First, I'd like to apologize about my last post; it was lacking compared to what I normally write. I was in some sort of fugue state the entire week I tried to write it, and I just couldn't make it better for some reason.
Anywho, I've been listening to this song a lot lately, and it struck me as a good name for this particular post. That said, that's not at all what I'm talking about. Instead, let us discuss used games.
As those who read/listen regularly may know, I'm... cheap. Stingy. Miserly. A downright parsimonious parson. The vast majority of the games I play either come off of Steam for cheap or are borrowed from others. Somehow, though, I've managed to accrue a fairly large collection of physical games.
There is a touch of irony in this, especially as I continue to buy physical games even though I'm such a proponent of digital distribution. The sad truth is that I both love videogames and am motivated fairly strongly by continuing to have enough money to do other things. Like eating. Food is good, it turns out. Additionally, a lot of publishers (and the systems that support them) have yet to catch on to the idea that they could be reaching a wider audience without much work. Must be exclusivity agreements.
However, owing again to my unwillingness to spend money, especially on frivolous things like my own entertainment, I'm usually behind the gaming curve. Both this and (I finally came back to it) the fact that I have a number of physical games are aided by the fact that there exists a fairly vast network for selling used games. So long as I don't care that I'm not playing the latest and greatest (on a console, at any rate), I can get last year's hot items for a lot cheaper than I would have if I had bought them initially.
There are, obviously, pros and cons to this. In fact, this has been a matter of some contention with the newest console generation in conception; used games greatly affect the gaming market and culture, and it's certainly not a trivial issue to those with a vested interest in sales. I should like to talk about how used games are a wonderful thing before moving into the dark bowels of negativity.
If I haven't stressed it enough, cheap entertainment is always a good thing. I often mention that I cannot mock another's activities overmuch for the reason that we all choose ways to waste time. Some people waste time much more productively than others, but I strongly believe that a large amount of human endeavor is the result of people staving off the dark beast of boredom. If you can manage this in such a way as to not go bankrupt, or, as Ed said recently, sustain your chosen method of time wasting, you have won at life. Granted, there are multiple endings, so there are definitely ways to improve upon that.
This relates back to it being cheap, but, as I am proof, having your games cheaper increases circulation. Every person who speaks favorably of a used game increases the chances that someone will buy it new. If you're in it for the art (not the actual art, but more for intellectual fulfillment), just getting people to play your game is enough. To that extent, I believe reselling of your games should be encouraged. I could actually think of a number of interesting mechanisms that could lend incentive to this, though I doubt they'll ever be used.
A rarer condition might be the circulation of limited copies. This is definitely an issue with older games, some of which might run you a few hundred dollars. I was ecstatic when a copy of Ehrgeiz finally made it to my FLGS of the vidjmagame variety.
The pale underbelly of this issue, however, is that by not buying new copies, you're hurting the developers. As the consumer (yes, a single monstrous entity), we have the power, and some might say the responsibility, to encourage developers by buying their stuff. I wouldn't say I fall too heavily into that camp, but there is a certain amount of credence in that argument. In fact, Extra Credits, a show that inspired my early attempts in the podcast to discuss something more useful during the episodes, harps on this quite a bit.
As an aside, if you don't watch Extra Credits and like videogames, you should. For great justice.
As a counter to this, a lot of companies are moving towards more rigorous content control, but I don't think it's a terribly great move for either party. Nintendo reps agree.
I think the biggest problem I have with buying used games is that you have to wait for them to be used. Then, if you're me, you have to wait another year or two for the price to drop to a reasonable level. Console aren't really that much more expensive to own (some might argue cheaper), despite what I've said, but $50-60 is a bit much for me. By the time I get around to owning an acclaimed game, everyone's already played it.
I'm not super big on popular culture in general. In fact, I actively try to avoid other people and whatever's going on outside my admittedly broadish interests. However, I do have friends, and I like getting to discuss stuff with them. Sometimes that stuff is an awesome new game. There's a bit of a gestalt experience you miss out on throughout gamer culture if you choose to not jump aboard the next big game. It's left me with quite an urge to go play BioShock Infinite, and before that, Skyrim.
Don't even get me started on console exclusivity. I weep for my losses.
In the end of it all, I feel like it's beneficial to the community to allow, and maybe encourage, people playing your game regardless of the means. The more people we have playing games, any games, the more we can overcome the stereotype of what it means to be a gamer. There's a lot less stigma now than there used to be, but it's still there, and I hope that a larger, more diverse population will help eradicate it entirely.
Now, if only we could do the same for tabletop gamers.
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