How Much is Enough? - Alpha Centauri Forums

  Alpha Centauri Forums
  Old Test Forums
  How Much is Enough?

profile | register | prefs | faq | search

Author Topic:   How Much is Enough?

WAS posted 11-25-98 01:44 AM ET
OK here is a question I have not seen asked on this board. How many software game titles do you own? How often do you buy it? How many titles do you buy a year? What kind of games do you play most? I'm curious how I stack up against my peers on this forum. Here is my "stats" along with one "true confession" at the end.
Number of game Titles: Over 100
Number of games per Year: 15-20 games per year. This does not include games for my kids (usually get the kids 8 programs per year educational & entertainment) or utility type programs.
Type of Game played Most: Turn Based Strategy
My confession (keep it quiet) I NEVER tell my wife when I buy software (she thinks I buy too much). I take the CD & the instuction manuals out of the box and just mix it in with the rest of the software on my shelf.
DJ RRebel posted 11-25-98 02:32 AM ET
Let's see .. on my current PC (166mmx)that I bought last year (16 months ago)!!! (My previous PC was a 286 with 1meg ram and 40meg HD and really doen't count)
I've bought 3 games !!!
1> Civ 2 !!! (Best game ever)
2> Dark Reign (Great RT strategy game)
3> Dark Reign Expansion (same reason)
4> Starfleet Academy (Haven't really taken it out of the box yet)
That's it .. those are all I really play ..
The funny thing is that I could really play anything .. I have a cable connection and a CD-R and could really DL almost anything recent, but I couldn't be bothered .. I like the fact that I support my favorite games by buying them ... plus, learning strategy games without the manual is not favorable, as there are always one or two tiny details you miss !!!
Boskone on Toast posted 11-25-98 06:36 AM ET
I'm quite lucky I get to play lots & lots of different games for a living.
but games I've bought myself recently
1. Caesar 3
2. Peoples general
3. Starcraft
4. TA
That's pretty much all this year.
I seem to have far too many others at home, shelves full of.. CD's,Floppy disks, cartridges and tapes. What do you folks do with old games? sell 'em, trade, throw them in cupboards?
Just about my favourite game of all time was the original Elite for the BBC micro, I spent
waaay too much time playing that when I should have been going to school!
BOT
DJ RRebel posted 11-25-98 08:14 AM ET
hmmmn .. if you're really interested in other games ... I'll resurect an old thread with all kinds of games listed there !!!
I think the title was actually "other games" or something to that effect .. regardless, the title will be obvious !!! Hold on ... I'll go get it !!!
Lee Johnson posted 11-25-98 10:29 AM ET
Piker. :-) I don't know how much is enough, but I know how much is too much:
Number of game Titles: Approximately 250-300.
Number of games per Year: 40-45 games per year. This does not include games for my kids (which haven't been born yet) or utility type programs.
When you have this many titles kicking around, one trick I've found that works is to put all the CDs into racks, put the manuals and other materials into file folders, stuff the folders into banker's boxes, and collapse the original game boxes for recycling. It saves a TON of space.
I'd be the first to agree that I buy way-y-y too many games. Very few of them actually get the time they deserve, though I must say, it looks like I'm actually going to finish Half-Life. What an awesome game!
MikeH II posted 11-25-98 10:42 AM ET
I only tend to buy games I really like and play them to death. Consequently I've only got about 30 PC games (loads on other formats back to the BBC but I'm assuming you aren't counting those, or if you are I've got about 100 at a guess. that doesn't include either of my brothers' games)
I am currently buying about a game a month which is a massive increase on when I was a student.
Lee: I can't really imagine buying a game almost every week. I'd never have time to play them, to be honest I don't think there is a good game released every week. Maybe one or two a month at most.
Utility programs? I try and keep useful software away from my computer if possible.
Lee Johnson posted 11-25-98 11:04 AM ET
I wasn't counting the old Commodore 64 and Amiga titles I bought and disposed of aeons ago, which probably would have dumped another 50 or so games on the pile.
Unfortunately, new games aren't released in a steady stream: They come in clumps, especially at this time of the year. In the last two weeks, I think I've bought five titles. Of course, I'm not really playing them all yet. There are only two left on my buy list for the rest of calendar 1998; after that, SMAC is the only 'must-buy' I'm looking forward to.
