I have my doubts that it’s one of the cheaper hobbies. In my eyes it’s one of the most expensive ones you can have. It has a high entry level cost(if you are a PC gamer likely 1k+), plus a moderate to high upkeep cost(new games @ ~30-70$ depending on quality) to keep in the hobby. It’s also one of the few hobbies where you are expected to upgrade at least every few years in order to stay relevant. Not to mention the cost of any subscriptions you have as part of the hobby such as gamepass, your ISP, humble choice, etc
Most hobbies are a cost to enter, then a relatively small upkeep style cost. For example engineering, fishing, scrapbooking, puzzles, hunting, even crocheting or knitting are all you buy the tool for it, and then maybe spend a yearly cost for new supplies or a license to do the hobby.
Gaming the cost never goes down. You are either buying a new game cause the old one was completed, or upgrading your parts.
You are just making an argument that it’s possible to spend a lot of money on gaming, which is true. It’s possible to spend a lot of money on most hobbies. The question is how much are you required to spend to take part. In the current AI bubble it is more expensive than it should be, but I bought a Steam Deck for $399 when it launched, and there are so many free games you never have to spend a dollar.
Yeah, keeping up with new hardware and latest games will cost you, but you don’t need to do that. Since you bring up fishing, a fishing license you have to renew every year, fishing rod and all required gear, will already cost you many times that amount.
I’m making the argument that gaming is not a cheap hobby.
It can’t be cheap regardless of what is stated.
The cost of your steam deck alone has already ate up half to two thirds of what I have spent fishing in the past ten or so years and that’s with a rod, a few ice fishing rigs and buying a yearly fishing license.
Gaming is not a cheap hobby. There are ways that you can make it cheaper, but I would never agree that it is one of the lesser expensive hobbies.
I think I would have to agree with your metric of 400 being the starting point., because the Steam Deck is probably the cheapest option you can have for a gaming system at this point but that’s not going to provide you with any games. You are going to have to find some way of doing so, and for someone who just spent $400 on a gaming unit, that probably means you’re going to be spending money on the Steam store. Because it’s not like Epic Game Studios allows you to retroactively redeem every freebie they offer. (by the way, unrelated, but Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 has been put as a freebie again on Epic Store this week, and if you didn’t grab it the first time, it is a good game.). You would be locked down to buying, waiting or finding one of the various gatchas that Steam has on the platform and then hoping that it runs without having to install a custom proton like dw or something
I spent $150 on my rod, another $100 on my ice fishing rig, and I have spent 30 a year for my fishing license. You can also include the boat, if you like, which would be $50 that I spent 15 years ago(second hand), but I generally fish off the shore.
Now, I will agree with you that if you’re doing deep sea fishing, that’s where the $$$ is. My parents do that. I couldn’t do it. Because that’s like $1,500 for the boat trip, or buying a boat that can handle the ocean. on top of the at minimum $300 deep-sea fishing poles because everything needs to be stronger and weighted
But I definitely don’t agree that fishing as a whole is a more expensive hobby than gaming, that concept is absolutely ludicrous to me. an entry or minimalistic fisher vs entry minimalistic gamer; the fisher is going to spend less.
I put gaming a little bit under golfing in terms of expensive hobbies. Because with golf you have a metric buttload of different clubs that you need for it. So it’s a really, really high upfront price, and then a relatively low upkeep.
That’s how I see gaming, a high upfront cost, and a moderate upkeep.
I have my doubts that it’s one of the cheaper hobbies. In my eyes it’s one of the most expensive ones you can have. It has a high entry level cost(if you are a PC gamer likely 1k+), plus a moderate to high upkeep cost(new games @ ~30-70$ depending on quality) to keep in the hobby. It’s also one of the few hobbies where you are expected to upgrade at least every few years in order to stay relevant. Not to mention the cost of any subscriptions you have as part of the hobby such as gamepass, your ISP, humble choice, etc
Most hobbies are a cost to enter, then a relatively small upkeep style cost. For example engineering, fishing, scrapbooking, puzzles, hunting, even crocheting or knitting are all you buy the tool for it, and then maybe spend a yearly cost for new supplies or a license to do the hobby.
Gaming the cost never goes down. You are either buying a new game cause the old one was completed, or upgrading your parts.
You are just making an argument that it’s possible to spend a lot of money on gaming, which is true. It’s possible to spend a lot of money on most hobbies. The question is how much are you required to spend to take part. In the current AI bubble it is more expensive than it should be, but I bought a Steam Deck for $399 when it launched, and there are so many free games you never have to spend a dollar.
Yeah, keeping up with new hardware and latest games will cost you, but you don’t need to do that. Since you bring up fishing, a fishing license you have to renew every year, fishing rod and all required gear, will already cost you many times that amount.
I’m making the argument that gaming is not a cheap hobby.
It can’t be cheap regardless of what is stated.
The cost of your steam deck alone has already ate up half to two thirds of what I have spent fishing in the past ten or so years and that’s with a rod, a few ice fishing rigs and buying a yearly fishing license.
Gaming is not a cheap hobby. There are ways that you can make it cheaper, but I would never agree that it is one of the lesser expensive hobbies.
I think I would have to agree with your metric of 400 being the starting point., because the Steam Deck is probably the cheapest option you can have for a gaming system at this point but that’s not going to provide you with any games. You are going to have to find some way of doing so, and for someone who just spent $400 on a gaming unit, that probably means you’re going to be spending money on the Steam store. Because it’s not like Epic Game Studios allows you to retroactively redeem every freebie they offer. (by the way, unrelated, but Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 has been put as a freebie again on Epic Store this week, and if you didn’t grab it the first time, it is a good game.). You would be locked down to buying, waiting or finding one of the various gatchas that Steam has on the platform and then hoping that it runs without having to install a custom proton like dw or something
I spent $150 on my rod, another $100 on my ice fishing rig, and I have spent 30 a year for my fishing license. You can also include the boat, if you like, which would be $50 that I spent 15 years ago(second hand), but I generally fish off the shore.
Now, I will agree with you that if you’re doing deep sea fishing, that’s where the $$$ is. My parents do that. I couldn’t do it. Because that’s like $1,500 for the boat trip, or buying a boat that can handle the ocean. on top of the at minimum $300 deep-sea fishing poles because everything needs to be stronger and weighted
But I definitely don’t agree that fishing as a whole is a more expensive hobby than gaming, that concept is absolutely ludicrous to me. an entry or minimalistic fisher vs entry minimalistic gamer; the fisher is going to spend less.
I put gaming a little bit under golfing in terms of expensive hobbies. Because with golf you have a metric buttload of different clubs that you need for it. So it’s a really, really high upfront price, and then a relatively low upkeep.
That’s how I see gaming, a high upfront cost, and a moderate upkeep.