Comments and reviews on article "Paying to Play: Is It Worth the Money?"

Users comments and reviews on article Paying to Play: Is It Worth the Money? by eventful

so is it or no?

very very good you made a good point.

I feel that it is not worth the money because it is just a game... Therefore, you are just wasting your money if you buy an account or pay to play.

There is no doubt that video games are a great "bang for your buck" type of entertainment - as you stated. Something I was thinking about the other day is why we like video games so much and why so many people are playing them nowadays. In my opinion, there are a few basic things that we look for when we want to be entertained:

1. Emotional Stimulation
2. Physical Stimulation
3. Social Interaction (which results in Emotional and/or Physical Stimulation)

I honestly think that our drive for entertainment is this basic. In fact, we could even leave out the Social Interaction portion, but I believe that it is one of, if not the strongest generators of Emotional and Physical Stimulation - people are social creatures.

So what types of entertainment result in Physical and/or Emotional stimulation? Here are some examples:

MOVIES - When we go to a movie we are looking for some type of emotional stimulation. In fact, we are looking for a specific type of emotional stimulation and we use the movie to help us achieve that feeling - if we want to be happy we go to see "Caddyshack", if we want to be sad we go to see "The Killing Fields", if we want to feel an adrenaline rush or excitement we go to see "Iron Man", if we want to feel vindication or the sweet taste of revenge we go to see "Man on Fire", if we want to feel suicidal we let our wife talk us into going to see "Steel Magnolias". Movies can also offer us the social interaction as well, it allows us to feel these emotions with others and then discuss them later (which provides us with mental stimulation, which is in reality a form of emotional stimulation).

PLAYING POKER - With the poker boom, we see hundreds of people cramming into cramped card rooms. Why? Most are searching for emotional stimulation (note: I say most because there are those who actually play cards for a living - the true pro's do not see poker as entertainment, but rather as a job that they approach without emotion as much as possible). Poker provides many different levels of emotional stimulation - excitement when we rake in a big pot, feeling of power when we bluff out another player, feel of satisfaction and self worth when we make the right decision in a tough spot.

THE BAR - Believe it or not the bar provides both physical and emotional stimulation. The emotional stimulation is derived from our interaction with other people. We can also achieve physical stimulation through interaction with others (depending on who we go home with :p). The alcohol that we drink provides us with both a mental and physical stimulation which feels good in moderation, but can go horribly wrong if we go overboard.

VIDEO GAMES - So it took me forever to get here, but I think it is clear that video games are almost completely a provider of mental stimulation. While there are some exceptions to this statement (DDR, GH3, or any of the Wii Sports Games), the large bulk of the population playing video games are sitting on their asses (or standing in the arcade) while doing it.

Long ago video games were driven solely by the fact that they provided us with a sense of accomplishment (a form of mental stimulation). What has changed over the years, and this has resulted in a video game explosion, is how we are stimulated by video games. It used to be that years ago the great unwashed masses sat in front of their Apple IIe's and Commodore 64's living vicariously through text adventures with absolutely zero social interaction. With the advent and accessibility of the MMO, we are able to actually interact with people while achieving our sense of personal satisfaction/accomplishment (by gaining levels, gathering ph4t l3wt, exploring a new area, etc.).

I think that it is worth it if you are willing to pay.

Scamming accounts and doing type of stuff for a game is very low and shameful over a game. Forgot to put that in my last post sorry.

yee thats right

I think paying a monthly fee is alright if you were aloud to sell the account to someone without it being agaist the rules. I think if you pay monthly it should not be agaist rules to sell the game.

I agree a lot with you, but sometimes video and computer games waste tons of time that you could be doing more useful things with, so it really is debatable, in my opinion.

Yea i think paying for online game is stupide there for there makeing money jsut when ppl buy the dame game

i think so

If you dont have the time it is.

Yes, If you are willing to pay, and $10-20 \ Month is nothing to you yes. Get to access places \ Items \ quests \ skills, More fun.

paying monthly is for your entertainment is fine. Its like going to the movies. You pay for that because you want to be entertained. etc. etc..

Yelnek wrote:

1. Emotional Stimulation 2. Physical Stimulation 3. Social Interaction (which results in Emotional and/or Physical Stimulation)

Of course its worth it, what else would you do, get a job? get a gf? f**k that! What i wanna know is how to get some number 2 from this high preistess night elf.

no.. why should anything be P2P.. I never payed subscriptions or for DLC.. I can easily spend 5 bucks on steam for garry's mod and get enjoyment out of it.

Definately not worth the money for one reason... Publisher gets greedy and commands a price increase for everything worth having in the game.

Ruins the experience.

I'm worried about black prophecy for this reason. They just picked up a publisher and announced F2P