The Broke Gamer
You might be broke as a joke, but that doesn't mean you have to stop gaming.
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You might be broke as a joke, but that doesn't mean you have to stop gaming.
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Editor's Note: The Broke Gamer
- Thread starter Russ Pitts
- Start date
I definitely feel it right now. I have $74 to my name, haven't started my new job yet, and owe just about $373 in taxes still. Luckily, my parents are backing me up with the taxes and everything, but it does leave me very short for games. I've resorted to going to my friends' houses and rifling through their game libraries for something I might borrow for a while. Just got Castlevania: Lords of Shadow from my buddy, which will keep me occupied for quite some time.
It is an expensive hobby, thats for sure. Piracy makes it seem easier, but, as I've found out from an attempt or two, its much less a hassle to find the money and buy the game. I have about six virtual drives on my desktop trying to run the same .iso and it still won't work. (Can't even get legitimate .iso files to run. Installing the school copy of Windows 7 was a pain in the ass for sure.)
I've looked into selling games I'm finished with, but I tend to be attached to my games and find it hard to sell any back. I'm still hanging on to The Orange Box for my xbox with absolutely no intention of ever putting it into my console again, yet I just can't bring myself to go to the store and sell it.
Ahh well, at least my buddy is nice enough to allow me use of his second WoW account (now my account since the inception of Battle.net 2.0). I'll always have at least one game to play.
It is an expensive hobby, thats for sure. Piracy makes it seem easier, but, as I've found out from an attempt or two, its much less a hassle to find the money and buy the game. I have about six virtual drives on my desktop trying to run the same .iso and it still won't work. (Can't even get legitimate .iso files to run. Installing the school copy of Windows 7 was a pain in the ass for sure.)
I've looked into selling games I'm finished with, but I tend to be attached to my games and find it hard to sell any back. I'm still hanging on to The Orange Box for my xbox with absolutely no intention of ever putting it into my console again, yet I just can't bring myself to go to the store and sell it.
Ahh well, at least my buddy is nice enough to allow me use of his second WoW account (now my account since the inception of Battle.net 2.0). I'll always have at least one game to play.
technically it's impossible to game for free since you will always be paying for electricity (and to an extent internet) unless you are playing solitaire on a laptop that you will never recharge again but I see your point.
I've grown to the point where I will only buy a PC game if it's on a Steam sale and haven't bought an xbox game since September, although that's mainly due to the fact that I don't see my xbox much with it being at home and me at uni. I made the mistake when I first got a debit card to preorder every game that I thought would be decent and getting fairly disappointed most of the time (why the fuck did I get Halo Wars and WET .....) so I also vowed never to pre-order unless I know that it will be amazing ... or in a time frame where I will actually have time to play it (why did Portal 2 get released in the middle of exam revision time ...)
that, and I have a backlog of games from packs I bought in last summer's sale ....
I've grown to the point where I will only buy a PC game if it's on a Steam sale and haven't bought an xbox game since September, although that's mainly due to the fact that I don't see my xbox much with it being at home and me at uni. I made the mistake when I first got a debit card to preorder every game that I thought would be decent and getting fairly disappointed most of the time (why the fuck did I get Halo Wars and WET .....) so I also vowed never to pre-order unless I know that it will be amazing ... or in a time frame where I will actually have time to play it (why did Portal 2 get released in the middle of exam revision time ...)
that, and I have a backlog of games from packs I bought in last summer's sale ....
After watching Extra Credits and learning how many full price games my favourite developers typically have to sell to break even, I feel guilty waiting for sales. After all, it's not like I don't ever think these games aren't "worth" the sixty dollar price tag new; think of all the money and man hours that went into its development! It's just thriftiness on my part... everyone loves a bargain. So way to go, James, Daniel, and Allison; you have officially guilted me into pre-ordering LA Noire and Catherine. I hope you're happy to touched my conscience. 
Still a big fan of cruising by yard sales/flea markets for older used games though. Picking up an old Gamecube/PS1/PS2 title for ten bucks beats buying it off eBay and paying for shipping any day. In general, I do not care about the quality of the manual or the box; as long as it plays with no issues, I'm a happy duck. Ditto the "bargain bin" games you find at malls and Best Buy; I've found some surprisingly awesome games in those for barely any cash. I will tell you that I bought Order Up! for seven dollars and I got way more than my money's worth of enjoyment out of that. "OH MY GOSH HONEY LOOK AT THIS I AM TOTALLY USING THE WIIMOTE TO MELT BUTTER IN A PAN AAAAAAA SO IMMERSIVE."
Yeah, I don't care who knows I'm a dork.
Still a big fan of cruising by yard sales/flea markets for older used games though. Picking up an old Gamecube/PS1/PS2 title for ten bucks beats buying it off eBay and paying for shipping any day. In general, I do not care about the quality of the manual or the box; as long as it plays with no issues, I'm a happy duck. Ditto the "bargain bin" games you find at malls and Best Buy; I've found some surprisingly awesome games in those for barely any cash. I will tell you that I bought Order Up! for seven dollars and I got way more than my money's worth of enjoyment out of that. "OH MY GOSH HONEY LOOK AT THIS I AM TOTALLY USING THE WIIMOTE TO MELT BUTTER IN A PAN AAAAAAA SO IMMERSIVE."
Yeah, I don't care who knows I'm a dork.
a lot of pc gaming elitists don't know just how expensive it is to get into that. especially in the hard times like what Russ described.
Well well,
pirate them Borrow without permission with no intent of paying, That's how I get by.
I get heaps of benefits paying regular users go without. Really other than Portal 2 I see no game worth buying this year anyway, most releases (this year) have been rather disappointing imo.
There have been some great games released of late but if a beta sandbox rip of infiniminer can beat most generic console trash then something is wrong. I know they work long and hard to produce these games but it's not meeting the standards it could, we should expect better from them.
I could go on about Sony's customer treatment, piracy law suits and such but not today.
A better alternative is open source games, there are many good open source fps's and just engaging with the community to build something wonderful is a much more filling experience then paying $70> for average game that requires you to pay for DLC.
tl:dr Less cash cows more good games.
pirate them Borrow without permission with no intent of paying, That's how I get by.
I get heaps of benefits paying regular users go without. Really other than Portal 2 I see no game worth buying this year anyway, most releases (this year) have been rather disappointing imo.
There have been some great games released of late but if a beta sandbox rip of infiniminer can beat most generic console trash then something is wrong. I know they work long and hard to produce these games but it's not meeting the standards it could, we should expect better from them.
I could go on about Sony's customer treatment, piracy law suits and such but not today.
A better alternative is open source games, there are many good open source fps's and just engaging with the community to build something wonderful is a much more filling experience then paying $70> for average game that requires you to pay for DLC.
tl:dr Less cash cows more good games.
Taking something without paying for it...preeeeetty much the definition of stealing. Granted, in some parts of the world, you quite literally have no choice but to pirate.koeniginator said:
Or just don't care.Azaraxzealot said:
Given how often the "I can afford it" logic comes up, I'd assume a good chunk of PC elitists are entitled kids.
i know full-well the effects of being broke on my gaming addiction (not that i don't love every second), this might seem crazy or hard to believe and you might wonder how i haven't gone insane. but i only have a ps2 i've had since before xbox came out, and i've been playing the same 13-14 games, and on the off chance i get a new game, and by "new game" i mean been out for at least 3-5 years/ used/ bargain bin...that kinda new
and i have to say, if it weren't for those lil cheapo games on addictinggames.com and other sites of the like, i would've gone insane. they should get an award or something.
and i have to say, if it weren't for those lil cheapo games on addictinggames.com and other sites of the like, i would've gone insane. they should get an award or something.
i can't agree any more. no wonder they have no idea how expensive their hobby is or why they claim 500 to 600 dollars is cheapZachary Amaranth said:
I stopped buying games for a while, at least on a regular schedule and happened to pick up comics.. They are way more expensive than games >.<
Going broke caused me to sell my mint complete edition of Earthbound along with just about every Snes RPG I owned.
I figure when the day comes that i'm financially secure i'll give myself a treat and blows 2-3k on a backlog of games that give me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Going broke caused me to sell my mint complete edition of Earthbound along with just about every Snes RPG I owned.
I figure when the day comes that i'm financially secure i'll give myself a treat and blows 2-3k on a backlog of games that give me a warm fuzzy feeling.
You know, I don't actually remember. It was an older title, something I pulled straight off the net before torrents and sharing services made it easy. And well before I had any morals to speak of. I'm pretty sure I did it, then, just to see if I could.HankMan said:
Actually at least in the US distributing software without the copyright holders permission is copyright infringement and is a civil tort, not a criminal offense. It only becomes criminal falling under the fraud category of selling counterfeit goods if the copy is sold for profit.John Marcone said:
And to anyone who says copying software is illegal (in the US) please point out which law is being broken? Or please link to an arrest report of someone charged with "software piracy".
In some countries (Spain) courts found downloading for personal use to be perfectly legal. In Canada downloading copyrighted music for personal use is legal because of a tax on blank media which is distributed to rights holders.
The staff of this site get their paychecks form content publishers so they aren't allowed to present a nuanced view of the subject but the reality is a lot more of a gray area.
Y'all are in the wrong shop if your aim is to legitimize piracy. The Escapist never has and never will condone the practice.
You can draw as many funny pictures as you like, but taking a commercial product without paying for it is immoral, illegal and detrimental to the industry as a whole.
Bottom line: If you love games, pay for the games you play.
if you can't appreciate the wisdom of that sentiment, then you're hopelessly amoral and not worthy of the time and attention game developers spend trying to make you happy.
You can draw as many funny pictures as you like, but taking a commercial product without paying for it is immoral, illegal and detrimental to the industry as a whole.
Bottom line: If you love games, pay for the games you play.
if you can't appreciate the wisdom of that sentiment, then you're hopelessly amoral and not worthy of the time and attention game developers spend trying to make you happy.
I'd like to see your evidence of this, or else I label you as guilty of misrepresenting the facts as you seem to think are those suggesting piracy is illegal.rembrandtqeinstein said: