Bargain!

[Thorondor]

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GoG's special Neon Dreams Redux sale is now in effect. Ends June 5th.

[Thorondor]

Captain of Industry (Early Access) is now 20% off and Call to Arms 75% off in Steam Daily Deal.

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Plus:

Green Hell is currently 40% off and Red Dead Redemption 2 67% off on Steam until June 11th and 12th respectively.

Also:

Detroit: Become Human is presently 50% off in Steam Week Long Deal.

[Thorondor]

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The Digerati publisher sale is now in effect on Steam until June 5th.

[Space Voyager]

Warning: before you buy a game just because it is cheap, DO CHECK if you already own the same game on another platform. I just played through The Witcher 3 on Steam (really good game, BTW) and started thinking about buying expansions. And noticed that I already own the game WITH expansions at GOG. 

Not only did I waste some money, I also can probably not play the expansions on GOG as the game needs to know your gear is adequate, so I'd most likely have to play the game on GOG again. I'll try to install from GOG and throw the save into the appropriate folder.

ANYWAY, I guess I'm a fool for not keeping track of which games I own where, especially since I'm a hoarder and buy games that I don't play... What do you people do? 

[Thorondor]

@SV: an embarrassment of richess is a bad thing? Well, your advice is, evidently, sound. Look before you leap.

Yet, owning a game on GoG is _never_ a bad thing because it's probably the only platform where you can rest assured ownership of what you paid for will always be retained. And, you can install the game on as many machines as you feel like which, these days of generally make-believe digital ownership, is fantastic value for money.

As you well know, it's even possible to download an offline installer for most non-online games and GoG Galaxy need not even be on the computer you then install the game to.

Personally, since I usually get a game on whatever platform it's supposed to be native to, that reduces the risk of duplicate purchases (i.e. if it's a Ubisoft game, I get it through them directly). In fact, that I can recollect, I've never unintentionally bought a game for myself twice.

I have, however, on fairly rare occasions, bought games that I ended up playing very little of, but that's another, entirely different side of things.

Since you're sharing "from experience" wisdom, here's a little nugget of my own: I'm now... old enough, I suppose, that if I ever feel that a game is bound not to be worth my time or I'm not deriving enough enjoyment from it, for the investment it requires (here cost is not just price of admission, but time to learn, difficulty of play, necessary skill, how easy it is to return to, if I'd be certain to have more fun on another game or activity instead, etc), then I won't be playing it any further, or at all.

Remember, our lifetime is very much finite - maybe even shorter than we are inclined to rightfully expect - and you should absolutely make the most of it whenever possible.

Perhaps a simple analogy shall best illustrate the point: how many books can you read in your lifetime? How many will you read again; if any? Will reading a book again mean there's another one you won't get to read?

Carpe diem!

[Space Voyager]

All very true, no doubt about that. I, too, don't buy games I don't intend to play (with rare exceptions of supporing the developer), though intention is one thing and realization is another...  My purchases are extremely limited for a long time now and The Witcher 3 was bought with knowledge that it will be instantly installed and played. If I only played it at the time of the first purchase... That I would NOT forget.

Anyway, I guess I won't take the time to make an Excel file with all the games I own, I'm just not that organized.

47 minutes ago, Thorondor said:

Remember, our lifetime is very much finite - maybe even shorter than we are inclined to rightfully expect - and you should absolutely make the most of it whenever possible.

Sometimes I ask myself whether playing games is a total waste of time and I should be doing something worthwhile. Then I console myself with the realization that for me, playing games is just like reading a book, just interactive. Not that this stops me from reading - lately I read Randevouz with Rama and Dune, reading Nemesis.

 

[Thorondor]

@SV:

6 hours ago, Space Voyager said:

lately I read Rendezvous with Rama and Dune, reading Nemesis.

Now you're making me time travel. I've read those when I was back at university, over twenty years ago. Good reads too!

And it brings another thing to mind - personally, and looking back, I'm far more likely to finish a book than a game. But I'd wager, overall, I've spent more time playing games than reading books.

And, thinking specifically about it, much as the comparison between these two great pastimes works and you are likewise engaged in a sense, a game is, in the vast majority of cases, far more demanding of you. It needs your direct involvement and intervention (the interactivity you mention requiring the use of your faculties to varying extent), instead of just a "consumption" or mental "digestion" where only you can ask something of yourself in the process, as it were.

And, I'm not forgetting the panoply of quality games that allow you to virtually "shut off" your brain while still actively engaging with them (the famed state of flow, more easily achieved in titles like, say, Tetris), which make them a form of relaxation - whatever happened to be troubling you a moment ago, it's somehow now left outside your window of thought, while your are so mechanically involved.

