It costs $17,000-plus a year to be a gamer apparently

CTA Digital

The Kinect Perfect Range Anti-Slip Gaming Mat, which is supposedly what every gamer wants and needs.

By Matthew Hawkins

Bloomberg recently ran a piece called "The Real Cost of Being a Video Gamer." The query was answered by calculating the expenses that a gamer will accumulate, as part of a family of four living in San Francisco.?Turns out, the final price tag is $17,077.

The article lists everything a gamer needs in his or her arsenal, which are broken down by category. You have hardware plus software, naturally, along with accessories, like controllers and displays. Even?furniture?and attire are accounted for. The asking price for each item is listed, and everything is combined at the very end, for the aforementioned grand total.

It was recently highlighted by gaming blog Destructoid, who, like us, found the overall conclusion to be somewhat curious.?While the numbers in the end do add up, at least mathematically speaking, where they come from is an entirely different matter. Because there's a clear difference between all the whatnot that's available for gamers, and what they end up getting in the end on average. Even if the parents of said child are willing to spoil their resident gamer rotten (and can afford to do so, given that they're all living in one of the most expensive cities in the US).

For example, most gamers will need a major console, like the Xbox 360 that is cited. Fair enough. And accessories, like an extra controller, are a necessity as well. Even something like the Play and Charge Kit is somewhat common. But the FragFX Shark 360? Even the most hardcore would be hard-pressed to know what such a thing is (it's a gaming mouse that's specifically designed for the console, with an odd, almost Nintendo Wii nunchuck-like attachment, by the way).

And while it can be believed that someone who is serious about console gaming is also serious about the PC, it's a bit of a stretch to believe that anyone would be equally involved on both fronts. It's not just a matter of finances; they are both such different worlds, each with its own vast assortment of titles and even mindsets. A fact that is further reinforced by how one side of the camp actually hates the other. So being active on both ends is akin to voting for both Republican and Democrat, equally.

The part in which "The Experience" is detailed is particularly ridiculous. Are we to believe that a parent is willing to supply a child with a 60-inch, 3-D display, plus pay the $200 dollar bill a month for the highest speed package for Internet access? Most serious gamers are perfectly fine with a display that's a little over half that size. They are also educated enough to know that promises made by internet providers regarding faster speeds are gimmicks that are usually never worth the extra cost.

Meanwhile, you have items that no diehard gamer would be caught dead with. Like the Kinect Perfect Range Anti-Slip Gaming Mat, or the Rock Band Double Storage Ottoman. Though one can see a parent, somewhat clueless as to what to get the gamer in his or her household, getting such items for Christmas. Like a 1up Mushroom T-Shirt.

Most entertaining of all is the $1,650 tally for 30 new games, across multiple consoles. True, serious gamers love having an abundance of games overflowing their shelves, but few rarely purchase every single title on day one. Given how engrossing most hardcore offerings are, many new releases are often left by the way side when a game already has their attention. Especially when they can be picked up for much cheaper via sales on Amazon and the like.

Every hardcore gamer I personally know is generally pretty frugal.?Which is why one must even wonder if the Bloomberg author is aware of Steam sales. Or even knows what Steam is. In the end, it's just another humorous article about video games by someone who doesn't exhibit any familiarity with the subject matter.

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Matthew Hawkins is a NYC based game journalist who has also written for EGM, GameSetWatch, Gamasutra, Giant Robot, and numerous others. He also self-publishes his own game culture zine, is part of Attract Mode, and co-hosts of The Fangamer Podcast. You can keep tabs on him via?Twitter,?or his personal home-base,?FORT90.com.

Source: http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/31/10281917-it-costs-over-17000-a-year-to-be-a-gamer-apparently

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