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MMOs cheaper than Console Games
Melieza
Member Posts: 269
I have been an avid mmo gamer for many years and one of my good friends is a big gamer too. For years now Ive tried to convince him to play an mmo with me but his excuse is always "their too expensive, I cant afford the monthly fee".
Now, first of all, if you have a job I dont understand how $15 a month is 'expensive' but I do get that those $15s can add up. I know I personally have spent almost $1000 on FFXI...
~ahem~
Anyways, the thing about my friend is while he doesnt play mmos, he plays console games. Every month or so he is picking up whatever new came out that he thinks hell enjoy. So this got me thinking. Overall, I bet he spends more a year on games than I do. And then I did some math....
A PS3/360/Wii game costs 60$ new before tax. A 'good length' game is said to take approximately 40 hours to beat. So a tiny bit of math and that leads to $1.50/hour. You pay $1.50 for each hour of enjoyment that console game is getting you.
An MMO is $15/month. Lets say an MMOer plays the game 10 hours a week (I know...hardly the truth), which is about 40 hours a month. This ends up being 38cents/hour. If you play an MMO for 40 hours in a month, you are only paying 38 cents per hour of enjoyment.
Conclusion: Playing an MMO is cheaper enjoyment than a console game.
But, what if you dont play an MMO for 40 hours a month? Whats the minimum amount of hours you would have to play for it still to be cheaper than a console game?
The answer is pretty simple. 10. If you play an MMO for at least 10 hours in a MONTH, the cost per hour will be cheaper than a console game.
Now what about the opposite? How long would a console game have to keep your attention in order for the cost per hour to be as a cheap as playing an MMO?
The answer? Approximately 158. You would have to play a console game for 158 hours for the cost per hour to be as cheap as an MMO.
Obviously, this is all based on a console games 'enjoyment time' being around 40 hours, and an average MMOer playing the game for 40 hours a month. I think regardless though, you can see that playing an MMO is actually worlds cheaper than console games. An MMO is basically a console game that takes thousands of hours to truely beat.
What do you think?
Comments
I think you were right when you said that this is based on console "enjoyment time".
Online Multiplayer console games can have quite a bit of longevity in comparison. I must have played borderlands for at least 150+ hours. I played GoW2 for nearly 6 months straight including buying the map packs and playing online with friends.
Many FPS games hold players attention longer then normal. I also enjoy racing games with online multiplayer, and sometimes a fighting game or two. Each of which can hold me for well over 40 hours of gameplay time. I'd also say some console games give you much more play time then just 40 hours through standard gameplay such as Fallout , Oblivion, or other RPGs.
I think MMOs have the ability to be a cheaper form of gaming entertainment if they hold your interest.
Oh I think anyone who plays both mmo's and console games like I do can attest that on average mmo's are far cheaper to play than console games. First console releases often will cost you no less than five dollars off of full price for a good six months after release, it is fairly common if you want to to find an mmo on sale the month after it's released.
Now me personally I tend to not buy games as new releases anymore simply to avoid paying full price unless it's an mmo but that's mostly because I have an interest in more console games than mmo's.
Now having said that with the sheer number of mmo's that release out of the box in less than stellar working order be careful of what mmo's you suggest to your friends because as a console gamer it's one of the things I have a tendency to look at mmo players with a cross eye about, they/we are far too willing to pay for crap and equally the devs are far too willing to hide behind non disclosure agreements and end user licensing agreements.
Often the thrill of playing together with ones friends can overide those bugs and stuff we are often forced to endure but as I see it that only lasts so long and devs had better be aware of this because consoles are more and more taking the place of pc's and half the console games sold now have online play.
Oooh also wanted to add that for a player who could be interested in the playstyles of mmo's average playtime for games certainly would go up. I have always taken much longer completing games than most I knew and I think it was why I took to mmo's so readily because as you state they are basically the same as alot of rpg's but just with thousands of hours of gameplay.
