, and I'll use that as a metric to see if I want to sales pitch it to my static.
It's also why I'll play a game even if I do not like it, just to play with my static.
Kinda like going to the Fish House Bar and Grill, when I really don't like fish, but I'm going to be with my friends, and some of them absolutely love fish.. so.. I'll eat some fish once in a while.
Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.
I think the main reason for any hesitation when it comes to purchasing is that my enjoyment is 100% dependent on the contents of the game.
When you compare it to the cinema or a meal at a restaurant, your enjoyment is impacted by more variables, and those variables are predictable.
For example, going to a restaurant with your wife, you are guaranteed to be spending time with your wife (and i assume that is enjoyable), you are guaranteed to be sitting in with other people, you might even have a fun little drive involved. So, even if the meal is a bit shit, the overall experience can still be good.
Same with the cinema. Even if the movie is shit, I'm still going to enjoy the massive screen, the epic sound quality, the comfy seating, the popcorn and the drink.
If a game is shit, then the whole experience is shit. All the other variables are automatically at your baseline for what "normal" is. You already know what your living room is like, you already know what your office is like.
So, dropping money on such an unpredictable outcome is definitely understandable.
Now see, we have a very different approach to games, and I think it's because I play with a static, as such, any MMO (or any multiplayer game for that matter) is more akin to going out to the pub with my buds.
Now I'll admit, when I am trying out a new MMO or game, on my own, it's all about the game, and I'll use that as a metric to see if I want to sales pitch it to my static.
It's also why I'll play a game even if I do not like it, just to play with my static.
Kinda like going to the Fish House Bar and Grill, when I really don't like fish, but I'm going to be with my friends, and some of them absolutely love fish.. so.. I'll eat some fish once in a while.
Naw, if my friends wanted to go to a fish house I'd just stay home with my cats.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Comments
Like anything a balance is required here. At the end of the day you should fill your time with activities you enjoy.
its a myth that you have to be productive all the time. Only slaves believe that and you'll die all the same.
Anyway, the way I handle games is simple. I put aside $20 a 'paycheck', well more like $20 twice a month, ($40 a Month total) and while this is not much overall, really, that is my gaming fund. It's controlled, it's set aside, it's my game money to spend as I want. And I spend it. The second I put in my account, it is either goes into my steam wallet, or into the game I am playing currently, it never sits around to be spent on something else.
In doing this, I have always had funds to buy the games I wanted to buy, or get the things in game in I wanted to get. The few times I broke this system were when expansions comes out, and I will just buy the expansion, and still set aside my gaming money.
Sure, games can be free to play, and some people get all stingy on this, or treat it like a challenge, or simply do not have a lot of money, and this is their way to stretch their dollars, but as I see it, if it is worth the time of my life, for me to invest my life hours spent into that game, it's worth money.
I cannot for the life of me, think that I would I spend time doing something, and feel that it was not worth a single cent, if that happens, I would strongly wonder why I was doing it to start with, and this applies to anything. I mean, I would not be building a deck if I thought the deck had no value, or was not worth spending money on, etc, etc. To each their own on that one.. you do you, I'll do me.
Anyway, that I how I handle it, I just set aside a rationed amount, and play with that.
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2024: 47 years on the Net.
Or because the whole notion of it doesn't appeal to you at all?
you still end up eating cheap, you just have less for games regardless.
The fact is that 1 gold piece in a game matters to people (not all obviously). We've got to stop ridiculing people for this IMO. It's really no different than when (in this example) when the United States moved from the gold standard. No longer was money backed by gold. It was hard for many people to wrap their minds around the fact that a dollar isn't just a piece of paper because it didn't have anything behind it. Value is what people place in things or cyber things.
I kind of bridged that divide when I bought my Kindle. I buy books for it and it took me a bit for me to reach the 'I own these books' Once I made the leap there, movies, music and other things followed. I do still like physical things, but I'm now MORE comfortable in owning and seeing value in digital things.
The most memorable things in my life are all about the total experience, not so much the thing itself.
That's why the best of the best places to go and things to do go out of their way to make your experience as best as they can.
Except modern video games, IMO.
Once upon a time....
Not being able to score WoW's special edition with the panda pet must have scarred me for years
Now I'll admit, when I am trying out a new MMO or game, on my own, it's all about the game, and I'll use that as a metric to see if I want to sales pitch it to my static.
It's also why I'll play a game even if I do not like it, just to play with my static.
Kinda like going to the Fish House Bar and Grill, when I really don't like fish, but I'm going to be with my friends, and some of them absolutely love fish.. so.. I'll eat some fish once in a while.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Yeah, games are a bargain and have not gotten the inflation bug (yet).