Addicted to buying video games on digital sales.

[Metalhead]

It is a common problem with console and Steam gamers these days, apparently.

We spend a lot of money on inexpensive games when they go on sale, and we tell ourselves we will get around to each and every one of them eventually. But my gaming backlog currently can last me a decade and I still find myself compulsively adding more to it. This is an addictive behavior at this point. It's not even about the games anymore, it is about the dopamine hit of a new acquisition to sit on my hard drive.

Think of how that money could have been put to better use! I could have taken more weekend trips to Seattle. I could have visited more museums. I could have gone to more social nights out. I could have invested in a better set of kitchen knives, or I could have stashed it all away for a rainy day, even though I am not allowed to save up much since SSDI is my primary source of income.

Buying video games is an addiction in itself, I am recognizing. It is another addiction for me to tackle head on.

 

[Tired]

Buying video games is an addiction in itself, I am recognizing.

Yup, same as many other things people buy or collect, which give them a small dopamine boost. Definitely becomes a problem, when you are low on cash, but can't stop buying those things. Sadly I don't have an advice, I am myself a type of person who hoards money and is afraid to spend it.

 

[Jumpinbare]

My bad habit lately has been buying Arduinos and sensors/output interfaces for them. I now have a lot of solutions in search of applicable problems.

 

[DrBadStrings]

It is a common problem with console and Steam gamers these days, apparently.

We spend a lot of money on inexpensive games when they go on sale, and we tell ourselves we will get around to each and every one of them eventually. But my gaming backlog currently can last me a decade and I still find myself compulsively adding more to it. This is an addictive behavior at this point. It's not even about the games anymore, it is about the dopamine hit of a new acquisition to sit on my hard drive.

Think of how that money could have been put to better use! I could have taken more weekend trips to Seattle. I could have visited more museums. I could have gone to more social nights out. I could have invested in a better set of kitchen knives, or I could have stashed it all away for a rainy day, even though I am not allowed to save up much since SSDI is my primary source of income.

Buying video games is an addiction in itself, I am recognizing. It is another addiction for me to tackle head on.

I feel your pain dude. If it makes you feel any better you are not the only one. I actually bought an extra 1tb drive for my laptop for the overflow. But I swear I'm going to play all my games and read all my books before buying anymore. Chances are that won't happen but that will be the goal.

What's funny is that I have been able to overcome alcoholism and haven't drank in over 11 months, but the games on sale, or books. That is a hard one.

 

[Tired]

What's funny is that I have been able to overcome alcoholism and haven't drank in over 11 months, but the games on sale, or books. That is a hard one.

Maybe you fully accepted the alcoholism as a problem, but not these compulsive purchases?

 

[Judge]

While people can have both substance and behavioral addictions, they are still two different things that can be destructive to overcome.

Behavioral Addiction: Signs, Types, Consequences, Treatment

 

[Outdated]

I am myself a type of person who hoards money and is afraid to spend it.

I am now but I wasn't when I was younger. I always earnt good money and I always spent every penny of it. It wasn't until I was in my 40s and ran away in to the bush that things changed.

I didn't have any where to spend any money. I was only getting unemployment benefit but the bank account kept going up and up. A valuable lesson that I didn't forget.

Once I moved down to a city I remembered that lesson - mostly. I had a problem with getting food delivered for a while, even though I'm a half decent cook myself. That ended though because too many delivery drivers can't find my unit and when they phone you they don't speak English.

Now I'm on a pension which pays a bit more than unemployment benefits, and I have cheap rent through social housing, but I still don't like parting with money. It's become a habit. While everyone else is complaining about the cost of living I think I must be the only pensioner in Australia saving $10K a year.

 

[DrBadStrings]

Maybe you fully accepted the alcoholism as a problem, but not these compulsive purchases?

They are definitely impulse purchases for sure. But I don't really see them as being much of an issue as I have a certain amount allotted to video game purchases in my budget that I do stick within. If it were something that was causing a financial hardship at this point in my life I'm self aware enough to spot these things now before they get out of hand, part of why I have a pretty detailed yearly budget and have every financial transaction I've done this year on a spreadsheet categorized with a constant dashboard showing me where I'm at so far this year and what I have left for the year in various budgets. It sounds a bit neurotic and overkill, but when I was dealing with alcoholism my financials were a mess. So getting that in order has been a tool and a reminder helping me stay sober.