I think those are all things a person is going to take into consideration as far as cost goes all told I think mmo's are cheaper but there is a trade off for console games that justifies the slightly higher price as long as the trend we have now keeps going.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Sure by sub fees alone i spend 180 dollars a yr on wow. That said u also buy xpacs usually 1 a yr. At 40 dollars a piece. So 220 . Now i only play the one mmo that s sub so im doing ok here. And your freind is paying 40 dollars a game every month so u still have him but u have to include the money for the xpacs also in your price.
I used to just play console games till i started playing wow. Truth is though id buy the ncaa football game every year it came out. But id play it for a yr. I love the recruit funcition on those games. So i got my moneys worth easily on my sports games. In the end i got most of them as bday gifts or christmas ones so i didnt really spend much maybe by 1 game a yr myself. So i got off cheaper on my consol games.
I'll agree yes, it is for sure cheaper.
In our house we have 4 kids ranging from 8-15, My wife and I and 2 of our kids play together on MMO's switching now and then between FFXI and WoW(we dont keep all 4 accounts subbed at any one time. We only play one or the other for awhile).
.We pay $14.99 a month per account, atm works out to be between $55-60.00+ a month depending on how the exchange rates go(We're not American). It is still cheaper than buying games that suits ea of us individually every month or 2..
A game is just that... a game, not an emotional crutch.
You're missing some big things:
1: Your calculations assume that the hardware is free, which couldn't be further from the truth. Let's assume the cost of computer is 600 $, and that you'll buy a new computer every 3 years. That's 16.7 $/month
2: Most MMOs you have to buy to play. Let's assume you buy each year either one new MMO wich costs 50$, or one expansion pack wich costs 30$ and one older MMO wich costs 20$. In either case the purchase costs is 50$ total. Since you get one free month of game time, the cost of games - subcription costs is 35 dollars, wich makes 2.9$/month.
3: Most MMOs sell extra services and items. Even if you rarely buy them, let's assume you purchase something costing 10 dollars each year. That's 0.8 $/month extra.
Computer + game + services + monthly fees are total 16.7 + 2.9 + 0.8 + 15 = 35.4 $/month.
Now let's compare to a console.
1. Assuming a console costs 300$, and you buy one console every 3 years, that's 8.3$ a month.
2. A normal game costs about 60$, but older games or used games costs way less. Since you care about money, let's assume you buy one new console game for 60$ every other month, and one used or old game every other month for 30$. That's average of 45$/month.
3. Console games also sell extra content and such. Let's assume you are using Xbox, then you would likely buy for XBox live gold subscription for 50$/year. That's 4.2 $/month.
This brings the cost of console gaming to total of 8.3 + 45 + 4.2 = 57.5$/month.
Assuming 40 hours played per month, you'll end up paying 35.4/40 = 89 cents per hour for playing MMOs, and 57.5/40 = 1.44 dollars per hour for playing console games. The diffirence is big, console games cost 62% more if my calculations are correct. But I don't think they cost 4 times as much as MMOs like you counted.
Internet fees are not counted, since it depends on where you live. I get internet free along with my rent.
I think he means software wise yes most of them are free so you pay 0 unless you use the blood sucking item malls
Well for me on the console it cost me $60 a game for a new release plus $50 for XBL if you play multiplayer so that is easily $110.00 right there. Downloadable content is about $10.00 every 6 months maybe ? So that is about $120.00 for the first year. After the first year it is actually cheaper to play a single console game compared to a mmo.
What if your buddy exchange games with his friends or even borrows them? Most console players who played a game usually trade them with other people they know once they are done.
It might be somewhat cheaper to play a single MMO but many people buy new games at launch, try them for 2 months and then go back to Wow again. That is something like 2 extra boxes a year. Of course MMOs do have more content ib general...
15 bucks isn't that much for an average player but I wouldn't want to use the word cheap since a a year times 15 bucks a month + the box and maybe an expansion really isn't cheap if you compare to something like pen and paper RPGs (Rulebook 30 bucks, that is all you need even if you can buy more junk if you want to, but the same goes for most MMOs today.
