Mr. Frugality: The Untold Costs of Gaming

No, this isn't an intervention.

With so many games out there to choose from, publishers are not only competing for your money, but your time as well. This is a more vague cost that should not be forgotten. You have limited time on this planet- to be exact, with an average lifespan of 78 years, you have about 684,000 hours to live and make decisions. For those that may not live to 78, you have even less time. For those lucky, you have more.

Back in the days of the early 1990s, you were lucky to get two to five hours out of a 50 USD game. If we take the fraction [hours/dollar], it will tell us how many hours we are getting of game time in respect to how much we paid for it. Why should we look at this number? well, do you want the most game for your buck nowadays?

Say we went with a three hour game at 50 USD. that comes out to a score of 0.06 hours per dollar, which is abysmal. Say you bought that same game today for 4 USD, the score would change to 0.75. With today's standard at 0.5 hours per dollar, it would be a wise decision to dust the old classic off and play it. How did you determine 0.5?

It takes roughly 30 hours to complete Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. With the standard "template" of 30 hour games, at a price of $59.99, you are getting roughly 0.5 hours per dollar. For today's gamers, this is a good benchmark to use. Anything less than a 30 hour game at the price of 60 USD will likely get a pass over from me, unless it's something like a fan favorite series of mine. If the length of the game is shorter than 30 hours, developers should lower the price of the game in proportion. Say it takes me 5 hours to beat Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers for the SNES- at a rate of 0.5 hours per dollar, I should be paying about $2.50 for the game, although it may be worth slightly more. If it takes me 20 hours to beat the original Legend of Zelda, at a rate of 0.5 it should sell for roughly 10 dollars. Being the original Zelda though, the price may go up.

So Rob, what are some of the games you have played, and seen value in? well it depends, because I still play a lot of them: so the numbers will change.

Game	Price Paid	Hours to Date	hours/dollar
Borderlands	$               -	72	100.0
Simcity 3000	$          0.99	18	18.2
World of Warcraft	$     539.64	4000	7.4
Star Wars Galaxies	$  1,079.28	7000	6.5
Skyrim	$        63.00	144	2.3
Diablo	$          0.99	1	1.0
Zelda: Skyward Sword	$        63.00	47	0.7
Diablo III	$        63.00	19.5	0.3

So why did I decide to buy Diablo 3? Other than having amazing fun in the BETA, I knew an adventure like this, with a high replayability level due to difficulties and a level 60 handicap, would exceed a 30 hour game by a longshot. In fact, my personal standard, a score of 2.0, is surpassed, as I know the game will last longer than 120 hours before I get bored with it. Skyrim sure did.