The psychological effect of deals

Irresistible special offers, Bundles, Packages, Collections, Trilogies, Franchise, Weekend Editor, save 30/50/75%, etc... I can't help it but compare that to an all-you-can-eat kind of scenario, those buffets that offer so much choice at a cheap price and where you want to try everything and then end up getting so much food that you won't even be able to eat it all.

So are many gamers' Steam libraries and the likes, filled with so many games that they most likely never will be able to play.

Is all this choice after all detrimental to us?Was it better back when everything was "worse"?

sometimes you have to stop and wonder i am i REALLY going to play all that? In most case the answer is no.

Only buy something if you absolutely want to play at that moment.There will always be more sales later.

When I have money to burn it's hard to resist good sales, but yeah I have to wonder if it's better to not wait until I free up by backlog, most everything will see another sale. Digital sales though are hardest to resist as digital store prices are generally higher and a good digital sale is often the only chance to get something digitally cheap.

The only steam games that I won't play were in bundles with games I do play/did play, and I got the bundle cheaper than said individual games anyway. Like I hate remember me but I got like 6 quality games for 15.

Resi 4, Resi 6, DMC Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition, stuff I'm forgetting, and strider.

I won't get a game on steam really unless it's 70% off at least. My down key is messed up though so I can't play lisa and undertale (recent purchases alongside many others) until that's squared away.

I saw Deus Ex for £20, I was like "I want it" but it will probably be that in months time. Glad I'm broke as I'd probably of picked it up.

@pitty8982: you should read, "The Paradox of Choice: why less is more" by Barry Schwartz. Makes a pretty compelling argument that more choice can be detrimental.

Hard to pass a good good deal.

I never understood the whole buying too many games and never play them thing. I play every single game I buy or are gifted to me. If I have no interest in a game or franchise, having it at very low price isn't going to make me buy it.

As long as you have a system in place, it's possible to not go too crazy. I've experienced the horrors of backlogs in the past, but now I've played the vast majority of my games and sales don't phase me.

The biggest killer were the bundles. For a couple years there it seemed Steam would have bundles of all sorts of assortments of games. You might otherwise be prepared to buy a game for $5, and then see it in a bundle with five other games for $7. Or maybe you were one of those cool people who'd buy an entire publisher's catalog for $50-$100, and just get 30-40 games.

The problem is twofold. You get caught in a trap of buying so many games because they're all great deals, and then when it comes time to play the games, you can't select any of them because there are too many to choose from. So you just go back to playing Counter Strike or something.

I generally buy 7-10 games per year and make sure to finish all of them. I'm sitting at 9 currently this year with 2 being free to play and 2 being 2 game bundles from previous gens. One of the games was for my kids (Disney Infinity 3) so I'm not sure it counts.

I passed on quite a few Black Friday deals because I just didn't have the time. Titles I don't have the time for now wait until summer droughts usually like MGS V did.

That is quite a coincidence, as I found out about that book and the author 2 days ago when watching one of his speeches on the TED website. I couldn't help but order that book!

Exactly that!

@pitty8982: I spend like 50$ on a steam summer sale and I quickly realized that a 10$ dollar game that you'll never play is just 10$ you threw away. While it is nice to have some classics in your library , when you never play them, it is again money you throw away.

So yeah, franchise, double triple mega pack, I don't care. Besides the sales aren't what they used to be anymore either. By the time they hit bargain price (10$), they no longer interest me.

Yes, I did fall into that trap several times. I have games on my library that I bought just because I was attracted by the deal/bundle.

Yes, happened to me, too.

I'm trying to force myself to play a game at one time and ignore the deals.

My backlog is pretty deadly on Xbox One and Steam right now. The problem is most of my game time ends up going into multiplayer games. I never know how much time I'm going to put into a game like Titanfall 2 before I move on to something else.

Yeah, I have too many games I never even started...

I didn't buy anything this year ,last year or ever I don't do black friday

@pitty8982: heh, that's weird. Great minds and all...

Hope you enjoy, it's an interesting read.

It's not about being compelled by low prices to buy a game that you never had any intent on getting in the first place. It's the fact that for many of us, there are too many games that do interest us. And in the time it takes us to get through some titles, even FPS that have short campaigns but limitless hours to invest in their multiplayer, or the expansive RPG's with their character/class replayability, guess what - even more new games get announced and released that adds to our "bucket list". And we all have one, personalized to our tastes.

And that's the crux of the "sales trap", it doesn't persuade us to buy games we didn't pay attention to, it feeds off our growing want list, testing our resolve against the impending specter of regret; "damn, why didn't I buy that game (which I knew I was gonna play sooner or later) when it was at that sweet deal?" And considering it IS a game (among many) that we expected to get around to once we cleared through this or that, makes more sense to buy it now cheaper than later and more expensive. Buy it low and put it on the shelf until you can get to it.

But then the cycle repeats, working on some game and a whole slew are announced and released, not getting them right away at full price... until that next sale hits. Then it's "hellooooooooooo backlog."

Though I suppose this is a "mileage may vary" prospect, as some gamers pallets are more diverse than others. Those who take to only a specific genre or title/series, while others are more broad in their interest, having their hand in multiple genres to being attached to numerous developers and established franchises with multiple releases.

In this pastime, I can say having a broader spectrum of the medium can be an Achilles heel.

You nailed it perfectly. Sometimes too much choice leads to paralysis.

Good thing I'm more of a GoG fan. Not that many newer games. I might pick up Dying Light if it was on sale. But, nope. It's still $60.

I'll play through the catalog if I make it to a retirement home and steam doesn't go out of business.

For me it works to budget everything.

I may buy too many games on sales, but I won't spend more money than I prepared for. And creating a budget does make you more aware of what that money means to you. At the end of the month, $50 less on games is $50 closer to getting a bike replacement, or that new screen, etc.