CM is E-crack, but there's something worse!

[John Kettler]

It's been the custom for some time now for us to inform new CM players the game is E-crack; to write off any relationships, sleep, eating (except gamer food) and to resign themselves to monastic devotion to CM. There is no 12-Step Program, but we all know how addictive the game is and the plaintive "Just one more turn" we find ourselves thinking or even uttering, right?

 

Guess what? if you're a reader and a Kindle (or similar) should enter your life, you're done. It's over. And if you don't watch yourself, so is your economy. Not only is the core idea worse than crack--give away the reader and make money on the E-books--but the temptation is everywhere you turn, starting with the full page ad which greets you when you open your new mistress. Add to that an entire row of other books waiting for your purchase. Now, in my case, I did my searches via my computer (didn't really know what I was doing yet on the Kindle) and bought a few things, using, so I thought, a relatively safe gift card. First warning: there is no relatively safe, especially if you're already an Amazon customer and the system has your credit card or debit card on file, not to mention a highly detailed list of every book you ever looked at. Mark this and mark it well.

 

Okay. One way or another you buy some E-books, probably some for 99 cents, others for a few bucks, maybe get some free ones while you're at it. Quite a few for minuscule outlay (unless you get some that unbelievably go for $200) No worries. Many of the E-books are short (70-80 pages), so if you're any sort of reader at all, you go through one in record time, but you're doomed from the first and don't know it. As soon as you finish a book, you're asked to rate it and are served up more books the AI thinks will be of further interest (heaven preserve you if you're interested in Spec Ops!). You've just come off a high and are now asked whether you'd like another fix? But how about this other drug? Not sure? No sweat. Here's a free sample. We'll even deliver! You'll just try it; what can it hurt? Famous last words! It just so happens the Sample button and the galvanizing Buy Now button are practically on top of one another, while the Undo link for the oops! purchase is buried in a paragraph of smallish type below the two prominent buttons. Human nature being what it is, how many oopses become actual purchases? I'd imagine many, for the temptation is great to say: "Screw it; it's only a few bucks" (did just that last night, so now have a Delta Operator's memoir I hadn't planned to get--really good book, though). 

 

And this is what confronts you every single time you open the Kindle or what have you! People who have no impulse control and love to read are going to self-immolate. Period. For others, it'll be more like a time bomb or death by inches. One E-book (or worse, several) at a time.  Amazon makes it oh so easy to kill yourself with a bunch of seemingly nitnoy purchases. Next thing you know, you discover your outlay rivals some credit card bills. That's if you're sufficiently coherent to notice. After all, your E-reader craves attention. Nay, demands it. It doesn't respond to chocolates or flowers. Only time and money!

 

NOTE

 

The above is somewhat tongue in cheek, but only somewhat. There is a very real financial danger here, and it is altogether too easy to buy and buy and buy. I managed to stop at only two unplanned book purchases (mercifully only $3.99 in aggregate, plus that additional quarter or fifty cents Amazon tacks on), but was offered 93 total since I was curious enough/foolish enough to ask for the complete list, rather than just the five on the main page. It goes without saying, but needs to be said, that this could have rather dire impact on getting the next CM, upgrade, vehicle pack, etc. Consider yourself warned!

 

Regards,

 

John Kettler

Edited January 5, 2015 by John Kettler

[Michael Emrys]

Made me laugh, John. So far I have resisted getting a Kindle, but I admit trembling on the brink a few times and probably I will someday if I don't drop dead first.

 

Michael

[agusto]

At least E-books are more comfortable to buy. When it is 3 o clock in the morning, the weather outsde is freezing, your regular dealer isnt answearing your phone calls and you need some crack, you will have to go out and look for someone else selling. Also when you are unhappy with the quality of your purchase, it is often difficult to ask for a return.

 

But on a serious note, humans can become psychologically addicted to almost everything, there are people who are addicted to to pulling their own hair out or eating toilet paper. Reading a lot is at least good for your mind.

Edited January 5, 2015 by agusto

[Michael Emrys]

Reading a lot is at least good for your mind.

 

Depends on what you read. And I don't intend to pursue that thought any further.

 

Michael

[Capt. Toleran]

I had this problem even before the Kindle with Amazon and Barnes and Noble -- I would buy too many books, and either bite off more than I could chew, got bored, or ended up regretting some purchases.

 

The fix, for both Kindle and Steam (I buy too much there as well) is to download the free sample or demo first.  If the free sample keeps my interest, I can then justify buying it -- and ONLY that, until I am done.  If by the end of the book if I still want the other titles I was interested in before, I go on to their free samples, but no paying until the content justifies its purchase.  This has saved me a lot of time and money since I implemented this rule.

Edited January 7, 2015 by Capt. Toleran

[easytarget]

Best of all if you happen to live in a city with a reasonably progressive minded IT dept at your local public library you will have, as I do, access to free books online.  Search for what you like at their online ebook listings and check them out w/o ever leaving your desk chair.