As anybody that even vaguely follows games will know then most computer games cost money. How much money they cost can vary quite dramatically, even from person to person. For the industry is a very important topic as you will want to get the most money for your product, and different people have different "pain points" and understanding those will potentially see you make a lot more money than you otherwise might have.
This is part of a series on GBAtemp where we discuss things to do with game design, aspects of play and other industry concepts. Today is Noctosphere's guest entry in the series.

Counting things like expansions, dlc, virtual currency, monthly payments, etc then what is the game you invested the most in?

Personally, I invested a lot in The Sims 3 and The Sims 4.
In total I invested over 400$ in the sims 4 over the years
I calculated, it's about 10$/month, which I think isn't that bad.

Previously we discussed times where people said gameplay styles would not work for a platform

Spoiler: earlier editions

the value of online play., emulation vs hardware, a favoured game style that might have become less common in recent times, skills one might have learned or honed because of a game, games on the PS4 and Xbone that will stand the test of time, games that got better after launch, cancelled games and shuttered devs, and story canon in games.

Also under discussion are times you might have purchased a console for a single game, a large collection or peripherals or upgraded your PC again just for that one game. You might also want to compare it to games other than computer games, the obvious first start for many being collectible card games such as Magic the Gathering, YuGiOh and the Pokemon card game. Similarly have you waited for something to go on sale, hit the second hand market, get released as a gold/game of the year edition or something along those lines? Tiered pricing in games is also sort of on the way out, do you have any thoughts there?

 

[AtsuNii]

Invested the most money in will likely be World of Tanks, however I managed to earn it all back so eh.. Otherwise I think it has to go to Stellaris.

 

[Purple_Heart]

Senran Kagura Estival Versus

 

[quango2k]

I am investing in World of Warcraft. I've been playing a lot and I guess my subscriptions made a good profit

 

[Deleted User]

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As anybody that even vaguely follows games will know then most computer games cost money. How much money they cost can vary quite dramatically, even from person to person. For the industry is a very important topic as you will want to get the most money for your product, and different people have different "pain points" and understanding those will potentially see you make a lot more money than you otherwise might have.
This is part of a series on GBAtemp where we discuss things to do with game design, aspects of play and other industry concepts. Today is Noctosphere's guest entry in the series.

Counting things like expansions, dlc, virtual currency, monthly payments, etc then what is the game you invested the most in?

Personally, I invested a lot in The Sims 3 and The Sims 4.
In total I invested over 400$ in the sims 4 over the years
I calculated, it's about 10$/month, which I think isn't that bad.

Previously we discussed times where people said gameplay styles would not work for a platform

Spoiler: earlier editions

the value of online play., emulation vs hardware, a favoured game style that might have become less common in recent times, skills one might have learned or honed because of a game, games on the PS4 and Xbone that will stand the test of time, games that got better after launch, cancelled games and shuttered devs, and story canon in games.

Also under discussion are times you might have purchased a console for a single game, a large collection or peripherals or upgraded your PC again just for that one game. You might also want to compare it to games other than computer games, the obvious first start for many being collectible card games such as Magic the Gathering, YuGiOh and the Pokemon card game. Similarly have you waited for something to go on sale, hit the second hand market, get released as a gold/game of the year edition or something along those lines? Tiered pricing in games is also sort of on the way out, do you have any thoughts there?

3 years ago, clash royale

 

[zfreeman]

Kraut Buster, but that's par for the course in regards to Neo Geo.

http://www.ngdevdirect.com/

 

[VresiBerba]

Most I have invested in is PoE, about 100 bucks.

 

[SummerDragonfly]

Rocket League, with all its keys for unlocking chests.

 

[Blue]

Taking invest to a literal context to make profit, as a Minecraft server owner a lot. Paying devs for custom plugins, builders for builds, premium slot on voting lists for more players, dedicated server hosting costs.

