The consumer compulsion

Dec 25, 2011 at 3:14 AM
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I look at the back of Skyward Sword, in the game store and look at the hefty price the label comes with. Now i think about purchases like these more than most it seems.

I mean i am a huge Zelda fan actually. But my mind drifts to the fact that, at home, i have around 10 different gaming platforms and between one and two hundred games. It often occurs to me, "dont i have enough already?". I have so many classics that are so replayable that i play reguarly from the collection.

So in this case i think i could perhaps instead fo buyign skyward sword, revisit all of the previous entries that i own, which is most of them. Some of the greatest games in history. It'd satisfy my craving and i'd have an absolute blast. Plus it'd keep me entertained for weeks and weeks with all the games to get through. The oracle games, minish cap, the original on NES. I've did it with Klonoa before, though that is a smaller series.

But i suppose what this is about is i dont understand this buy, buy, buy attitude. I'm willing to assume many of the people here have a collection as large or larger than mine. I'm pretty sure most of those people still purchase new games liek well behaved consumers liek clockwork, without so much as a thought for what they already have. So let's talk about the attitude towards getting new software over appreciateing the many many games we already own.
 
Dec 25, 2011 at 1:21 PM
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I dunno, my family never had loads of spare money growing up and I've got even less as a student, so I don't ever get the new releases until they've "cooled down" a bit. But, by and large, we're part of the consumer economy that needs to constantly steamroll forward for fear of crushing under its own weight.

Personally, I try to avoid that sort of behaviour. Instead of buying up whatever thing I'm told I need, I try to figure out ways to entertain myself that are affordable; learning how to program and draw better are a part of that.

On the flip side, games are an industry and that industry needs money to keep going. If nobody bought the games, then they just wouldn't make any more.. And that wouldn't be very nice. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of replay value in older games and it's great to go back and revisit them, but if that's all you had then I'd think it could only last so long. It'd be like refusing to buy a DVD player (or now blu-ray I guess) and being relegated to your VHS library. Don't get me wrong, I liked The Matrix as much as the next guy, but Shutter Island and Inception are great movies too!

And think of it this way; The games you are buying now will still work in another ten years if you take good care of them, so you can revisit those, or if you have kids, share your favourite titles with a new generation. It's all a big cycle or something.
 
Dec 25, 2011 at 1:43 PM
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Well to be frank, i expect the industry to work for its money. I bought myself a Wii, whenever it came out. I have probably over a dozen wii games. And i only reguarly play one of them. Modern games just dont have that replayability factor.

Not to mention the prices for this new software is pretty ridiculous. Games can cost as much as 4 times as much as a DVD. I might purchase a first hand game at original price once every 4 years. I might purchase a suitably reduced first hand game annually. But if i dont feel the company i would be supporting is supplying what i expect them with, i couldnt care less if i spend on second hand games they'll never see a penny on.

And as for the videogame economy, thats unfortunate. I feel like the people involved in overdrive consumerism are the ones being catered for, so they have chosen thier market and i'm not in it. Gears of War, call of duty and the rest of the instabuy games for the video game consumer serve those companies.

Basically as soon as i see a game that i spend more than a few days on, that i spent £40 on, they can hope for soem of my business in the future. Because i already have so many game si've been playing for years. I dont need expensive weekend software to clutter up my shelf.
 
Dec 25, 2011 at 2:50 PM
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I agree with Miles. + some video games have some not ethical techniques to make you addicted to/or simply to make you like the game. We were told this @ the uni that by a physiology professor who has studied their effect on the brain (among the effects of other certain waves produced by cell phones and other tech. machines) for more than 20 years.
 
Dec 25, 2011 at 3:35 PM
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Either way, the main point of video games is to waste your time and money on them. I may sound like an ass, but I don't mind the high prices as long as they make good games. Besides, multiplayer content is what is played by a large portion of gammer with out ever touching the main game, so what do you expect to happen to the replayability? And don't forget that they reliy on them because they have to keep making the games or else there would be a lot of rage induced gamer that have nothing to look foward too. Ther purpose is to be a fillabuster so that the company has a few months to think of new Ideas for new games. thatOn another note, they are starting to add more and more to or games than ever, like bonus content, Hidden feture, even ficken CD's of the music! I buy a lot of used games at GameStop, but they are almost always from outdated systems. Givem thier due, they desevre the money after putting up with us.
 
Dec 25, 2011 at 9:16 PM
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windsofwinds said:
Either way, the main point of video games is to waste your time and money on them. I may sound like an ass, but I don't mind the high prices as long as they make good games. Besides, multiplayer content is what is played by a large portion of gammer with out ever touching the main game, so what do you expect to happen to the replayability? And don't forget that they reliy on them because they have to keep making the games or else there would be a lot of rage induced gamer that have nothing to look foward too. Ther purpose is to be a fillabuster so that the company has a few months to think of new Ideas for new games. thatOn another note, they are starting to add more and more to or games than ever, like bonus content, Hidden feture, even ficken CD's of the music! I buy a lot of used games at GameStop, but they are almost always from outdated systems. Givem thier due, they desevre the money after putting up with us.

The point of any entertainment, is to make life less boring for a period. You pay for that priveledge so that the people who made it possible can keep providign the service. They, as a whole are not producing single player experiences that are replayable as often anymore.