It could very well be that games actually take the cake in a few key departments because:

- games can make some who would likely never be interested in the books that led to them then want to read them
- games are experiences you have, that give you memories, visual, aural and emotional. They can genuinely give you, a range of emotions, on several occasions even a feeling of accomplishment, either farther apart, sparingly in some, or repeatedly, in shorter succession in others.
- there's yet another entire dimension left unspoken of here: the many more people it takes to make a game, compared to a book, and the time they take to make it. If these many are willing to devote a large part of their life to making a game, or a series of them (and there are several examples of this, like for instance the creators of Myst) and it hapens to entitle those people a sense of pride when the result is remembered by millions of other people is it not exceedingly noteworthy?
- free games really are a thing at present. Free books? Not quite so much.

So let's move on to the crux of it all:

6 hours ago, Space Voyager said:

Sometimes I ask myself whether playing games is a total waste of time and I should be doing something worthwhile.

Define worthwhile.

The way that you wander is the way that you choose,
The day that you tarry is the day that you lose.
Sunshine or thunder, a man will always wonder.
Where the fair wind blows.

An Indian says you search in vain for what you cannot find.
He says you'll find a thousand ways for runnin' down your time.
An Indian didn't scream it, he said it in a song,
And he's never been known to be wrong.
He's never been known to be wrong.

- excerpt from The Ballad of Jeremiah Johnson, featured in Jeremiah Johnson, 1972 motion picture

This whole thing resides at the very heart of the matter of "spending" time. There's the time you choose to spend and the time you have to spend.

"What did you choose to do with your time, foolish mortal?" echoes the thunderous voice of judgement.

All that you could? All that you were allowed to?

A whole, ingrained, value system is at stake here and it has been badly skewed by now. Time is money? The motto to live by?

There is a real distinction between usefulness and worth and it's one that needs to be made.

Money you gain, lose, sometimes regain. For now at least there's no bargaining with time.

There can be no guilt in the time you choose to make your own, in whatever way you deem fit as a living being, if you don't feel you owe it to another.

Is it worthwhile to spend a day at the beach? To travel just to see other places? Is it worthwhile the time you spend drinking beers with your brother while watching a game on TV? To play with your children as if you, yourself, were a child again?

Are those not the best of times?

What makes your life extraordinary is being aware of it and embracing it as you will. Some things done, some undone.

Then you can talk about it, make photo albums recording it? Not a requirement. What gives life meaning is simply living it.

// end of thread hijack

[Thorondor]

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Electrician Simulator is now 50% off and Cultist Simulator 70% off in Steam Daily Deal.

[Thorondor]

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The Humble Must-Play Metroidvanias bundle is here.

[Thorondor]

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GoG's special Chill Indie sale is now underway. Ends June 8th.

[Thorondor]

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Midnight Ghost Hunt is currently free on the Epic Games store.

[Thorondor]

Aquatico is now 40% off and Hypnospace Outlaw 70% off in Steam Daily Deal.

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Plus:

The Cozy & Family Friendly Games Celebration sale, the Watch Dogs franchise sale, Sniper Elite 5, Hi-Fi Rush and Contraband Police are now being featured in Steam Weekend Deal.

Also:

Astlibra Revision is presently 20% off on Steam until June 5th.

[Thorondor]

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GoG's special Mix & Match sale is now ongoing and shall be ending June 11th. Worth a look.

[Thorondor]

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Kao the Kangaroo is currently 55% off and Definitely Not Fried Chicken (Early Access) 30% off in Steam Daily Deal.

[Thorondor]

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Outward Definitive Edition is now 75% off and One Piece Odyssey 35% off in Steam Daily Deal.

[Thorondor]

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GoG's weekly sale is here.

[Thorondor]

The Complex is now 67% off and Monument Valley: Panoramic Collection bundle 40% off in Steam Daily Deal.

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Also:

Going Medieval (Early Access) is now 20% off, Inkulinati (Early Access) 30% off, Uno 60% off, Killing Floor 2 75% off, Orcs Must Die! 3 75% off and Warhammer 40.000: Inquisitor - Martyr 80% off in Steam Midweek Deal.

[Thorondor]

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Fanatical's Build Your Own Prestige Collection bundle is here.

[Thorondor]

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Field of Glory II is currently free to keep on Steam if you get it before June 8th.

[Thorondor]

Tank Mechanic Simulator is now 71% off and Cafe Owner Simulator 35% off in Steam Daily Deal.

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Plus:

Little Nightmares II is now 67% off, Library Of Ruina 66% off, Lobotomy Corporation | Monster Management Simulation 66% off, DayZ 40% off and Astro Colony (Early Access) 25% off in Steam Week Long Deal.

Also:

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is currently 60% off and No Man's Sky 50% off on Steam until June 18th and 19th respectively.

[Thorondor]

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Capcom's 40th anniversary sale is now underway on Steam. Ends June 20th.

[Thorondor]

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In Sound Mind is now 90% off and CryoFall 80% off in Steam Daily Deal.

[Thorondor]

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Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Edition is currently 63% off on Steam.

[Thorondor]

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GoG's midweek sale is here. Includes Phoenix Point: Complete Edition 20% off.

[Thorondor]

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Payday 2 is currently free on the Epic Games store.