Rant Against Price Gouging Rants

The title says it all. This is a no holds barred rant against all of the whiny Price Gouging threads & posters. You know the ones, "Market Place price of "X' is price gouging. Microsoft & developer "Y'" are ripping us off. You can't go a week without seeing one on 2o2p and almost all of the other gaming sites. Hell there's one on the homepage right now about Chromehounds.

First up it is impossible to be price gouged as an end consumer of video games. Contrary to widespread belief your life does not depend on having the Vile Lair in Oblivion. If you don’t click on yes to download you will not die, it just seems that way. The moment something is put on the marketplace at a price gamers don’t like, i.e. free, the howls and moans immediately start. It’s even more obnoxious on this site because no one is a teenager or kid who’s never held a job or paid a bill in their life.

From a far from scientific sampling it seems that there are a high percentage of 2o2p members who work in the IT and graphic design fields so maybe that’s why this price gouging sentiment runs seemingly high around here.  I guess they are more emotionally and personally connected to the industry.

I don’t understand how profit has become such a dirty word in today’s society.  I own a business and I need to make a profit to pay myself, my employees, my suppliers & all of my day to day business expenses. Does anyone else here own a business and feel the way I do?  Game companies are a business they need to make a profit and with ever increasing design costs micro-transactions are needed to increase profit to recoup investment costs.

Here’s a situation to think about. Your boss walks in to your office, cubicle, hovel, etc while you’re reading this rant on 2o2p and says, “You know you’re price gouging me for the work you do. Why should I pay you $65,000 a year when I can send your job to India for $18,000 a year, because that’s all you’re worth to me?”

Are you going to say “yeah boss I’ll work for $17,500 because I do my job just for the pure joy of it, I’m lucky to have you as employer and also this way we’ll be able to sell our widget at 39.99 instead of 59.99.”?

I doubt it, more likely you’d be blogging about what a greedy bastard your boss is, how cheap the little rats are that buy your companies product, and how much outsourcing sucks.

So in closing, if you think something is priced too high don’t buy it, but knock of the whiney “Timmy” type price gouging moans because they’re wrong an played out as well.

RANT OVER