Unemployed here, so I have to make everything count, which generally means waiting for sales and bargains, and weighing whether I can actually justify a purchase, even if I can actually afford it.
How much is your money worth to you?
- Thread starter CaitSeith
- Start date
For me, the number of hours that a game takes *is* the cost of it. If I'm going to spend 5+ hours doing one thing, it had better be worth it.The dollars hardly matter.WolfThomas said:
Though the cost in dollars drops so quickly that I might as well wait for it to come down.
I don't really know. But I don't like to own many things so I prefer to save money rather than spend it. You never know when you're gonna need it. For example in case of a health emergency. Either your own or someone close to you. I like to have a sizable amount in savings so that I could borrow it to people close to me when they need it or for special occasions etc. I rarely spend money on myself. As for games, I don't spend as much as I used to. I rarely buy games on launch these days for a stupidly large number of reasons.
Not a whole lot, really. I'm not one of those types who equates my self-value with my net worth, so while I always keep a couple grand in savings for just-in-case, for the most part I'm pretty liberal about buying whatever shiny new bit of escapism I need to escape the humdrum terrors of reality.
Granted, I'm helped by a lot of factors, I live alone, have no children or dependents, and live in a part of the country where housing and amenities are absurdly cheap. If I had two kids growing up downtown in the big city I'd probably be a lot more frugal.
Granted, I'm helped by a lot of factors, I live alone, have no children or dependents, and live in a part of the country where housing and amenities are absurdly cheap. If I had two kids growing up downtown in the big city I'd probably be a lot more frugal.
10~20 belongs in the 'impulse buy' category for me. Every now and then I just feel like buying something not too expensive, and go with that. Can be random things. Last week I bought 10 dollars worth of overwatch loot boxes for instance, which I normally never do.
40 is a 'will most likely buy if I like it' for me. When it comes to games at least.
50~60 I only buy when I'm sure I'll like it a lot and spend plenty of hours playing it. (60+ hours play time.)
80 I only buy if I really like the extra's and an hyped for the game. Which happened twice in my life so far.
100+ I never buy. Too expensive for games. There are some other things I'm willing to spend that on, like a new video card (no choice for a good one) and recently a thick leather body armour for larp.
40 is a 'will most likely buy if I like it' for me. When it comes to games at least.
50~60 I only buy when I'm sure I'll like it a lot and spend plenty of hours playing it. (60+ hours play time.)
80 I only buy if I really like the extra's and an hyped for the game. Which happened twice in my life so far.
100+ I never buy. Too expensive for games. There are some other things I'm willing to spend that on, like a new video card (no choice for a good one) and recently a thick leather body armour for larp.
I think I've posted my criteria around here before, but I'll break it down again simply:
$60++ - Almost never, can count on one hand number of times I've paid this much in my life. Basically based on value: will play very very much, say 50 hours or more (online shooter, or lately Forza Horizon 3), or want it that freaking badly PLUS want to support the developer (CD Projekt)
$40-60 - Also extremely rare, but this would be if a game I am definitely playing but waiting till it goes on sale. Almost harder to justify than the $60++ range. Still getting good value or replay at least (XCOM2)
$30 and below - Almost all of my games are in this category. I just don't buy anything brand new, and once the sales or age bring a game to this point, that's when I start even considering them.
What's my money worth? Well, depends. I'm not the kind of person to grind a game way past it's use by, with replays and things. I have so many games in the backlog and genres which I enjoy (racing, RPG, FPS, action/fighting to name a few) and consume a lot of time, but I work full time and sometimes weekends. So I do plenty of research. I can easily afford all of them, but still try to make sure I want it first. At least, I'm rarely disappointed.
$60++ - Almost never, can count on one hand number of times I've paid this much in my life. Basically based on value: will play very very much, say 50 hours or more (online shooter, or lately Forza Horizon 3), or want it that freaking badly PLUS want to support the developer (CD Projekt)
$40-60 - Also extremely rare, but this would be if a game I am definitely playing but waiting till it goes on sale. Almost harder to justify than the $60++ range. Still getting good value or replay at least (XCOM2)
$30 and below - Almost all of my games are in this category. I just don't buy anything brand new, and once the sales or age bring a game to this point, that's when I start even considering them.
