Our computers are tools. Most of us must have them for many game unrelated purposes. However, to play games properly, you must factor in the cost of the computer. If you do this your entertainment costs just went up to $1500-$2000 per year hardware, $180.00 per annum subscriptions, Internet connection $600.00 per annum and whatever software costs you might. Lets say your annual costs are around $3000.00. This is $250.00 a month to game.


This does not even consider the physical costs for inactivity.


On the positive side, gaming as an addiction is one of the least destructive, imo.


What have I missed?

 

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You missed writing off a significant portion of the computer cost to the fact that it is also needed for Outposter pr0n addiction. In fact, I would go as far as to say that for some here, gaming is the secondary use of their computer.

 

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You've missed the fact that anyone just a bit more capable than a fleshy-headed-mutant can put together a reasonable gaming rig for $600 in parts from Newegg and assemble it themselves. Add in another $100 for a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers, and you have a system that will last you 2 to 3 years or even longer depending on what sort of gaming performance you're looking for.

 

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I got and Apple II because of a space game I saw on it. The first computer game I got was advertised as a $2160 dollar game; $2100 for the computer and $60 for the game. By today's standards it was a very lame game too.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/computer-bismarck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Bismarck

Computer Bismarck is a computer wargame developed and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) in 1980. The game is based on the last battle of the battleship Bismarck, in which British Armed Forces pursue the German Bismarck in 1941. It is SSI's first game, and features turn-based gameplay and two-dimensional graphics.

The development staff consisted of two programmers, Joel Billings and John Lyons, who programmed the game in BASIC. Originally developed for the TRS-80, an Apple II version was also created two months into the process. After meeting with other wargame developers, Billings decided to publish the game as well. To help accomplish this, he hired Louis Saekow to create the box art.

The game was commercially and critically successful. Critics attribute the company's success to Computer Bismarck along with its other early titles. The game is also credited in part for legitimizing war games and computer games; it has been called the first "serious wargame for a microcomputer".

 

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The glaring omission from your list is Time, which does have value Mo.

Maintaining your tool (lol) costs almost as much time as it does money. The two are the same imo (time and money)

 

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I have an $800 budget and I've not built one in years and I'm too far behind on the technology. Show me what you can do Jedi Master!

EDIT: I don't need monitor, keyboard, mouse, or speakers. Just the tower and its componenets!

 

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In 2009 I put together two gaming rigs with:

Case
mobo
vid card (lower end of upper end)
power supply
processor
SATA HDD
R/W CD/DVD
RAM
No sound card, we had monitor, keyboards, mice, and speakers.

For *JUST* under $1200 shipped.

One thing to be clear about here is that I have only just a bit more ability than a fleshy headed mutant when it comes to dealing with building a computer. The way I got my system set up was that I posted on one of these VN boards a thread like this: "Help me put together a $600 gaming rig!"

I'd suggest ACFriends for this or perhaps the WoW general board as both of those boards seem to be pretty friendly to those sort of threads. Alternatively, send a PM to Koneg, he loves that siht.

 

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I used to be one of those guys. I built all my own rigs up till about 5 or so years ago. Things have changed too much since then and I just don't have the gumption, or the time, really, to do all the reading it would entail to come back up to speed.

 

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I would list a set of components for you myself, but it would take some reading and so forth on my own part to put together a good list - I certainly do not stay abreast of all the cutting edge stuff myself.

My whole point though was to say that you can put together a very respectable gaming rig for very much less than $2k a year...

 

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Porn.

 

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