It was posted on the Steve Jackson Games forum and I thought it was an interesting question.
As for myself? Not at all.
I live in Europe. The euro is officially what, 1.6 times as strong at the US dollar? Yet we still pay pretty much at an exchange rate of 1 euro/buck for our gaming supplies (funny how that didn't work the other way around back when the dollar was stronger than the euro).
I play at the FLGS, which is about 10 miles away from my house, so on game night I've been staying in town the intervening hours instead of driving home first to save on gas a bit.
It was posted on the Steve Jackson Games forum and I thought it was an interesting question.
As for myself? Not at all.
Getting to one of my gaming groups requires about 33 mile (~52km) drive, one way. I do have a fairly fuel efficient car (36 mpg highway, 2.88 gallons/100 miles), but rising gas prices to affect my attendance.
Yes, I know there are high prices in Europe, I spent several years living in Germany. If I had to pay what the swedes pay per liter, I would not be able to game with this group, at all.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Just a little for me. I'm focusing on paying down debts faster, and wouldn't have made it to origins w/o a friend.I pick up odds and ends on e-bay but my gamer costs are mostly Paizo stuff.
Price of gas hurts when you go 52 miles to game. But I don't see many movies so it's a wash
Thanks to the 4th Edition, i won't have to buy any D&D books anymore ;)
I have all i need, from 1st edition to 3.5, to DM for years.
My players don't care at all. They don't buy books anyway.
They barely have a Player's Handbook each.
If they need something else, either i provide it for them as a short version or they get it on the web for free.
It has most definitely, effected mine in a number of ways.
1. I has made me MUCH more reluctant to stop using my existing gaming supplies. (Thus Pathfinder's "Backwards Compatability" is a major feature for me.) Money being tight, I have to look more carefully at my entertainment expenses to make sure I am getting good value.
2. One of my players does travel a fair distance to get to our sessions, so the cost of fuel is becoming a strain. :(
3. My group has become less interrested in playing in "Modern" settings. :( (As noted elsewhere, I am getting tired of the Tolkien inspired Fantasy genre. :( )
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I live in Europe. The euro is officially what, 1.6 times as strong at the US dollar? Yet we still pay pretty much at an exchange rate of 1 euro/buck for our gaming supplies (funny how that didn't work the other way around back when the dollar was stronger than the euro).
Same here. Balancing S&H costs has become a fine art, but otherwise it can be done. Sometimes I go into a pdf-buying spree.
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I have been doing more shopping for deals. I hated to do it but I could get a better deal on Pathfinder Chronicle books ordering them from Amazon then directly from Paizo, so I canceled my subscription. I did keep my Pathfinder Companion subscription to help ease my guilty soul, but still. I also am much more picky about what I buy, only getting things that I know I will be using rather than just buying any supplement that catches my eye. That's how I ended up with almost every Rifts book ever published, I liked the art even though I knew that even if I played Rifts, I would never use most of them.
I'm a bit pickier about what books I buy with my meager quatloos, and a bit more willing to play online games via PbP or VTT.
I game with a group that is 2 and a half hours away from me. We game once a week on Sundays all day but I have had to cut it down to 2 times a month and if it gets any worse I will not be playing at all. Not happy right now.
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Being military in onpost housing, I'm buffered from it pretty well. Getting used to the high gas prices now that I'm back stateside. Choosing not to switch to 4E has had more of an effect, along with subscribing to Pathfinder. Being that my friend and his wife has to drive about 40 miles to get up here, we had to decide to only game every other week, but child concerns would have forced that decision as well I think.
A lot. I even had to cancel my Pathfinder subscription. I miss PF. :(
Since I live in Sweden and buy almost exclusively from Paizo I get even more value for my money, so I'm quite happy :) That was actually one of the reasons I upgraded my subscriptions to Superscriber.
Not as much as it could -- I've been buying less RPG stuff since I bought a new, more fuel-efficient car (a Fit), and at any rate, I have a load of new and old RPG stuff that I have yet to use, so even if I find I can't buy any more for the forseeable future (fortunately that hasn't happened yet) I'm pretty much set for a couple of years of gaming, just from modules alone.
I've been considering embezzlement from work to support my habit.
I'd be careful if I were you...your employer has already contacted us to begin legal proceedings against you . As you'rer probably well aware, our highly-trained team of lich lawyers will aggressively pursue any client's case for centuries...
Or, we could just suck your soul and call it good...
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More of my dollars go toward gaming that before since its an affordable past time and its a reusable resource. Saddly I'm doing less spending at the FLGS...some what. Actually I'm buying more board and card games there than before. I wonder if that is a wash so to speak.
Anyways. Gaming is something that i do with the family. My wife and son game. When my daughter is old enough, I'm sure she will too. We play with our friends so they come over and we are having good fun. I find it cheap good fun.
It was posted on the Steve Jackson Games forum and I thought it was an interesting question.
As for myself? Not at all.
Doh! Just realized I copied the thread title from the other site without grammar checking it first.
Should be:
How has the downturn in the US economy affected your gaming experience?
My spending for gaming supplies is nearly non-existent. I'm actually in the process of moving to find a better job and depending on how that goes (and whether I get the job I have a decent chance of getting), my spending will either go up or be non-existent. I'll know for certain in about two weeks.
Crimson Throne may be the last AP I get for a while.
