Poll: Is playing video games a poor mans hobby ?

[Erana]

Wait why don't steam deals count, that cuts a huge chunk out of my potential list, everyone takes advantage of deals in the consumer world, why should it be cut?

Because they sell games like alpha protocol for 2 $ . it would mess it the accuracy quite a bit i think.

Wait, so you're trying to figure out how much people spend on games, and you're worried about accuracy, so you're telling people to arbitrarily leave out a major place people spend money on games from their calculations? Doesn't that by definition completely throw accuracy out the window?

Wait why don't steam deals count, that cuts a huge chunk out of my potential list, everyone takes advantage of deals in the consumer world, why should it be cut?

Because they sell games like alpha protocol for 2 $ . it would mess it the accuracy quite a bit i think.

Leaving them out cuts the accuracy by a ridiculous amount, if you ask how much we spend, we should tell you how much we spend without cutting out a major contributor, that's like asking how much you spend on groceries, except for the sales, in a lot of cases that completely cuts out peoples entire purchase history

Steame DEALS . Not steam as a whole . Buy a game at full price counts , buy a game for 2$ doesn't count , thats what a deal is.

It does when the amount you've spent on games in 2011 is under $30.

iOS games, borrowing, buying used and at extreme discounts...
I'm busy a lot, so it doesn't take too much money for me to always have a fresh gaming experience with careful purchases and gamer friends.

And my 360? A christmas/birthday/graduation gift.

 

[Kae]

I will tell you that I don't make much money any more so I cannot really afford to play video games as a hobby, especially for how expensive consoles and decent PCs are so, instead I hang out in the forums to see what I'm missing -_- I really like video games so I don't want to leave the hobby but I don't have enough cash to maintain it.
If anything I'd say it is a pretty expensive hobby.

 

[UrieHusky]

Wait, you're assuming video games are cheap? In New Zealand the average new release is 120 dollars, and that's for (lets just go with a reasonably common time) 12 hours of entertainment excluding replay.

It's not cheap to be a gamer, sure there are ways to game cheap via used sales or just waiting for the price to drop on new games but that's neither here nor there.

Pc gaming especially is expensive.

But these are just my opinions, maybe some people do in fact view gaming as a cheap hobby but I simply don't, but one things for certain, I'd rather play a flight sim game than paint a model air plane for 6 weeks only to put it on a stand and get enraged any time a child tries to play with it.

 

[Spawny0908]

Fuck no! This hobby is flipping expensive! I'm broke right now...but at least I have RAGE and Dark Souls!!!

 

[Danceofmasks]

I'm not an idiot.
Therefore, I get stuff on sale.

If you're cutting out steam deals, you can assume I don't use toilet paper.
'cos I only buy that on sale. 100+ rolls at a time.

 

[Boxinatorizore]

Compared to my other hobbies, it's pretty damn cheap. I run a project recording studio, and when your blowing $1000 on a mic every other month a $60 game looks like pocket change.

 

[II2]

Not in Q4 2011.

 

[kickyourass]

Seeing as how a new gaming console runs $200 minimum and the average game can cost anywhere from 30-60$ new, I'd say it's more a middle-of-the-road hobby in terms of cost. Unless you mean PC gaming holy hell that's an expensive way to play plus the amount of computer literacy needed if you want to install your own upgrades and such.

 

[German Borbon]

it depends, if you are legit console is a middle price, if you are legit PC gamer its a lot of money, if you are a pirate console gamer is pretty cheap and if you are a pirate PC gamer is still very expensive

 

[Sir Rammington Steel]

I'd say that on the whole it's about a middle of the road hobby in terms of cost. There are plenty of more expensive hobbies out there as well as a good many cheaper ones. And gaming like other hobbies is all about how you go about it. It can be plenty cheap if you stick with previous generation games and consoles or ones that have been out for a while. Just like chess could be an incredibly cheap hobby if you just buy a five dollar board or an incredibly expensive one if you like to own multiple sets that are more expensive.

 

[Rabid Gamer]

Yes, if you are rich you can drive cars like in Froza. Or steal them like in Grand Theft Auto, but since you are rich you don't go to jail.\o/

It cost a little to start, you can rent, if you really poor or borrow games from friends.

If you are really rich, you can own Arcade Machines, golf courses and planes. Something games are there to simulate.

 

[Furioso]

Wait why don't steam deals count, that cuts a huge chunk out of my potential list, everyone takes advantage of deals in the consumer world, why should it be cut?

Because they sell games like alpha protocol for 2 $ . it would mess it the accuracy quite a bit i think.

Wait, so you're trying to figure out how much people spend on games, and you're worried about accuracy, so you're telling people to arbitrarily leave out a major place people spend money on games from their calculations? Doesn't that by definition completely throw accuracy out the window?

Wait why don't steam deals count, that cuts a huge chunk out of my potential list, everyone takes advantage of deals in the consumer world, why should it be cut?

Because they sell games like alpha protocol for 2 $ . it would mess it the accuracy quite a bit i think.

Leaving them out cuts the accuracy by a ridiculous amount, if you ask how much we spend, we should tell you how much we spend without cutting out a major contributor, that's like asking how much you spend on groceries, except for the sales, in a lot of cases that completely cuts out peoples entire purchase history

Steame DEALS . Not steam as a whole . Buy a game at full price counts , buy a game for 2$ doesn't count , thats what a deal is.

Yea that's what I am talking about, a lot of people only buy things when they are on sale, and cutting out those people only makes your data wildly inaccurate

 

[Custard_Angel]

If I had a lot more money I'd certainly play a lot fewer video games, that's for sure.

 

[emeraldrafael]

No. I know here int he US, we're blessed with relatively "cheap" game sales, and that theyre expensive in other countries, but even still they're "expensive" in the US too. and considering what you can dumb on a console/PC launch day could equal a down payment on a decent used car, its hardly cheap.

 

[chadachada123]

My parents are technically middle-class, but steeped in debt. We get by but "eh."

I'm 20, and am quitting my job because I need to focus on schooling, and they won't set up a summer-only thing. Tough luck, but that just means I'll be buying less video games.

Anyways, I ended up spending WELL over $1000 in the last year for the games that I bought, but would normally spend maybe $300. This year, though, $400 for the Reach 360, $150 for legendary Reach, Black Ops, Brink, Portal 2, 3DS, a bunch of $20 games because I bleed money easily, Starfox 64 3D, OoT 3D, Medal of Honor (that was about a year ago, right?), Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Kinect, DJ Hero 2 w/ turntable, Dead Island, Dark Souls, already paid for Skyrim and Battlefield 3 and CoD MW 3, Red Dead Redemption, Fable III, finally bought BF:BC2...that about does it for all of the games I've gotten in the past 365 days. Damn.

I personally made about $10,000 before taxes last year, but still live with my parents or on campus and have all of my food and stuff covered, at least for now.

While I wouldn't call it a poor-man's hobby, I think that you'll find that most gamers are lower-to-upper-middle class, yes. Rich kids probably do something productive, like kick puppies or whatever it is they do.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Steame DEALS . Not steam as a whole . Buy a game at full price counts , buy a game for 2$ doesn't count , thats what a deal is.

Yes. That is what a deal is, and that's exactly why I pretty much only ever buy things during them. Something like 90% of the money I've spent on games in the past few years (not 90% of games I've bought, but 90% of the actual dollar amount) has been during Steam sales. Possibly a larger amount than that. The last time I did the math, the average price I'd paid per game had dropped below $6, and I know it's gone down even further since then. If you're discounting sales on Steam and other similarly ridiculous bargains, that eliminates nearly my entire purchase history from the past few years, which includes dozens of games.

 

[archaicmalevolence]

I'd say maybe $100-$200 average nowadays on games, though I guess it could be much higher on certain years like this one perhaps. But I won't spend above $500 in a year on games. I only earn about $5000 a year as it is; working part-time, for only about 6hrs a week.

 

[SilentCom]

Well I'm poor and gaming is a hobby of mine...

Seriously though, not just poor people play video games.

 

[Danceofmasks]

*Sigh*

Ok, it's possible to PC game as a hobby for nothing. Zero.

'cos say you're going to college or you have a PC for the internet or whatever, you can still play games.
There are hundreds of games for free.

Admittedly, a lot of them are sub-par flash games, but then there is a lot of awesome as well.
Team Fortress 2. League of Legends. Quake live.
Dozens of MMOs if you're into that sort of thing.
Hell, I still play Puzzle Pirates (they just put it on steam recently, too).

Some older games were released as freeware.
Betrayal at Krondor and Mechwarrior 4 comes to mind. There are more, I just don't remember.

Also, check this site out.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-pc-games.htm

Ok, gaming may put a dent in your wallet if you give a damn about what marketing tells you, but marketing costs money that is paid for by your purchases.

 

[endplanets]

Gaming can be really expensive or dirt cheap.

You can just play Free to Play and get TF2, Dungeon Fighter Online and others and never pay a cent. Add free flash games to the mix too.

You can buy old systems and used games. I have a PS3 and guy lots of old PS2 games dirt cheap. And you can also get cheap Download games of Xbox Arcade (Buy "Streets of Fury" for 3$ that game is great) and PSN.

Or you can go all out and spend thousands on new games, fancy controllers, all 5 bullshit DLC for COD and peripherals. And if you have a PC you can spend 5 Grand on just a few computer parts.

I am more the second group. Few new games, but lots of old ones.