My Sense of Value is Destroyed

By destroyed, I mean fucked. I went out. Spent a load of money buying my friends drinks on christmas eve, come home, open up steam and see a game for half the price of some of the drinks I was buying mere hours ago and find myself thinking "I don't know.. that's too expensive". There is something significantly wrong here. A game has so much more value than a drink that will last a few minutes . I could have drunk nothing and had exactly the same time, enjoying myself.

I can't help but feel it's just socially accepted scales of value but it annoys me. It's how my friends justify piracy, but they're talking about the price of a drink at the pub and then go have said drink but can't spare the money to buy a game. Just seems crazy to me.

I know how you feel. I don't like buying more than 2 or 3 games in a month but I'll go ahead and spend hundreds on food and drinks every month without even thinking about it.

Don't know what to tell you mate... I guess you should think before you dig into your pocket or just find out what matters to you more; Video games or a social life.

Heh, steam has just destroyed the value of half the games I've bought over the last couple of months. So many massive discounts! I definitely won't be as quick to purchase new releases in the future.

@yoshimitz707 said:

I know how you feel. I don't like buying more than 2 or 3 games in a month but I'll go ahead and spend hundreds on food and drinks every month without even thinking about it.

I don't mind it in concept for necessary things like food and drinks, but something like alcohol (bread is something you need, vodka is not). Of course, that game money could also go to something better but my perceptions seem skewed. I see this most in other people when talking about iOS games. Having 99p games warps people's views of how much a game should cost.

@mcderby4 said:

Don't know what to tell you mate... I guess you should think before you dig into your pocket or just find out what matters to you more; Video games or a social life.

My point kind of was that not spending money wouldn't necessarily effect my social life, but it's not a case of having to choose between one or the other, just the value of each to me. I could do both, but I hesitate when it comes to something that I think has tremendously more value. Feels like I've been conditioned to feel a certain way about alcohol.

So how is having a quality time with friends worth less than a few games?

Don't drink and Steam...The next morning will teach you to be "socially acceptable".

It's really not as bad as you think, money just goes when you're having fun, but when you have to think about spending it, it's like passing a brick wall.

To be fair though, the games I've bought recently were like 1 or 2 quid, but I have bought a lot...

I have heard friends saying a similar thing. "I am not paying £40 for a game that only has 8 hours single player". Asked then what they did last night and they admit to spending £20 on cinema tickets and £50 on dinner for two afterwards - then they moan what a ripoff the wine was but they bought a bottle anyway. Most of them are married of in long term relationships so it isn't as if they were paying out with the anticipation for a fumble afterwards. They get that for free anyways.

It sounds crazy, but they're really two different things, right?

Where I am in life right now, $30k is crazy expensive for a car. But if someone told me that a house would cost that much in San Francisco, and I wouldn't have to sell my soul in addition to the cash, I'd jump on it right away.

I think it's the same sort of difference.

@easthill said:

So how is having a quality time with friends worth less than a few games?

I'm talking about the value of a drink. I would have had fun and been with them regardless.

Also, I can have both. It's not about not having the drinks, it's about relative experiences (and about products, not the friends) that I don't feel are in line.

Even compared to nonessential things like movies, my sense of value toward games feels different. I have no issues dropping $17.50 on an IMAX screening of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (which amounts to only 2 hours of entertainment), but I look at a $15 game on Steam and have to think twice about it. Then again, the type of game also has a big impact. I had no issue dropping $60 on MW3 which I played through exactly once (admittedly one of my most regretful purchases of the year) whereas I still didn't feel great about spending $20 on Rage when it was on sale.

@AlisterCat said:

@easthill said:

So how is having a quality time with friends worth less than a few games?

I'm talking about the value of a drink. I would have had fun and been with them regardless.

Would you really? I've been sober with drunk friends, and it sucks (not talking about shit faced drunk - but just happily drunk). All credit to you if it makes no difference.

The value of a single drink is meaningless. It's where and with who you drink it with.

Next time, just have your friends buy you the drinks. Problem solved! 
 
But yeah, I guess I see where you're coming from with this.  At least we're not spending money on drugs and guns... Or do we? Sometimes I don't remember what I've been doing when I was drunk... hmmm

Someone needs to go back to Econ 101. Utils and investment-return are not the same things.

