First off: http://blog.microlite20.net/2008/08/10/the-value-of-dungeons-and-dragons/
OK? OK!
Savage Worlds Explorers Edition: $9.99.
Zombie Run $7.95.
Ignoring for the moment the fun factor of prepping for the game and just concentrating on hours played… I’ll estimate 9 at this point, plus oh… four more tomorrow… That’s 13. I’m going to round the dollar amounts up because I am lazy.
10 + 8 = 18
13 /18 = about .7 and climbing.
Assuming half an ideal scenario of 2 games a month at the less than ideal number of 3 hours… 6 hours a month… 12 months… No, 11… Say we lose a day or two in November and December… That’s 66 hours a year.
66 / 18 = 3.66 per year.
Again though, this ignores time spent reading all the stuff available for free online. It ignores the “value added” of the online community. Conversely, it also ignores the supplements I have sitting on my shelf (RunePunk, PotSM, Necessary Evil) and the revised edition core book I still have. It also fails to factor in dice and… oh, just read the comments on the above linked post.
This is fun. It puts all the other games in my collection presently in a pretty harsh light though. I mean my WoD collection is definitely not pulling its weight around here. Neither is my D&D/d20 collection. But, I already decided it was time to thin that herd, didn’t I?
I think a game and all its accessories has to net me at least a 3 per year with this formula and come out ahead using S. John Ross’ Fun:Work Ratio as well. Alternatively, I have to be able to imagine a time when it did or might in the future. A lot of stuff meets the latter, but falls way, way short of the former.
This may all seem a little dry – and hardly the basis for decisions about which of my games/children to sell/trade/give away – however, keep in mind there is a long view at work here. The S.O. and I want to be able to move with relatively little effort next time, and that means, more than anything else, getting rid of a lot of stuff.
We plan on leaving furniture behind, ya know?
This entire formula, the entire thought process even, bothers me to no end. Deeply, deeply bothered.
No joke.
Why?