To not understand how people afford to play video games

[Birra]

Xbox, PS4, Wii etc. never been interested before but ds has been asking about skylanders so I thought I'd look into it.
I cannot justify that money, how do people do it?
And iPads, iPods?

Just read green's comments - very good, very funny

Both my doc are top of their classes, I work for a big 4 and education is an absolute priority in my house. We also like gaming though.

Nan I hope you don't have a large tv and I am disgusted you don't spend the cash you have wasted on education!!
It's a class thing you know (turns up nose)

Compared to a DVD a game is incredible value.

A DVD lasts 90 minutes normally. Even if you watch the film 5 times and the special features and the making-of documentary, you're getting 9 or 10 hours out of it.

A well-made game can keep you entertained for years.

I have fond memories of spending a whole month with my son conquering Mario Galaxy 2, which by the way has beautiful graphics.

Along the way:

• we learned we needed to cooperate with each other to win
• we learned to plan ahead and strategise (you can't just play, you have to think stuff through and complete tasks in a certain order)
• we did research and talked to other gamers to get advice
• we suffered disappointments and setbacks but we didn't give up.

That's amazing value for what it cost us, and very different to just passively sitting still on the couch watching Disney films with terrible gender stereotypes.

Wannabe this might blow ops mind but we also pay for private school. So games and education mixing together!! What next?!!! Won't someone think of the children

Can I join the club? We have a huge TV and an XBox 360, alongside millions of books and pay for private education.

That's blown OP's mind, as well as Greengrow's (the TV thing) as well as many other posters on other threads when I insist we also do this on a modest income and no-one believes me

we've got 2 pcs,a DS, a wii, ps1,2&3 and two tablets and my lumia phone.

i've been playing spyro who is now part of the skylanders since the ps1 came out, lol. infact i still have the original game and have been playing with ds on it!

But to answer the OP, I struggled to understand 'how' to buy into the gaming thing because, despite being able to afford more, we've never spent more than £80 ish on Christmas or birthday. I think ds's XBox was a joint present from us and MIL and was reconditioned from HMV. Games have been presents from other relatives combined. He got an ipad this year, but not for a birthday, just for no reason, because he's not spoilt, never asks for anything, and we wanted to.

Books I buy all the time and for no reason at all. Probably most weeks

ompared to a DVD a game is incredible value.

That can definitely be true.

A game called Faster Than Light has cost me 10p an hour (£6.75 and 71 hours over 18 months, I'll add, I do have a real life, too) and I'm not even close to doing everything.

I'm amused by the vague comments about how "children need to learn how computers work these days...!" Yes, they do, but playing computer games doesn't actually teach you how to do that. My understanding is that teenagers' coding skills have actually deteriorated in the last decade or so because computers are so user-friendly and seamless that they are effectively a black box--spending time playing with one does not show you how it works. If you want kids to learn how to do computers, get them into coding lessons.

Learning how to use a specific console or technological device is useless from the long term perspective, also, because they become obsolete so quickly.

My view is that gaming is a hobby. Aspects can be time wasting or mind growing, depending on what you choose to play. Just as reading can be stretching or time wasting. My ds got into coding through modding, and has learned strategy and co-operative play too. He mostly plays political strategy games now, and has enjoyed the diplomatic and ethical aspects of that. There are lots and lots of different games and different genres.

pre-owned is definitely the way! I saved for a Nintendo 3DS XL, Resident Evil Revelations and Pokémon X. Yes. For myself. I spent £60 on two Resident Evil games that were over 10 years old. Rare little shits.
My DP's stepfather has just had GTA V ordered for him, to which they are paying £5 a month to studio. It has cost them £50 for one game. I would never spend this.
Gaming is a hobby and I don't have time during the day but as I still live at home with my parents, I can game as much as I want. Resident Evil 3 taught me quick decision making. WOW taught me how to work together. Borderlands taught me how to NOT argue with DP.
It is a waste of time. And money. Who cares? it's a hobby and it's what we enjoy doing. My children will see me and DP and see two gamers and will probably be gamers themselves. Probably. Maybe. idk. I learned HTML by making my own myspace/tumblr themes. I was taught Javascript by going to college and doing a video game course. gaming is such a good hobby and can really broaden your mind. I was playing RE from the age of 6 (much to the dismay of my mother, but the ignorance of my dad) and I LOVED it and is still my favourite franchise of games, books, films and comics TO THIS DAY. Gaming isn't "sticking your child in front of a screen" and I hatehatehate threads like that. DO stick your child in front of a screen.
I never went out as a kid. I didn't want to. I still don't want to, I am perfectly happy in front of a screen. I'm not unhealthy. I do and eat what I please. I go out when I want. Its not bad for your child. I wouldn't give a child GTA to play, but I would totally let them play Pokémon and resident evil (if they were mature enough) and minecraft, spyro, etc. Games I played. They're fun and they're strategic. Board games for kids aren't fun. Kids like me don't want to go out to the park. I had no friends and still have no friends apart from DP. I enjoy that, I like my life. Gaming has not destroyed my life, I don't have a rising debt. It's not a bad thing and not expensive.

