Justifying MUD purchases to non-players

Xith

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?

Aepas

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.

Delphinus

Virtual goods are a pretty established business model (which Achaea pioneered). At this point, if they don't get it, they're probably just out of the loop.

But no, I wouldn't mention it. If anything, I usually do the opposite: tell them I've only spent like $100 in over ten years, despite all the epic adventures and stories. Those adventures are the real selling point. I'd advise being kind of sketchy and vague about exact totals if you're over $1000.

Azor

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.

Tvistor

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)

Lyr

People who buy 2-3 games per month for Xbox or PS3 will spend ~$180 per month, or $2000 per year.

Tvistor

But they have the pretty pictures, you see.

We are so misunderstood. *sob*

Lyr

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.

Idelisa

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! [-(

Tvistor

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.

Tanris

Rarely really comes up, but I've never bothered trying to obscure that I spend a lot on Achaea. Mostly because its my money so I don't care if someone else would spend it differently, but also pretty much for the reasons stated here. I'm pretty confident as one of the people who has invested a large amount, I still probably have spent less than a lot of hardcore gamers do on new console games/consoles/memberships in the same timeframe that I've been playing. It is somewhat like the people who get incredulous over a trading cards enthusiast dropping $150 on some rare one, but will defend their $100 special release of Halo with a different box art or whatever to the death. Some people get it, some don't.

Achilles

What, I don't tell anyone about this dark secret hobby of mine.

I rather tell them about the time I hit that hitchhiker on the deserted road next to that haunted Indian bury ground and had to bury him.  Good thing there were not witnesses around.

Tahquil

Boyfriend : Did you just drop $50 dollars on words?

Me : Did you just drop $1200 on kite when you already have 5?

Boyfriend : .... Touche.

Azor

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.

Sultani

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.

Mishgul

Mother: What did you buy with paypal that cost you 3000 dollars in the last 2 months?

Me: Heroin

Synbios

Mishgul said:

Mother: What did you buy with paypal that cost you 3000 dollars in the last 2 months?

Me: Heroin

No doubt those flowerpots are cheaper.

Cahin

Hide and deny. Hide and deny.

Salvar

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. 

Idelisa

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. <.<

Halios

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.

Cooper

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.

Halios

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.

Talonia

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.  

Jonathin

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.

Sohl

That's true of any non-essential expense, really.

Beatrice

Bonko and I sat down together and worked out how much we spent on IRE. He's still recovering in the clinic, and I'm still trying to figure out what we were thinking. Oh, and Bonko is about as close as telling a friend (Other than me) how much money he spent on Achaea than he is to tell his partner he has herpes. lol Bonko (Just kidding about the herpes..)

Achilles

He has some uncurable vd

Tahquil

Just going to say this and people can WTF it or dislike it to there heart's content, but when you feel like you have to hide how much you spend from loved ones, or cringe at the thought of calculating the cost over the years just sit back for a second and take another look at your situation.

Sherazad

I have nothing to justify.

Beatrice

To @Tahquil: