As an WoW player, I definitely agree that it can help you save money. Just deciding to eat in one night a month because you want to play can cover the cost of the monthly subscription.
Playing in moderation is fine.
But the longterm cost of an addiction to the game is going to outweigh any kind of immediate costs. I've seen kids do poorly or drop out of high school or college because of MMOs. People lose their jobs, not get promotions, or just simply lose any type of ambition because of MMOs.
Those types of effects are the true cost of games like WoW. An addition to WoW is most like an addiction to marijuana. It's not that bad, pot's not too expensive or dangerous. But it's escapist and makes you not care as much about the rest of your life.
Absolutely! I'll use WoW and Netflix as two examples.
I just bought the Roku play ($100) and subscribe to the one-at-a-time-unlimited $9 monthly netflix plan. Since I can watch hd tv shows (and new episodes) on my tv now plus an enormous selection of movies, I no longer need cable (saving me at least $50/mo) and I rarely go to the movies (just wait for the dvd). Plus, I always have movies to watch if I have people over, rather than spending $5 for a movie at a rental store for the instant gratification.
As for WoW, I did used to play. That was definitely the most affordable choice of entertainment I have ever engaged in. At the most, it will cost you $15/mo. Now, if you're really into the game and in a raiding guild, you will be home 4-5 days a week raiding. This means no spending money on dinner with friends or Wednesday bar nights. I still had a pretty active weekend but if nothing was going on, I would play the game and not care so much about not spending $10+ at the bar that night. I did not buy any other video game during this time either.
Maybe if you have no other commitments. When my husband and I were in college and just out we were thoroughly into mmo's. We began with UO (my favorite, too, Fabulous) and went through EQ, AO, AC, AC2, SWG, etc... It was okay when we could work all day, party all night and then hit the computer when the bars closed, but now that we're new homeowners, new parents (and old!) it just doesn't make sense. We actually -need- sleep. We agreed to only play 30 min-1 hr daily (to decompress) only in winter. When it's nice out again and our babies are older we'll be participating in the real world more.
Sure, you could save money being addicted to WoW.. there are people who got so addicted and saved so much money on food and other such expenses that they ended up hospitalized because they couldn't get themselves off the computer.
And sure, maybe you're saving money, but do you really want to look back on your life and realize you wasted god knows how many hours/days/months/YEARS of it on one game?
I have found spending more time on the computer has saved me money. The time I spend online now was formerly used to either watch TV or go out. Since I'm finding blogs and online games and all kinds of tutorials and downloads, I am spending less these days.
Those persons in my life who have actually been addicted to this game used some reasons very similar to those listed to continue playing. They played obsessively, often late into the night, which led to them being late to work or unproductive at work the next day. As this behavior continued, many subsequently ended up unemployed; this was a state that was greeted with pleasure because they then had more uninterrupted play time. Few sought to find jobs with any vigor because they had a more interesting occupation now.
This is not money-saving behavior, to say the least.
Of course, most people can play this game more casually and sensibly, without becoming addicted. I apparently just don't know anyone who can be sensible about it.
To Ultima Online :) I played for hours and I saved a LOT of money, and spent none. Of course, I was a kid and didn't realize how great of a money saver it was but.... *shrug* It was a real drug
I find that Netflix is a good service to keep because it cuts down on buying DVDs that we'll only watch once or twice and cuts back on going to the movies because we know that it'll be out on DVD in a few months and we'll get it through Netflix. (plus we can pop our own popcorn and save!). Occasionally we'll buy something we saw via Netflix because we liked it a lot, but before Netflix we were always picking up DVDs of new releases just because we wanted to watch the movie...we'd watch it maybe once or twice and then it gathers dust.
I don't play WoW, but I am an avid Wii player. It was an expensive initial investment, but I haven't spent money on other forms of entertainment in a LONG time!
My husband plays all sorts of games, and they do get pricey! It is frustrating when we spend 60 bucks for a game, then 3-4 days later he declares "I'm Done!".
My husband and I are WoW players and yep, if it's the only game you play and you don't spend much on entertainment besides your WoW subscription fee, it is certainly one of the cheaper options out there, considering the huge amount of content to play through. It's the same principle as subscribing to cable TV instead of going out to the movies every weekend.
WoW isn't usually an addiction though, I have to say. It's just a game.
Based on what I recall of Two Percent Solution (which I mostly agreed with but I think there was one part I strongly disagreed with, although I can't remember what that was), I'm guessing that Miller has a streak in common with communitarians, who have at times been bashed as socialist.