I would say go the PC route if you can, install the store.steampowered.com/ , there are a lot of high quality 'free to play games' as well as all the regular blockbusters.

The console companies are sly you cant play cross platform, and i'm told if you have xbox one you cant play or even chat with xbox 360 players. not sure what the score is with PS.

The games make there money much like candy crush does - faster progress through game/levelling/fancy outfits.

Dont forget to thank the EU for fighting for you to buy and sell your digital downloads secondhand as well, games companies wanted to scrap physical copies and not allow you to sell them second hand.

Just to back up the point about factoring cost over time.... the best £10 I ever spent was on a 2nd hand final fantasy 7 game. This was back in, ooh I think it would have been 2001 or so. A friend of then dp's had sold us his old playstation for £25, and we ran it through a computer monitor (long story there, dp was a computer student at time and we bought his essential pc on hardship funds from uni - he started the course without one of his own).
I have played that game through at least 4 times, played it for specific bits any number of others, and in fact last played it, oh, maybe a couple of years ago. Might dig it out again later.

We were actually living below the poverty line when we saved up and spent that £10. Games (we had a few, others were a lot cheaper) were the only form of entertainment we had. Didn't have a tv licence, had to save for 3 months for a day trip out of the city centre I hated living in, no car of course. The game was just a bit better value over time than said 1-day bus trip. So there!

Not sure about 'board games aren't fun for kids' we do both so last few days they've played mario karts and plants vs zombies but also dobble which they love, labyrinth, enchanted forest and a princess board game. They've actually asked for the board games more than the wii/ps4

We also are a board game family as much as a gamer one. One does not negate the other and my sons love both.

I bought dh an xbox 360 as an engagement gift. He'd spent lots on a diamond ring for me so it felt right to treat him. He buys pre owned games though so his fifa games are a year out of date. I also, a few years later, treated him to a wii for Christmas. I had no idea what to get him and usually stay under £100 but I just thought sod it I'll spend less on his birthday and it's going to be a fab surprise. He was so shocked it was completely worth it. We were in a good financial position and dh doesn't spend a lot on himself. Since that we have 3dc so dh has skylanders and Mario kart which dd1 plays with him. It's lovely to see them playing together. Despite dd getting into gaming her reading, writing and numeracy levels are 2 years above her actual age so I don't think it's doing much harm!

Dds also go to the park, play board games, read books etc
wii seems good for hand eye coordination but that wasn't my main reason. We got it so we could have fun doing something as a family.

Sorry about the board games thing, a lot of younger children really dont have the patience for video or board gaming. it's only been in the past few years I've wanted to play Monopoly!

there are a lot more modern board games which can be more rewarding and involving than say monopoly which some will argue is one of the worst games ever, based on luck and proving that capitalism is broken.

Games like Power Grid people have said can be more rewarding and fun.

My 2 ds have/had games consoles and have lost many an hour twiddling with thumbs.
Me and dh don't play as usually have better things to occupy ourselves and were not brought up with consoles.
I understand where you are coming from OP, we have never spent lots of money on this stuff, or phones.
When ds were younger they saved b'day money and/or we bought second hand. As they got older they bought it themselves as both had jobs at 16.
DD has never had anything like this at all and has turned out to be very gifted, I wonder if she would have been with all the tech the ds had?
I somehow doubt it.
She uses the ipad for apps for work, but hasn't played or asked for game apps.