There is that life concept that states when we are young we have a lot of time but not enough money to do what we really want to do, but as we get older we then have enough money, but not enough time. As a gamer, this concept is equally true, except that you can replace money with video games. Such is certainly the case with me.Going back fifteen years or more, I pretty much had to buy any game I played for full price, or at a slight discount if it was on sale. Back then that usually meant something within the $20-$40 dollar range. If a publisher gave away their game for free, it typically was either a demo or shareware, which meant you could play a small portion of the game, for instance, the first few levels, but had to pay full price to continue. Since I didn’t have a lot of extra cash back then I had to look into other means of growing my game library, such as hunting through bargain bins, seeking out the small number of legitimately free games that were available, struggling over the legalities of abandonware, and, yes, even pirating a game every now and then. The end result was that my list of games was rather manageable and I could spend significant time on each title.Skip ahead to the past three or four years and the video game landscape has completely changed, especially on PC. If you want to be on the cutting edge and own the latest hotness, then yes, you will still be paying full price for your games, which can be $40-$60 or more. However, if you are patient or don’t mind playing games that are a few years old, then you can practically build a library of games with the spare change in your pocket.For starters, many sites such a Steam and GOG hold regular sales where individual titles can be discounted by 80%, 90%, 95% or more! Next, many websites, such as Humble Bundle and Fanatical, package up multiple titles and sell them at a ridiculously low price. Typically, you can spend under $10 and receive approximately 3-8 games, any of which by themselves is worth more than what you paid for the entire bundle. Finally, you don’t have to look hard to find free games. Many of the big game distributors and outlets will often offer a free title in an attempt to draw customers to their site or to promote a big sale; games like Telltale’s The Walking Dead, Dead Space, Assassins Creed 3, Witcher 1 and 2, and Watchdogs. Additionally, a lot of smaller independent developers will often give away codes for their games in order to promote their company. Needless to say, there is no reason someone needs to shell out big bucks to play PC games if they don’t want to.While ten years ago, I could potentially play through a majority of the games I owned, that is no longer possible. When you add together the number of titles I own on Steam, GOG, Uplay, Origin and several other sites, I have in excess of 550 games...more than I could ever hope to play in a lifetime! And the number keeps going up!So, does having this overwhelming number of games make me feel pressured to play them all? At times, yes, but for the most part, not really. Pressure implies that it would be wasteful or irresponsible not to play everything I owned. That simply is not the case with my list of games. First of all, they are all digital, which means they take up no physical space. I don’t have bookshelves upon bookshelves of game boxes or stacks of disks cluttering up my home. They don’t need to be packed up if we move and I don’t have to struggle with what to keep and what to get rid of if we have a garage sale.As far as the money spent on my game library goes, this is not a matter of concern either. If I had to guess, over half of the games I own I received for free, either through code giveaways or gifts. Even if I never load them onto a computer I’m not out any money and, as I just mentioned, they take up no physical space. Because of this, there is no reason not to add free games to my library. Next are the bundles. With the exception of maybe my most recent purchases, I have played enough of at least one game from each bundle I’ve bought to justify the purchase. Any additional games included in those bundles are gravy at this point. Finally, that leaves games I’ve purchased individually. As much as I can remember, every game I’ve purchased over the past several years was on sale. And not 20%-30%, but more likely 80% or more. When I do pay for a single game it is usually because I am interested in playing it almost immediately. I’m typically not buying something that never gets used. However, from time to time I will buy a game that’s offered at a good price to play later and, yes, several of those game have yet to be loaded up on my computer. That being said, if I never get to them, it’s safe to say that what little enjoyed playing.If you are a gamer, it’s easy to build up a great game library for little to no money. You just have to keep a lookout for the deals. One way is to follow me on Twitter, where I often post information on free code giveaways or chances to win free games. Just follow @completelyfull, and let the games begin!
There is that life concept that states when we are young we have a lot of time but not enough money to do what we really want to do, but as we get older we then have enough money, but not enough time. As a gamer, this concept is equally true, except that you can replace money with video games. Such is certainly the case with me.
Going back fifteen years or more, I pretty much had to buy any game I played for full price, or at a slight discount if it was on sale. Back then that usually meant something within the $20-$40 dollar range. If a publisher gave away their game for free, it typically was either a demo or shareware, which meant you could play a small portion of the game, for instance, the first few levels, but had to pay full price to continue. Since I didn’t have a lot of extra cash back then I had to look into other means of growing my game library, such as hunting through bargain bins, seeking out the small number of legitimately free games that were available, struggling over the legalities of abandonware, and, yes, even pirating a game every now and then. The end result was that my list of games was rather manageable and I could spend significant time on each title.
Skip ahead to the past three or four years and the video game landscape has completely changed, especially on PC. If you want to be on the cutting edge and own the latest hotness, then yes, you will still be paying full price for your games, which can be $40-$60 or more. However, if you are patient or don’t mind playing games that are a few years old, then you can practically build a library of games with the spare change in your pocket.
For starters, many sites such a Steam and GOG hold regular sales where individual titles can be discounted by 80%, 90%, 95% or more! Next, many websites, such as Humble Bundle and Fanatical, package up multiple titles and sell them at a ridiculously low price. Typically, you can spend under $10 and receive approximately 3-8 games, any of which by themselves is worth more than what you paid for the entire bundle. Finally, you don’t have to look hard to find free games. Many of the big game distributors and outlets will often offer a free title in an attempt to draw customers to their site or to promote a big sale; games like Telltale’s The Walking Dead, Dead Space, Assassins Creed 3, Witcher 1 and 2, and Watchdogs. Additionally, a lot of smaller independent developers will often give away codes for their games in order to promote their company. Needless to say, there is no reason someone needs to shell out big bucks to play PC games if they don’t want to.
While ten years ago, I could potentially play through a majority of the games I owned, that is no longer possible. When you add together the number of titles I own on Steam, GOG, Uplay, Origin and several other sites, I have in excess of 550 games...more than I could ever hope to play in a lifetime! And the number keeps going up!
So, does having this overwhelming number of games make me feel pressured to play them all? At times, yes, but for the most part, not really. Pressure implies that it would be wasteful or irresponsible not to play everything I owned. That simply is not the case with my list of games. First of all, they are all digital, which means they take up no physical space. I don’t have bookshelves upon bookshelves of game boxes or stacks of disks cluttering up my home. They don’t need to be packed up if we move and I don’t have to struggle with what to keep and what to get rid of if we have a garage sale.
As far as the money spent on my game library goes, this is not a matter of concern either. If I had to guess, over half of the games I own I received for free, either through code giveaways or gifts. Even if I never load them onto a computer I’m not out any money and, as I just mentioned, they take up no physical space. Because of this, there is no reason not to add free games to my library. Next are the bundles. With the exception of maybe my most recent purchases, I have played enough of at least one game from each bundle I’ve bought to justify the purchase. Any additional games included in those bundles are gravy at this point. Finally, that leaves games I’ve purchased individually. As much as I can remember, every game I’ve purchased over the past several years was on sale. And not 20%-30%, but more likely 80% or more. When I do pay for a single game it is usually because I am interested in playing it almost immediately. I’m typically not buying something that never gets used. However, from time to time I will buy a game that’s offered at a good price to play later and, yes, several of those game have yet to be loaded up on my computer. That being said, if I never get to them, it’s safe to say that what little enjoyed playing.
If you are a gamer, it’s easy to build up a great game library for little to no money. You just have to keep a lookout for the deals. One way is to follow me on Twitter, where I often post information on free code giveaways or chances to win free games. Just follow @completelyfull, and let the games begin!