These games are way too cheap

[fatehunter]

I mean seriously. After spending 400+ hours, It's down to 10 cents per hour of entertainment.

 

All video game companies should charge more, say by the hour. Going to a movie costs $15 for 1.5 hrs entertainment. So games could be the same. $10 per hour!

 

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Shah don't tell Steve that

Of course your comparison with the price of movies doesn't really work because movies aren't worth even close to $10 an hour.

[fatehunter]

I just get tired of people complaining about the cost of this type of gaming. In my calculation it is one of the cheapest forms out there. 

[gnarly]

I am curious, how does one 'guess-timate' their total in-game time in CM? Do you assign some average 'planning' time (as well as 'playback' time?) per WEGO minute (like 10 or 15 minutes?)? Watching and tracking missiles in playback is sooooo enthralling!

 

(says me having already spent 14 hours on BS - Rolling Thunder in the last 3 nights..........   - the wifey is not sure about this new game being trialled/demoed, 3 weeks out from new bub poppin......  )

[Bulletpoint]

Well, your time has a value too.

[ChrisND]

If you buy wisely, some games can be incredibly cheap forms of entertainment. I have a number of games (not from our company) that I've logged dozens or even hundreds of hours in over the years, for the price of $50-55. That's as much as (or way less than) one night out on the town.

[Bootie]

Well said....

[zinzan]

1. I own CMBN and all add-on's and I have had them constamntly installed for longer than any other game (except Civ IV) on my PC and I've played them for more hours than any game (other than Civ IV).

 

2. I'd hate to guess what the cost per hour of gaming this works out as but I GUARANTEE it's a better rate than any other form of (paid) entertainment I've taken part in.

 

3. Considering I own a huge backlog of games whose play time is less than 2hrs and whose combined cost is 5-6 times the cost of ALL the Combat MissionTitles I'd say CMBN is value for money.

 

btw: I plan to purchase CMFI, CMRT & CM:Bulge eventually but I have soooo much more playing in CMBN before I get bored of it.

 

ANYWAY short version CM is GREAT

[A Canadian Cat]

I just get tired of people complaining about the cost of this type of gaming.

I hear you and feel the same. If you hang around here you will see if pop up from time to time. I like the idea of having an "it's too cheap" thread. Nice change of pace.

[massimoFGM]

just a quick note.

 

last year I bought for my son Fifa 15 (PS4) for 70 euros, the new game is coming this fall, another 70 euros.

Surely is less than I paid for CMBN/CMFI/CMRT.

[Migo441]

@massimoFGM, how many hours did your son log on FIFA15?

 

I'm guessing that will show a favorable euro per hour of entertainment ratio too.  

 

But yes, I'm glad we don't have to buy a new WWII CM title every year.  That's the nice thing about the 1944 rosters, they never change!

 

I think Patton had a release-clause in his contract, but Bayern was unable to afford it due to declining revenues.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Migo441

[BLSTK]

Pshah. Who needs FIFA when you've got Monty Python?

 

And Now for Something Completely Different:

 

Edited August 31, 2015 by BLSTK

[BLSTK]

We now return to your regular program.

[slysniper]

IT MIGHT BE CHEAP ENTERTAINMENT, BUT WE SURE DONT NEED TO PROMOTE IT AS UNDER VALUED AND THAT PRICES CAN BE RAISED.

ALSO AS A GAME COST GROG YOU ARE FALLING WAY SHORT ON THE COST TO PLAY VALUE.

You need to at least also factor in your cost for your equipment and the cost of internet access if you are using it to play the game.

[sburke]

Yes but the equipment and Internet access is a shared cost so we need a graph of Internet usage and computer costs showing a proportion of time for CM versus other activity. Also to include electrical costs and factor in savings on other activities you forego in order to finish "just one more" turn.

The killer is going to be the moments you say "sure honey" to your wife to whatever she said on the way out the door that you didn't hear as your artillery rounds were just landing. Unfortunately she probably said, "I am going to look at shoes".

For our female players, your husband may have been heading to check out that new car.

[Doug Williams]

For our female players

  

    :lol:  

[fatehunter]

Yes but the equipment and Internet access is a shared cost so we need a graph of Internet usage and computer costs showing a proportion of time for CM versus other activity. Also to include electrical costs and factor in savings on other activities you forego in order to finish "just one more" turn.

The killer is going to be the moments you say "sure honey" to your wife to whatever she said on the way out the door that you didn't hear as your artillery rounds were just landing. Unfortunately she probably said, "I am going to look at shoes".

 

But is that detailed enough? I mean seriously. Since we are sitting down while playing, we use less oxygen than if we were moving about doing something else like looking at cars. I think Kettler could do some serious groggery on this.

[MOS:96B2P]

1. I own CMBN and all add-on's and I have had them constamntly installed for longer than any other game (except Civ IV) on my PC and I've played them for more hours than any game (other than Civ IV).  <Snip>

 

Same here.  Civ IV is the only game I've played more than Combat Missions.  (Didn't know about CMx1)  However now CM is pretty much the only game I have time to play so it will soon catch up and pass the Civ IV hours.     

[BLSTK]

But is that detailed enough? I mean seriously. Since we are sitting down while playing, we use less oxygen than if we were moving about doing something else like looking at cars. I think Kettler could do some serious groggery on this.

 

I'm pretty sure Kettler is too far into his Combaiku writing to devote the amount of time required to do any justice to a proper cost analysis. And rightly so. I mean, war poetry is where it's at, man.

