The only difference between men and boys, is the price of their toys...
I would not expect a college student who lives with his parents and works 30 hours a week at pizza hut to be buying a $2000 computer when he is a journalism major. Everyone has different spending priorities and different levels of enthusiasm toward gaming. Just because you can easily drop $2000 on a gaming rig does not mean that every can or even that everyone else would want to.
"Sean (Murray) saying MP will be in the game is not remotely close to evidence that at the point of purchase people thought there was MP in the game." - SEANMCAD
Computers are expensive because they cost more than consoles.
The absolute price of a computer is not very important, human brain does not work that way. We work by comparing our gaming computer to other gaming machines, and judge it to be expensive as long as it costs more than consoles and mobile phones that can also be used for gaming.
If computer prices doubles, but console prices quadrupled, then computers would be cheap.
You have contradicted yourself quite a bit I feel like, maybe I'm just misreading. But you are saying people with 15k snowmobiles and 30k campers are complaining about PC prices being too high, that's simply because they are not into that specific hobby. But you are saying that PC gamers tend to be poor, or lower income, which isn't true whatsoever, those people just aren't complaining about the price. I'm not complaining about the price of my PC which was 2k like last month, my dad doesn't complain about the price of his pc, my friends haven't complained about the price of PC's to me either mainly because it is their hobbies.
But if you look at other hobbies, I have friends who collect shoes. One pair of those shoes could cost up to a couple grand, or more, and I see that as an asinine purchase, but that person really enjoys collecting those shoes. I would complain about the price of that to them if they tried to sell them to me, even if I could afford it. It's just not my hobby. It's people who don't share the same hobbies complaining because they don't want to dump money into a hobby that isn't their own, it doesn't matter how much they make. Which is why you see a lot more casual gamers on consoles. It's easier on them to dump 300 into a console when they aren't going to spend a lot of time on the thing, instead of 2k on a pc that they might not use very much. There is plenty of rich people that are into gaming, just go look at some battlestations on reddit, those are INSANE.
You don't need a flawed analogy to understand that for people with a limited budget, a gaming PC can be expensive. This goes basically for anything that is seen as luxury product (gaming pc that is, not normal pc).
Gaming PC's also become outdated a lot faster then other electronic products.
You guys totally missed the whole point, which was I hear people, who have 15k snowmobiles, 30k campers, 15k atvs, tell me 2k for a computer is too much, and its not. I didn't say hey guys, you think a guy who can only afford to just get by, would think a 2k computer is a alot of money.
I dont own any of those cool toys, and while I'd love a Harley the snowmobile would be a bit of a fail here in Florida.
I do spend about $2500 every 3 years on a new gaming laptop, though it looks like my next one will run about $3K
All a matter of priorities, I'm by no means poor but I pay substantial amounts of money for my family's upkeep including 5 smartphones, 4 cars plus the damn insurance, college loans and current college fees and oh yes a house and all that goes with it.
If not for them I'd be riding in my Lambo.
(truthfully if not driven by their needs I'd probably be living alone in a double wide driving a Senta and playing game's on a 360.)
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Games are in a bit of a weird space pricing wise. Production costs are up, the value of the dollar is down, yet in the last 2 decades the price has barely budged. Other forms of entertainment have also increased in price substantially in that time. I feel a bit lucky that the market pricing on games is so unmovable with a somewhat downward trend.
How long will that 10-20 k snowmobile last you for ? will it still be running in 50 years ?? Maybe it will be
will your 2 thousand dollar gaming Pc last 50 years ? No fricken way hahah
you will be lucky if your Gaming PC lasts for 5 years, so then you have to keep buying new pc's all the time
you do not need to keep buying New snowmobiles All the time maybe a piece here or there but you wont need to replace that 1 brand new snowmobile for Way longer then your PC
Computers are a heck of a lot cheaper now than they use to be. I'm one of those 26% @blueturtle13 is talking about.
The first Computer I bought with my own my money was an Amiga 1000 for $2450 in 1986 dollars and it didn't even have a hard drive. I probably could have bought a nice used snowmobile or two for the same price back then.
Computers, TV's, Stereo's... basically anything electronic is way cheaper now than it was. I worked all summer when I was 15 so I could buy an Atari 2600 for $180 and a 14" color tv for $400 all in in 1979 dollars.
Gaming today is way... way... cheaper than it was.
The majority here really want to play every single game maxed out?
A top of the line pc can last more than 5 years unless all you care about is having the best of the best. I don't give a rat's ass if my pc can't run it max till it doesn't look like crap and can run it smoothly.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Interesting graph. How come the 50+ years bracket is so large? What do you make of it? I would not expect this breakdown at all.
I'm with laserit, I'll be 50 next month (so close enough) and we grew up with them.
I think there is a difference between "hey we have video games and 'look' they are coming out with better video games" and "omg we never had video games and look at this thing called 'pong!'"
I also think that as one gets older one does better in terms of money, might have more disposable income so one can spend more on them.
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I'm with laserit, I'll be 50 next month (so close enough) and we grew up with them.
I think there is a difference between "hey we have video games and 'look' they are coming out with better video games" and "omg we never had video games and look at this thing called 'pong!'"
I also think that as one gets older one does better in terms of money, might have more disposable income so one can spend more on them.
You have a point. It's my dad who introduced me to gaming, now being 52.
My Minecraft projects must have clouded my judgement. I thought the average PC gamer is 12 years old and can't be bothered to type out phrases longer than 2 words.
I believe everyone of us here are entitled of our own opinion really. Well, I just want to share mine as well. I guess, each one of us has its own priorities and obligations. Maybe some can afford to buy an expensive car or a gaming pc. But more people also are working to feed their family and their income are just enough for their needs, nothing left for their wants. However, there are people those who have higher wage specially those who are single can afford their hobbies. So, we cannot blame other people if they think its expensive for them.
I think this turned out all wrong lol. I wasn't trying to say why do poor people not buy 1080tis. I was talking about how generally it is considered a expensive hobby and its not in the slightest. I computer capable of maxing 1080 is like 500 bucks, and computer capable of vr and 4k is 2k. They last like 5 years. That is 33 dollars a month for a top end computer or so, maybe 40. All hobbies are more expensive, minus like coloring. Watching TV is more expensive. But im gonna stop, before this catches on, and they manufactures catch on, and raise the prices on everything.
I think this turned out all wrong lol. I wasn't trying to say why do poor people not buy 1080tis. I was talking about how generally it is considered a expensive hobby and its not in the slightest. I computer capable of maxing 1080 is like 500 bucks, and computer capable of vr and 4k is 2k. They last like 5 years. That is 33 dollars a month for a top end computer or so, maybe 40. All hobbies are more expensive, minus like coloring. Watching TV is more expensive. But im gonna stop, before this catches on, and they manufactures catch on, and raise the prices on everything.
yeah by leaps and bounds out of all my friends, family and coworkers I have the cheapest hobby of them all. PC gaming.
now is it more expensive then consoles? I dont know but either way, console fans for reasons I dont understanding trive and argue about being the best 'blue light discount special' of the gaming hobby. That is not something I would want to beat my chest about.
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
It can be expensive, especially if you treat it as your main hobby and you start going after non-consumer grade parts. There is quadros out there that go for $5-8k a piece, 4k monitors can go up to $5k. High End Intel chips can go up to $5k. You can make anything expensive. Camping, you can keep it cheap and pitch a tent or buy an expensive RV. Golf you can golf on local courses or go to high courses and pay major green fees, walk or rent/buy a cart. The point is, your hobby is what you make it, it is you as the person that makes a hobby expensive or not. It's all relative to your specific income. Anyone who says, "Well that's expensive" probably haves a hobby that they spend just as much into.
[[ DEAD ]] - Funny - I deleted my account on the site using the cancel account button. Forum user is separate and still exists with no way of deleting it. Delete it admins. Do it, this ends now.
buying a PC from a store is expensive..building your own..not so much,in fact you probably save $1000's ..i built mine and if mine sold in a store it would be sold in-between 2-3k easily
Most people cannot relate to the work that goers into building an engine let alone the rest of there components,so they just assume hmmm "looks complicated" so must cost a lot. However with PC's,i feel many to most realize they are premade simple boards,with a few peripherals that could be self built far easier than building just the engine let alone the entire Snowmobile. I have a whole pile of items i consider way over priced,like shoes made in Chine/Korea,TV's,Computers all sickly over priced.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Some gamers are poor but I think the problem lies elsewhere: When I was a kid a C-64 was more expensive then an average PC today, it cost like a high end gaming rig (like $2000 today or so) but it wasn't as big problem since we didn't need much other stuff, a pair of Jeans with a not too embarrassing brand and a WASP LP and I was happy.
Today kids need the latest Iphone, an IPAD and a whole bunch of other crap and the Iphone just is as expensive as a good PC and need to be replaced faster. And just the frigging shoes kids like are expensive.
At the same time are living expenses up and many people have more then 1 job and barely scrapes by anyways.
You want loads of more things then just a PC and you can't afford everything, and what people need is constantly getting more and more.
As for games, they actually cost about the same now as 1984, they were around $60 then and are actually often cheaper today and you have way higher salary now. Of course almost all C-64 games were pirate copies so few people bothered much about prices back then...
Price is relative. A 1k computer is cheap to one person while expensive to another. It doesn't make one view accurate and the other not. It's all from the buyers perspective.
