Progress and Upgrades

Geoffrey42

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Aug 22, 2006
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Kemmler0 said:
I guarantee that there are a very high proportion of people that have jobs like these and also play games. Otherwise how do you feed the habit.
I have a job? It pays me money? And then I spend it on leisure items, like my home PC. Which has never generated a cent...

I guarantee that there are a very low proportion of people that can write off a new graphics card as a business expense.
 

Kemmler0

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Sep 10, 2007
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Geoffrey42 said:
I have a job? It pays me money?
Are you making a statement or asking a question?

Anyway, are you saying that you have never even minimized the game in order to do a Excel spreadsheet or a Word document for this job that someone pays you for each month?
 

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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I think what he's saying - and forgive and correct me if I'm wrong - is that there's a great yawning gulf between both the capabilities and the cost of a work computer and a gaming computer. I have an old Athlon rig sitting in the other corner of the room that'll Excel spreadsheet and Word document your ass off, but it sure isn't a viable gaming system for anyone who wants to go beyond PartyPoker.net or Freecell. Admittedly, people who have dedicated gaming systems can do a lot of other stuff with them as well, but as G42 said, the actual number who do make money via their computer is comparatively tiny.
 

Geoffrey42

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Aug 22, 2006
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Kemmler0 said:
Geoffrey42 said:
I have a job? It pays me money?
Are you making a statement or asking a question?
I am using question marks to indicate a rise in pitch at the end of the sentence. Sort of an indicator of incredulity towards the statement/question that was made/posed and to which I was replying/answering: "Otherwise how do you feed the habit." - Kemmler0

Anyway, are you saying that you have never even minimized the game in order to do a Excel spreadsheet or a Word document for this job that someone pays you for each month?
I am not saying anything of the sort. I do indeed engage in incidental gaming on machines that were provided for the purpose of work. I also engage in incidental work on machines that I have built for the purpose of leisure, because when given the choice, I prefer to use Excel and Word on a desktop, than on a business oriented 15" laptop. What I AM saying is that the times I use my home machine for work in no way pay for the gaming aspect.

@Malygris: Yes, that's basically the gist of what I was saying. Primarily, I'm taking issue with the claim that there is some large population of people who play games, who have turned those machines into a business asset. I'm certainly not arguing that people CAN'T, or that people DON'T, just that it is not a majority, as implied by Kemmler0. Lots of people, myself included, have jobs which do not require a home PC, and still spend their own money on it to enjoy games. Also, G42 sounds like a weapon. This pleases me.
 

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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This is as close as I could come for you. :) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG42]
 

Geoffrey42

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Aug 22, 2006
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When I first read it, I was thinking more along the lines of the <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:G22_mit_NSV80.jpg>G22, but the MG42 also came to mind (too much DoD). Plus, Geoffrey is my middle name, M is my first initial. MG42 is even more appropriate. And entertaining.
 

Andrew Armstrong

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Aug 21, 2007
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I liked the point that a games console is a specialist machine - I completely forgot to mention that before! If it wasn't cheaper, I'd be seriously worried spending ~£1000 for a console!

The fact most people own a PC to do anything that a PC normally does normally outweighs the price factors of it - if you use it just for gaming, I'd agree simply buying what is available on a console and playing it on a PC (And doing nothing else on it!) is a total waste, but I doubt I'd want to go on the internet, program, and do video editing on anything less then my box and dual widescreen monitors anyway!

Notably, another factor that isn't taken into account is the fact that for the most expensive consoles (Xbox 360: £170/250+ [http://www.play.com/HOME/HOME/3-/2524/2-/Promo.html?dpr=2524], PS3: £400+ [http://www.play.com/Games/PlayStation3/3-/2723/2-/Promo.html?dpr=2723]) is the cost of the HMDI compatible widescreen HD televisions, which while slowly coming down in price, are pretty expensive - I can't give a good price estimation, but it'd be £200 minimum, the cost of a PC's monitor at least. A shame really that isn't factored in (and I do wonder what will happen in the future regarding TV's...)
 

Geoffrey42

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Aug 22, 2006
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Not that I'm going to argue that the cost of a TV is not worth factoring, but I think the reason that most analysis leaves the cost of a TV out of the cost of a console, is because the assumption is that people have TVs anyway. And people will buy HDTVs without consoles. One might argue that consoles push the adoption of HDTVs, but it's not a 1-to-1 relationship.

As a single datapoint, I have a giant HDTV, and I don't have an HD console yet. *shockhorror*

You can argue the same bits about a PC, that you can have a PC and not game, so the whole cost of the PC isn't relevant. Certainly true. So, let's compare the cost difference between a PC for average use (not computer specialist, not graphics artist, without those outliers) and the cost of a PC for gaming use. Then compare the cost of a TV without a console, and a TV with a console. Careful though, that way lies relevance, rationality, and inevitably, insanity.