Don't know what to tell you mate... I guess you should think before you dig into your pocket or just find out what matters to you more; Video games or a social life.

@AlisterCat: Technically, you don't have to drink to enjoy yourself and socialize with people or at least not excessive drinking.

@Napalm: If you don't like what I say then don't respond with an arrogant, unnecessary insult which isn't helpful to anyone.

@Napalm: If you don't like what I say then don't respond with an arrogant, unnecessary insult which isn't helpful to anyone.

Even compared to nonessential things like movies, my sense of value toward games feels different. I have no issues dropping $17.50 on an IMAX screening of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (which amounts to only 2 hours of entertainment), but I look at a $15 game on Steam and have to think twice about it. Then again, the type of game also has a big impact. I had no issue dropping $60 on MW3 which I played through exactly once (admittedly one of my most regretful purchases of the year) whereas I still didn't feel great about spending $20 on Rage when it was on sale.

@Napalm: I couldn't care less about how you visualize the situation or what your opinion is for the matter. I directed my post to the OP, he responded to me, you had nothing to do with it. So if you would kindly bugger off and keep to yourself, it would be much appreciated.

This thread really molests my mind.. Sense of value is such a fucked up thing!

yep, i know what you mean. i do that all the time with things. my friend will go out for a few days a week and then complain that he doesn't have money for a video game.

When you go out and drink, you're paying just as much for the atmosphere and the service than the actual beverage. Games are a more material thing that are self contained and thus priced lower, say, than an "experience" at a bar.

This is one of the reasons why I can't control myself on steam. Like hey this game is the price of a damn coffee, sold. Hey these 10 games all cost less than a shot. Sold. Oh wait now I can't go out this month.

I guess I have the opposite problem. Games at their current price are amazing. Which is bad because I'll buy more games than I will drinks.

@Jerr said:

When you go out and drink, you're paying just as much for the atmosphere and the service than the actual beverage. Games are a more material thing that are self contained and thus priced lower, say, than an "experience" at a bar.

I've never been asked to leave for not drinking at any of my local pubs or bars. In a club they'll never notice you anyway. So I can still get an experience/atmosphere without having to buy anything. As a diabetic I tend not to drink too much which is why I buy drinks for friends.

It isnt messed up, you are just growing up.

Good times with friends are a lot more valuable when compared with a game that you really don't need.

I can't think of many games that I have bought while on sale that have left a large impression. If I didn't care enough to spend full price, then it probably isnt going to be a 'great' game.

It depends really. I mean, are they paying for drinks, too? Do you guys alternate rounds, or is it always the OP who buys the drinks? If that's the case, cut them leeches off. Burn 'em if you have to. Nothing worse than bloodsucking cunts who only want your lifeblood.

Ba-humbug.

Don't know what to tell you mate... I guess you should think before you dig into your pocket or just find out what matters to you more; Video games or a social life.

Value is a weird thing. It means different things to different people. I can happily spend £10 in the pub on totally normal day, yet I'll think carefully about whether or not a game is going to be worth my money even if it's only like £2. It is weird. It's a psychological thing, I guess. Since you're always buying beer (and usually the same type of beer), you always know what you're going to get. But every game is different, so they are a bit of an unknown quantity. The human brain is weird.

I think it's a matter of being in a social situation with a "WOOH LET'S DRINK HELL YEAH" vibe rather than sitting at home.

Also, a drink is a drink. You probably know exactly how good it will taste, as opposed to a game, which more often will be surprisingly crap.

It's not about the value of booze. It's the value of the time spent with your friends. When you're in an old people's home sharing stories of your youth with your grandkids, are you going to tell them about the time you drank a load of Jagerbombs with your mates and went cow tipping or are you going to tell them about the time you completed Halo 3 on Legendary? I hope it's the former. Imagine the look on their faces.

Man that must be a weird thing to have a problem with. I basically stay wise with my money and will get some games for cheap only if I like it, and only purchase food at decent prices only if it's a good time to do it and I'm not soon going home, which if so would mean I should wait it out and eat the food already in the home.

Buckle up, because I'm about to perform some swivel chair psychology on your ass. (The best part is that I'm not even a 100s level psych major, so I TOTALLY have no idea what I'm on about!)