[Fenris]

Careful, you'll be looking at a subscription model soon.  How about $5 a month.

 

[Vergeltungswaffe]

Sad that anyone would downvote the OP.

 

Since I started playing in 2000, CM has provided more entertainment for less money by such a large margin, that there isn't even a second place.

 

The price per hour is almost negligible.

[Warts 'n' all]

just a quick note.

 

last year I bought for my son Fifa 15 (PS4) for 70 euros, the new game is coming this fall, another 70 euros.

Surely is less than I paid for CMBN/CMFI/CMRT.

Buy him a football and tell him to get some fresh air. Or tell him if he want to stay indoors he has to play CMBN.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Warts 'n' all

[John Kettler]

fatehunter,

 

I'm having a pretty awful day, but you made me laugh! Thanks for that. Gratitude aside, I do believe you've made some excellent points, and a great deal could be done in terms of assessing the true costs per hour of CM gaming. I've run the basic numbers, and there is absolutely no doubt CM is way better than the Deal of the Century when compared to the cost and 14 hour game lifetime of a typical FPS. Equally, it beats the tar out of such things as going to the movies. I am absolutely no economist, and my math skills suck, but to a first approximation, I can tell you that the true costs of playing CM of necessity must be higher than the first pass analysis would suggest. For example, while it was pointed out that CM players (probably not when their men are being gunned down, their CAS falling from the sky and their tanks exploding) consume less oxygen than those more active. From which it follows that carbon dioxide emissions would be lower. But that must be balanced against the same category of emissions necessary to generate the power to keep the computer going for that time, as well as lighting, auxiliary speakers bought to play CM, any additional requirements for heating or cooling, etc. My cyber fossil of an iMac, for example, noticeably raises the temperature of the room, which is good in the winter but not so great in the summer if already upstairs in a poorly insulted structure with a west facing wall. If none of these outlays is solo for CM, then some determination needs to be made ref allocation of initial and continuing operation costs, depreciation and such. The above are pretty trivial to calculate.

 

Where things start to get tough is when you try to figure out the same things for every single action, energy expenditure, emissions and so forth necessary to conceive, design, build, test (both within BFC and out) and receive feedback, so that the design can be iterated, produced and distributed, not to mention everything you did, both directly and indirectly, to get that game, by whatever delivery means or means and install it. And while many of those you don't directly pay for, ultimately all of those things have costs at least theoretically calculable. And how should we allocate the costs of the gigantic website and everything that was required to conceive, execute, maintain, upgrade and such?

 

What is the opportunity cost to buy and play a given CM title? What are you giving up? What is anyone else giving up because of your decision? In addition to yourself, who else's life are you affecting at any level you care to assess? What could've been bought for that same outlay? I mean that in both the  discrete economic sense but also in the broader way, too. What are the social costs of CM? Are you becoming reclusive? Depressed? OCD? What are the consequences of any of those, and who pays for them? Is your E-crack habit damaging or destroying your relationships--with whom, how, in what ways, with what results and all those costs? What does a wrecked relationship, especially a marriage with young kids cost--on a host of fronts? For you, for your ex, for progeny now and in their lives to come? How do we assess the presumed value of personal stress release vs the various degrees to which we become unhinged when things go pear shaped in the game? 

 

How about health? Would you be exercising more if you weren't playing CM? If so, doing what, for how long, and with what costs, both direct and indirect? What do all those hours in front of your computer do to any number of body and wellness indices (BP, heart rate, cholesterol, serotonin, triglycerides and more)? Mobility? Brain function? Respiratory capacity? Circulation? Heart health? Elimination? Obesity (or maybe not, since it's quite easy while engrossed to forget to eat)? Net net, does CM, when it's all said and done, increase or decrease your lifespan? How does that affect your quality of life and of those around you in ever expanding circles.?

 

In fairness, I should note that many of the above also need to be factored into many other activities. Is, for example a golf widow any lonelier than a wargame widow? Presuming both husbands are across the board, pardon, on par with each other, it's inarguable that the wargame widow is better off financially and has at least the possibility of social (and more interesting) interactions with her guy, whereas when he's on the links, unless they both golf, she's not there. At best, she's in the clubhouse. Likely, both men are in the doghouse!

 

All of this saying that what seems a pretty simple calculation is, in fact, and I'm not kidding, so complicated and complex that I believe stacks of Master's degrees and Ph.Ds could be earned in figuring this stuff out. Economics, Mathematics, Physics, Medicine, Psychology, Sociology, Engineering, Cybernetics and many more all figure into making the assessments needed from the above, and my breakdown of the issues is but a first order quick look. If by now your brain is bleeding, your head's exploding and spittle is pouring uncontrollably from your mouth, then best head over to my mine cost comparison! There, at least, you can attain relative sanity again.

 

BLSTK,

 

Combaiku's great stuff, but I think you need to check the date of my last post there. But since you mentioned war poetry, are you familiar with this? I've never seen anything quite like it. 
 

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner

Randall Jarrell, 1914 - 1965

 

From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

 

Regards,

 

John Kettler

Edited September 1, 2015 by John Kettler

[slysniper]

John, you look well on your way to becoming the CM cost grog.

Ok, now lets get a 1000 users to send him all the use time for playing the game and all other cost inputs, like the drug and liquor used while playing.

[BLSTK]

Dear John:

 

Are you saying you no longer write poetry? Nonsense. Your posts are nothing if not poems in prose form.

 

I hadn't read Jarrell's poem before. Powerful stuff, to be sure.