I plan to throttle back my purchases in 1999, mostly out of necessity. That means living off my existing library (which could keep me going for several years), being more selective about new purchases, and getting more out of the games I do buy. It's the sensible thing to do.
DJ RRebel posted 11-25-98 11:28 AM ET
ummmm ... C-64 !!!
Anyways .. I'm like Mike .. I stick with a small handfull of games because that's all I have time for !!!
I still have to get my C-64 joystick port fixed !!! lol
Venom posted 11-25-98 12:15 PM ET
I have about 60 games that I considered still interesting enought to play. That means they have a place of honor on the shelf right next to my computer. As for the other games that I don't play anymore, or that suck, those are somewhere under my bed and I have no idea how many of those there are. I would imagine a good 30 or so. So I guess I've got about 90 total. As for how many games I get a year. It depends on how many good games are out and how many of those I want. If I want it I'll get it.
DJ RRebel posted 11-25-98 12:17 PM ET
*Echos from an old caramilk commercial*
... 75 thousand and and and nd nd d d d .....
... NOT enough ... LOL
WAS posted 11-25-98 12:56 PM ET
DJ, Mike, Lee, Venom & Boskone how much time a week, on average, do you spend on gaming?
Lee Johnson posted 11-25-98 03:08 PM ET
It varies somewhat, depending on my workload and social calendar. Some weeks, it can be as little as two or three hours; others, it can be a lot more. I've been playing Half-Life almost non-stop since I picked it up last week; I've probably blown 25-30 hours on it in the last six days. On average, say maybe 10-12 hours per week.
While I'm here, I should mention that I have a friend who probably buys 50% more games than I do, including console titles. He makes me look like the paragon of self-restraint. :-)
CClark posted 11-25-98 05:25 PM ET
Gee, my wife thinks I'm horrible, but now I'm feeling pretty good about myself! In the last five years, I've bought probably 40 games.
I tend to shop around (read on-line reviews) and only get games that look like they will really interest me. In the summer, I don't play very much, in the winter I play far to much for my wife's liking. Just bought Fallout 2, which was the first purchase in 3 months. However, over the next couple of months I'm planning on getting: WH40K:Chaos Gate, MS Combat FS, Baldur's Gate, SMAC (duh!) and possibly a first person shooter just to work out some frustration. On average, it works out to 6 to 12 games a year, depending on how the offerings are. (A lot more quality RPGs this year, so I'll probably be buying a few more than usual.)
DHE_X2 posted 11-25-98 06:59 PM ET
Daaaaooooommmmn, Lee!!! That is a heluva lot of games.
I have to be selective about my game purchases, since I only get about 3 a year, mostly from Christmas. Lets see, I have Descent, Conquest of the New World, Imperialism, Gene-wars, Simcity 2000, Civilization 2, Myst(crappy, very crappy.), Sim Isle, Sim Tower, and Outpost 2. All except Myst and Descent are strategy. I have two must buys, Smac and Simcity3000.
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey posted 11-25-98 08:49 PM ET
My wife isn't to angry at me......wait, I don't have a wife. Ooops....
Anyway, I have a whole 16 games!!!! I tend to be pretty choosy, & always wait for either an excellent online review, or a friends reference. If I get a friends reference, I HAVE to play it just to make sure. If it's a review, I seek a reference from anyone, or sometimes I just buy it anyway, because it just looks so cool! I like all my games too, so this is a good system IMO.
My games are X-Com Apocalypse, WarcraftII, with Beyond the Dark Portal Expansion, Castles II, Fury III, Syndicate Plus, R.E.Lee Civil War General, Age of Empires, Outpost II, Civ II, Lords of the Realm II, Simcity 2000, Quake, & DoomII.
A lot of sequels up there
The games I plan on buying in the near future are:
1.) SMAC (duh!)
2.) Gangsters
3.) Close Combat: A Bridge to far(I know it's been out a while, but it just looks cool)
4.) Possibly Starcraft.
Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general,
YYYH
dushan posted 11-25-98 09:17 PM ET
I've just counted the boxes - only 6! Well, I guess my brother has nicked some .
