Comments on: I Shop (In Games), Therefore I Am

By: cary

cary — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 10:32:00 +0000

Oh I remember going nuts in DA and ME, especially ME cause I just wanted all the best armor! Recently, I spent almost an entire GTA V session visiting all the stores making wacky purchases just because! I think I wish I could do that in real life, which will probably never happen, so why not give it a go in a virtual world where currency is plentiful? But usually, until I end up hitting some big jackpot in a game, I try to keep my wallet under control. *Try* Sometimes the call to shop, though, is pretty irresistible. :-)

By: simpleek

simpleek — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 03:24:24 +0000

I’m the same way! I’m good with managing my real life finances, but sometimes I can’t help but feel a little frugal with the digital money in games. Once I have safely collected a good amount of money in the games I play, I tend to go on shopping sprees. It was bad in Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I bought as much as I could. And if a game gives me the option to buy clothes so I can change my character’s outfit, then I’m in trouble. I did this a lot for Saints Row 2 and 3. I would spend more time trying clothes on than doing actual missions sometimes!

By: cary

cary — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 13:27:13 +0000

Reblogged this on Recollections of Play and commented:

There's nothing like collecting money in games; and nothing quite like shopping in games either, which has become something of a bad habit for me. After spending time with lots of game where "money" was scarce or doesn't exist at all, I'll take a good shopping spree in Los Santos, Hong Kong, or Albion anyday. In this article I wrote for United We Game, I expound upon these and related thoughts (all the while wishing that my real bank account looked 1/5th as bloated as my many game "bank accounts").

By: ezrawexler

ezrawexler — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 08:55:35 +0000

I just started giving animal crossing a second chance after a short 1st chance when it came out. That game is over the top in the spend every cent you have department!

By: cary

cary — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 13:29:40 +0000

Thanks! It’s interesting how some games demand that players use money, while others make it totally optional. Like you did with GTA V, I went through one playthrough of GTA IV without spending a dime on Niko except for a couple clothing pieces that were required. Everything he needed was available for free somewhere! And I had the same experience with Wind Waker – nothing spent EXCEPT on map translation. (Tingle was kind of a jerk, wasn’t he?) But more often than not, I’ll spend whenever I have the chance. Can’t do it in real life, so mind as well live vicariously through games! :)

By: ezrawexler

ezrawexler — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 19:16:00 +0000

This is a really interesting videogame topic… I just finished playing Zelda Ocarina of Time, and last month Zelda Wind Waker, and in both of them I found there was nothing worth spending my money on. At least not until the very end of huge game when I needed a few red or green potions, or in wind Waker had to pay that jerk Tinkle to translate my maps ( after I got him out of prison too!) I finished GTA5 without ever having spent more than the plot required of me, and I always hired the cheapest man for missions… I did spend ever penny I had in Dark Souls making weapons and armour. And I needed every cent in Dragon’s Crown just to get anywhere.

By: cary

cary — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 20:13:18 +0000

I’m a bit chintzy too when it comes to using power-ups and other special items on characters, because, like you said, you just never know what you’re going to need later on. And I’ve hit that “too much money” point in some games where I end up buying anything and everything just because I can. The Fable games were like that. In Fable 2, I became so “rich” that eventually purchasing stuff lost all meaning. Boy, it sure would have been nice if some of that virtual currency could have been turned into real money…

By: duckofindeed

duckofindeed — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 16:27:49 +0000

I’m pretty wasteful in “Animal Crossing” now. I have so much money, and my house is all paid off, so I can just buy whatever, and sometimes I’m too lazy to check if my character already owns something, so I buy it because I have so much spare money. Then, at Redd’s shop, I’ll just buy any painting he has whether the museum has it or not because I’m not about to run back to town, check the museum and see if it’ there, and if not, run back to the city and buy the painting, only to run back to town again and give it to the museum. I am wasteful that way.

I’m cheap in all other games, though. I usually go through games without buying anything, and I let my characters die because I’m not going to waste a potion on them that I may need even more later. “Animal Crossing” is the only exception.