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Well speaking from personal experience for every person hurt there is another person being helped, My gaming experience has been benefited because the dip in houses allowed me to buy a great house with a room dedicated to gaming and now I have a group that is meeting at my place on mondays. Never would have been possible with the rediculous prices houses were going for just 2 years ago. So for me, my gaming experience has improved because of the "downturn"
Chief Technical Officer
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Fixed. (It would have driven me nuts if I hadn't...)
I knew that was going to happen. In return, my advice to you is to keep up the *quantity* of hookers, but reduce the *quality*. While I'm going nuts over your grammar, at least I'll know that you're having to find a way to add a line for "penicillin" to your budget.
Well speaking from personal experience for every person hurt there is another person being helped, My gaming experience has been benefited because the dip in houses allowed me to buy a great house with a room dedicated to gaming and now I have a group that is meeting at my place on mondays. Never would have been possible with the rediculous prices houses were going for just 2 years ago. So for me, my gaming experience has improved because of the "downturn"
Meanwhile, Canadian house have gone through the roof.
I'm buying cheaper blow and reducing the number of hookers I visit per week.
Over here they're 90% off, but we don't have any blow, just heroin and methamphetamines.
I live in Europe. The euro is officially what, 1.6 times as strong at the US dollar? Yet we still pay pretty much at an exchange rate of 1 euro/buck for our gaming supplies (funny how that didn't work the other way around back when the dollar was stronger than the euro).
I'm in China and all that hurts me are the new postal rates, but Paizo's subsidy actually makes it worth it. Thanks Paizo.
Housebound due to daughter's condition so no driving except to work. Just refinanced mortgage, so the monthly payments dropped nicely. Looking around now for all the fun 3PP stuff I missed in the last few years to torture all my new PbP pals with. Still won't buy 4E on general principle (personal choice folks, no slam intended). Gaming stuff is my one vice (well besides books and music :)
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It hasn't really affected me, per se. I've got a ton of books already and I rarely find any new products that jump out as a must have.
My 7-year old son, however, has decided to follow in my footsteps as a gamer-geek, and is constantly pestering me to buy him his own stuff. He has his own set of dice already, as well as several miniatures; but now he wants his own set of core rulebooks.
Aside from the fact that our disposable income is limited (going into the gas tank of the car), I haven't transitioned over to 4E and the local stores have already cleared all the 3.5 stuff of their shelves.
I suppose I could try EBay, but with my luck, I'd buy a set from some jerk who would instead send me a photograph of the books, claiming that the picture was what he was selling...
Not as much as it could -- I've been buying less RPG stuff since I bought a new, more fuel-efficient car (a Fit)
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Picked up the new 4th edition adventure (Labyrinth whatever it is) and then put it back down. Probably wouldn't have done that a year ago.
Bought one box of Against the Giants miniatures. Just one for a taste. Bitter. $21.99 is far too expensive for cheap (mean it) pre-painted minis manufactured by slave labor for obscene wages and a ridiculous profit margin, I'd wager.
I play by post, saves on gas.
Won't be hitting GenCon for the first time in four years. Will miss that considerably.
Drinking cheaper beer.
But not less!
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well, fortunately, i live in a city that hasn't been affected (too) much by the (recession? downturn?). i take a bus to work anyway (even when gas is cheap), even if fuel were still low, downtown parking at $10 makes the bus commute economically advantageous(and it's only about a ten minute bus ride). i live a fairly austere lifestyle, no kids, low maintenance girlfriend (materially, anyway), not much of a "gadget" guy (still playing a ps2, the computer was a birthday gift, basic cell phone), i live in the middle of houston (montrose) and my gaming group either all live in my complex or a few blocks away, so the economy really hasn't had much of an impact on my gaming experience, really.
i am more apt to buy online than go to the FLGS, though, as the one near my house (less than a 1/2 mile) is staffed by clones of the comic book guy from the simpsons, and the one i like to buy from is a considerable distance from me (maybe 15 miles or more?), so that may be the only tangible impact...
I have purchased alot less miniatures... booster and loose alike.
Also, I don't get alot of the books I want....
(I'm a human services care worker... that translates into pauper)
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It has hit me pretty hard. I have had to cancel subscriptions with Paizo twice because of financial issues. In both cases I hadn't even recieved a product yet. My job has cut my hours back twice (I am a city employee) so that means I am a lot more picky about what I buy. I might be eliminated next year due to finanicial hardships with our city government.
My newest books came from my stimilus check. Otherwise I am trying to hunker down and survive until I can figure out where to go from this point in my life. I am in school so that helps take the edge off.
A lot fewer friends will make it to Gen Con this year. :(
Other than that, fairly little.
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No Origins this year. Gas is too pricy. Other than that, not at all. I'm buying less gaming stuff simply because I was spending so much on Wizards stuff and maintaining subs to Dragon & Dungeon, and now I'm just about done snapping up most of the 3rd edition stuff I want to complete my collection (other than the newer stuff Paizo is putting out, obviously).
I am grateful to Wizards of the Coast for D&D 4th edition. Thanks to them i won't need to buy any D&D books anymore. Big savings.
On the other side i hate Paizo for making good stuff and forcing me to buy all these books. Bad Paizo, baaaad. ;)
On a sidenote, it makes me laugh to hear about "downturn in the US economy".
The US economy, if there is such a thing, has always been bad, delusional and in denial of its major quirks.
A civilization built on the concept of credit cannot pretend to have a successful economy.