The reason why you're willing to spend so much money on beer and food and yet are reluctant with games is that those things are, to your mind, more real, and thus have more value, than video games. Food and drink: you can see it, smell it, taste it and, most importantly, you can feel it. Touch it. A computer game, on the other hand, is really a sophisticated arrangement of switches on a hard drive and the instructions they follow. You can only see it and hear it, not touch it. In that way it is much more abstract than food and shit. So, even though a game will give you more bang for your buck and should, logically speaking, be worth more, the instinctual, reptilian part of your brain still values the tactile nature of food over vidja games.

Also, instincts. We just want more food as a default. I'm the same way, I've put so much money to shitty foods that could've been spent on videos games. Tis the nature of humans, I guess.

I save so much money by not drinking. I'm rich beyond my wildest dreams.

I'd say it's due to the social aspect of the pub/bar. We're wired to do what other people are doing. When you see others buying drinks you're much more inclined to do so and therefore it's much easier for you to be persuaded to spend the money to do it. You don't necessarily see other people buying the game you're considering so you don't have that powerful influence to help you along. This mostly a subconscious thing so it's not something you'll think influences you but it does with everyone.

@easthill said:

@AlisterCat said:

@easthill said:

So how is having a quality time with friends worth less than a few games?

I'm talking about the value of a drink. I would have had fun and been with them regardless.

Would you really? I've been sober with drunk friends, and it sucks (not talking about shit faced drunk - but just happily drunk). All credit to you if it makes no difference.

The value of a single drink is meaningless. It's where and with who you drink it with.

Sucks to have friends that are only fun when they're drunk. Seems pretty meaningless to waste money on such shitty friends. Sucks to be you

Suck it up and be glad you did something good for someone else other than yourself. Go in a little bit of debt if you have to... to get your games.

Merry Christmas

I know exactly how you feel. I'll go out and blow $10 on dinner, but I'll go home and not want to spend $5 on an album or Steam game.

Capitalism, ho!

@dudeglove said:

You can't put a price on getting wasted with your friends.

Well, you can, but that's not what I mean.

These kind of posts make me realise how poorly I worded my point at 2am after the pub.

@MattyFTM said:

Value is a weird thing. It means different things to different people. I can happily spend £10 in the pub on totally normal day, yet I'll think carefully about whether or not a game is going to be worth my money even if it's only like £2. It is weird. It's a psychological thing, I guess. Since you're always buying beer (and usually the same type of beer), you always know what you're going to get. But every game is different, so they are a bit of an unknown quantity. The human brain is weird.

This is precisely what I meant. It's weird. Thanks for doing a better job than me.

@gamma_male said:

It's not about the value of booze. It's the value of the time spent with your friends. When you're in an old people's home sharing stories of your youth with your grandkids, are you going to tell them about the time you drank a load of Jagerbombs with your mates and went cow tipping or are you going to tell them about the time you completed Halo 3 on Legendary? I hope it's the former. Imagine the look on their faces.

We live different lives. The former has nothing of interest to me, and the latter is not something I would do either. Life is vast, you don't have to make a choice between the two. Or do either. It's great.

Man, I wrote some depressing shit before I deleted it all and typed this out instead. Be glad you didn't have to read it.

@RockmanBionics said:

Man, I wrote some depressing shit before I deleted it all and typed this out instead. Be glad you didn't have to read it.

Yay!

@AlisterCat: Yeah, I know you don't have to do those two specific things but that wasn't really the point I was making. I'm 32. I don't need to be told that life is beautiful. Seen it, bought the T-Shirt and watched the Oscar-winning movie of the same name. You're right. The world is a marvel. Genuinely extraordinary. Who needs booze when you've got kittens? But, like I said, that's not the point I was making.

You go out to socialise, and alcohol lubricates that. It's not about how much you spent on the sauce but the life experiences that happen as a result of you going out with your friends. When you get to the end of your life do you want cool stories or Xbox 360 achievements? They're not mutually exclusive, of course, but when I'm a cantankerous old bastard who can't wipe his own arse, you'd better believe that it's the stories I'll be imparting to my loved ones.

tl;dr - It's the stuff that happens while you drink that adds value to the drink.

Capitalism, ho!

@ZeForgotten: Exactly what I had in mind.