Anyway, they are Civ II, MOO II, Might&Magic VI, syndicate wars, TA, and something else I can't quite see (they're in the living room and I can't be bothered to stand up).
I have only games that I really like thanks to the greatest games shop : Electronics Butique. I'm not sure if it works like this in US, but here in UK we have 10 day return policy, so games I don't like are promptly returned. I also tend to wait for the prices to go down (you can usually get games just 1 year old for about �10). I'm obviously getting SMAC as soon as it comes out (which is probably a month later than in US )
I'm also planning on testing out Civ-CTP - even though worse then SMAC, still seems to be a damn good game.
SnowFire posted 11-25-98 10:45 PM ET
I never thought of myself as choosy before, but now I do. I really don't have that many games for my current computer: off the top of my head, I have
Civ2
WarCraft 2: Tides of Darkness with expansion (Beyond the Dark Portal)
Myth: The Fallen Lords
Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succesesion Wars, with expansion (Price of Loyalty)
And in the old games I almost never play anymore category (but I got them fairly recently, actually, after they were already 1 or 2 years old):
Imperialism
Colonization!
Deadlock
Caesar II
Transport Tycoon
Zork (you can download it for free)
King's Bounty (that's free too, and I actually still play it some)

In no particualr category are my NES emulator that plays old Nintendo games; Acrophobia, a fantastic online game (check out www.bezerk.com/acro for more); and Sanctum, a not so excellent online game; andme Beta Test Copy of SMAC (I can dream, can't I?)
I prefer to take one or two games and totally beat them to death, like I've done with Civ2, Myth, HOMM II, and WC II. And SMAC as well in the future, and probably HOMM III and Myth II as well.
Firehawk posted 11-26-98 01:40 AM ET
I tend to get games rarely, and then play them to death. I guess because I'm a perfectionist (er more like obsessive-compulsive) and it would really pain me to 'waste' a game. I'd say maybe 4 a year. It always seems like the good ones are always just around the corner. This isn't really the point of this thread, but anyway, my most anticipated games are SMAC, SMAC, FFVIII, TA:Kingdoms, Max Payne, Middle Earth (long time for that), Descent 3 (not Freespace), Force Commander, and probably a few others that I can't remember right now. But I'll probably end up only getting a few of those and then waiting and waiting for the next crop of games, thinking "darn it, why are all the good ones just around the corner" when some of the ones from my list are out and I don't have them.
DHE_X2 posted 11-26-98 01:50 AM ET
Does anybody think Syndicate Wars is good? I might add it to my buy list, but only if I get some more-than-decent reviews.
Boskone on Toast posted 11-26-98 07:53 AM ET
WAS: I play games for 3-4 hours a day on average but mostly these are early Alpha or Beta versions so it doesn't really count.
On my own time I play maybe 4 hours a week.
A question for people in the UK, which is the best place to buy games? I mean for price, early release dates and returns etc.
Dushan likes EB (I haven't tried them before) any other recommendations?
Has anyone bought stuff from any on-line companies? are they any good? I ask because I may have buy SMAC from an American source if the UK release is much later than the US
Cheers
BOT
Lee Johnson posted 11-26-98 10:02 AM ET
Syndicate Wars is fun, but it does get difficult quickly. I'm surprised that it didn't get more attention from the gaming public.
Imran Siddiqui posted 11-26-98 03:38 PM ET
Hmm, I got Civ2 (with Scenario Disk and Fantastic Worlds), Fallout, Fallout 2, Diablo, Zork Nemesis, C&C: Red Alert (which confirmed my belief that RTS games suck!!), SimCity 2000, etc.
I want to get in the near future:
1)SMAC (of course)
2)Baldur's Gate (sweet looking RPG)
3)Panzer General 2 (a little old, but still looks sweet. I rather get this than Peoples' General)
4)Diablo 2
Imran Siddiqui
Patriot
Titan posted 11-26-98 04:02 PM ET
I usually buy around 3 to 4 games a year. I have to chose well the game that I'll buy. At all I think i have around 15 titles, 8 I still play. I have civ2, MOO2, Starcraft, FF7 and soon, I hope, SMAC . I also buy good hockey and baseball games every two or three years.
To close this thread, click here (moderator or admin only).


Hop to:

Contact Us | Alpha Centauri Home

Powered by: Ultimate Bulletin Board, Version 5.18
© Madrona Park, Inc., 1998.

Author	Topic: How Much is Enough?
WAS	posted 11-25-98 01:44 AM ET OK here is a question I have not seen asked on this board. How many software game titles do you own? How often do you buy it? How many titles do you buy a year? What kind of games do you play most? I'm curious how I stack up against my peers on this forum. Here is my "stats" along with one "true confession" at the end. Number of game Titles: Over 100 Number of games per Year: 15-20 games per year. This does not include games for my kids (usually get the kids 8 programs per year educational & entertainment) or utility type programs. Type of Game played Most: Turn Based Strategy My confession (keep it quiet) I NEVER tell my wife when I buy software (she thinks I buy too much). I take the CD & the instuction manuals out of the box and just mix it in with the rest of the software on my shelf.
DJ RRebel	posted 11-25-98 02:32 AM ET Let's see .. on my current PC (166mmx)that I bought last year (16 months ago)!!! (My previous PC was a 286 with 1meg ram and 40meg HD and really doen't count) I've bought 3 games !!! 1> Civ 2 !!! (Best game ever) 2> Dark Reign (Great RT strategy game) 3> Dark Reign Expansion (same reason) 4> Starfleet Academy (Haven't really taken it out of the box yet) That's it .. those are all I really play .. The funny thing is that I could really play anything .. I have a cable connection and a CD-R and could really DL almost anything recent, but I couldn't be bothered .. I like the fact that I support my favorite games by buying them ... plus, learning strategy games without the manual is not favorable, as there are always one or two tiny details you miss !!!
Boskone on Toast	posted 11-25-98 06:36 AM ET I'm quite lucky I get to play lots & lots of different games for a living. but games I've bought myself recently 1. Caesar 3 2. Peoples general 3. Starcraft 4. TA That's pretty much all this year. I seem to have far too many others at home, shelves full of.. CD's,Floppy disks, cartridges and tapes. What do you folks do with old games? sell 'em, trade, throw them in cupboards? Just about my favourite game of all time was the original Elite for the BBC micro, I spent waaay too much time playing that when I should have been going to school! BOT
DJ RRebel	posted 11-25-98 08:14 AM ET hmmmn .. if you're really interested in other games ... I'll resurect an old thread with all kinds of games listed there !!! I think the title was actually "other games" or something to that effect .. regardless, the title will be obvious !!! Hold on ... I'll go get it !!!
Lee Johnson	posted 11-25-98 10:29 AM ET Piker. :-) I don't know how much is enough, but I know how much is too much: Number of game Titles: Approximately 250-300. Number of games per Year: 40-45 games per year. This does not include games for my kids (which haven't been born yet) or utility type programs. When you have this many titles kicking around, one trick I've found that works is to put all the CDs into racks, put the manuals and other materials into file folders, stuff the folders into banker's boxes, and collapse the original game boxes for recycling. It saves a TON of space. I'd be the first to agree that I buy way-y-y too many games. Very few of them actually get the time they deserve, though I must say, it looks like I'm actually going to finish Half-Life. What an awesome game!
MikeH II	posted 11-25-98 10:42 AM ET I only tend to buy games I really like and play them to death. Consequently I've only got about 30 PC games (loads on other formats back to the BBC but I'm assuming you aren't counting those, or if you are I've got about 100 at a guess. that doesn't include either of my brothers' games) I am currently buying about a game a month which is a massive increase on when I was a student. Lee: I can't really imagine buying a game almost every week. I'd never have time to play them, to be honest I don't think there is a good game released every week. Maybe one or two a month at most. Utility programs? I try and keep useful software away from my computer if possible.
Lee Johnson	posted 11-25-98 11:04 AM ET I wasn't counting the old Commodore 64 and Amiga titles I bought and disposed of aeons ago, which probably would have dumped another 50 or so games on the pile. Unfortunately, new games aren't released in a steady stream: They come in clumps, especially at this time of the year. In the last two weeks, I think I've bought five titles. Of course, I'm not really playing them all yet. There are only two left on my buy list for the rest of calendar 1998; after that, SMAC is the only 'must-buy' I'm looking forward to. I plan to throttle back my purchases in 1999, mostly out of necessity. That means living off my existing library (which could keep me going for several years), being more selective about new purchases, and getting more out of the games I do buy. It's the sensible thing to do.
