Posted by iTZKooPA on Friday, January 9th, 2009 - 35 Comments
Tags: apples to oranges, bang for the buck, dvds, economy, entertainment, how much does WoW cost?, iphone, meatspace, real world money, saving money, spending habits, tv, video games
Via JoyOfTech.com
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By now, common readers should realize that I am a bit of a numbers freak. In my past life I was a min-maxer, but I have overcome that addiction and now focus most of my number crunching abilities on the open market and the Auction House. In doing so, I have managed to have thousands of gold in reserve - after learning my Cold Weather Flying – for my level 80 abilities and whatever else I (sorry begging guildies) may need. Now if only I could turn my digital success in WoW to meatspace success…
This thought process and this hilarious comic lead me down another road though. How much real world value has World of Warcraft cost me? The answer, $588.64, just over half of my mortgage. Don’t forget, I did quit the game for a bit. The worst case scenario for a single-boxer as of now, would have the gamer buying each Collector’s Edition, and paying the highest monthly fee of $14.99. That would run just shy of $1,000, at $959.47, although I highly doubt anyone has allowed that to happen. As the comic points out, investing that may have been a smarter idea, but the service that WoW offers is far more cost effective than an iPhone in my opinion.
Friends go nuts about their iPhones, acting like it is the best thing since the Internet, but really how often do you use its bonus features – the ones that make the unit and monthly fee so costly? An hour a day on average, maybe two? The iPhone service (and cell phone subscriptions in general) are way over priced for what they offer. Don’t even get me started on the text messaging plans…For its part, WoW (and really any MMO) packs quite a bang for its buck.
Apples to Oranges you say? Fine, let’s do some entertainment to entertainment comparisons. Over the course of my 4+ years of playing, I have saved hundreds of dollars thanks to WoW. How you ask? It is actually quite simple. If you are spending an hour or so a night in Azeroth, you can’t be doing other, more costly, things. For instance, I started making meals at home and ordering in rather than going out to dinner. I would Netflix DVDs or watch TV rather than hitting the movies (two movies cost ~$20 in Philadelphia). I largely stopped playing other games. Yet, I managed to balance WoW and my social life well enough to continue being invited, and more importantly attending, friend and family functions.
Ponder on that for a bit. How much have you spent on your little hobby, but more importantly, how much has it saved you?
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By mcb172 on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
well since i only really started playing around £90
also in tradition first!!!
By Sno on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
First!
before i got hacked i solely played wow so no longer did i pay $60 for a game instead I just payed $15 a month which was way better because wow never gets old unlike other games where after you beat them you don’t really go back and replay them
By Sno on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
>.< 2nd
By Deidare on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Hmmm well… uhh i dont want to say how much WoW cost me. If you include all the other WoW junk i’ve bought like shirts than around… never mind its to much to say. But i has also save me tons of money i never really go out unless its with my girl friend or friends (and most of the time one of them pays) so i really have learned to uhhh cook lately in a sense because i never go out and in fact im pretty good at it! Its also saved me from buying alot of new 60 dollar games, and instead i tend to buy used ones saveing me about 10-20 bucks some times. I also save on GAS which as we all know was a good thing awhile back not to go out so often now however its not as bad. So i guess you can say from all the WoW junk i”ve bought and all the stuff i havent done because of it i think i rounds down to being about the same amount saved and paid.
By Fury85 on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
why pay monthly if you buy game cards? then that way if you cant afford to pay for the game your done until you buy another game card
By Gerandor on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
hmm… thats alot f money <.< would say around $500 too, but i dont know for sure
And as for you, it saved me alot too.. i was a huge gamer before WoW too, buying different games that i’d play for a month and then buy another one
By Daniel Moulton on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Hey, I live in Canada, an hour outside Toronto is a town called Whitby. Your question actually catched my attention and i started to get thinking. It currently cost me $29.99(Canadian) for 2 months prescription at the local Walmart. However apparently Walmart runs out of these prescription boxes every time I need it, which sucks. This forces me to go to the local game store which happens to be “EB games” if your know it. It costs me $39.99(Canadian) for the same prescription. So i figure for a year prescription is costs me about $271.13 a year after taxes (which is 13% on ever item). Anyways now that i went on for like 15 minutes i hope this interests your somehow! Thanks for reading and have a nice time play WOW!
