Has anyone else spent enough money on certain games, that you're actually embarrassed to admit it ?

[Sandsifter]

When I look back on my gaming life over the last 15 years or so, there have been a number of games that grabbed me by the wallet and just wouldn't let go. Intellectually, I knew I was being just plain stupid to keep pouring so much real money into a virtual pastime. Emotionally, I would get that initial rush of anticipation when I hit the *Pay Now* button, but would inevitably feel bad the next morning. But with a handful of evil games, I just couldn't help myself.

I'm sure there must be a few of you out there who have been as weak as I have on occasion. If so, I'd be curious as to where your hard-earned money went. Here's my confession:

Magic the Gathering Online
Thousands of dollars spent over 2-3 years. Playing draft rounds is like virtual crack. Fortunately I was able to sell my collection and recover about half.

Second Life
I started out owning a tiny 512m plot of land, and somehow wound up paying $120/month renting 1/3 of a server. Pretty Scary.

Gold Farmers
Whenever I start a new MMO, I always convince myself that I'm role-playing a newcomer to the lands who just happens to come from a well-to-do family. Of course I'll need some startup funds, and of course my friends in China are always happy to help perpetuate the fantasy.

Kickstarter
I naively thought that my $300 investment would buy me a small village of my own in "Greed Monger".
Lesson learned: Never invest in a two-man company with no proven track record. The jury is still out on whether "The Repopulation" and "Star Citizen" will deliver their goods.

Cash Shops
Do I really need 20 Superheroes in "Marvel Online 2015" when I hardly ever play the game? How about the $20 Leopard Mount in ESO. It?s only a skin, it doesn?t go any faster than the cheap horse...Duh.

Steam Summer/Winter Sales
230+ games in my Library. 42 games installed. 2 games completed. 'Nuff said.

Hearthstone
What can I say? Opening Booster packs in Hearthstone is almost orgasmic.

 

[someguy1231]

The only games I'm embarrassed to have spent money on are games I find disappointing. I've spent over $400 on World of Warcraft over the years (and that was solely the actual games and subscriptions, I never bought any cosmetic addons), and it was totally worth it because it was pretty much the only game I was playing at the time, and gave me some of my fondest gaming memories.

Then again, I'm also a very frugal gamer. Almost all the games I own, I bought when they were on sale.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Nope. I live in a peso-based economy. And as Dr. Venture will tell you about pesos, "the zeroes are meaningless".

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

....I spent $10 on the Family Guy IOS city builder game.

 

[jademunky]

I spent several hundred dollars on a WOW membership back in the day (not exactly sure how many $'s) from Vanilla to the tail-end of the Burning Crusade before I lost interest.

Am I embarrassed about it? Well kinda, I had fun while it lasted and it was certainly worth it for the amount of dollars spent vs hours played. But I definitely would not do it again, possibly because I was never very interested in raiding and once the thrill of exploration wore off....

I did spend about $5 on Hearthstone last year. I am kinda ashamed of that one.

 

[jademunky]

Second Life
I started out owning a tiny 512m plot of land, and somehow wound up paying $120/month renting 1/3 of a server. Pretty Scary.

Wait what?! Forgive me here, I have never played second life but what were the events that led to that decision?

 

[crono738]

Second Life
I started out owning a tiny 512m plot of land, and somehow wound up paying $120/month renting 1/3 of a server. Pretty Scary.

Wait what?! Forgive me here, I have never played second life but what were the events that led to that decision?

He is terrible at managing his money?

 

[jademunky]

He is terrible at managing his money?

Or fantastic at it. I certainly do not have $120 of disposable income to spend per month on an MMO. Or rather, I do, but would have no other money to spend on entertainment or beer.

 

[Sarge034]

Yes, but only because of the game(s), I'm not telling if it was one or more... I would be glad to spend that much money on a better game, but alas I was fooled and lied to.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Back when I played World of Tanks on a regular basis I spent far more money than I should have on their "premium" vehicles. I fell into the trap that many F2P titles sucker you into. Sure, it doesn't seem like much to plunk down $5-10 periodically, but as the years go by you suddenly have a horrifying realization that you could have bought several $60 games for the amount you've spent. It was an object lesson in "microtransactions" and cash shops that I've been mindful of ever since.