I am addicted to Phantasy star handheld games (Loved the series on the genisis and PSO was my first online gaming expierence)..On my Japanese version of PSP2 I played over 250 hours total solo (and an extra half that online).. now I bougth the US version just for the fun of it to see if anything's changed and already have over 30 hours in a month... AS far as fun per hour goes Idunno... it's been a while since an MMO has really got me going and fun is a difficult concept to properly operationalize in a quantifiable manner (you psych majors stay awyay
). In summary.. as soon as servers come up I set to camp Hadden for his earring.
Wife and I both play on Laptops.
Laptops: Free, both of them.
First one was a friends machine stopped working one night. Spent one night trying to fix it, tossed it at me and said "Here, you do this crap for a living, you get it fixed, its yours". Fixed it with an hour after opening the entire case, and cleaning out the chocolate for god knows how, was melted over the fans freezing them in place. When you tried powering it on, it would stop loading after hitting power button and beep hardware failure.
Second one. Was left in a taxi. Wife used to own a taxi business till we sold it. Customer left it in the back seat. Put it up on paper for lost and found, and free press. The machine was completely clean of any contact info or pictures to identify who it may belong to so I kept it after no one claimed it missing after 2 weeks.
2 Xbox 360 plus 4 controllers and 3 games, paid 100.00 for all with red ring of death. Both easily fixed in my office with no extra purchases needed. Plenty of DIY tutorials on the web.
At the time, only one game was needed and original serial keys for mutiple machines for FFXI up to WoG expansion. paid $20.00 for the Vanadiel collection set for PC and borrowed My brother inlaws for 360 to install. Lucked out there, because sometime later in a patch, it is now impossible to do for FFXI.
Now we are at a total of:
2 comps: $0.00
2 Xbox 360's: $100.00 (parts and labour free)
Software for machines: $26.something with taxes and exchange rate.
Next we needed 2 more PCs for 2 of our kids to also play WoW with us.
Went onto Freecycle.org and found 2 free sposedly not working PCs w/ monitors, kboards and mice(both dells so not much resale value). One required new memory. The other HDD died but person online was so livid about losing pics, they just wanted it out of their sight over looking how cheap a new HDD is these days. Went back on Freecycle.org and got a 250gig HDD for nothing with windows xp on it . It was a spare drive another freecycler was willing to part with and all its backup CDs.
One of the comps had 4 gigs of memory, both were dells from same yr so I halved the memory in it and put the remainder in the other. We saved money there.
Ok, so now we are at:
well from here we borrowed my brothers WoW cds, installed it on all, signed up for the trials then unlocked the accounts by subbing for 1 month ea to start to see if we liked it. So it only costed 40+ dollars here.
Assumptions can go a long way, but at the same time, if you can use your brain, you can find some pretty damned good deals over 1 month to get into gaming on any level. I'll let you guys sum up what I spent.
Gaming is costly to get into from the start like you said just for hardware alone, but I refused to pay that much, and it only took me barely over a month to get it all setup so me and my family could geek out not so long ago.
A game is just that... a game, not an emotional crutch.
Unless you are someone who prefers a variation in games. Playing consoles you have a much larger selection.
Also you are assuming your friend is buying a new game every time, and never trading them in. You can get some of your money back by trading in a game on a new one, or evern more if you are willing to go through the trials and tribulations of Ebay. If your frined just waits a few weeks after a game is released you can get a few bucks off by purchasing it used, and then get some of that money back in trade in on the next one.
Another reason consoles aren't really more expensive is you aren't considering the cost of keeping your computer up to date. New video cards, etc, possibly an anti-virus program if you don't trust the free ones to be good enough. Possibly some repairs. Whereas with a console you just have the initial costs and then its pretty much done unless it breaks completely which is also possible with a PC but the replacement cost of a console is lower than that of a gaming PC.
Hand in Hand with that is the initial cost of getting a computer is much larger than that of a Console platform.
This is true, though I don't know if this is the norm. I recently traded Red Dead Redemption for 2 games, Prototype, and Infamous, both of them were from a trade off of craigslist. I did notice there were a lot of gamers looking for trades online, I just didn't know how widespread it was. Good point though.
