this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Gaming

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[–] [email protected] -2 points 10 months ago (3 children)

By and large, I actually kinda agree. If you look at the cost per hour of entertainment you get out of a video game you like vs. other forms of media, especially something like going to a movie. But the industry won’t support higher prices yet (and I am absolutely not advocating for it). But yeah, you really can get a lot of joy for not a lot of money.

[–] otp 6 points 10 months ago

I imagine you got downvoted because people want games to be cheap...I agree with them, but I wouldn't downvote you, because you're right.

ET for the 2600 was probably about $80 or $90 today, adjusted for inflation. It was made in 5 weeks, and most games took a few months to make by small, underpaid teams...or even solo developers.

No licensed music. No voice actors. No translation or localization teams. No patches after launch. Maybe an artist who'd draw up the game box and a writer to write the manual.

Look at the credits and look at how many people have worked on a game like GTA. There's a lot more going into games these days, and we are lucky that they've gone from almost luxury technology to something that just about anybody can afford to buy once in a while.

But they're still too expensive for me most of the time, so I'll wait until the prices drop to like $20.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That doesn mean that games should cost more it means that other forms of entertainment need to get better.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Like I specifically said I’m not advocating for prices to increase.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think it depends. A DVD of LOTR would provide 3 hours for a mere mortal, but for a goblin like myself that guy is gonna be on repeat for a while.

With games there's definitely more per dollar (in my opinion) but I don't know if I like that metric or way to think about gaming. If I had to pay for every hour of gaming I'd have it would definitely reduce the time and enjoyment of the material.

The thing about the CEO and whatnot is that they have alternate revenue streams for a single game. I haven't played GTA Online but I'm sure there's lots of microtransactions and DLC and such for them to extract money from.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Yeah agreed. Everything is very subjective to the end user. I’m one of those folks who watches a movie once and then probably will never watch it again. Purchasing physical media movie doesn’t meet my specific consumption model.

Games are often problematic for my turbo-ADHD brain. Most games I play for less than a couple hours before I quit playing never to launch it again. It’s rare that I click with a game long enough to “get my money’s worth”. Notable exceptions are city builders and factory optimization games. Those I can invest hundreds of hours into.

For me, the Xbox pc game pass has saved me sooooo much money. I can try lots of games with a guilt free wallet without acquiring games through alternative free methods.