If we assume he and his wife each play World of Warcraft ten hours per week, then his $1700 over four years and eight months works out to $0.35 per hour of play time.

Let’s compare that to some other games.  You know those $50 games you play once and never look at again?  The ones where the whole game lasts 10 hours if you’re lucky?  Those cost upwards of $5 per hour.

So realizing this got me thinking.  How much have my favorite games really cost me?

Counter-Strike: Source cost me $19.99.  I’ve played countless hours, surely more than 200 hours.  Heck, just in the last two weeks I’ve played 14 hours.  If we pretend that’s accurate over three years, that’s just $0.02 per hour.  In reality, I used to play CS:S a lot more than I do now, so the cost is likely much lower.

I bought the Orange Box (with Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, and TF2) for $49.99.  According to my Steam account stat tracking, I’ve played TF2 a total of 34.7 hours (half of that in the last two weeks).  I only played through Episode 2 once or twice; I’ll call it 10 hours (though it may have been more like 12).  Portal, while entertaining, probably only racked up 8 hours of gameplay.  So the Orange Box has cost me $0.91 per hour, but as I ramp up my TF2 gameplay that cost will slowly go down.

I preordered Left 4 Dead for $44.99 last year.  Steam tells me I have a total playtime of 96.25 hours, putting its cost at $0.47 per hour.

My dad bought StarCraft for me years ago.  I’d guess he paid $49.99, because the game was still fairly new.  That was over a decade ago.  I have played a lot of StarCraft.  During middle and high school, I’m sure I played something like 8 hours a week (more during the summer, less during school).  Looking at those six years, that’s just $0.02 per hour; I’ve played a fair amount since then, too, so the price is lower.  (Seems like more of a bargain now, doesn’t it Dad?)

Obviously, I can’t go over every single game I own; the list is too long.  I’ll also admit to buying some games and never playing them (or only playing through partway).  But overall, it looks like gaming costs between $0.01 and $1.00 per hour, depending on the game – and despite both up-front purchase costs and monthly fees, MMOs are nowhere near the worst offenders.

Before I start, go sign the petition asking Blizzard to add it in:

http://www.petitiononline.com/LANSC2/petition.html

There are a number of problems with their decision – first and foremost being that they’re literally killing off their huge LAN-party-going fanbase.

Think about it.  Your average American does not have an internet connection that can handle eight simultaneous Battle.net connections.  And even if the host does have a connection good enough, Blizzard is now forcing all eight people to send their game round-trip to Blizzard’s servers just so they can play with the people in the same room.  That increases latency and reduces the “fun” value of the game.  If Battle.net dies mid-game, then the “LAN” party comes to an end.

Do any of you remember the original StarCraft, or Diablo I and II?  Blizzard provided a multiplayer-only spawn installer on their CDs.  They wanted people to play with their friends, even if their friends didn’t own the game.

Starcraft is still one of the ten best-selling games, more than a decade after its release.  Do they really think LAN capability hurt their sales?  Do they really think piracy hurt their sales?

But now, they’re claiming LAN capability will reduce sales of Starcraft 2.  Based on past experience, that’s only true if their game sucks – people buy good games.  Just look at Blizzard’s previous releases for the proof.