Mar 8
The Cost of Gaming
For single player games, this problem isn’t so bad. Take Mass Effect 2 for example. I had it reserved but had to wait 2 weeks before I could pick it up, while I had friends and co-workers who picked it up day one and had it finished before I got off my first shot. This made for an atmosphere of me hiding from people and trying to avoid spoilers to a game that has wedged itself into my top 10 of all time since I was able to finish it. But thankfully some people out there are awesome about this and watch what they say to preserve my experience…or at least ask first.
I’ve bought dozens of games recently (Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Borderlands, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, etc.) to play with friends, just to find they have either moved on to the next new game that comes out a week later, they have all of the achievements so don’t want to waste time not getting more, or are so far ahead of me they get bored playing with me and I die playing with them.
So the issue shows itself in splinters of new “gamer classes” that have arisen over the past few years. The “Achievement Whores”, “Budget Gamers”, “Compulsive Traders”, and others have come to splinter the player group. Along with community network issues that all of the current systems experience. What was supposed to bring us all together in this new age of gaming has pulled us apart.
The “Achievement Whores” will gladly play or join up as long as their magical number attached to their profile will increase (or trophies in the case of the PS3).
An example of how this has screwed me has been Halo: ODST and it’s Fire Fight mode. We had friends together going for the score achievements in each of the multi-player arenas each night over the period of a week. The final night I came down with the flu and had to stay off that night, so I missed the game. Everything had been going great until I tried to ask for a replay of the map so I could finish it as well. I found that one person had already traded the game in towards yet another title, and the others weren’t interested because they already got the level done. I still haven’t gotten that done yet by the way.
That experience has also brought up the other two groups I had mentioned…the “Compulsive Traders” and the “Budget Gamers”. Traders and Budget Gamers are two sides of the same coin. Both want to be as cheap as possible, even if they have no real experience with some games just to save those precious few dollars.
Traders can never hold onto a game for fear they won’t get as much money as possible back for it in order to get the next big game that seems to always come out next week. This leads to never taking their time and enjoying the game at hand, observing it’s environments, etc. They just blow through it and move on.
The Budget gamers are the ones that refuse to EVER buy a game new. They wait as long as possible, buying used online for as little to nothing as they can even if they are hopping onto a game 4 years after it’s release. They rarely, if ever, have a current game to play, and get upset when you won’t pick up a game you haven’t played in years to go through it with them. They share a similar problem as the one I have, but it’s self imposed so I can’t feel much sympathy for them.
But what all of this boils down to is the struggle some people face (especially those of us with children and bills) in order to keep going with our beloved hobby, while trying to keep everything afloat and saving for the future. I’ve attempted to pick my battles with new games (grabbed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on day one) because I know multi-player will be the focus in some way and don’t want to miss it, but it’s still not enough it seems to keep up with the community.
So here’s my plea to my fellow gamers…cut me some slack, I’m trying to play along and honestly just want to have some fun. Achievements, trophies, etc., are secondary to that experience and are best enjoyed as an enhancement for us to share, not a race to see who’s the “best”.
You can message me at “Zen of the Dark” on Xbox Live, “Zenspath” on PlayStation Network, and “Psychoticzen” on Steam. I’m working on updating my contact page again to include all of my new Wii information as well.
Peace!
Zen aka Jeremy Powers
3 comments
I take exception to your description of a ‘budget gamer’. “They share a similar problem as the one I have, but it’s SELF IMPOSED so I can’t feel much sympathy for them.”
I would very much say I’m a ‘budget gamer’, but that would be because I have responsibilities toward my wife and children that supercede ‘gaming’.
I guess my priorities and ‘self imposed’.
Word.
Actually, in regards to the individuals this article was originally speaking of, and your situation as a father and husband…I would have to disagree with you on that one. My description of the Budget Gamer was in relations to one that, while the individuals circumstances and financial stability would allow them to purchase a game new, even knowing the time spent enjoying it both alone as well as with friends as the case was, would wait months…even years to get a game/movie/etc. Also, their main guide wasn’t the enjoyment of said game or movie, it was focused on resale and making money. Just as I do for my own enjoyment, I know you collect some items for personal enjoyment vs reselling them. Even this site is viewed with question by them because it doesn’t generate money…but it’s an outlet for a passion I have had for years as well as a way for me to connect with others that share that passion to different degrees. I view you as a gamer just as me. If the opportunity is there, you will purchase a game new if it is something you really enjoy and it won’t negatively affect your family. (Transformers would be a guess for one if you had the chance lol). But if my definition of this person came off as a comment about how you view your gaming, it wasn’t intended in that regards. So hopefully this clears it up some…and if not…then we continue the talk!
Peace.
I would say relatively few budget gamers would be ones who have an abundance of money for game purchases, but simply refuse to buy them unless they can get them cheaply down the road. I would venture to say that more budget gamers would be like me in that they have to work with what finances they have and decide what’s more important (i.e. buying a new game or paying a bill, etc.).
Maybe what you’re calling ‘budget gamers’ should be ‘cheapskate gamers’. That is to say the budget gamers are ones like myself who have to wotk a desired game into their budget. And cheapskate gamers would be those described by you who are simply too emotionally attached to their cash to let it go.
Man, this is an odd debate to be having.