What's my money worth? Well, depends. I'm not the kind of person to grind a game way past it's use by, with replays and things. I have so many games in the backlog and genres which I enjoy (racing, RPG, FPS, action/fighting to name a few) and consume a lot of time, but I work full time and sometimes weekends. So I do plenty of research. I can easily afford all of them, but still try to make sure I want it first. At least, I'm rarely disappointed.
For $10 or $20, I'd purchase an indie title or download on my handheld.
For $40, I'd consider it as a couple of used games that I'd been eyeing for some time, a game that has been out for a few months and has gone down in price, still new, or a new game on a handheld.
For $60, it would be reserved for that new "AAA" title that has gotten my attention and that I've been waiting for a year to be released.
I don't think that I'd really spend $100 on anything in a single purchase. I'd usually only go pass this price range for a new handheld or bundle that contains several things (i.e. games and accessories).
For $40, I'd consider it as a couple of used games that I'd been eyeing for some time, a game that has been out for a few months and has gone down in price, still new, or a new game on a handheld.
For $60, it would be reserved for that new "AAA" title that has gotten my attention and that I've been waiting for a year to be released.
I don't think that I'd really spend $100 on anything in a single purchase. I'd usually only go pass this price range for a new handheld or bundle that contains several things (i.e. games and accessories).
Sub $15 I'm probably not going to think too hard about a game purchase. Anything above $30 I tend to think about whether I'm really desperate to play it right now. If not, it will probably be cheaper down the line (especially if I forget about it entirely).
Time is probably the bigger investment to me than money in regards to entertainment. I don't have a ton of time for games anymore so to spend some proper money I need to know that it's going to make me want to pick it up again the next evening or after the weekend. When I'm tired from work, socialising, household whatever, grindy/boring bits in games are going to turn me off completely and it might be a few weeks later that I get back to it.
Time is probably the bigger investment to me than money in regards to entertainment. I don't have a ton of time for games anymore so to spend some proper money I need to know that it's going to make me want to pick it up again the next evening or after the weekend. When I'm tired from work, socialising, household whatever, grindy/boring bits in games are going to turn me off completely and it might be a few weeks later that I get back to it.
For the following things in my life I have set the price to zero:
- movies and tv series (library, network tv, streams)
- books and comics (library, online)
- sports broadcasts (streams, tv)
- free-to-play games (Paladins, LoL, ESO)
- YouTube and Twitch (won't sub or donate, close my eyes and ears during ads or otherwise skip them if I can)
Then again this hasn't always been the case and I've bought DVDs I now can't get rid of and games from cheap bundles that I haven't even played. I try to make informed purchases so that the money I spend goes into quality. I don't really buy new games, but I will very likely get Tekken 7 as soon as it's released, for example. I prefer playing a game over a Let's Play so at least I'm not that kind of a leech.
- movies and tv series (library, network tv, streams)
- books and comics (library, online)
- sports broadcasts (streams, tv)
- free-to-play games (Paladins, LoL, ESO)
- YouTube and Twitch (won't sub or donate, close my eyes and ears during ads or otherwise skip them if I can)
Then again this hasn't always been the case and I've bought DVDs I now can't get rid of and games from cheap bundles that I haven't even played. I try to make informed purchases so that the money I spend goes into quality. I don't really buy new games, but I will very likely get Tekken 7 as soon as it's released, for example. I prefer playing a game over a Let's Play so at least I'm not that kind of a leech.
I spend most of my week working. What time I have left, I usually spend idly passing the time with a nice book or a few stretches of The Elder Scrolls Online and War Thunder. Most of my money spent goes into food, mostly at the workplace canteen, and they don't charge much.
I don't buy games very often these days, because they don't often interest me that much. Unless something is on sale and highly recommended - in which case I'll either buy it or flag it up on my wish-list for later - I'm entertained enough with the library I have. I doubt I'd go near 10% of AAA games these days, with the prices they charge. I am weighing up whether to donate to a couple of interesting Patreons, but it's probably going to be all quiet on the game front until the holidays or beyond.
I don't buy games very often these days, because they don't often interest me that much. Unless something is on sale and highly recommended - in which case I'll either buy it or flag it up on my wish-list for later - I'm entertained enough with the library I have. I doubt I'd go near 10% of AAA games these days, with the prices they charge. I am weighing up whether to donate to a couple of interesting Patreons, but it's probably going to be all quiet on the game front until the holidays or beyond.