Option 2 for much of the year (I bought one or two games), but I gave up on WoW a few months ago and have been playing other things.
It just becomes a different game at level 60, and not the game I played (and loved) to get there. I thought maybe joining a different server, playing a different race and class would be a good idea. Did that to level 36 or something, and it was fun for awhile (rogues = neat!), but the shine has worn off again.
Option 2. I did pick up UT2k4 and Dawn of War this year though but I don’t play them much or any of my older games.
I don’t buy very many games in general (maybe 1-2 a year), but I haven’t bought any since getting WoW.
I picked option #3 but for City of Heroes, not WoW (I only started playing WoW about three weeks ago, have played CoH since launch). My game purchases have definitely dropped off but I still buy new titles to “cleanse the palette”, so to speak.
It’s also possible that I’d be buying less games, anyway. Not that I don’t still find them entertaining, I just move through them at a slower pace now. I’m more content to enjoy the journey than the destination. Or some kind of pseudo-profound hogwash like that. :)
I used to still buy games pretty regularly when I was first playing WoW, but too many games before Christmas and the price tags just convinced me to buy them 1 by 1 and later than usual. So I’ll maybe buy one of them per month when I used to buy more, since I wasn’t really playing them anyway. I’d install a game, play it for an hour, realize I was having more fun playing WoW, so I’d go back to playing WoW and the other game would just sit there collecting dust.
I stopped playing WoW for about 6 weeks when Civ 4 came out, but Civ 4 was the only game that’s taken me away from it for any length of time. I did play other games, but they tended to be old favourites like Civ 3 or HoMM 3. New game buying took a definite dip, probably helped by the fact that apart from Civ 4, this years’s new games haven’t appealed to me (Yes I know - I’m an old fart).
I almost wrote that I’d stopped completely, but only yesterday I felt the call and rolled up a Tauren Druid called Beefheart on one of the new European servers and levelled him up to 9 in an evening…
Where is the, “Goddamnit, I’m a thief,” option?
I spend much less on games now than I did. The only times I’ll pick up new games are if I spot them on sale or if they’re part of a franchise that I support with my dollars (Total War, Battlefield, Civ, etc).
The only money I’ve spent on games outside of WoW in recent months has been for my newly acquired PSP, since I’m now commuting. Beyond that, I’m happily saving money.
I did buy Q4, but haven’t played past the first vehicle level.
Needs an option for “I played at one time, but recovered.”
Yeah, I’d like an option for “I played it casually for a month or so and then chose to play games that didn’t double as a part-time job that I had to pay for.”
Bottom option is shit bonerz, fellas. That’s how I voted to represent that situation. The shit bonerz option is really very useful.
Alright, so out of 144 entries, 95 of which count in some fashion, 69/95 have claimed some sort of impact on their buying habits, 29/95 claiming to have stopped buying games altogether because of it.
Those are pretty crazy numbers. Now if only we had a scientifically accurate poll, +/- 3%, 19 times out of 20.