Multiplayer games are a different beast completely. You have to pay a subscription for almost all console based multiplayer, so your payign above and beyond the value of the game, dont forget that. Also rememeber this is also essential for any additional DLC or bonuses or other hooks. Not to mention, they use techniques like experience, achievements and level up systems to keep the player playing them even if he's actualyl getting a bit bored. I have actually been obsessed with an online shooter before, so i know how it works.

As i said in a previous post, these games are servign a different market, of compulsive consumers. I personally expect some degree of consistently good quality to support a company. Because £30-£50 a pop for original RRP games is a sizeable purchase, that anyone with an ounce of economical sense would consider critically in the face of sub par products.

I buy the vast, vast majority of my games second hand, because it's a rare thing that i buy a game at full price and truelly feel, after beating it, that it was a good purchase. These headphones, this MP3 player and this trenchcoat were a good purchase at £50 each, because they've lasted me for years of my life. A game i can beat in a weekend and wont so much as look at again is not a sound purchase to my mind.

I recognise Nintendo has some good modern products, particuarly on thier DS system. But then theres the Wii and it's entire library bar a handful of games. I guess thats another issue, i've lost trust in them. And i have to say i dont think any of the main companies are so highly regarded in my mind as to feel good abotu supporting them. Nintendo looks more and more like Apple every day.

Lets not get too off track though, this is about consumerism. The point is, why do so many people mindlessly open thier wallets on demand as if there is no question in thier mind abotu the quality? Or even if that comes into it? It doesnt make sense to me at all.
 
Dec 26, 2011 at 3:36 AM
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Simple. They have nothing in there lives to feel acomplised, or partially. You see, it boils down to bordom. What do you do when your bored. Do something, anything. If the end reselt makes you feel happy and self satisfied, good for you! But a good bit of this generation is lazy good for nothings that whine all day that life is hard. They don't want to get off their ass and do sometthing that, you know, your proud of? Some of those people play video game because they have nothing nothing to do in the gaps of the day to do. People sgell out this cash because, someway in life, they do not feel that they have accomplised something. The video game offer a quick fix to that. When you face the real again, you feel as if that life doesn't make you feel the same way, so go buy more games, no matter the price. The cycle keeps repeating until you get someone who has no handle on life, and can not function without games. I say partially because not all people are like that. Still, they have something in them that drives them to play games. Even with second hand game stores, You still want to buy you favorite game as soon as possible. The price does not matter to people who think that life doesn't sastify them. That is part of the gamer demograph, a bunch of loser who only accoplisment in life is beating there games. That is so fucking sad.
 
Dec 26, 2011 at 2:07 PM
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It is true, that the life of a strict consumer is a sad one. Those whose lives extend only to buying DVD's, CD's and games because handing over the money presumably convinces them that they have a hobby and enjoy life.

There is of course nothing wrong with being a consumer. Without consumers the creative minds of the world wouldnt be able to bring us great films and games. Though unfortunately with the compulsive consumer, the wrong sorts of games are promoted for no other reason than they are popular.

I have never been in the position where i felt so little about myself that i thought i had nothign to contribute to the world. Never have i felt that my mind was so useless and my opinion so worthless that i've only ever relied on the produce of others. Sure, i go through consumer and creative phases, but i cant relate to individuals who dont eventually get bored of consumerism for a while and actually do something worthwhile with themselves.

Perhaps it is about people with low self esteem and no hobbies that try and replace the life they might have had with streams of mediocre videogames. It's a depressing thought.
 
Dec 26, 2011 at 6:31 PM
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I buy games when I have the money, pirate them when I don't.
I've gone back and retroactively purchased games that I'd pirated, because I believed the companies deserved money.
That's what's so wonderful about the consumer era today, if we don't think it's worth our money, then someone can just get it for free. This forces games companies (to a point, at least) to put out a good game. Sure, if the company's famous they can just crank out releases and make all the money they need, but most new companies have to at least try.
 
Dec 26, 2011 at 8:42 PM
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I buy games when there is a game I want to play, but I don't own it. Giving the distributor money is a good way of solving this problem. Other solutions include borrowing it from a friend, just playing it at their house, or pirating the game.
Miles_Valentine said:
Not to mention the prices for this new software is pretty ridiculous. Games can cost as much as 4 times as much as a DVD.
Movies are usually 2-3 hours long. Add on bonus features and make it 4-5. Games with 4-5 hours of gameplay are dirt cheap, if not free.

The rest of this discussion is too stupid for me to make heads or tails of.
 
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:05 PM
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If you buy a movie on DVD it's highly unlikely you'll watch it once. You'll watch it many times whenever your in the notion. This isnt done as much as alot of games these days dont have the replayability.

And, i'm not sure it's the topic thats stupid.
 
Dec 26, 2011 at 10:27 PM
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I said the discussion was stupid, not the topic of debate. And you can't speak for everyone when you say you'll watch movies over and over again, but modern games have no replayability. Lots of modern games are worth sinking hundreds of hours into, and lots of movies that people buy are only worth watching once or twice.
 
Dec 26, 2011 at 10:58 PM
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Absolutely, i speak for myself when i say i'll probably never touch half of my Wii library for the rest of my life. And the rest of them might get brought out at parties occasionally. The example i was running with was a Wii game after all. And yeah, this has been going way off track here. This isnt about the decline of videogaming as an entertainment medium.
 
Dec 26, 2011 at 11:40 PM
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I agree with you on the getting off track. But the games are going to get worse if we don't take a stand. It sorta like farming. You can't just pick just anything from your patch. You have to weed it out the bad one's from the good one's.
 
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