Justifying MUD purchases to non-players

So when I tell people that over the past 3.5 years I've probably invested $3500 into one online game, and it doesn't even have graphics... I get weird looks or lots of dots (...).

1. How do you guys usually approach it or try to justify it?

2. Should we mention this when attempting to recruit new players? Is it a selling point or a detriment?

I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
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Comments

  • First, counter them. If they smoke or Dip, tell them that costs a lot more.
    If they play COD, tell them that they paid about a quarter of your cost on expansion packs, cause gawd knows they are not full releases.
    If they have a girlfriend, Girlfriends are more expensive
    If they have a wife, well their life is only going to get more dull.

    Once you have a good counter argument formed, make sure to spend some more money on IRE.
    Replies the scorpion: "It's my nature..."
  • Yeah, I played from age 12 to 18 without spending any money, and plenty of others did and continue to do the same. So if you're one of those people that "allows Achaea to exist" (to use the party line), you could focus on people like me! Well, the former me. Now I pay the $25 a month, which I don't see as ridiculous.
  • I don't mention it ever. Once I've done the conversions from my local currency to US dollars it comes up to a lot less than many people have spent, but it'd still be enough to draw incredulous looks.

    I have a text-dirk that speeds me up a tiny fraction in text-combat (the L1 was a gift and the upgrade was Bardic credits, though) and it honestly costs as much money as some people make in two or three months. I sadly can not justify that. At most, I'd be comfortable saying I spent maybe $100 on Achaea. Once you're in the ranges of characters like Carmain, my mind boggles at the prices involved.

    (although some of our players can't play graphical games, so that's cool)
  • People who buy 2-3 games per month for Xbox or PS3 will spend ~$180 per month, or $2000 per year.
  • But they have the pretty pictures, you see.

    We are so misunderstood. *sob*
  • I'd hope people buy games for the experience of playing, not for the shiny graphics. I know many games with amazing graphics but are terribly short or have a meh story. So you're paying $60 for 10 hours of gameplay. Even with multiplayer games, it's the same maps over and over, or you have to pay more for more map DLC.
  • To be fair, it's young children that require pictures in their adventures. Adults read books with all words.

    I don't need pictures.  I'm a grown up! [-(
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  • But then there are games with the shiny graphics and good storylines.

    It is just impossible for me to explain to them how much they are missing out on. Suffice it to say the vast majority of the human species has a terrible aversion to reading when they don't need to, and it bodes pretty badly for our future.
  • Tahquil said:
    Boyfriend : Did you just drop $50 dollars on words?
    When you put is that way, it does make Achaea sound like a raw Skinner box.
  • I try not to bring it up but entertainment is all relative these days. I don't spend nearly as much at bars and restaurants anymore, don't console game, etc. When you dedicate a significant portion of your free time to something that you enjoy then I think its justified to an extent.

    Thankfully a lot more people get it now than used to. Every other dingy little Facebook game asks you to drop money on much more trivial things than Achaea offers.
  • MishgulMishgul Trondheim, Norway
    Mother: What did you buy with paypal that cost you 3000 dollars in the last 2 months?
    Me: Heroin

    -

    One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important

    As drawn by Shayde
    hic locus est ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae
  • Mishgul said:
    Mother: What did you buy with paypal that cost you 3000 dollars in the last 2 months?
    Me: Heroin

  • Hide and deny. Hide and deny.

  • Hey, if it is your money you're spending...who cares?  When I was in my early 20s, my money went to clubs, booze, and hangovers.  

    I could be spending money on worse things. 


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  • I can't be the only person that literally refuses to calculate the money spent on Achaea.  

    Thankfully I have a CC that my husband cannot see the transactions of. <.<
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  • Question shouldn't be how do you justify mud purchases to non players but why would you justify anything at all?

    Just becomes a battle of subjective valuations, which is an irrelevant clusterfuck on principle.
  • You don't have to tell people how much you've spent. Just tell them it's like any other hobby - you spend money on it because you like it, and the money you've spent has made you happy.

    Also, link them to Diablo 3. A single item there sold for nearly $10,000 last week.

  • Cooper said:
    You don't have to tell people how much you've spent. Just tell them it's like any other hobby - you spend money on it because you like it, and the money you've spent has made you happy.

    Also, link them to Diablo 3. A single item there sold for nearly $10,000 last week.
    I exploited that game in the first month (didn't gold bot) and sold my demon hunter's full kit for $1k before the DH nerfs to attack speed/crit chance etc.

    Didn't play after that.
  • There may be a way to justify spending money on this game instead of on other games, but there is no way to justify spending money on this game instead of feeding real-life orphans, really.  Kind of awkward for us.  
  • JonathinJonathin Retired in a hole.
    It's the same as spending money to go to a theater, rent movies, or pay for Netflix or Hulu. The inherent value people see therein is completely subjective.
    I am retired and log into the forums maybe once every 2 months. It was a good 20 years, live your best lives, friends.
  • That's true of any non-essential expense, really.
    My free mudlet scripts can be had HERE.
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  • AchillesAchilles Los Angeles
    He has some uncurable vd
    image
  • SherazadSherazad Planef Urth
    I have nothing to justify. D:
    Bleh, work ate my gaming life.
    내가 제일 잘 나가!!!111!!1


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