By lllll on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
i like starbursts
By Alayea on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
May as well write up a comment during the server downtime…
Your blog actually does have me thinking about how WoW affects me in real life. Sometimes, I can easily spend 8 hours playing the game and nothing else. Something to be concerned about I guess, but it’s not like I really have much in the way of a social life to begin with. >_>
As for the cost… give me a minute here… After adding up all the realm and account transfers, the Wrath xpac, and the monthly subscription: ~$565. (Thank goodness Oregon has no sales tax.)
Could that money have been put to better use? It’s arguable, just like the posts above have pointed out.
By Dulica on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I’ve only been playing for about 6 months, so it’s cost me maybe $150- $175. And like other people say, I probably save money because I’m not going out as much to the movies or dinner or whatever. I also dropped my Nexflix down 2 lvls, and that pretty much covers the cost of WoW. So, I’m probably not spending much more in the long run anyway. And, I have family and RL friends that play too, so I am spending time with them, as well as the friends I’ve made ingame.
By Lauren on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
I thought everything costs $50 in Philadelphia…
By PatrickD on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
“It is actually quite simple. If you are spending an hour or so a night in Azeroth, you can’t be doing other, more costly, things.”
That’s actually something I never considered! Wow, now I actually feel a lot better for shelling out for WoW 6 months at a time since it was released even though I have never been past level 58.
By Eventime on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Being the cheapskate I am, I go for the cheapest payment plan with the 6 month subscription. Sure it’s a big hit up front, but it’s less per month and i don’t have to worry about paying for 6 more months.
By Twest on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
When I think about how much I actually save now that I have started playin close to 3-5 hrs a night, yea I am savin some serious $$$$. Figure rather than goin out to eat 5 days a week 3x a day, (@ $20/day), I now spend $400/mo on groceries, maybe hit the bar scene 1 night a month ($10-15) compared to every Fri/Sat (@ $40 a night) plus a movie @ $10 a pop. One week went from $200 to almost nothin. A month went from $800 to $400+WoW ($15/month), so over the course of a yr thats $4620 in savings, less the $30/yr avg for each X-Pac Collectors Edition.
By Twest on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Quick side note, those numbers plus the fact that I am no longer on the road DUI, make it very easy to explain the validity of playin WoW so much.
By Dan on Sunday, January 11th, 2009 at 12:45 am
LOL I actually use all my iPhones features at least a few hours a day while I am at work. I check the interwebs, chat with friends and many other things to keep me occupied and not bored. Only 1 of my managers has had a problem with this so far lol.
However you do bring up a valid point. Playing WoW, I don’t spend as much money on X360 or Wii games. I no longer go to movies because they are $12 a piece, and I try to not eat out that often because that seems to have gotten extra expensive lately as well. I’ve been playing WoW off and on since BC release so I’m sure I’ve saved a few bucks here and there
By ninomachi on Sunday, January 11th, 2009 at 1:24 am
This brought up a great point. I started playing WoW about 4 months ago. Before I started playing I was spending at least $600 a week of food and other fun things. Now that I play WoW 3-4 hours a day, that $600 changed to $150 a week and that is mainly in food. And I agree with the whole thing with the IPhone. I mean all I have had with it is problems. And so Know I’m looking forward to the Zune Phone which I know will be better than the IPhone could ever think of being,
By Lendul on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 9:33 am
This is a story a occasionally share with others. We have a tight budget in our household. Married with two kids. I actually had to figure out a way to finance playing WoW. The only way I could make the budget work was to quit smoking and use the money from the cigarettes to may for WoW. Not only has WoW saved me money I am actually healthier for it.
By Twest on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Congrats Lendul!!!!
