Less Games is more Game
By Pinworm45 2 Comments
The Good Old Days
When I was a kid, my life was consumed by 4 things, and none of them involved homework:
Warcraft 2, Starcraft, AVP2 and the half-life 2 mod Empires
I must have played each game each day before and after school. Many schoolnights I would sneak downstairs to play them, and when I was supposed to be studying math, I was drawing maps for custom maps I could make in Starcraft.
To say I got my moneys worth would be an understatement; these four games cost me under 150$ and each one gave me easily over 1000 hours of entertainment - probably more.
The Middle Years
Things started to change when I turned 15 or 16 and got my 360. My living conditions became such that my mom had more money to spend, and as such I had more money to get 360 games. Over time I convinced her to get more games than I'd ever had in my life, and things were great. If I got bored of a genre, I could play another. I still wasn't getting THAT many, but certainly more than before.
It started with games that I tried the demo of. And then it became games I heard were good.
And then I was getting games simply because I liked the premise or it sounded cool - as many of you have probably been burned by, this is a foolish way to buy games.
The Golden 360 Years
Things only became worse once I started getting an income of my own. While I got a small amount of money (Under 1000 a month), I didn't have many obligations. I could (and probably should have) helped out with food and money for my mother, but I never did. I'd like to think it's because I spent equal time at my mothers and fathers and as such paying one would be unfair while paying both would leave me moneyless, I simply can't argue that I spent too much on games. I became a collector of sorts. Why purchase the simple Halo 3 game when I can get a useless helm and artbook I'm not interested in? It's even worse when you consider that I'm not even that huge of a halo fan.
Why buy 1 game when you can get the sequel? Why not get the sequel to a game I wasn't a huge fan of, when it may have improved and it breaks my collection if I don't?
At the time, I didn't think of this as a bad thing. I was purchasing more games than I was playing, but I kept going thinking these games would tide me over when a drought came. Well, gaming became more popular and this drought didn't exist. I just kept buying.
The Steam Years
Exactly one year and one month ago, I got a credit card. No cause for alarm; while I fully admit I spent far, far too much on gaming, I'm at least smart enough and aware enough to not put myself in debt. However, despite my enjoyment of my 360, I found myself getting bored of it. Partly because I've always been a PC gamer at heart; partly because I actually felt overwhelmed by the amount of games I had to play. In fact, they felt like a job. I felt I had to warrant the money I spent by playing games, and the result is that I got bored and simply didn't play them.
The credit card offered me a way out: Steam. I never liked from it's conception and in fact only dealt with it for Half-life 2 (thanks for delaying that 2 days, by the way, steam). But I gave it a try to get a game, and was hooked. Instantly. I loved it. Easy access to games quickly, with no tax, at cheap prices. Excellent features that travel between games. Supports Valve. Constantly improving. I won't lie, I'm a steam fanboy now.
Quickly, my collection of games rose. I simply moved my 360 habbit to my PC and was now purchasing. At this point I realized I had a problem; but I was lured back in by Steams delicious sales. Indeed, Steam is the only thing that can make you go broke from sales.
Now
A few months ago, I finally admitted I had a problem. I tried to tone it down, but then things kept happening such as games I was interested in going on sale; Christmas sale, Summer Sale. It was hard to resist. I tried to leave, but Steam pulled me back in. However, I did make progress and DID tone down my purchases, and the sales definitely did help in keeping costs somewhat-low.
But a few months ago, my mom got divorced from her second marriage, and had to move into a new place. I had to as well. In fact, I did exactly one month ago today. And I've made changes - so far. I've passed by Darksiders and Dead Rising 2, even though they're 10$ cheaper at the very reasonable cost of 39$ Canadian, and I really want them. I simply can't afford to keep binge-gaming when the amount of money I make is enough to pay all my balls and barely feed me.
But the main reason I'm toning it down isn't financial; though that may be caused my revelation: I simply realized that the more games I had to play, the less I played them. I guess the reason is obvious, your time is divided. However, there's many, many games that I played for 2 hours max and never touched again, for 80$. Compare that to the 150$ I spent in my childhood that gave me thousands upon thousands of hours of gaming. The ratio doesn't even come close to comparing. Sure, those old games are classics that are barely rivaled by games today (in my humble opinion), but when you have no options, and have to stick with one game, you find new things. You experiment. You play around. You don't just rush to the end to beat the game and feel like your purchase was justified.
I don't know if I've just matured now that I'm 20, I don't know if it's the financial responsibility that I now have, or if it was the realization that less is more, but I've finally realized my mistakes and am now purchasing essential-purchases only, and maybe the occasional fluff if I'm lucky enough to have some left over money.
Anyway my question to you Giant Bomb, at least those of you who stuck this long: Have you ever increased your gaming purchase amount? If so, did you ever feel like the more games you had, the less you enjoyed them?
Now I'm off to play some Starcraft 2, a game I can now enjoy for all the hundreds of hours it's worth, now that I'm not going to be drawn away by Hawx2, Dead Rising 2, Darksiders, and countless other titles, as interesting as they may be.
Besides, if I get bored of it.. my back collection of games I want to play but haven't because of other games goes all the way back to Fable 2.
