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16 cents is going to break the bank???

OutcastB

Shared on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 14:00

So by know I'm sure everyone has heard or read something about the hike in LIVE memberships... I know I have. I personally am o.k. with it. The good times I have on LIVE with fellow 2o2pr's is well worth the investment. So today I've been in a couple of forums where people are voicing thier opinions, fine. But in one something stuck out to me. " Most people do a budget and gaming is included'. WTF??? It is??? I for one have never included "gaming" in my families financial budget. The thought of a mortgage, car payments, utilities and my children have always trumped the gaming. Everyone has a story of hardship and to those that are facing it, I'm sorry... I know I have and I won't bore you with mine, but when did gaming become a necessity. I always looked at gaming as luxury, not a need. A car to get to work ...a need. A home to live in ...a need. Your children being cared for and fed ...a need. The xbox ..not so much. As far as the price hike goes, do the math. It averages out to 16 cents a day, I spend more on that for smokes and booze. We as adults should know by now what is a need and a want and should be able to prioritize as deemed necessary. Someone in the same thread said " 10 dollars is like 100 to me now a days" Prioritize man and see whats left for your gaming wants. Have we become that addicted to the BOX that we have to put whats important on the back burner?  Now I'm not saying people should give up gaming, but if times are that tough and 16 cents a day is going to break the bank....well, maybe you should come back when the financial situation will allow it.

Comments

TKBosss's picture
Submitted by TKBosss on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 14:08
I think a majority of people would agree with you about "priorities", but at the same time, I think most people set aside a budget for gaming like you would for family entertainment, nothing more. What gets cut when you have financial hardships??? All the fun, non-necessity items. Just common sense, to most people.
Automan21k's picture
Submitted by Automan21k on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 14:20
gaming is 4th down on our budget, just above food (which is 5th because it is hard to plan on due to our frequent habit of going out to eat.) Games are easy to account for, easy to plan. we know the release dates, we know the expected life of a controller, of a system. as an accountant, here is how I plan our household budget. 1 Mortgage (easy to plan and doesn't change) 2 Car (easy to plan doesn't change) 3 Monthly payments (easy to plan doesn't change) 4 Gaming (easy to plan not much change) 5 Food (not very easy to plan, often changes) 6 gas, and random spending needs, Woot.com/Shirt woot it is not established based on priority of needs, but on the foundation of expenses that do not change first, and items that vary later. that is not to say that this is a 1-6 in order of priority, (I just cut a few items off of my games budget) but in order of predictability.
redeye's picture
Submitted by redeye on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 14:25
It's not just a question of being able to afford it, it's a question of weather or not XBL is worth it considering all that it offers is available for fuck all on the PC. Ironically, this price hike has saved me money as it's caused me to look into the pricing and then realise that I am getting seriously ripped off by paying monthly on my card.
OutcastB's picture
Submitted by OutcastB on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 14:32
Yea Red I figured I would keep the blog about the issue at hand and bring up the "is it worth it" issue at a later date... that in itself is a whole nother arguement.
NormalGuy's picture
Submitted by NormalGuy on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 14:39
Couldn't agree more with you OutCast. If you don't like it...don't pay it. Complaining = a waste of your time to write and a waste of everyone else's time to read. NG
YEM's picture
Submitted by YEM on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 15:09
With all the deals that pop up through the year, nobody should be paying full price for LIVE anyway
MTPathy's picture
Submitted by MTPathy on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 15:39
xblGold+$9.99month for Netflix is still cheaper then any cable or satellite in my area. + i used LastFM and Gold to talk to talk to family outside U.S. i only buy one multiplayer game a year and the rest i wait for sells & bargin bin prices.
OutcastB's picture
Submitted by OutcastB on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 16:23
@YEM True. Live is running a promo to lock in at 39.99 before the price hike, and Amazon always has deals on 12 month subscriptions.
AngryJason's picture
Submitted by AngryJason on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 16:33
Good points. I'm just waiting for the day CoD goes to a subscription model for online play. It will be as if millions of gamers suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced... when they input their payment information. Seriously though, $10 doesn't bother me. I don't think I've ever paid even $50 for a year, and I don't expect that to change. However, if they are getting more money, I'd like to see more offerings. Facebook and Twitter do nothing for me.
TANK's picture
Submitted by TANK on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 16:37
Gaming is usually part of families entertainment budget i would think, unless you have a house budget plus two personal budgets out of 'allowances' which is what we have. Most the money goes into the house budget then I get a small amount per month for entertainment, same with the wife. And that amount has now been cut in half now that i'm going on 2 years without ful time employment. So i watch every freak'in penny i spent. If you only game over live and don't use all this other nonsense they're putting into the console like facebook, twitter, netflix, espn and hulu, then you're paying an extra 10 bucks a month without getting anything extra for it. I think they need to keep a 50/year that's jsut strictly gaming then have a 60/year plan that includes all the media shit. Even if they did that though, i do watch the shit out of netflix so i'd get stuck with the higher price. But i won't use espn, don't use twitter or facebook and i doubt i'll use hulu, not unless they get a lot more content available.
redeye's picture
Submitted by redeye on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 16:43
Nice Star Wars reference there Jason :)
seanfletcher's picture
Submitted by seanfletcher on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 17:19
With the amount of time people have been wasting complaining about the rate hike they could be couch diving for the extra money the increase will cost them.
OutcastB's picture
Submitted by OutcastB on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 18:16
@Sean W0rd! Couch diving and floor board fishing.

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