By mark w on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
i started playing retail in late october and i bought wow battle chest for $20 and 2 2 month cards and lich king so 20+60+40=$120 so far.
By Marc on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
You would think its expensive, but before I played wow i was spending 50-100 dollars on new video games a month. Now I pay 15 dollars for a monthy subsription. Plus 2 character transfers, and the expantion. I am still saving a ton of money compared to what I was spending on games before.
By Brawnyhippo on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Gratz Lendul =]
By Projekx on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Gratz Lendu!
This is such a great topic! A friend of mine just sold me a 1year insciption gift card he got, for 80 CAD$
HEHE so figures ill save a lot of money now
Enjoy the game and lets hope for the dual specc
By Redaurora on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 5:08 am
$790 + two collectior’s editions = oh man do I have an expensive hobby. My family has been playing since begining of 2007. Three accounts starting all at different times. This is an interesting way to look at your play time in WOW.
And good job Lendu!!
By Doogin on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 9:30 am
For those of you thinking about getting an iPhone DONT! I currently have a 32g iPod Touch that my brother got for my gradutation present. It has all the abilities and apps and what not as long as your in a wifi area. No monthly fees and it’s more affordable. I use it everyday fo sho and I lovez it. Lendul ftw!
By Oggrillain on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 11:17 am
We are forgetting one important aspect of playing WoW; the money saved on alcohol! For example, let’s say you go out with your friend every Friday and Saturday night and drink 6 beers each night paying an average of $3 per beer for a weekend alcohol cost (WAC) of $36. An 18-pack of domestic beer on average cost $12.99. This makes the unit cost per beer $0.72. By staying home and playing WoW on Friday and Saturday nights, drinking the same amount of beer, your WAC is only $8.64, a weekend savings of $27.36 and a total savings yearly savings of $1,422.72.
By taking this extra $1,422.72 and investing it in a traditional IRA that conservatively yields 8% per year, you can see below the return on the investment. Who says it doesn’t pay to play WoW?
Yearly Interest Balance at
Age Contribution Rate age 65
21 1,422.72 8% 549,000.00
25 1,422.72 8% 398,000.00
30 1,422.72 8% 265,000.00
35 1,422.72 8% 174,000.00
40 1,422.72 8% 112,000.00
45 1,422.72 8% 70,329.00
50 1,422.72 8% 41,728.00
By Winter on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Ok i have to add that as much as you might save on entertainment costs.. if you take it too far.. you might pay in other ways.
For instance if you play 8 hours a day.. thats 8 hours you are sitting on your fat ass .. and not exercising. So if you get out of shape.. now you have increased healthcare costs. And being out of shape might cost you that next job or GF/BF too.
It might also mean its time you could be working.. or making real friends and good connections that you will need in life elsewhere. i dont know about you but after nearly 3 years in the game I have made very few REAL friends that i would talk to even when we both arent playing anymore. In fact I only have 1 right now.
Not to mention it means time lost with your friends/family that you can never get back. Being disconnected from the world.. also makes you a square. No one in the real world could give a flying s*** if you can clear naxx with only 15 people and that you have all epics.
And how many of you maxed your internet connection so you could play better? How about the equipment we buy for the game? How many of us wanted a new computer just because of wow? How about all the electricity we use to keep it all running?
So ok go back to going t the bar 2 or 3 days a week and spending nearly $80 on drinks. Here in Arizona if you even rinse with mouthwash you are counted as a DUI so the costs there are a possible jail time, legal fees and whatever. (Arizona sucks by the way, and maybe thats why there are so many wow players here).
Either way I guess “cost” is a matter of which point of view you take.
By Othercosts on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 11:34 am
Oh, Wow has cost a lot for us. Besides all the fees involved - buying the games, upgrading the computers, buying a new laptop just so we could play. It has also cost us my husbands job which he resigned 8 months ago and has been unable to find another job so far (if he even really wants to) It has cost us our marriage and we are still separated 7 months on. It has cost my husband the chance to watch his daughter grow up, learn to walk, learn to do all sorts of things.