DJ RRebel	posted 11-25-98 11:28 AM ET ummmm ... C-64 !!! Anyways .. I'm like Mike .. I stick with a small handfull of games because that's all I have time for !!! I still have to get my C-64 joystick port fixed !!! lol
Venom	posted 11-25-98 12:15 PM ET I have about 60 games that I considered still interesting enought to play. That means they have a place of honor on the shelf right next to my computer. As for the other games that I don't play anymore, or that suck, those are somewhere under my bed and I have no idea how many of those there are. I would imagine a good 30 or so. So I guess I've got about 90 total. As for how many games I get a year. It depends on how many good games are out and how many of those I want. If I want it I'll get it.
DJ RRebel	posted 11-25-98 12:17 PM ET Echos from an old caramilk commercial ... 75 thousand and and and nd nd d d d ..... ... NOT enough ... LOL
WAS	posted 11-25-98 12:56 PM ET DJ, Mike, Lee, Venom & Boskone how much time a week, on average, do you spend on gaming?
Lee Johnson	posted 11-25-98 03:08 PM ET It varies somewhat, depending on my workload and social calendar. Some weeks, it can be as little as two or three hours; others, it can be a lot more. I've been playing Half-Life almost non-stop since I picked it up last week; I've probably blown 25-30 hours on it in the last six days. On average, say maybe 10-12 hours per week. While I'm here, I should mention that I have a friend who probably buys 50% more games than I do, including console titles. He makes me look like the paragon of self-restraint. :-)
CClark	posted 11-25-98 05:25 PM ET Gee, my wife thinks I'm horrible, but now I'm feeling pretty good about myself! In the last five years, I've bought probably 40 games. I tend to shop around (read on-line reviews) and only get games that look like they will really interest me. In the summer, I don't play very much, in the winter I play far to much for my wife's liking. Just bought Fallout 2, which was the first purchase in 3 months. However, over the next couple of months I'm planning on getting: WH40K:Chaos Gate, MS Combat FS, Baldur's Gate, SMAC (duh!) and possibly a first person shooter just to work out some frustration. On average, it works out to 6 to 12 games a year, depending on how the offerings are. (A lot more quality RPGs this year, so I'll probably be buying a few more than usual.)
DHE_X2	posted 11-25-98 06:59 PM ET Daaaaooooommmmn, Lee!!! That is a heluva lot of games. I have to be selective about my game purchases, since I only get about 3 a year, mostly from Christmas. Lets see, I have Descent, Conquest of the New World, Imperialism, Gene-wars, Simcity 2000, Civilization 2, Myst(crappy, very crappy.), Sim Isle, Sim Tower, and Outpost 2. All except Myst and Descent are strategy. I have two must buys, Smac and Simcity3000.
Yo_Yo_Yo_Hey	posted 11-25-98 08:49 PM ET My wife isn't to angry at me......wait, I don't have a wife. Ooops.... Anyway, I have a whole 16 games!!!! I tend to be pretty choosy, & always wait for either an excellent online review, or a friends reference. If I get a friends reference, I HAVE to play it just to make sure. If it's a review, I seek a reference from anyone, or sometimes I just buy it anyway, because it just looks so cool! I like all my games too, so this is a good system IMO. My games are X-Com Apocalypse, WarcraftII, with Beyond the Dark Portal Expansion, Castles II, Fury III, Syndicate Plus, R.E.Lee Civil War General, Age of Empires, Outpost II, Civ II, Lords of the Realm II, Simcity 2000, Quake, & DoomII. A lot of sequels up there The games I plan on buying in the near future are: 1.) SMAC (duh!) 2.) Gangsters 3.) Close Combat: A Bridge to far(I know it's been out a while, but it just looks cool) 4.) Possibly Starcraft. Your faithful & hell-bent NIMadier general, YYYH
dushan	posted 11-25-98 09:17 PM ET I've just counted the boxes - only 6! Well, I guess my brother has nicked some . Anyway, they are Civ II, MOO II, Might&Magic VI, syndicate wars, TA, and something else I can't quite see (they're in the living room and I can't be bothered to stand up). I have only games that I really like thanks to the greatest games shop : Electronics Butique. I'm not sure if it works like this in US, but here in UK we have 10 day return policy, so games I don't like are promptly returned. I also tend to wait for the prices to go down (you can usually get games just 1 year old for about �10). I'm obviously getting SMAC as soon as it comes out (which is probably a month later than in US ) I'm also planning on testing out Civ-CTP - even though worse then SMAC, still seems to be a damn good game.
