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Comment by whoknew1122 | Hacker News Reader

I sunk over $2,000 in a game that shut down abruptly (Marvel Heroes). It sucked. I had no recourse.

But at the end of the day, I had well more than 2000 hours in the game. Which meant that my cost per hour of entertainment was less than $1. Which is really cheap as far as hobbies and entertainment goes.

Does it suck that I can't go in any play an ARPG with any of the 50+ Marvel heroes I had and adore? Yes. But that's what you should expect when playing any game that operates as a service or has an always-online component.

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One summer I played Gauntlet Legends in the local arcade, I basically maxed out all of my characters, I probably had $200 into it.

One day the game crashed, and the repair guy stuck a new hard drive in the game, and I lost all my characters. :(

I didn’t realise that there were arcade games with save game support.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauntlet_Legends

> Its unusual features for an arcade game included passwords and characters that could be saved, enabling players to play over the course of a long period.

Thanks for posting this, a lot of people forget this perspective that sometimes the heavier users are view dropping money into their hobby as just that.

A way of supporting their hobby, especially when their dollar/hour of entertainment is so high.

There's so much discussion from people who do NOT spend a dollar in any game, and how those that do need to be protected from themselves

> I had well more than 2000 hours in the game. Which meant that my cost per hour of entertainment was less than $1.

I remember when one could buy a game for $50 and play it for 250-400 hours (unlocking hidden things, playing with multiple friends with just my purchase). Roughly a dime for entertainment. In some cases, it was sub a penny USD.

You have some expensive hobbies my friend.

Is it really expensive though?

I don't go out to bars. Those nights out add up quickly. I'm not into cars, which is a large money sink. I don't go to the movies, which is typically $20+ per person for 2-ish hours of entertainment when it's all said and done.

Adult hobbies are expensive. $2,000 spent across 4 years which gave me thousands of hours of enjoyment really isn't that expensive.

Not bad. It’s only $500 per year, when you break it down.

Cable TV costs $80/month, or about $1000/year.

So if you didn’t pay for Cable TV, then I would say that you saved money here.

> Is it really expensive though? Yes.

> Adult hobbies are expensive. Depends on what you value.

> $2,000 spent across 4 years which gave me thousands of hours of enjoyment really isn't that expensive. You spent the money, so you saw the value in it. I'd say it was a complete waste. For you, it's clearly not.

Value is relative, that's my point.

Heh. Offshore racing is described as standing in a cold shower tearing up $100 bills.

1-2€/hour is my limit for "good value game" too. If I buy a $60 game, I expect at least 30 hours of fun, preferably 60.

Similar with mobile games, when I notice I'm spending a hour a day in a mobile game for weeks in and out, It's OK to spend 10€ on the gem package to make the game more fun.

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