An issue of Challenge. (How long can you go w/o buying?)

[Fuyukaze]

About five or six weeks ago, I was going over my list of games and realized something. During all of last year, I had picked up enough games to more then double my colection. This realy bothered me as while I claim to love games, I never have enough time to play a tenth of what I get. This led to consider the question, what if I just STOPED buying new games for any given amount of time? Not forever, just for a set amount of time? Rather then buy new ones and not have time to play them, simply play those I already have. That led me to the conclusion. For the entire month of March, I would buy no games. No trips to game stores, no trips to pawn shops, no garage sales, no nothing. I would work, I would play what games I already own, and I would remember why I keep buying games in the first place. Now that I'm half way into this, I must admit it's become quite a chalenge. I find myself fighting the urge to check out the buying and selling, make trips to all the local haunts I used to requent, and honestly its not easy.

So as I experience this, I've decided to issue everyone here at DP who has ever questioned their own spending habbits the same chalenge I am experiencing. No new games.

The rules are simple.
1.If you already pre-ordered, that doesnt count as the original order came outside the timeframe. If your seeing it on the rack or display for the first time though, that's a different story.

2.Play the games you got which you've just not had time for. All that back stock of games? Now's their chance to shine. Play em, enjoy them, and if you can, beat them.

3.Be honest with yourself. If you cant do it for a week, two weeks, or a month, atleast you have learned something. Also, this isnt a scored chalenge. There realy isnt a way to win as there is no prize beyond the ability to save a lil more money in your pocket and re-learn the value of a great game.

[DarkStraw]

whenever i find any games in the wild the first thing i do is play them to see if i like them, i keep the ones i like in a stack and play them 15-30 minutes a day sometimes more/less.

[Gapporin]

Heck, I just went two months without buying a new game. Dunno why (I certainly didn't plan it that way), but I think it was a mix of waning interest/saving money for more important things (or having money go to different things, like music). But I think I'm starting to get back into it again, so I've started to buy/trade some more games since then.

[Fuyukaze]

Well, my month is up and what I have learned from it has been very interesting, yet not as enjoyable as originaly planed.

The first thing I learned was that it realy did not matter if I was buying games, anime, or fried chicken. Come Monday, I would be broke or near enough there wouldnt be any difference.
I also discovered a love for music as I bought CDs constantly. I used to buy no more then one to two CDs a year, yet somehow in one month I managed to buy nine.

The third thing I learned though was the hardest to admit. That was the fact that I am a video game colector, and not simply a fan of console gaming as I had led myself to believe all these years. See, all of last year while I was buying the games, I kept telling myself I'd play them when I had the time. Truth is, I had the time, I had no new games presuring me to try them out quickly, and yet at best I managed to play a whole 8 games from my entire colection. Not finish mind you, just put them in their respective system, power up, play a bit, and turn off. At any given time I could have been trying out and playing so many more. I didnt though. It led me to the conclusion that I enjoy the idea of having the option to play any of them at any given time more then actualy doing so. Yeah, that bothers me.

Well, now that the month is up, I still chalenge everyone here at DP to do the same. I say this because I honestly believe it will have an effect on how one views gaming and its place in their life. Try it! I did, and I discovered what kind of gamer I was.

[le geek]

Well the clock starts now, as I received some games in trade yesterday. As I have real world stuff to save up for, I'm hoping to go until at least August!

Cheers,
Ben

EDIT: "The Contest" begins...

[s1lence]

I've gone a few weeks without buying any, but I typically buy one every couple of days. This isn't because I can't resist the purchase, its just I figure a couple bucks for a game isn't that big of a deal. Now when it comes to brand NEW titles, I've gone a couple months without.

[scooterb23]

I've gone months at a time without buying any games, it wasn't that hard for me. Mind you, now that Cinciclassic is coming up, and I'm trying to reach a specific goal (200 Game Boy games)...I'm going to be buying like crazy again.

[mezrabad]

It led me to the conclusion that I enjoy the idea of having the option to play any of them at any given time more then actualy doing so.

I understand completely. I've often gotten a compulsion to play a game for which I will scour ebay. I get it. I feel good. I don't play it.

This extends to old PC games, too. I wanted to play Arena. I busted my ass rebuilding one of my old computers (cannibalizing my MAME cab in the process). I finally got it up and running. I was happy for about five minutes and then I wanted to reassemble my MAME cabinet.

I, too, think it's about wanting to have the option to play whatever it is I want to play. (Which is why I have to go through them all in order if I'm ever going to play anything, see my blog.)

[n8littlefield]

My clock will start tomorrow. I'm doing one last tradein and then I'll be ready to stop buying for quite awhile and clear out my backlog of games to play.

[jcalder8]

I didn't buy any games for a good 6 months before christmas and then from Dec till Feb I bought probably 75 games. This means that I don't have any cash for about 6 months again, unless I sell a few games that I got that I don't like or are doubles. But as it stands right now my game buying has dried up for awhile.

[n8littlefield]

I bought quite a few games I had never gotten around to playing for my PS2 - but find that I really only play my DS or Guitar Hero. It's kind of sad that I have 30 PS2 games that I've hardly touched and still sit there playing Tetris DS.

[Snapple]

Other than a few SNES carts that I like to collect just for collection purposes, I never buy anything new until I run out of stuff to play. And even then, I might hold off for a while.

I've gotten three new games in the last month, and that makes me feel guilty enough not to get anything for maybe two months or longer.

[nik]

a long time.... unless somthing huge comes out retail.

After all, save more, you can buy more at once right?

[Retsudo]

I only buy about 2 games a year.

[lotus13]

I buy games almost everyday and will never stop. What is the point of stopping?

[SegaAges]

Hehe, I just bought like 9 or 10 games today alone.

I usually hit up goodwills in my city about twice a week.

[BrokenFlight]

I can't go a week without buying games. Then I get home and decide I don't have the attention span to really get into a game.

I've bought about six PS2 games this week. I've played two of them. I've got about 30 Megadrive/Master System games I haven't played. I'm slowly getting through them, though.

[jdc]

Since I switched to a 360 it's been EASY not to buy games!!

I am just NOT motivated to spend nearly $80 Canadian for a non-killer-app 360 game and am not willing to pay $60 for it used either. Thank God that Oblivion lasts a long time.

As far as my Dreamcast-and-earlier consoles.....it's been unusually slim pickings around here lately.

[Fighter17]

I'll try to buy a game every two weeks, then I would buy a game or two for my Genesis collection.

[donkeykong1]

I voted for longer because I rarely buy new games. I will buy one if I really want it but that's not often.