Are you more inclined to play a game if you have paid for it

[Pixel_Outlaw]

I have a few Dreamcast games that are burned but somehow I always end up playing the games I have paid for more. Maybe it is because I've put some money into them and want to get my entertainment for a fee. Is anyone else this way too? I'm not talking morality I'm just saying that I tend to play what I pay for more for some reason or other. Oh and call me odd but I like to play PS1 games on the actual console vs my PS2. There is just something to me personally about playing the hardware that you have collected for.

I DO play a lot of emulated games but somehow they just aren't as fun, mentally knowing that I have not collected them.

Any thoughts?
Or is this endless fodder for just how crazy I am on the IRC channel (which is great most of the time).

[Ganelon]

I'm the same. I buy all my games nowadays and have stopped playing games I don't own. That said, I don't have a problem if someone has something on backup to play. I'm just afraid a bit wasn't burned right and that it'll affect some aspect of the game. I don't play more expensive games more than inexpensive games either.

Since we know of speed problems for PS1 games on the PS2, I don't think I'd want to trust the PS2 to run any game correctly. If games ran 100% identical, that would be great and I would just toss my PS1 in storage. It's not crazy (unless we're both crazy); it's just a demand for the utmost pure & accurate experience when playing our games.

[iatneH]

I thought that's how it would be for myself, but somehow I don't really feel it anymore.

I may be more inclined to purchase a game I really like, but I have a lot of games sitting around that I bought but never play. Saving them for a rainy day, I suppose, but even on those days I find myself firing up my all-time favourites instead, which I most likely did purchase.

So, whether I feel like playing a game isn't really directly related to whether I paid for it. The only factor in deciding whether I am inclined to play a game is whether I like it or not. However, the degree to which I like it does affect how likely I am to purchase it.
Play <-- Like --> Purchase, but Play and Purchase do not directly interact for me.

[Skykid]

I find it very difficult to get serious with emulation for some reason. No matter how good it is, it never seems as good. That's enough for me to favour the actual hardware every time.

[Dragoforce]

I always end up buying a lot more games than I could possbly have time to play. The worst part is that I still spend 50% of my playing time with mame.

To answer your question, no.

[Ed Oscuro]

There has been a theme going on lately...new post, old topic!

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=29846

Edit: Topic title is great though!

[ED-057]

Regarding the subject line question, I would point out that the pool of games that I haven't paid for is vastly larger than the set of games that I have paid for, and obviously I have played only a tiny fraction of the former group, while having played nearly all of the latter.

[neorichieb1971]

You bought the game because the desire was there in the first place. Now your playing those games again to relive the memory, since you don't have a memory of the burned games or emulating ones you don't feel like starting from scratch.

[=SNC=]

I think it's human to put meaning into things, this is the reason why we prefer to play with actual hardware.
You can't really beat "the feel" of taking a game out of his case, holding it in your hand, smell it (for the fetish guys xD), maybe remembering the old times (if it's a retrogame ofc) and putting it into real hardware. Think about of the unique sound that cartridge make when inserted or the noise of the cd tray of old consoles which are unique...and the lights! xD.

It's like taking off the shelf some good old wine and savor it.

[oli_lar]

It depends - in some cases, like PC-98 I play it more on emulation, just because when I had an actual PC-98 it was much more effort to get a game actually running (both first time and subsequently). With an emulator I can be playing Flame Zapper Kotsujin in seconds.

Similar with my PS2 and HDloader - perhaps I'm just very lazy but I'd always play the backed up game instead of taking it off the shelf and out of its case. Cartridges I find different, for some reason. Probably because of the tactile aspect, you can get your hands all over it with damaging!

[sjewkestheloon]

I tend to play games that require a large investment of time (I include shmups in this) and so will happily buy games as I know how much entertainment I will get out of them.

I hardly ever bother with emulation or burnt copies as I want to give my money to the developer and despise giving money to ebay morons and fetishist collectors.

[gabe]

In my case, it's something of a chicken/egg scenario.

I definitely spend more time with purchased games... But I generally only purchase games that I love, or that am very likely to love. It only makes sense that I would spend more time with them.

For me, the same applies to records, movies, books, etc.

[Limbrooke]

If a game is good, I don't think it matters whether it's free or priced. If it's emulation versus owning, I feel if I own the game I am obligated to spend a good amount of time in it, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it or I am inclined to sell/get rid of it. If I find out about a game in emulation that's also for a system I own and it's fun and reasonably priced, I'll often go out and get it. A recent example would be Battletoads for Genesis: it was cheap, it was fun, and it was available locally. All signs point to go and thankfully I've been logging some time in it, putting most everything else on the backburner.

This takes me back to an adage I often use; "too many games, not enough time". This topic alone reminds me that I have many engagements in several games and beyond that games where I want to spend the appropriate time afterwards. To further hammer the point home I'm not a non-stop game player. It's only been the past 8 years or so that I expanded into the expansive console realm, so my attitude is described as passionate-casual. As far as owning a lot of games, many which I still should spend more time in, overload describes this quite well and pardon Windows/PC games and or MAME emulation, like has been the past few years with me there is essentially nothing on the horizon as far as new acquisitions for console(s). I'm fortunate in that respect since I stayed back in the previous generation so new games on PS3 and 360 are nothing but pipe dream thoughts which are years away.

In closing if I spend time in a free game such as QuakeLIVE more than games I've bought, I don't feel bothered, it goes back to the point that QuakeLIVE is simply more agreeable (better) than other games I own at a given time.

[TodayIsForgotten]

I'm obviously the minority here. I tend to stick with games for short periods of time. Usually 1 or 2 days. I think this was contributed to me beating NES games within 24 hours all the time. I have quite a few games i purchased but never played. I remember getting games for the original xbox for christmas and then 3 years later at christmas one of my cousins asked if he could have the games that i never opened.

I do the same thing with roms and chipped consoles. I may play the game for a few minutes but that's it. It really depends on the person and what they are interested in. I'd be more likely to collect music (which i do) than video games even though i enjoy video games.

[Drum]

No. I have a massive (and growing) pile of unplayed store-bought games that I will never find time to play, and I mostly spend time with indie freeware and emulation.

I don't know why this is. Avoidance issues, I guess.

[Elixir]

Yes. Absolutely. I can't get into emulators or piracy (not that I'm absent from trying both) because I haven't paid for the items, so I can't get value for money. There's no reason to play the games when it doesn't feel like you have any right to play them in the first place, or any value of money to gain from deciding to purchase them in the first place.

Also, I enjoy the whole concept of importing games from the US and Japan, choosing what I'd like to buy or what I'd like to buy at a later date, making lists, purchasing, receiving something in the mail almost as if it's a present that has been personally delivered to me, opening the game and enjoying that fresh game smell. It's the whole process that makes it worthwhile. Plus, living in NZ, importing is generally significantly cheaper and has been that way for quite some time now. Even if I use expensive shipping methods, I don't mind too much, because building up a collection (for example, I have a nice JP 360 collection going) is also fun. To put it into perspective, visit mightyape.co.nz and see what ridiculously bad prices I'd be paying if I were buying games locally.

With games that only come out on XBLA/PSN, I can still enjoy them just as much providing I've paid for them. I'm actually glad that Games on Demand is ip locked, because otherwise I'd be tempted to start purchasing games via direct download; these retail games of which I could have otherwise purchased a physical form of, killing the whole order process in the blink of an eye.

[null1024]

No. I have a massive (and growing) pile of unplayed store-bought games that I will never find time to play, and I mostly spend time with indie freeware and emulation.

I don't know why this is. Avoidance issues, I guess.

This, excluding portable games [which I hate to emulate, namely because you can't take a laptop around as easily as say, a Nintendo DS].

[Drum]

Oh, I never emulate current-gen games or anything that's available to purchase. Well, I did a bit with GBA games, but only for demo purposes.

[EPS21]

If money and availability of the game was no issue, I think everyone would prefer just to play on the original hardware. However, for games as obscure as these its damn well much more convenient to emulate, and otherwise would be impossible to find old games and hardware they run on without expending lots of time and/or money.

Personally I've spent perhaps the most time on some games being emulated, but its only been recently that I've started collecting original games and systems. Granted I've purchased nearly every 360 shmup haphazardly while in Japan and didn't enjoy all of them for the prices paid for them, so eh.

[Arvandor]

For me there's no correlation. There are still a bunch of Saturn, Dreamcast, PS2, and even a few DS games that I purchased, but have never played. And on the other hand there are some games I play quite frequently that I didn't pay for at all (MAME games without console ports, for example, or SNES/NES ROMs.)

[Ex-Cyber]

Play <-- Like --> Purchase, but Play and Purchase do not directly interact for me.

This pretty much nails it for me, apart from the ephemeral excitement of getting a purchased game home and opening it up. I own a bunch of games that I've only played once or twice (not to mention another bunch that I've played recently on emulators but not on the original system).

[neorichieb1971]

Only about 50% of my games have I ever put any time into. I really liked collecting oddball stuff back in the 90's and most of my Saturn collection has collected dust since day 1. Its strange because the stuff thats worthless now like my N64 stuff is the stuff I played more back in the day.

If I ever get a really old console out like the Genesis I find myself always picking the game I have played like Mega Turrican or Robocod simply because I don't want the challenge, just the nostalgia. Games like Batman and Gairies sit in the box without ever being played

I want an amiga console to play superfrog, I loved that game.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I'd say yes since the games I've played the most are games I've paid for. However, like neorichie the actual cost of the game is not related to how much I play them. My most played PS2 games cost me about $10-20 each. God knows how many times I've beat the God of War games, DMC 1 and 3, and God Hand. I'm still playing them too because I haven't beat all difficulties yet.

[Skykid]

receiving something in the mail almost as if it's a present that has been personally delivered to me, opening the game and enjoying that fresh game smell.

Cellophane and plastic?

I prefer old books and new graphic novels. I think it's the glue.

[popawell]

Emulation to me is the stepping stone to buying the real thing. Unless I can't find the damn thing.

[Marurun]

I tend to play games I paid for a lot more than ones I haven't. Kinda like when I bought my DS Lite and bought Tetris with it. I eventually purchased a flash cart and played some Japanese games, but I still find myself just going back to Tetris because it's like a drug. The only exception for games I play a lot and haven't bought are things I can only play emulated because they weren't ported to any system, such as Progear and Armored police Batrider.

[esreveR]

As a general rule for me: If I paid for the game, I never play it.

[BrianC]

I'm more likely to play games through if I have paid for it, or if it's something that's legally available for free. I prefer real hardware over emulation, as well. I also like to play ports of older games, though accuracy varies greatly.