 

[Misery]

Dont feel TOO bad. To some degree, this is a marketing trick, and a very effective one.

It's not even about dopamine by its design, it's about FOMO. Which is worse in a lot of cases (particularly since it can then lead to even more dopamine). Here's this massive sale, the infamous STEAM SALE. So many things going 80% off. Heck there's a couple of things over here going at 95% off! Oh sure, you didnt play the last couple of things you bought yet, and there's another big game that still has a lot of content to go through... but 80% off! If you dont buy [game] now, it might jump back up to a whole $50 when you do want to buy it later! With such a sale, it's barely even a poke at the ol' budget. May as well buy a couple more, that'll save more money in the long run, and then more... always about the long run...

And by the time you finish, it's not just that you bloated your backlog... with games you wont remember buying later... it's that you spent more money than you would have if you'd bought a single game at a normal price. All because of the concept of missing out... on games you werent necessarily going to play anyway.

I made a decision awhile back, that I do my best to stick to: If I'm not going to play it IMMEDIATELY... and I really do mean immediately, like a couple of minutes after the purchase... I dont buy the game, period. And instead of thinking "but $20 could buy 20 games" I think "why not spend the 20 on ONE game that's just really freaking good?"

Havent touched a Steam sale in a couple of years now. Generally the only things that end up breaking this rule, arent even games I buy, they're games randomly given to me by others for reasons I've not figured out yet.


I strongly suggest avoiding the storefront page on Steam... or the store main pages on the Xbox or whatever... if you currently have games you havent finished. Dont touch them, dont look at them, dont even consider poking them. Feel the urge to do so? Click on something you've already got installed instead. Heck, click at random. Or maybe like, pick up your phone and watch a 3 minute video of cats falling off of stuff or something. Just something to disrupt the connection forming between you and the store.

I would also suggest this: if you are not specifically playing a game that REQUIRES an internet connection during play? Disable the connection entirely. Pull out that ethernet cable or whatever. You dont need it right now... right? So there's no reason for it to be there, possibly tempting you by putting things on the console's main screen (as the Xbox likes to do, I dunno about the PS5).

Seriously, that can be pretty effective. When I use the Xbox, it's disconnected most of the time. Usually, I connect it briefly to check for patches every now and then, and then disconnect again. I dont really play online games, so... why have that on?


But you gotta actually DO all these things for any of it to help you.

 

[thejuice]

I miss plug n play, buying a cart and putting it in the slot

 

[Metalhead]

Dont feel TOO bad. To some degree, this is a marketing trick, and a very effective one.

It's not even about dopamine by its design, it's about FOMO. Which is worse in a lot of cases (particularly since it can then lead to even more dopamine). Here's this massive sale, the infamous STEAM SALE. So many things going 80% off. Heck there's a couple of things over here going at 95% off! Oh sure, you didnt play the last couple of things you bought yet, and there's another big game that still has a lot of content to go through... but 80% off! If you dont buy [game] now, it might jump back up to a whole $50 when you do want to buy it later! With such a sale, it's barely even a poke at the ol' budget. May as well buy a couple more, that'll save more money in the long run, and then more... always about the long run...

And by the time you finish, it's not just that you bloated your backlog... with games you wont remember buying later... it's that you spent more money than you would have if you'd bought a single game at a normal price. All because of the concept of missing out... on games you werent necessarily going to play anyway.

I made a decision awhile back, that I do my best to stick to: If I'm not going to play it IMMEDIATELY... and I really do mean immediately, like a couple of minutes after the purchase... I dont buy the game, period. And instead of thinking "but $20 could buy 20 games" I think "why not spend the 20 on ONE game that's just really freaking good?"

Havent touched a Steam sale in a couple of years now. Generally the only things that end up breaking this rule, arent even games I buy, they're games randomly given to me by others for reasons I've not figured out yet.


I strongly suggest avoiding the storefront page on Steam... or the store main pages on the Xbox or whatever... if you currently have games you havent finished. Dont touch them, dont look at them, dont even consider poking them. Feel the urge to do so? Click on something you've already got installed instead. Heck, click at random. Or maybe like, pick up your phone and watch a 3 minute video of cats falling off of stuff or something. Just something to disrupt the connection forming between you and the store.