But hey, at least I got my hands on a KV-5. That sucker is far more fun to drive than it has any right to be.

 

[-Dragmire-]

I paid a bunch of money for the ME3 multiplayer packs to get better gear/unlock classes so I could beat rounds solo (I don't like playing multiplayer online with people I don't know). I think I put about $60 into it.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I'm not embarrassed to admit being a recovering MtG addict. I don't even know how much I spent on that game but at one point I had my collection appraised at about 5k... thats including cards from the first 3 runs of Magic cards. I quit during the first Ravnica block and never looked back, donated my basic land collection to a local shop, auctioned off my remaining sets and gave the money to a friend who had a sick kid, kept out two of my favorite decks to go into deep storage.
I had a huge collection of Warhammer 40k models and I don't want to revisit the horror of finding a shed collapsed and ruined 80% of the painted models... all that survived was the pewter pieces. All I can say is I spent too much on that game and now will never buy another GW product after I figured out how much that set me back.
Its not that I hate MtG or 40k, I just realized that its way too expensive to keep up with Magic, and Games Workshop really jacks up their gorram prices for models. Fielding a simple army isn't cheap, fielding an actual competitive army, fully painted mind you, is insanely pricey.
If I were to keep playing miniature war games I'd stick with Warmachine. So much cheaper, better detailed models IMO and a wonderfully colorful steampunk world that doesn't feel too Grimdark.

 

[Pyrian]

Hmm. Not much for spending big bucks on virtual goods. Real ones, though... Man I dumped a lot into Magic: the Gathering and Warhammer 40k. Do I regret it, though? I'm not sure. It was fun at the time, and I was playing mostly with friends. Over the years I've dumped quite a bit into D&D, too, no regrets.

 

[Gennadios]

$800 on Warhammer 40k and counting over a year and a half. No regrets, except that I seem to paint models way slower than I acquire them.

I opened up a credit card solely for $90 credit in Avengers Alliance, though. Not really regretting it - good card, but I guess it should be embarasing.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I bought Final Fantasy XIII...twice...once new for the new MSRP and once used for about $15. I couldn't let that freaking game beat me, I just couldn't!

I'm not embarrassed about this one but between the PS3, 360 and, another PS3 copy that was bundled with the sequel, I bought Fallout 3 three times. Again, I'm not embarrassed about that because Fallout 3 is a freaking awesome game that I was glad to play through multiple times.

 

[Something Amyss]

No, though I do have a ton of Rock Band DLC and a few tracks I kind of wish I didn't

 

[Keoul]

I bought three copies of Hatoful Boyfriend.

 

[Sandsifter]

Well, when I first joined Second Life I think my 512m plot of land was free. The problem was that the number of objects you can place on your land, is dependent on the size of it.

I started with a small house, added some decorations, and pretty soon I had maxxed out my allowable objects. Then I noticed that the 512m plot next to mine had become vacant, so I bought that, which now required a $10 per month land ownership fee. Over the course of about a year, more adjoining property became available, and I gradually expanded my land holdings to the point where I had castles, skyhouses, gambling halls, etc - all connected via teleporter. Friends were constantly over hanging out, playing games, partying; it was sort of like owning the Playboy Mansion in real life.

I can't say I regret it, as it was great fun, but I eventually realized that it was a ridiculous amount of money to be spending on a simulation. I did wind up selling it for about $1,000, so the overall investment was a reasonable trade-off.

 

[Kreett]

Once spent something like the equivalent of 200 dollars on a mobile game, leading cause being work was really boring with lots of downtime with nothing to do and naps were forbidden. Lesson thoroughly learned from that experience getting my phone bill at the end of the month.

 

[sonicneedslovetoo]

One day I bought bad rats for a friend of mine when it was on some kind of sale. It was less than a dollar and I feel ashamed about it to this day.