Do you spend any money for online gaming?

[phantom]

My husband plays League of Legends frequently. Paying money is not necessary to play, and it does not give one a competitive advantage. But, you can pay to make your characters look cooler. My husband doesn't spend money on the game directly, but he makes sure people know that he likes to get gift cards for it, and if someone buys him a Best Buy card, he'll use it to buy a Riot (League of Legends) card. For as much enjoyment as he gets out of the game, it seems perfectly reasonable for the developer to make some money from him.

The only game I play at the moment that costs me money is Pokemon Go. When it started, I quickly realize that playing regularly was going to use enough data to bump my phone bill up by $6/month. Since it was getting me to walk more than my fitness trackers ever did, I figured that was a reasonable price to pay.

For the most part, it's hard to justify spending money on games when there's so much good free content out there and so many good games that I already own. Sometimes I think I could just keep trying to beat Nethack for the rest of my life and never get bored.

[greenskeeper]

coworkers child was playing a game on their i-pad. Rung up over $1300 in charges for upgrading the game. Luckily apple reversed the charges!

[TexasHusker]

I've played some online blackjack with virtual casinos - real money. It's actually a lot of fun.

[disneysteve]

I've played some online blackjack with virtual casinos - real money. It's actually a lot of fun.

I've played real money online casino gaming, too. That's no different financially speaking from going to an actual casino. I know that experience is going to cost money. There's no way to do that for free.

[DaveInPgh]

One time my child got my phone and was playing angry birds.

I used to love that game. Never paid any money to play though

[QuarterMillionMan]

Interesting thread. I don't play any games, no myVegas, no Farmville, no Candy Crush, Strike Force, World of War Craft, or any other games for that matter (I'm not sure if any of the games that I've mentioned are even the correct names of games). I cannot fathom wasting my time on playing games.

When it comes to online gambling though, I'm tempted sign up for an off-shore sports betting site such as Bovada but I've never mustered the courage to do so because it is illegal as seen in the eyes of the feds. I have a horse racing account which is legal in California but I would really like to bet other sports. I see in New Jersey online gambling is legal, I would get a kick out of that law if it applied to California as well.

TexasHusker, I was curious how deposits/withdraws are made with your black jack account, if you don't mind me asking?

[DaveInPgh]

I did play online poker for money and I am confident I was one of the many victims of hole card cheating. One two occasions, I deposited $20 (received bonus each time) into my account. Both times I had great runs mostly playing sit n go tournaments. By no means am I claiming to be a poker prodigy, but I did make two final tables in tournaments with several thousand players. Those tournaments were what I enjoyed the most, but they could last several hours and doing well typically meant me staying up WAY too late.

Anyway, my strong of losses just didn't make sense. I certainly encountered players better than me, but there were a lot of games that just didn't make sense. Opponent always knowing when to fold when I had the better hand. The cards he/she played weren't of a disciplined player. Just didn't add up. I would request my hand history, review it myself and show it to poker friends. Everyone thought something was fishy.

After losing the second $20, I just didn't feel like I could trust the integrity of play. I wasn't shocked when I read about the scandal.

[sv2007]

I don't play games much. The last time I bought a game was in 2002.

I have no games on my phone. It's got only 2 third-party apps (GPS and Kindle); GPS is free (Nokia's Here) and I buy some books on the Kindle.

The funny thing is that I had games on my Palm and flip phones since they came pre-installed. But those were years and years ago.

Oh, I also don't play online games (I don't even have any games on any of my computers).

[disneysteve]

When it comes to online gambling though, I'm tempted sign up for an off-shore sports betting site such as Bovada but I've never mustered the courage to do so because it is illegal as seen in the eyes of the feds. I have a horse racing account which is legal in California but I would really like to bet other sports. I see in New Jersey online gambling is legal, I would get a kick out of that law if it applied to California as well.

I used the off-shore places years ago. Now that online gaming is legal in NJ, no reason to mess with those any more. It's nice but I'm sure a lot of people get into trouble way too easily now. Removing any barrier to gambling probably isn't such a great idea. If I want to gamble, all I need to do is pull out my phone and in a minute or so, I'm online with a live casino. I don't play often - it's probably been 6 months or more - but for someone with a problem, I can see it causing trouble.

[Eagle]

I play Star Wars Heroes on my phone. It's really fun. With the latest reset I lost all my progress and had to start over. It was so frustrating. I had multiple characters maxed out and I'd spent literally tons of hours on the game.

I did succumb and spend $24.99 to buy 3 android characters this week. I don't regret it.

I just count it as part of my "blow money" or fun money category.

[james.hendrickson]

I'd like to suggest that online gaming is not something which contributes to your financial bottom line, increases your skill set or social capital or improves your intimate relationships.

Online gaming will help you gain weight as well as develop arcane knowledge that's not helpful to saving money or building wealth.

[DaveInPgh]

I'd like to suggest that online gaming is not something which contributes to your financial bottom line, increases your skill set or social capital or improves your intimate relationships.

Online gaming will help you gain weight as well as develop arcane knowledge that's not helpful to saving money or building wealth.

No weight gain here. I didn't want to step away from the computer to go get munchies. I just assumed I would miss out on pocket aces if I sat out a hand.

[HundredK]

Not related to online gaming, but talking about the impact on the bottom line made me think of this. We were in Singapore recently where there is a huge casino at the Marina Bay Sands complex. They check passports at the entrance (I mean, really check them, scan them, three different people look), and if you're a foreigner, you are allowed in for free. If you are a local, you have to pay a membership fee. When I asked around about it, my understanding was that the Singaporean govt doesn't wan't their people gambling and losing all their money, so the fee is there to discourage it. Assuming my understanding is correct, that's pretty fascinating, huh?

[Eagle]

I'd like to suggest that online gaming is not something which contributes to your financial bottom line, increases your skill set or social capital or improves your intimate relationships.

Online gaming will help you gain weight as well as develop arcane knowledge that's not helpful to saving money or building wealth.

I personally find my 15-30 minutes a day of the Star Wars Heroes game pretty fun and relaxing. I think anything in moderation isn't going to hurt. It's when a person is not balanced and spends 40-60 hours on an online game that becomes a problem.

I do agree that online gaming can contribute to gaining weight and doesn't really help improve your finances or relationships.

[disneysteve]

I'd like to suggest that online gaming is not something which contributes to your financial bottom line, increases your skill set or social capital or improves your intimate relationships.

Have you ever heard of "fun" or "entertainment" or "relaxation"?

As for improving relationships, intimate and otherwise, there are actually various games that both my wife and I play, or our daughter plays, or friends play. We interact with each other because of the gaming. It helps us bond with one another in ways that we wouldn't otherwise do.