If you played World of Warcraft for the last 4 years.
Monthly Subscriptions: 48 months * $14.99/mo = $719.52
World of Warcraft Initial purchase: $50
Burning Crusade Initial Purchase: $50
Wrath of the Lich King Initial Purchase: $50
Cataclysm Initial Purchase: $50
Total Gaming Expenses for last 4 years: $919.52
WOW! That's over 800 dollars just to play a game for the last 4 years but let's look at the hardcore ADHD gamer, the average ADHD gamer, the casual gamer for comparison, and the "I'm poor like Kenny penny gamer".
These figures won't take into consideration that consoles and systems change over a 4 year period and many gamers like to own new systems or more than one which will add a significant amount of money to these estimated costs. These figures assume you already own the gaming platform you're playing on and will keep playing on it for the next 4 years.
The Casual Gamer
Let's say the casual gamer buys a new video game every 3 months for the last 4 years. That's a total of 16 games in a 4 year span, which is pretty common.
16 games * $50 a new game = $800
Congratulations you spent $119 dollars less than you would have playing World of Warcraft and spent 4 years playing 16 games by yourself in most cases.
The Average ADHD Gamer
These guys will buy a new game once a month and most of the time not even open the case or only play it for a few hours. That's 48 games in 4 years.
48 games * $50 a game = $2400
Didn't realize you were spending that much did you? Tell your kids their college education or vacation money went into your gaming habits.
The "I'm poor like Kenny gamer"
This group is the guys who are stuck playing games that others haven't even heard of or tried and they try to tell you about them like they are cool. Things like, Cyber Ninja Turtles, Bob's Monster Truck Smash, or Freddie's Bass Fishing. These games are what I call clearance shelf games (CSG's) and are typically bought by the penny pinching gamer who buys an average of 1 of these games every 2 weeks, that's 24 games a year (simply speaking).
96 games * $10 a game = $960
Good job poor gamers, you spent more money than you would have playing World of Warcraft or being a casual gamer and you didn't even get good quality games.
The Hardcore ADHD Gamer
This group is your friend who always has the new consoles, buys a new game once a week, probably doesn't even open it but tells you about it, and then next week he's buying a new game again. This is where most of the money is made in the gaming industry. We'll exclude all the new consoles and accessories these guys buy and just calculate their gaming expenditure which comes to a whopping 48 new games a year.
192 games * $50 a game = $9600
And you wonder why you don't own a car? You spend more money in a year than a lot of people make when you could have saved yourself a lot of money playing World of Warcraft.
Other ways you save
You tend to go less places so you save money on gas and miscellaneous purchases. Instead of going out to events you socialize online with your friends doing something you already paid for (no more expensive trips to the movies).
Why people don't do it
People can't stand the idea of playing a game for 4 years, it must get boring right? But if you look at Some of the changes to World of Warcraft you can see the game is not the same game that was released 4 years ago. And because its an MMORPG, you never run out of stuff to do and there's always new expansions / content released. Like Everquest, you can play this game forever and not get bored, unless you're a boring person.
On top of all of the savings, you can also make money by having knowledge in World of Warcraft. Saving and Making money from a game, sounds like a deal to me.
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