Is it logical to spend money on video games?

[Red]

But here's the problem: when one spends money on TF2, it almost never gives them an advantage: It's all cosmetic. That's the thing I'm concerned about. Why spend money on a virtual item that doesn't even impact gameplay?

[metalized]

But here's the problem: when one spends money on TF2, it almost never gives them an advantage: It's all cosmetic. That's the thing I'm concerned about. Why spend money on a virtual item that doesn't even impact gameplay?

If we take under consideration that playing video games is generally something you do for entertainment - in other words to have fun, I think that is completely logical to spend money on a video game you are playing, if spending money will make it more fun, as long as you can afford it and you are not depriving yourself or family from something else more essential.

If you like your armor to be more shiny, or if you would like to have dark extensions on the blond hair of your character, if you want your armor to have a custom designed coat of arms, this will surely make the game more fun for you, so the purpose of the entertainment will be one more step to being complete (it never is I suppose )

As I said above though, you have to set your own limits, a budget, as brimestonesalad mentioned in his post, that you will allocate for this.

I have spent some money on video games (bought the original "Neverwinter Nights" and "Baldur's Gate", I love those RPGs and NWN had a native Linux client).

[Heinechan]

A better question is, "Is it worth the time?"

Not to sound holier than thou (I piss away a lot of time on things that don't matter), but games are so time consuming. Granted, there are some games I absolutely adore (Morrowind, Windwaker), and games that I think are genuinely worth the time (GTAV), but by their nature they're very time consuming. I can't even play games anymore without other responsibilities nagging me in the back of my mind.

So, yeah. The money aspect isn't even that important as long as you aren't wasting significant amounts and are financially secure.

[metalized]

A better question is, "Is it worth the time?"

Not to sound holier than thou (I piss away a lot of time on things that don't matter), but games are so time consuming. Granted, there are some games I absolutely adore (Morrowind, Windwaker), and games that I think are genuinely worth the time (GTAV), but by their nature they're very time consuming. I can't even play games anymore without other responsibilities nagging me in the back of my mind.

That is, sadly, why I have stopped playing video games all together.

[miniboes]

Bumping this topic because I've made a small innovation on how I personally play games that you guys might like too.

My favourite way of playing games has always been to listen to something interesting while doing so, whether it be youtube, audiobooks or podcasts. However, listening rather than reading has a major disadvantage: the human memory is extremely shitty, and it's really hard to go back and find information you listened to and forgot.

I play a little game called Europa Universalis IV. It's an extremely complex game of grand strategy, and there's a lot of numbers to process and threats/opportunities to keep track of. Therefore, I always have something to write on in front of me when playing EUIV. At one point I was listening to a podcast and I found something so fascinating I immediately wrote it down. Then, a couple of light bulbs lit up in my head: why don't I do this all the time? So now, whenever I'm listening to something* I jot down important points. This does a couple of great things:
- It forces me to pay attention to the book more than the game;
- I have all the information on paper so I don't have to re-listen anything to find the information;
- I better remember the information because I'm writing it down**
- Instead of revisiting a whole book, I create a summary of the key points

Because of this method, I am know convinced gaming (in this specific way) is a very positive thing for me to do. You might say; why don't you just read the book or listen to it and take notes, why does the game have to be there? Well, it's because I have a monkey brain with a tiny attention span and a desire for instant gratification. The game provides ample motivation to listen to educational content and keeps me busy enough that I can retain my attention. It's similar to doodling during a lecture. which I have also found to be a great method of retaining attention by spreading it somewhat.

This method does place one major requirement on your game: you need to be able to pause it. EUIV is perfect in this respect, because pausing it is an integral part of gameplay; too much is going on at any given moment to play continuously (unless you play at an agonizingly slow speed).

If you are of the opinion I'm wasting my time still, please tell me. I don't like wasting my time.

* Right now I'm listening to "Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die". which I found on The Vegan Strategist. I highly recommend it! I might make a post when I finish it for how we can apply the insights of this book to ecomodernism/pronuclearism. I think Bruce Friedrich and Tobias apply them very well to veganism.
**writing things down on paper has always been how I study for tests, too. Psychologists seem to disagree with this method but I get insane grades with it.
***these asterixes are to prevent myself from putting giant sentences between brackets, I hope you enjoy my (hopefully) less cluttered writing

[charlotte-reva]

I despise violence and competition so i hope cooler videos games will exist . That might be the case as i am not a gamer , i dont know what's there !!

[brimstoneSalad]

I despise violence and competition so i hope cooler videos games will exist . That might be the case as i am not a gamer , i dont know what's there !!

Some games are sports simulation, but it seems like it would be better to just play the sport.
There are other kinds of conflicts aside from violence to make a game based off of, like maybe courtroom games. I don't know that much about those.

I think you may enjoy the business simulation games. From running a cafe to building an amusement park. Those are non-violent, and you only "compete" against the rules of the game, not other players.

[charlotte-reva]

[quote][/I think you may enjoy the business simulation games. From running a cafe to building an amusement park. Those are non-violent, and you only "compete" against the rules of the game, not other players.
]
Cool

[PsYcHo]

If you are of the opinion I'm wasting my time still, please tell me. I don't like wasting my time.

I have delved back into my RPG gaming ways, and I must say, it is only wasting your time if you don't enjoy it. I've spent 90+ hours on my latest game, and it has been exponentially greater than listening to an hour of current "news" .

I'm of the belief that you can only sway others to your side if you are truly happy, and gaming makes me happy.

Never once woken up the next day and been like "UUGH, I can't believe I leveled up 5 times last night! What the hell was I thinking?!"

Game on....