I would also suggest this: if you are not specifically playing a game that REQUIRES an internet connection during play? Disable the connection entirely. Pull out that ethernet cable or whatever. You dont need it right now... right? So there's no reason for it to be there, possibly tempting you by putting things on the console's main screen (as the Xbox likes to do, I dunno about the PS5).

Seriously, that can be pretty effective. When I use the Xbox, it's disconnected most of the time. Usually, I connect it briefly to check for patches every now and then, and then disconnect again. I dont really play online games, so... why have that on?


But you gotta actually DO all these things for any of it to help you.

I’ve been played by the Xbox Store the same way Jimi Hendrix played his guitar before setting it on fire.

I do play a lot of ESO on my Xbox, though.

I suppose it would be safer to stick to my 360, seeing as it is now impossible to make new purchases on it.

 

[Qoyote]

Oh god I've gotten so into sales this last month. You don't wanna know how much I've spent to feel the dopamine hit. It doesn't help I really want to like all the popular games cause it gives me a cultural connection with people my age, which is really hard to find.

 

[Misery]

I miss plug n play, buying a cart and putting it in the slot

As much as I love retro games, I gotta say, this is the bit I actually DONT miss.

I always see people waxing lyrical over that, usually through rose-tinted glasses, but all I think of is the zillions of problems that came with cartridges and discs. I tell ya, it absolutely sucked to have some rare, expensive import game break somehow, and of course there's no way to fix it, and whaddya know, just cant find another copy. Or worse, the even harder to get expensive imported console breaks down, which you need to play any of the games you had on it because of idiotic region locks. Thank you, Xbox 360, for that fun experience.

Also, PS2 Slimlines. Worst piece of electronics I've ever owned. And I went through 10 of them. Blasted things broke if you looked at them too hard. Actually had one that would only work if a heavy weight was put on it, so I kept this huge mystery boot I found somewhere and that was how it'd work, dont forget to put the boot on the console before turning it on. When the 10th stupid dumb thing broke my patience went with it and I sold absolutely every PS2 game I had all at once. Bloody stupid gizmos.

No more of that now.

The strangest thing to me though is that despite physical copies not really being a thing, people still pre-order games. Everyone seems to have forgotten what pre-ordering was actually for.


On a side note, I never did find the other boot. It was just the one.

 

[saturnv]

I made a decision awhile back, that I do my best to stick to: If I'm not going to play it IMMEDIATELY... and I really do mean immediately, like a couple of minutes after the purchase... I dont buy the game, period.

I started doing this a few years ago too. It has worked very well. I have even played some of the games I had from previous Steam sales since then.

 

[Xinyta]

I always see people waxing lyrical over that, usually through rose-tinted glasses, but all I think of is the zillions of problems that came with cartridges and discs. I tell ya, it absolutely sucked to have some rare, expensive import game break somehow, and of course there's no way to fix it, and whaddya know, just cant find another copy. Or worse, the even harder to get expensive imported console breaks down, which you need to play any of the games you had on it because of idiotic region locks. Thank you, Xbox 360, for that fun experience.

I get what you mean. I still own old Sega Genisis cartridges and a some old Playstation games. I feel like if I drop them the wrong way or put them down too hard, they'll break.

The region lock stuff I really never messed with. But I can only imagine the pain the butt dealing with that is.

Also, PS2 Slimlines. Worst piece of electronics I've ever owned. And I went through 10 of them. Blasted things broke if you looked at them too hard. Actually had one that would only work if a heavy weight was put on it, so I kept this huge mystery boot I found somewhere and that was how it'd work, dont forget to put the boot on the console before turning it on. When the 10th stupid dumb thing broke my patience went with it and I sold absolutely every PS2 game I had all at once. Bloody stupid gizmos.

I never had that problem thankfully. I have the good old bulky PS2. Though I've always wondered what the appeal of the slim was. It looked pretty dang fragile. Not that it wouldn't break like any console you could take a sludgehammer to.

The strangest thing to me though is that despite physical copies not really being a thing, people still pre-order games. Everyone seems to have forgotten what pre-ordering was actually for.