SnowFire	posted 11-25-98 10:45 PM ET I never thought of myself as choosy before, but now I do. I really don't have that many games for my current computer: off the top of my head, I have Civ2 WarCraft 2: Tides of Darkness with expansion (Beyond the Dark Portal) Myth: The Fallen Lords Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succesesion Wars, with expansion (Price of Loyalty) And in the old games I almost never play anymore category (but I got them fairly recently, actually, after they were already 1 or 2 years old): Imperialism Colonization! Deadlock Caesar II Transport Tycoon Zork (you can download it for free) King's Bounty (that's free too, and I actually still play it some) In no particualr category are my NES emulator that plays old Nintendo games; Acrophobia, a fantastic online game (check out www.bezerk.com/acro for more); and Sanctum, a not so excellent online game; andme Beta Test Copy of SMAC (I can dream, can't I?) I prefer to take one or two games and totally beat them to death, like I've done with Civ2, Myth, HOMM II, and WC II. And SMAC as well in the future, and probably HOMM III and Myth II as well.
Firehawk	posted 11-26-98 01:40 AM ET I tend to get games rarely, and then play them to death. I guess because I'm a perfectionist (er more like obsessive-compulsive) and it would really pain me to 'waste' a game. I'd say maybe 4 a year. It always seems like the good ones are always just around the corner. This isn't really the point of this thread, but anyway, my most anticipated games are SMAC, SMAC, FFVIII, TA:Kingdoms, Max Payne, Middle Earth (long time for that), Descent 3 (not Freespace), Force Commander, and probably a few others that I can't remember right now. But I'll probably end up only getting a few of those and then waiting and waiting for the next crop of games, thinking "darn it, why are all the good ones just around the corner" when some of the ones from my list are out and I don't have them.
DHE_X2	posted 11-26-98 01:50 AM ET Does anybody think Syndicate Wars is good? I might add it to my buy list, but only if I get some more-than-decent reviews.
Boskone on Toast	posted 11-26-98 07:53 AM ET WAS: I play games for 3-4 hours a day on average but mostly these are early Alpha or Beta versions so it doesn't really count. On my own time I play maybe 4 hours a week. A question for people in the UK, which is the best place to buy games? I mean for price, early release dates and returns etc. Dushan likes EB (I haven't tried them before) any other recommendations? Has anyone bought stuff from any on-line companies? are they any good? I ask because I may have buy SMAC from an American source if the UK release is much later than the US Cheers BOT
Lee Johnson	posted 11-26-98 10:02 AM ET Syndicate Wars is fun, but it does get difficult quickly. I'm surprised that it didn't get more attention from the gaming public.
Imran Siddiqui	posted 11-26-98 03:38 PM ET Hmm, I got Civ2 (with Scenario Disk and Fantastic Worlds), Fallout, Fallout 2, Diablo, Zork Nemesis, C&C: Red Alert (which confirmed my belief that RTS games suck!!), SimCity 2000, etc. I want to get in the near future: 1)SMAC (of course) 2)Baldur's Gate (sweet looking RPG) 3)Panzer General 2 (a little old, but still looks sweet. I rather get this than Peoples' General) 4)Diablo 2 Imran Siddiqui Patriot
Titan	posted 11-26-98 04:02 PM ET I usually buy around 3 to 4 games a year. I have to chose well the game that I'll buy. At all I think i have around 15 titles, 8 I still play. I have civ2, MOO2, Starcraft, FF7 and soon, I hope, SMAC . I also buy good hockey and baseball games every two or three years.