this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2024
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This is mostly a me problem but I get mad at the very idea of someone spending $30 on a skin. That is such a clash with my values it's upsetting.
Like, I don't want to slide all the way down the "why spend any money on fun when people are starving" slope. I understand that people need some joy in their life.
But I just don't see how the skins in these games bring joy anywhere near the money charged for them. Like the title, you could buy a whole other smash hit game for that much money! Plus tons of other non game stuff. That's a small dinner with friends. That's a small band's concert.
So I just get kind of mad that people are spending their money on this stuff at all. It's not a good use of money. Stop it. Be better at money. Reminds me of an old friend's idiot brother that would blow his money on expensive not-bulk soda and candy when he needed a new keyboard. Like literally failing the marshmallow test.
But I can't control other people. Sadly.
That's before any of the "blizzard wants money. They see the huge ROI for this stuff. It's a better ROI than other content. They will make more skins instead of other content" train of thought.
With apologies for this longish rant.
The simple answer is that, for a fair amount of people, $30 isn't a notable purchase, such that it's not particularly a substitute for anything else they may be interested in doing.
Is that true? Something like 40% of Americans don't have $400 on hand. Maybe the people spending money on this trend wealthier?
I feel like you'd have to be pretty wealthy for $30 to be unremarkable.
I mean we're already looking at a fairly expensive hobby in gaming, which is going to skew towards people with more money in the first place.
And just speaking from my own perspective as solidly middle class, $30 is pretty comfortably within what I can spend without particularly thinking about it. Like yeah, I obviously can't just throw $30 at everything I see, it adds up over time, but it's low enough that I don't particularly have to think about exactly where it will come out of my budget.
And fwiw, I tend to avoid most in-game micro transactions, because I simply don't value them all that highly. I barely even care about getting free unlocks in most games.