I had a passing interest in communitarianism in the early 1990s but I have heard little by or about them since.
I do see how you could save money. I don't play as much as my husband so I still have my Netflix but we don't have a subscription with as many dvd's because he doesn't watch them as much and I did just cut back on my cable and I will probably be playing more now that I don't have as many cable options. We do save money on social outings and things with my brother and a few other friends that also play, we just gather in game. We still have a Wii and XBox 360 but are probably going to be selling the Xbox since it doesn't get played very much.
I would think that a lot of people would actually spend more money on take-out because they could go out for a quick bite or have something delivered a lot easier than making it and taking themselves out of the game for that long.
I would have a hell of a time observing where all my money goes if it weren't for tools like Mint and Quicken. It amazes me that wisebread doesn't extol these types of services (did I miss it?). The first part to saving your money is knowing how you use it. These services ease that precise problem. Once you know you owe money, then you can go pay it online. Problem solved.
I didn't know this was still available. I will keep it in mind as I chat with friends and family. We did get our stimulus check. I wonder if Mr. Obama is really going to try and get us another one. I don't think the last one was such a good idea... Thanks for this information!
Can anyone tell me why, while watching DTV, some, but not all of the stations (I normally can get 7) suddenly lose signal? They are "off the air" for anywhere from a few seconds up to 20 minutes at a time. It's not the same stations each time, it just seems to be random. Sometimes they are off the air once in a few hours, other times they are off the air multiple times--in which case I just give up trying to watch TV. I called a couple of the affected stations, they said I need a different antenna. That doesn't make sense since they normally come in fine with the antenna I have been using. And if it is the antenna, why does it only affect certain stations and not others one time, and then different stations the next time?
Do I need a new antenna? Can anyone explain what is happening? Does anyone else have this happen to them?
I have an interview tomorrow afternoon and Im very nervous. If the recuitment agency phones my old place of work I cant not see me getting a very good reference as My family use to run the place and have since left!!!!
ANy tips on how I should say this to the agency. should I say nothing and hope for the best????
Horizon Organic milk company is misleading consumers and dealing unethically with producers. They claim to get their milk from small, family-owned farms when they are actually driving these exact farms out of business. Horizon is not honoring contracts with small farmers, but instead getting their milk from their OWN company mega-dairy. They are misleading consumers by stating, on their website and in their literature, that they are comprised of small family dairies, when in fact, much of their milk comes from dairies with more than 500 cows.
One dairyman, Mr. Don Halverson, the owner of a small 50-cow dairy in Idaho, has shared his story of Horizon committing verbally to take his milk once he completed the expensive organic certification process, only to refuse to honor that agreement after he'd invested the thousands of dollars and time required.
I get more interest off my saving account then I do my Checking, so when I have large deposits, I'll place the money in my savings account. Then when I make some large purchases or when I know need to make those purchases, I'll transfer the money over to my checking account.
Saving accounts have a limit on how many transfers you can make by either online withdraws, phone, or web. So this limits the amount I can transfer and makes me be more aware of when I'm spending my money.
I look over all of my receipts I make sure they are charging me the right amount. I also price match when ever possible. Every bit of money saved is more money to do something fun.
I look at when I spend money. How long did it take me to earn that much? $50 on a shirt is how many hours worked. $100 on dinner is how many hours worked. I enjoy my time not working, so do I want to work more or less? How much easier is it to take that nice vacation if I took leftover for lunch to work the next day and didn't spend that $5-10 on lunch. That's $25-50 a week which is $1,300 - $2,600 a year simply by saving $5-10 a day/5 day a week for an entire year. Is that REALLY such a a small amount or does it add up quickly. most people don;t realize how much they can save simply by cutting one small thing out of their lives and saving that money instead.
Liz
Custom Tax Services www.customtaxservices.com
As an WoW player, I definitely agree that it can help you save money. Just deciding to eat in one night a month because you want to play can cover the cost of the monthly subscription.
Playing in moderation is fine.
But the longterm cost of an addiction to the game is going to outweigh any kind of immediate costs. I've seen kids do poorly or drop out of high school or college because of MMOs. People lose their jobs, not get promotions, or just simply lose any type of ambition because of MMOs.
Those types of effects are the true cost of games like WoW. An addition to WoW is most like an addiction to marijuana. It's not that bad, pot's not too expensive or dangerous. But it's escapist and makes you not care as much about the rest of your life.