I blame a mix of people that mindlessly buy games and the gaming market for this. 'Preorder' has become a dirty word. Especially with it being the norm for there to be day one patches, for all new games fresh off the line. It's really not worth it anymore.

 

[Metalhead]

I started doing this a few years ago too. It has worked very well. I have even played some of the games I had from previous Steam sales since then.

I should implement that same rule with movie purchases as well.

@Misery, you hit the nail on the head. I am searching for contentment in a neverending sea of FOMO. I am, in other words, an average American.

 

[saturnv]

I still buy physical copies of games when I can because it is often cheaper. I loaned Horizon Zero Dawn to a friend which I would not have been able to do with a digital copy. (It is not a complete success story because he has not returned it. )

 

[Metalhead]

I need to adapt an attitude of gratitude. Life without alcohol and a string of unhealthy sexual partners really is not so bad. And if I take care of myself, life will improve in ways I could not possibly imagine. I could mourn the time wasted trying to buy my way into happiness or I could move on. What I really am missing out on is living a happy life and only I can change that. Only in sobriety will I find that.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

I could have taken more weekend trips to Seattle. I could have visited more museums. I could have gone to more social nights out. I could have invested in a better set of kitchen knives, or I could have stashed it all away for a rainy day, even though I am not allowed to save up much since SSDI is my primary source of income.

To be fair to yourself, the limits on savings do make it tough. Hopefully you can find a happy balance of spending but not feeling too impulsive. I think Misery made a good point with fear of missing out.

 

[DrBadStrings]

Dont feel TOO bad. To some degree, this is a marketing trick, and a very effective one.

It's not even about dopamine by its design, it's about FOMO. Which is worse in a lot of cases (particularly since it can then lead to even more dopamine). Here's this massive sale, the infamous STEAM SALE. So many things going 80% off. Heck there's a couple of things over here going at 95% off! Oh sure, you didnt play the last couple of things you bought yet, and there's another big game that still has a lot of content to go through... but 80% off! If you dont buy [game] now, it might jump back up to a whole $50 when you do want to buy it later! With such a sale, it's barely even a poke at the ol' budget. May as well buy a couple more, that'll save more money in the long run, and then more... always about the long run...

And by the time you finish, it's not just that you bloated your backlog... with games you wont remember buying later... it's that you spent more money than you would have if you'd bought a single game at a normal price. All because of the concept of missing out... on games you werent necessarily going to play anyway.

I made a decision awhile back, that I do my best to stick to: If I'm not going to play it IMMEDIATELY... and I really do mean immediately, like a couple of minutes after the purchase... I dont buy the game, period. And instead of thinking "but $20 could buy 20 games" I think "why not spend the 20 on ONE game that's just really freaking good?"

Havent touched a Steam sale in a couple of years now. Generally the only things that end up breaking this rule, arent even games I buy, they're games randomly given to me by others for reasons I've not figured out yet.


I strongly suggest avoiding the storefront page on Steam... or the store main pages on the Xbox or whatever... if you currently have games you havent finished. Dont touch them, dont look at them, dont even consider poking them. Feel the urge to do so? Click on something you've already got installed instead. Heck, click at random. Or maybe like, pick up your phone and watch a 3 minute video of cats falling off of stuff or something. Just something to disrupt the connection forming between you and the store.

I would also suggest this: if you are not specifically playing a game that REQUIRES an internet connection during play? Disable the connection entirely. Pull out that ethernet cable or whatever. You dont need it right now... right? So there's no reason for it to be there, possibly tempting you by putting things on the console's main screen (as the Xbox likes to do, I dunno about the PS5).

Seriously, that can be pretty effective. When I use the Xbox, it's disconnected most of the time. Usually, I connect it briefly to check for patches every now and then, and then disconnect again. I dont really play online games, so... why have that on?


But you gotta actually DO all these things for any of it to help you.

Don't know about xbox land but I'm pretty sure on PS5 you have the option to rearrange and even remove icons from the home screen so you can take out the adds and just leave yourself with a view of only currently installed games. I've never bothered on the PS5 yet but I remember seeing it as an option. I'll take a look when I'm home tonight and confirm.