Comments
I would not expect a college student who lives with his parents and works 30 hours a week at pizza hut to be buying a $2000 computer when he is a journalism major. Everyone has different spending priorities and different levels of enthusiasm toward gaming. Just because you can easily drop $2000 on a gaming rig does not mean that every can or even that everyone else would want to.
The absolute price of a computer is not very important, human brain does not work that way. We work by comparing our gaming computer to other gaming machines, and judge it to be expensive as long as it costs more than consoles and mobile phones that can also be used for gaming.
If computer prices doubles, but console prices quadrupled, then computers would be cheap.
But if you look at other hobbies, I have friends who collect shoes. One pair of those shoes could cost up to a couple grand, or more, and I see that as an asinine purchase, but that person really enjoys collecting those shoes. I would complain about the price of that to them if they tried to sell them to me, even if I could afford it. It's just not my hobby. It's people who don't share the same hobbies complaining because they don't want to dump money into a hobby that isn't their own, it doesn't matter how much they make. Which is why you see a lot more casual gamers on consoles. It's easier on them to dump 300 into a console when they aren't going to spend a lot of time on the thing, instead of 2k on a pc that they might not use very much. There is plenty of rich people that are into gaming, just go look at some battlestations on reddit, those are INSANE.
I do spend about $2500 every 3 years on a new gaming laptop, though it looks like my next one will run about $3K
All a matter of priorities, I'm by no means poor but I pay substantial amounts of money for my family's upkeep including 5 smartphones, 4 cars plus the damn insurance, college loans and current college fees and oh yes a house and all that goes with it.
If not for them I'd be riding in my Lambo.
(truthfully if not driven by their needs I'd probably be living alone in a double wide driving a Senta and playing game's on a 360.)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
How long will that 10-20 k snowmobile last you for ? will it still be running in 50 years ?? Maybe it will be
will your 2 thousand dollar gaming Pc last 50 years ? No fricken way hahah
you will be lucky if your Gaming PC lasts for 5 years, so then you have to keep buying new pc's all the time
you do not need to keep buying New snowmobiles All the time
maybe a piece here or there but you wont need to replace that 1 brand new snowmobile for Way longer then your PC
The first Computer I bought with my own my money was an Amiga 1000 for $2450 in 1986 dollars and it didn't even have a hard drive. I probably could have bought a nice used snowmobile or two for the same price back then.
Computers, TV's, Stereo's... basically anything electronic is way cheaper now than it was. I worked all summer when I was 15 so I could buy an Atari 2600 for $180 and a 14" color tv for $400 all in in 1979 dollars.
Gaming today is way... way... cheaper than it was.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
A top of the line pc can last more than 5 years unless all you care about is having the best of the best. I don't give a rat's ass if my pc can't run it max till it doesn't look like crap and can run it smoothly.
For gaming, that $500 would be much better spent on a console.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
How come the 50+ years bracket is so large? What do you make of it?
I would not expect this breakdown at all.
I started with Pong, it was released when I was 8 years old.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
59 here and we used wooden computers back in the day, uphill in the snow, both ways.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I think there is a difference between "hey we have video games and 'look' they are coming out with better video games" and "omg we never had video games and look at this thing called 'pong!'"
I also think that as one gets older one does better in terms of money, might have more disposable income so one can spend more on them.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
My Minecraft projects must have clouded my judgement. I thought the average PC gamer is 12 years old and can't be bothered to type out phrases longer than 2 words.
yeah by leaps and bounds out of all my friends, family and coworkers I have the cheapest hobby of them all. PC gaming.
hunting, fishing, building stuff, golf, wine, kids sports, horse riding yeah.....
now is it more expensive then consoles? I dont know but either way, console fans for reasons I dont understanding trive and argue about being the best 'blue light discount special' of the gaming hobby.
That is not something I would want to beat my chest about.
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
However with PC's,i feel many to most realize they are premade simple boards,with a few peripherals that could be self built far easier than building just the engine let alone the entire Snowmobile.
I have a whole pile of items i consider way over priced,like shoes made in Chine/Korea,TV's,Computers all sickly over priced.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Today kids need the latest Iphone, an IPAD and a whole bunch of other crap and the Iphone just is as expensive as a good PC and need to be replaced faster. And just the frigging shoes kids like are expensive.
At the same time are living expenses up and many people have more then 1 job and barely scrapes by anyways.
You want loads of more things then just a PC and you can't afford everything, and what people need is constantly getting more and more.
As for games, they actually cost about the same now as 1984, they were around $60 then and are actually often cheaper today and you have way higher salary now. Of course almost all C-64 games were pirate copies so few people bothered much about prices back then...
I self identify as a monkey.