Facing foreclosure on some rental property we own. Not a bright picture right now. Am open to new concepts.
I can see the twisted thinking that WoW would save someone some money. How does that compare to say..... the cost of a divorce?
Absolutely! I'll use WoW and Netflix as two examples.
I just bought the Roku play ($100) and subscribe to the one-at-a-time-unlimited $9 monthly netflix plan. Since I can watch hd tv shows (and new episodes) on my tv now plus an enormous selection of movies, I no longer need cable (saving me at least $50/mo) and I rarely go to the movies (just wait for the dvd). Plus, I always have movies to watch if I have people over, rather than spending $5 for a movie at a rental store for the instant gratification.
As for WoW, I did used to play. That was definitely the most affordable choice of entertainment I have ever engaged in. At the most, it will cost you $15/mo. Now, if you're really into the game and in a raiding guild, you will be home 4-5 days a week raiding. This means no spending money on dinner with friends or Wednesday bar nights. I still had a pretty active weekend but if nothing was going on, I would play the game and not care so much about not spending $10+ at the bar that night. I did not buy any other video game during this time either.
Maybe if you have no other commitments. When my husband and I were in college and just out we were thoroughly into mmo's. We began with UO (my favorite, too, Fabulous) and went through EQ, AO, AC, AC2, SWG, etc... It was okay when we could work all day, party all night and then hit the computer when the bars closed, but now that we're new homeowners, new parents (and old!) it just doesn't make sense. We actually -need- sleep. We agreed to only play 30 min-1 hr daily (to decompress) only in winter. When it's nice out again and our babies are older we'll be participating in the real world more.
Remember the young couple whose kids were completely malnourished and filthy because the parents couldn't stop playing World of Warcraft?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9745508-7.html
Sure, you could save money being addicted to WoW.. there are people who got so addicted and saved so much money on food and other such expenses that they ended up hospitalized because they couldn't get themselves off the computer.
And sure, maybe you're saving money, but do you really want to look back on your life and realize you wasted god knows how many hours/days/months/YEARS of it on one game?
I have found spending more time on the computer has saved me money. The time I spend online now was formerly used to either watch TV or go out. Since I'm finding blogs and online games and all kinds of tutorials and downloads, I am spending less these days.
Those persons in my life who have actually been addicted to this game used some reasons very similar to those listed to continue playing. They played obsessively, often late into the night, which led to them being late to work or unproductive at work the next day. As this behavior continued, many subsequently ended up unemployed; this was a state that was greeted with pleasure because they then had more uninterrupted play time. Few sought to find jobs with any vigor because they had a more interesting occupation now.
This is not money-saving behavior, to say the least.
Of course, most people can play this game more casually and sensibly, without becoming addicted. I apparently just don't know anyone who can be sensible about it.
To Ultima Online :) I played for hours and I saved a LOT of money, and spent none. Of course, I was a kid and didn't realize how great of a money saver it was but.... *shrug* It was a real drug
Fabulously Broke in the City
"Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver."
Anyway in which you can save or make money is a great thing to do, an addiction that saves you money that doesn't happen very often ;O)
Just like there's "good debt" (mortgage, student loans) and "bad debt" (credit cards, etc.), there's good savings and bad savings.
Saving money on social gatherings because all your friends are in WoW is pretty pathetic.
I find that Netflix is a good service to keep because it cuts down on buying DVDs that we'll only watch once or twice and cuts back on going to the movies because we know that it'll be out on DVD in a few months and we'll get it through Netflix. (plus we can pop our own popcorn and save!). Occasionally we'll buy something we saw via Netflix because we liked it a lot, but before Netflix we were always picking up DVDs of new releases just because we wanted to watch the movie...we'd watch it maybe once or twice and then it gathers dust.
I don't play WoW, but I am an avid Wii player. It was an expensive initial investment, but I haven't spent money on other forms of entertainment in a LONG time!
My husband plays all sorts of games, and they do get pricey! It is frustrating when we spend 60 bucks for a game, then 3-4 days later he declares "I'm Done!".
My husband and I are WoW players and yep, if it's the only game you play and you don't spend much on entertainment besides your WoW subscription fee, it is certainly one of the cheaper options out there, considering the huge amount of content to play through. It's the same principle as subscribing to cable TV instead of going out to the movies every weekend.
WoW isn't usually an addiction though, I have to say. It's just a game.