Yes, we used to watch movies once a week together - great that is cheaper, but in the end we barely knew each other - I know more about my husbands online characters than I do about him and perhaps he knows more about his characters than he does about himself. The cost is exhorbatant. Our house is rented out now and we are living with family (but not together) We have been told to sell the house as we cannot afford it.
Thousands of gold pieces, but our own finances are in a mess - why because we could not pull ourselves away from a game. I quit it 7 months ago and since then I have paid off my credit card bill and saved a lot of money.
By !@#123emo on Sunday, May 24th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Well, wow is expensive! *sign* hahaha good thing I never pay not even a cents on wow. I only try the trial 5 times. So that =50 days of free wow. But the bad part is that you have to restart after 10 days. But at least you can talk to you friends in these 50 days…
By !@#123emo on Sunday, May 24th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
….
By Winter on Sunday, May 24th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
yo whats up
By Winter on Sunday, May 24th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
I payed about 2709dollars on wow
By Christina on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I would like to know how many of you single guys out there are so addicted that you have no social life with the opposite sex females?
I have been dating a guy that I belive is addicted to gaming. I can’t figure out what he does with his time everyday after work. He never goes out..straight home from work. Making plans with me is pressure to him! But he says we are exclusive! Yeah, because I go out and I’m social so its a way for him to keep me from meeting other guys while he sits home and dates his computer! He is okay seeing me once or twice a week. I told him I needed more time from him if we are exclusive otherwise I dont want to be exclusive and then be sitting on my ass everynight. He doesn’t get it! So, we are now taking a “break” as he would put it! Yeah, a break so he can play his games in peace and not have me nag about making plans. It’s really sad! I’m so sad because I have strong feelings for him and I know he does for me but dating me is too much pressure with his games. I tried to talk to him about it and he gets offended and says I’m critizing him. He is 33 and I’m 32….He is going to end up single forever! When I met him I wondered what was wrong with him because he was so goodlooking and a good man and single…Now I know. He cares more about his computer than the girl he dates! Wake up!
HELP ME! I DON’T WANT TO LOSE HIM! BUT HE DOESN’T GET IT!
By Stephen Connell on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 6:05 am
I dont understand why people like you go onto the internet to do this sort of thing. If you are great with numbers than you should be at a job somewhere making money, not wasting space on the internet, and space in my mind. Dont get me wrong, im not trying to tell you that what you do is wrong, but do you rly think that people beniffited from your post? Or you? Not to mention the time it took you to type it. Your good with numbers right? So stop useing your skills on posts about how much money World At War can save you and put them to good use. And to whomever put the long comment about his life doing nothing but play wow, i implore you to take a good look at yourself in the mirror, think for 2 secs, call up you so called girlfriend, and maybe just maybe get ur normal life back on track… or i guess you could just kill some elfs or orcs? cus that that sounds like way more fun than fucking a girl… LMAO
By Stephen Connell on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 6:21 am
To Christina, even if he feels critized you need to let him know that what he is doing is immature. First off let him know that he dosnt have to stop playing, you just want to spend more time with him… if he tries to argue dont get upset, simply explain that wanting more time is not a painful burden and should be wanted by him if he truly cares about you. I dont know how ur sex life is, but i mean honestly… thats always one way to get a guys attention
after this show him that going out or even just being with you can be as much, or more fun than any game. If he still dosnt get it you need to explain that he is 33 and should be thinking about a new stage in his life not a new stage in a video game… he may take this the wrong way but he should eventually relize it, the only problem is that it might be to late : / just keep reinforcing what you believe and if he cares he will change… videogames are very addicting, trust me; but u can break the indiction by introducing him to another… (not like crack lol) call him up and ask him to go rock climbing? something spontaneous and exciting!!!! i hope this helped. wow now im ranting online 
lmao
P.S. i dont know what your believes on Bud(weed) are but i have found that it truly makes me less irritable and 100% MORE SOCIAL!!! and it sounds like thats what he needs….