You can't take the full cost of a gaming computer into effect. If you live in a developed world and working computer and internet connection is necessary for life these days, where as a console is not. There are likely very few to no one who has a console and no form of computer.
What it really breaks down to is preference. The real value of anything is your need/enjoyment of it. I enjoy computers/online PC gaming far more than I ever did with consoles. Consoles would have to be significantly cheaper than PC gaming due to my perceived value of PC gaming.
Sent me an email if you want me to mail you some pizza rolls.
At the end of the day this is the real key ^
A long time ago whilst growing up i and my friends always had consoles, be they Sega MasterSystems, Sega Megadrives, Nintendo and eventually onto Playstations. At the same time a lot of us had PC's, not all of us but a fair few, some of us with Amstrads, others with Commodores and one or two had ZXSpectrums. We had our fun on the computers but I'd say we had much more fun on our consoles, Sonic, Streets of Rage, Mario brothers etc etc took up many a night during the winters.
As an adult i've had a fair few consoles over the years including Nintendo Gamebox (I think it was called?), Playstation 2, XBox, XBox 360 but all them were nothing more than fads for me lasting perhaps a few months at most. The XBox 360 only lasted 2 weeks (admittedly there were hardly any games for it at the time).
I got into PC gaming again perhaps 7 years ago with my girlfriend. It started off on her old laptop which could barely play games and moved onto buying cheap PC's then settling on building my own each time. I used to build my wn every 6 months to perhaps a year when i was more into the hardware side of things but now it's down to every 2 or 3 years, still not because the games won't play but rather just because i don't want to be left behind. Gaming isn't something i do all day in my spare time any longer as i've been quite bored of it over the past few years, but more something i do every so often for a month or two when new games release or i fancy jumping back into an old MMO/game. At the most i spend perhaps £20 on a box and a sub for a month or two if required, but it's more often the case that it's a resub to an old game for £8 or whatever it happens to be or even a bargain £5-10 Steam/D2D etc sale game.
If i were still playing on Consoles i'd be having to shell out £40-£50 for a new game that i fancied versus the £20 ish on PC, even for older games Console ones tend to be around the same price as new PC ones.
I'm havering and probably semi off topic, but hey ho.
I spent less money on WoW in the long run then buying games for consoles.
About $1200 over 4 years or $300 a year.
That is the game cost via 3 Accounts, 1st xpac twice, 2nd xpac once, 3 Server transfers, a name change,a nd of coarse the monthly fee (note the 2nd account only open for 60 days, the 3rd was 90 days)
$300 = 5 or 6 games a year... I buy way more then 6 games in a year.
your comparison isn't very good. i used to be a big comsole gamer. it is much cheaper then PC/MMO gaming.
first, how much does he plan? i've noticed that MMO gamers play much longer than console gamers. if he plays 20 hours a week he can find plenty of RPG's that will last him a month or 2. i know people who have 200+ hours of play time on fallout 3 and oblivion. you can pick those up for less than $20 each. ever hear of COD4, MW2, or halo? i picked up COD4 for $60 and it lasted me a year. my friends have been playing halo 3 since release.
you didn't even take into consideration the price of a gaming PC. $800+ for a gaming computer while a console is $300. i got my 360 on ebay for $250, came with 4 controller, 10 games and it's lasted me 3 years. plus a console gamer can buy games used or wait for them to go down in price.
you yourself just said you've spent $1000 on FFXI, so i'm not sure how you expect to hold up this arguement.
If he's playing on Xbox live, there's still a monthly fee anyways.. plus the 'box' purchace of the game. I think what he's really thinking is "I can't afford to play an mmo AND my normal games"
Everyone brought up valid points.
There is of course the cost of the hardware, PC or console. Naturally many MMOs have expansions and the original box purchase as well.
I do agree also it comes down to how long you play them, MMO or console game. There are indeed some console games like many of the ones mentioned you can play for months and months, especially if they have online capabilities.
In my situation though, these aren't the games my friend is playing. Hes a Nintendo fanboi so plays all the Sonic, Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Kirby, etc. that he can get his hands on and they are usually done in a week or two.