Based on what I recall of Two Percent Solution (which I mostly agreed with but I think there was one part I strongly disagreed with, although I can't remember what that was), I'm guessing that Miller has a streak in common with communitarians, who have at times been bashed as socialist.
I had a passing interest in communitarianism in the early 1990s but I have heard little by or about them since.
The Two Percent Solution is an interesting book; I read it about ten years ago as I recall.
He has definitely shed a number of dead ideas.
Embrace the new downward mobility!
I do see how you could save money. I don't play as much as my husband so I still have my Netflix but we don't have a subscription with as many dvd's because he doesn't watch them as much and I did just cut back on my cable and I will probably be playing more now that I don't have as many cable options. We do save money on social outings and things with my brother and a few other friends that also play, we just gather in game. We still have a Wii and XBox 360 but are probably going to be selling the Xbox since it doesn't get played very much.
I would think that a lot of people would actually spend more money on take-out because they could go out for a quick bite or have something delivered a lot easier than making it and taking themselves out of the game for that long.
I would have a hell of a time observing where all my money goes if it weren't for tools like Mint and Quicken. It amazes me that wisebread doesn't extol these types of services (did I miss it?). The first part to saving your money is knowing how you use it. These services ease that precise problem. Once you know you owe money, then you can go pay it online. Problem solved.
I didn't know this was still available. I will keep it in mind as I chat with friends and family. We did get our stimulus check. I wonder if Mr. Obama is really going to try and get us another one. I don't think the last one was such a good idea... Thanks for this information!
When I first read rich dad poor dad, I knew that things would be different. I got a renewed sense of purpose.
I'd very much like to read this new book!
Can anyone tell me why, while watching DTV, some, but not all of the stations (I normally can get 7) suddenly lose signal? They are "off the air" for anywhere from a few seconds up to 20 minutes at a time. It's not the same stations each time, it just seems to be random. Sometimes they are off the air once in a few hours, other times they are off the air multiple times--in which case I just give up trying to watch TV. I called a couple of the affected stations, they said I need a different antenna. That doesn't make sense since they normally come in fine with the antenna I have been using. And if it is the antenna, why does it only affect certain stations and not others one time, and then different stations the next time?
Do I need a new antenna? Can anyone explain what is happening? Does anyone else have this happen to them?
Hi everyone,
I have an interview tomorrow afternoon and Im very nervous. If the recuitment agency phones my old place of work I cant not see me getting a very good reference as My family use to run the place and have since left!!!!
ANy tips on how I should say this to the agency. should I say nothing and hope for the best????
Thanks
Siobhan
Horizon Organic milk company is misleading consumers and dealing unethically with producers. They claim to get their milk from small, family-owned farms when they are actually driving these exact farms out of business. Horizon is not honoring contracts with small farmers, but instead getting their milk from their OWN company mega-dairy. They are misleading consumers by stating, on their website and in their literature, that they are comprised of small family dairies, when in fact, much of their milk comes from dairies with more than 500 cows.
One dairyman, Mr. Don Halverson, the owner of a small 50-cow dairy in Idaho, has shared his story of Horizon committing verbally to take his milk once he completed the expensive organic certification process, only to refuse to honor that agreement after he'd invested the thousands of dollars and time required.
You can get the full story and Mr. Halversons statement at:
http://sites.google.com/site/integrityinbusiness/
I get more interest off my saving account then I do my Checking, so when I have large deposits, I'll place the money in my savings account. Then when I make some large purchases or when I know need to make those purchases, I'll transfer the money over to my checking account.
Saving accounts have a limit on how many transfers you can make by either online withdraws, phone, or web. So this limits the amount I can transfer and makes me be more aware of when I'm spending my money.
I look over all of my receipts I make sure they are charging me the right amount. I also price match when ever possible. Every bit of money saved is more money to do something fun.
I look at when I spend money. How long did it take me to earn that much? $50 on a shirt is how many hours worked. $100 on dinner is how many hours worked. I enjoy my time not working, so do I want to work more or less? How much easier is it to take that nice vacation if I took leftover for lunch to work the next day and didn't spend that $5-10 on lunch. That's $25-50 a week which is $1,300 - $2,600 a year simply by saving $5-10 a day/5 day a week for an entire year. Is that REALLY such a a small amount or does it add up quickly. most people don;t realize how much they can save simply by cutting one small thing out of their lives and saving that money instead.
Liz
Custom Tax Services
www.customtaxservices.com