That’s the classist part of the argument. Being able to afford higher upfront costs for the sake of a long-term investment is often what sets classes apart. Premium products, in general, tend to be cheaper in the long run (see: printers, shoes, clothes, houses, etc.)
You can play tons of good games on a PC that is cheaper up-front than a Playstation 5. Get a second-hand 720p or 1080p monitor for $30. Spend 1 day to build a $470 PC (logical increments has a good parts list and it’s easier than legos). Install Linux. Start pirating.
Even if you count that day as $200 in lost opportunities (in which case you would logically be making at least $6000 after taxes per month, or over $100k per year before taxes), that still means it’s cheaper upfront to have a PC with hundreds of games than a PS5 with one (1) game.
Or you can get a console that plays 4k games at 60fps for the same money. Also not everyone is smart enough or willing to break the law pirating video games.
So now you’re casually dropping $500 extra on a 4K monitor? For that kind of cash, get a $720 PC and a $280 1440p monitor. It’s not 4K, but it’s 60 fps, and that’s honestly way more important. You can also play with keyboard and mouse so you can actually aim.
And okay, fine, maybe you don’t want to break the law. In that case, go play any of the thousands of excellent indie or 5+ year old PC games that cost less than $10 on sale. You’re still much better off than buying console games.
One might think that people who buy cheap gear have a choice between buying cheap gear now and newer cheap gear in a few years or spending the same amount of money on more expensive gear that they won’t have to replace that quickly. This simply isn’t true.
I spend a lot of time in virtual worlds, also reading about virtual worlds. Second Life requires hardware with at least some oomph nowadays. However, there are Second Life users with 15-year-old bottom-of-the-line consumer notebooks. The stuff that supermarkets used to sell from pallets. 2 or 4GB of system RAM (you need this much as VRAM nowadays), on-board graphics etc. They’ve probably bought it used, but still quite a while ago.
Why are they still using that old clunker? Because they’ve never been able to acquire any other more powerful computer ever since.
I think it’s even worse in OpenSim where those end up who can’t even afford Second Life.
A comparable PC costs roughly 1 to 2x a PS5, but in the long run the PC is cheaper when you factor in the costs of games and subscriptions .
Plus it’s a PC, with 100s of applications beyond just gaming and streaming. And there’s 100,000 + PC games vs ~1100 PS5 games.
It’s modular and upgradeable. So in 5 to 7 years, you can upgrade it instead of buying a whole new console.
The only real advantage consoles have are the cheaper upfront costs.
Most people can only afford to consider upfront costs
If they can afford a ps5 now. They can afford a pc later. Otherwise they couldnt afford the ps5 to begin with.
Not being aware of the reality of the Vimes Boots Theory of Economics?
Believe it or not, class privilege.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
Don’t forget size factor, ease of placement, etc. Even mini PCs tend not to be designed with placement near a big TV in mind. Consoles are by default
That’s the classist part of the argument. Being able to afford higher upfront costs for the sake of a long-term investment is often what sets classes apart. Premium products, in general, tend to be cheaper in the long run (see: printers, shoes, clothes, houses, etc.)
You can play tons of good games on a PC that is cheaper up-front than a Playstation 5. Get a second-hand 720p or 1080p monitor for $30. Spend 1 day to build a $470 PC (logical increments has a good parts list and it’s easier than legos). Install Linux. Start pirating.
Even if you count that day as $200 in lost opportunities (in which case you would logically be making at least $6000 after taxes per month, or over $100k per year before taxes), that still means it’s cheaper upfront to have a PC with hundreds of games than a PS5 with one (1) game.
You can play plenty of good games on a $90 used office pc as well. To make a fair comparison you’d have to think of a PC that’s as powerful as a PS5
Or you can get a console that plays 4k games at 60fps for the same money. Also not everyone is smart enough or willing to break the law pirating video games.
So now you’re casually dropping $500 extra on a 4K monitor? For that kind of cash, get a $720 PC and a $280 1440p monitor. It’s not 4K, but it’s 60 fps, and that’s honestly way more important. You can also play with keyboard and mouse so you can actually aim.
And okay, fine, maybe you don’t want to break the law. In that case, go play any of the thousands of excellent indie or 5+ year old PC games that cost less than $10 on sale. You’re still much better off than buying console games.
Ok Darius. Investments aren’t for broke people.
If you’re saving up for a gaming system, you’re already thinking ahead. Far better to get the thing that costs less.
Also, you know what actual broke people do? They don’t buy stuff new
One might think that people who buy cheap gear have a choice between buying cheap gear now and newer cheap gear in a few years or spending the same amount of money on more expensive gear that they won’t have to replace that quickly. This simply isn’t true.
I spend a lot of time in virtual worlds, also reading about virtual worlds. Second Life requires hardware with at least some oomph nowadays. However, there are Second Life users with 15-year-old bottom-of-the-line consumer notebooks. The stuff that supermarkets used to sell from pallets. 2 or 4GB of system RAM (you need this much as VRAM nowadays), on-board graphics etc. They’ve probably bought it used, but still quite a while ago.
Why are they still using that old clunker? Because they’ve never been able to acquire any other more powerful computer ever since.
I think it’s even worse in OpenSim where those end up who can’t even afford Second Life.