Personal Gaming Budgets

Pac1Man

Probably like most, my gaming wish list is as long as my arm and the combined price of this saddens me. I feel like the best way to make my way through this list is to put some sort of plan in place.

Whenever I buy a few titles within a short space of time, a little feeling of guilt follows the initial feeling of joy. I don't really know why this happens because I am in no way bankrupting myself by doing this. By the end of the month, the bills still get paid and money still gets saved. It's just a nagging feeling that I can't explain.

I am considering giving myself a monthly budget regardless of what games come out or what sales are on. This may take some discipline.

Does anyone else have a set of 'rules' that they go by? Do you give yourself a monthly budget or are you living the dream and buying what you want whenever you want? :pac:

Retr0gamer

Get a job. You'll have enough money for all the games you want at the expense of time to play them.

shruikan2553

I only buy games for 5 euro max and if I have been waiting for them to drop in price.

I used to buy any game that looked interesting for 2-3 euro but I started getting too many games. If I start to run out of games (not likely) I'll probably increase it to 7.50-10 euro.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Pac1Man wrote: »

Does anyone else have a set of 'rules' that they go by? Do you give yourself a monthly budget or are you living the dream and buying what you want whenever you want? :pac:

I generally stick to games that are well reviewed or well recommended by friends, i wont take a punt on something I've any doubt about. the reason is twofold - I've a backlog of games as long as my arm, and worse, still loads of games that I stopped playing at 75% or so of the way through.

so far this year, I've managed to completely finish 2 games, so its nice to have them behind me as such.

I wont spend a huge amount on hardware - its usually one console at a time for me, but games wise, if there's something I like the look of, I wont hesitate to buy - this winter was especially punishing, with a lot of great games all coming a t once on xbox one.

calex71

It's not really about budgeting so much as buying more games than you can play/need.

If it's on sale at a good price get it... within reason ask yourself will you ever play it , if not wait till you have the time to play it.

Easy for me as I'm not generally a multitasker when it comes to games, I generally play one start to finish before moving on but have been seriously guilty of buying stuff on sale

Pac1Man

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

i wont take a punt on something I've any doubt about.

calex71 wrote: »

If it's on sale at a good price get it... within reason ask yourself will you ever play it , if not wait till you have the time to play it.

These two points compliment each other well. In the past I have held off buying something on sale due to me buying X,Y or Z the previous weeks, and later regretted it.

On the other hand it can be very easy to get caught up in sales hype.

RobertFoster

Pac1Man wrote: »

On the other hand it can be very easy to get caught up in sales hype.

I remind myself it'll be discounted to the same price, or cheaper, in the next sale. If I don't think I'll get to the game between now and the next sale, I can wait.

Marsden

I had a €5 rue that I bent to get a game for xmas. It was €10. Then I got a few quid for me bday and bought one for 14 then 20. I'm going back to my €5 rule now. I don't like the slippery slope I'm on.

COYVB

My rules are somewhat pathetic and amount to: want it? get it.

Mr.Buzz

I listen to the Totalbiscuit, I'm no longer pre-ordering games and, to be honest, that has saved me a loads of cash and a lot of headache. Another rule that I have is - don't buy games you've liked in the past (as I used to do so I end up with 10 games I've played 10 years ago that I'll never install again, let alone play). Depending on my monthly earnings I might or might not take into consideration a purchase of certain title, although lately, I've been avoiding spending over 15€ on game - be it brand new or few years old.

gazzamc

I just wait until the price drops to a point where I don't feel like I'm being ripped off.. Of course I'm on PC so we usually get better deals.. But lately since steam brought in the restriction of trading with poorer eu countries I've been waiting a little longer..

Although if I really want the game I'll get it, I bought resident evil HD full price simply because the game is quality and I know what I'm getting..

My backlog always seems to be growing no matter how long I wait

Taylor365

I'd say my average price per game bought is about €15.

Loads picked up for dead cheap (humble/steam sales) and then the 1 or 2 that burn your soul into ash (TW:ROMEII).

I have pr-eordered a physical copy of GTAV for €46 to add to my collection of GTAs.

LandonRicketts

What I have done since last June was to put 20 quid away each week into a so called "Games kitty". Just by the games I want to play when they come out. Since I'm the type that will blow through a game pretty quick i'd buy it from VGP+ and then sell it on adverts/ebay. Usually sell it for 10 euro less then what I'd pay for it.

Pac1Man

LandonRicketts wrote: »

What I have done since last June was to put 20 quid away each week into a so called "Games kitty". Just by the games I want to play when they come out. Since I'm the type that will blow through a game pretty quick i'd buy it from VGP+ and then sell it on adverts/ebay. Usually sell it for 10 euro less then what I'd pay for it.

That seems like a good system. Trouble is I hate selling games.

I'm sure Steam makes things a lot easier.

kunst nugget

If it's a game I have a passing interest I won't pay anymore than €10. If it's something I'm really interested in I might go to €25 when it comes up as a special offer but I won't go beyond that. I've enough of a backlog to not have to worry about running out of games to play. I'd never buy full price or pre-order - I honestly can't understand why anyone would pre-order.

LandonRicketts

Pac1Man wrote: »

That seems like a good system. Trouble is I hate selling games.

I'm sure Steam makes things a lot easier.

I Know what you mean about selling back games but the way i figured it when I finish a game 9/10 i won't be playing it again anytime soon due to the backlog of games I've had and by the time I decide I want to replay that game, it will usually be able for a fraction of the price I first payed for it first time around.

Mal-Adjusted

I operate a bit differently. If i see a game i think i'll like, i'll check out reviews and gameplay footage (while trying to avoid spoilers). Because i tend to avoid online and focus on single-player, it doesn't matter to me if the game is one, two or ten years old, so i can find copies pretty cheap. I wouldn't take a chance and blind-buy a game unless it's very cheap. If i really want a game (Starcraft II: Legacy of the void), i'll get it new but still have a look at reviews.

And absolutely never pre-order...ever!