How do you intrepret value?

[brunoafh]

How do you guys interpret the value of what you're purchasing? I'm talking on a grand scale, food, other necessities, entertainment/media, whatever you're buying. However, the main thing I'm curious to gather opinions on is on how everyone sees the prices of video games they want to purchase, new stuff and retro.

A general rule I follow is of course: How much am I going to get out of this? -vs- How much does this cost? $100 is usually the cut off for me with entertainment/media/video games, but I've spent over $100 on a couple things in my video game collection that I have deemed money well spent.

[sabrage]

"More than $50? ...I'll wait."

[DinnerX]

How much I'm willing to spend on something is related to how much I will enjoy it, assuming the item is not a necessity.

For video games, enjoyment is not completely based on how much I will play with the system/accessory/game. Some stuff I simply enjoy owning, even if I don't play with it that often. Sometimes it's because I have fond memories of playing the game. Other times it's because the game is rare or some technical oddity.

[BurningDoom]

I'm a cheap-skate, lol. Anything over $30 better be damn good if I'm gonna spend that much on a game. The very most I'll ever spend is $60, and that's pretty much only if it's a brand-new release that I just have to have like an Elder Scrolls game.

[cookie monster]

I grew up kinda poor so i base my games and collectibles on things i wanted or had good memories of as a kid i won't spend a ton of cash on myself but i will spend it on foxhound1022 cause i love spoiling him with stuff

[BoneSnapDeez]

$40 is my cut-off for a single video game, new or used. I may make a couple of exceptions every year, like my pre-order for Xenoblade. $100 is usually my cut-off for retro consoles.

[saturnfan]

This is interesting because I was pondering this very topic. The average new video game costs $60 ($50 for wii). But is $60 a fair price for a brand new video game?

When compared to other luxury items, I really don't feel $60 is a bad deal. Think about the last time you went to a bar. How much did you spend? $30-40? But what did you really get, a night of drunkenness and maybe some good memories? While memories might be priceless, the overall entertainment to money ratio is very low to a night of drinking. $60 for a video game can potentially give you years of entertainment, particularly for us retro crowd.

Compare video games to other medium. A blu-ray movie costs about $25 new, and I have seen individual blu-ray movies sell for $30 or even $40. In one calendar year, how frequently do you anticipate watching the same movie? 2-3 times if it is one of your favorites? That pales in comparison to the value you will get out of a video game.

Overall, I advocate smart shopping, IE buying a video game at the lowest possible price. However, I don't feel a $60 price point is unreasonable considering the amount of work that goes into making the game, plus the relative entertainment value you get vs. other activities for the same price.

[Erik_Twice]

Some time ago I realized that price isn't actually a good metric to see if I should get something or not, actual willingness to play the game is. No matter how low your budget is, you can always have more games that you can realistically play or worse, more games than you are willing to play.

This has led me to always put quality first. There's little reason for me to play a good game when there are two dozen amazing masterpieces I haven't played. And not just that, the game can be amazing but if I'm not drawn to it, I won't play it. I once tried to go historical and play well-known games but I realized I was not playing the games I liked, I was palying games for other's people sake.

So I started to cut down the games I wanted to play. A lot. In fact, a sizable part of my puny 100 title collection is formed by games I wouldn't play today like Disgaea and Project Zero. This greatly reduced the money I spent on games but I found I wasn't missing anything by it.

So I decided, why not make each game count? I have always been interested in having the boxes for my games and with the money I'm saving not buying mediocre games I can get them. Hell, with the money I save I can get stuff that would have been unthinkable before like arcade boards, expensive controllers and another graphical card for my PC.

Right now, given the choice between two bare cartridges and CIB game, I would take tha latter. The joy of having it complete is far more valuble to me than the joy of another unplayed game in the shelf.


I just simply do not try to think in terms of this being expensive or not, rather, I try to think in terms of how much I have. Two of my favourite games of all time, OutRun 2 and Pump it Up are notably expensive, giving you around 6 minutes of gameplay per euro but going to the arcade every weekend is well within my budget so it's fine to me, I would rather spend the money on those games than buying more and more games. Quality first.

Just my two cents.

[Luke]

Value doesn't exist as value is only perceived. Perception is relative, and inversely perception is reality. So wait. I guess value does exist, but only as a perception of one's own perceived reality.

Now that I have a headache, I interpret value in two ways: Necessity, and Quality. I grew up with fairly wealthy parents who used me as cheap labor, and I mean sweatshop cheap, so now that I do have money I'm frugal. Well, maybe diligent is a better word.

I always look up consumer reports before making a large purchase, and even when it comes to smaller purchases (say a bag of onions) I take the time to inspect the product. That's the Quality aspect.

Necessities are different. It would nice to have options on who provides my electricity or if one gas station would sell gas at under $3.00 a gallon, but what can ya do?

[Arbitern1]

This is an example of my spending habits. I almost bought rayman origins a few months ago but decided against it because it was too expensive. Then went home and brought a copy of snatcher on the Sega CD off ebay. The sky is the limit for my retro gaming.