 

[FAST6191]

Taking invest to a literal context to make profit, as a Minecraft server owner a lot. Paying devs for custom plugins, builders for builds, premium slot on voting lists for more players, dedicated server hosting costs.

Interesting. I once built a minecraft server for a restaurant, and part of that saw me also install mods for their kid's install on his laptop.
Server was vanilla a few versions behind the times whenever that was current. No mods or anything really. The client side mods though... for all that I am and all that I have done in computing, mods and ROM hacking over the years then minecraft was not the worst but definitely the most user unfriendly experience I have ever had from even setting out to get them in the first place to ultimately figuring out what and where things needed to be installed. Sounds like server was worse though... that is impressive.

 

[Blue]

Interesting. I once built a minecraft server for a restaurant, and part of that saw me also install mods for their kid's install on his laptop.
Server was vanilla a few versions behind the times whenever that was current. No mods or anything really. The client side mods though... for all that I am and all that I have done in computing, mods and ROM hacking over the years then minecraft was not the worst but definitely the most user unfriendly experience I have ever had from even setting out to get them in the first place to ultimately figuring out what and where things needed to be installed. Sounds like server was worse though... that is impressive.

Yeah there is a lot of daily maintenance running a public server to be honest. Adding new features/running events so that players don't get bored, staff management, and then all the back-end things. But it can be worth it in the end if you get a decent player base and donation income.

 

[FAST6191]

But it can be worth it in the end if you get a decent player base and donation income.

The idea of running a server for donation income, never mind the pay to win stuff I saw when I sat in on an online session once, is quite alien to me. I guess it is similar to, or perhaps an extension of, the idea of a LAN cafe (or gaming bar as they seem to known nowadays) but still alien to me.

 

[Blue]

The idea of running a server for donation income, never mind the pay to win stuff I saw when I sat in on an online session once, is quite alien to me. I guess it is similar to, or perhaps an extension of, the idea of a LAN cafe (or gaming bar as they seem to known nowadays) but still alien to me.

I'm not too familiar with a LAN cafe, but its similar to other games that have micro transactions if you decide to sell server money (I wouldn't do that, don't want the economy going to shit) or crates (depends how you do it, as the crates could have non gameplay affecting items such as a pet or something)
Some servers go with a non p2w approach of selling purely cosmetics in their store and others are desperate enough to straight up sell creative mode.

 

[FAST6191]

I'm not too familiar with a LAN cafe, but its similar to other games that have micro transactions if you decide to sell server money (I wouldn't do that, don't want the economy going to shit) or crates (depends how you do it, as the crates could have non gameplay affecting items such as a pet or something)
Some servers go with a non p2w approach of selling purely cosmetics in their store and others are desperate enough to straight up sell creative mode.

You still see them in Asia a lot. UK wise they never particularly took off and went away almost entirely when ADSL became something mortals could afford and requirements got a bit more tame (no need to upgrade graphics cards every 9 months or so to stand a chance). Today as mentioned you see the odd "gaming bar" which operate similarly, though often have something like VR as a focal point. You would also have more temporary arrangements with LAN parties.

Anyway the general idea was games used to support network play via local network (the LAN part of the name) and some people would then rent a space, have a bar serving coffee, fizzy drinks, sandwiches and such but also have tables with a couple of dozen PCs you could rent time on. Said PCs would in turn usually be loaded with the fancy games of the day and people would play between each other there, or maybe online (for that many machines you might well have been able to get a T1 connection). Seen as at the time your markets were students which had school PCs to play with, and were generally broke anyway (quick poll back in school and average allowance/pocket money was £20 a month, maybe £15 more a week if you had a paper round, Saturday jobs in a shop were a mythical thing for the most part), they tended not to get far.

I would see a donation driven or item selling approach for a minecraft server as an extension of that, however even when ADSL came along it was still vanishingly rare for any kind of paid offering there -- maybe a clan would all chip in between themselves to get something but that was it really.