I think for him though, as someone else mentioned, if he played an MMO it wouldn't stop his purchasing of console games so ultimately it would just be an additional cost, which is what he doesnt get into it.
In the end I guess it does come down to whichever you spend more time on. Now if I only I could convince him to quit his console habits....
/jerkmode on
/undojerkmodeasmuchaspossible
maybe the 'cost' that he's referring to is the "life" that you give up when you dedicate yourself to an mmo, and he's just trying to refer to that without being a.. jerk
/jerkmode off
Just when you think you have all the answers, I change the questions.
I noticed that you mentioned Nintendo games. Nintendo games don't usually cost more than $49 new unless they come with some special hardware. For example, the latest Metroid (Other M) that came out recently only costs $49. Most of the other new Nintendo games only cost $20 - $39.
But at least the for console games in general, perhaps he thinking that in terms of cost, a MMO just gets expensive over time as the subscription costs accumulate. So projecting over a year, he'll weigh 12 seperate games versus 1 MMO. The total cost of the 12 seperate games over the MMO is higher but comparing 1 on 1, the MMO would "seem" higher over the extended period of time.
Yeah, playing a P2P MMO is definately cheaper than gaming on a console. However, playing competitively in an MMO with an Item Mall can be just as expensive as console gaming, depending on your games Item Mall setup.
_________
Currently playing: Black Desert Korea (Waiting for EU)
Always hating on instances in MMOs! Open worlds, open PvP, territory control and housing please. More persistence, more fun.
Console overall is actually cheaper than P2P-PC-MMO's.
Like a few people mentioned, hardware costs is much lower. You also need to think hardware longevity. Say MS decides to announce DX12 tomorrow, and GW2, SWTOR, WoD, etc, everything new, anticipated and unreleased, shifts to 'requires DX12 to play at all'. Then even if you just built a system for "this years MMO", you need to rebuild for next years.
My X360 and PS3 haven't fundamentally changed in hardware since their releases. That 300 investment, even if it was 4-600 3yrs ago, is still in a viable life-span, and has a few more years of viabilty left to go. Plus, it's standardized hardware. The devs don't have to worry about some twit who won't just let go of his old ass computer for some facepalm-sentimental reason. They know everyone is on the same hardware.
They don't have to burn godless resources to try to account for a bajillion possible hardware setups, they just have to make it work on the one platform. That's not laziness on the devs part either. Actually look around for how many potential computer configurations there are out there, it's staggering, and trying to account for the majority of those setups, is insane.
Oh, and because no one in the thread mentioned it at all, this is probably the biggest thing that makes console games cost less than MMO's in the long run:
People can rent console games.
With stuff like gamefly, my "console" budget is 23/mo, and I can go through 80% of the seasonal titles that get released. 2 games at a time, unlimited games within a single-months scope of being able to complete them with a 2-day turnaround roughly for sending one back and getting a replacement that was in-stock.
There are free-trials for MMO's, but it doesn't compare in the same relative scope. 8-10hrs in most SP-console games should at least translate to 70-80hrs+ of meaningful progression in an MMO, and you just can't truly get that with most free trials/F2P/etc. Granted, depending on the game, barrier of entry will be either steep (~100 for WoW chest + WotLK) or cheep (check STEAM's MMO section, 90% of titles listed include previous expansion packs, and run between 10-40 a game).
So for a 20 dollar title, it may be worth the risk to try, but that same 20 to a console player can get them a lot more potential games than the MMO player, or just PC player in general.
Lets Push Things Forward
I knew I would live to design games at age 7, issue 5 of Nintendo Power.
Support games with subs when you believe in their potential, even in spite of their flaws.
Console games are way cheaper for me. I can simply mug the little brat that bought the game and go home and play it. When I do this with mmos they buy I still have to have to pay the monthly fee.
Some things are just so unfair in life.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
And in other news, Flash web games are cheaper than MMOs.
Sometimes you get what you pay for. To put this into perspective, MMOs are to mainstream games what Facebook games are to MMOs. I believe that a lower price is in order.