# What were the best uses of your gaming dollars? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 18, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867 "2009-05-18T16:08:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/21 "2009-05-18T19:27:53Z")
In terms of ratio of gaming dollars spent:enjoyment, it’s hard for me to beat _Audiosurf_, but that was also only $10. For games I paid a normal computer-game price for: _GalCiv 2_, _X-Plane_, _ArmA_ and _Homeworld_. Also let me, like, dozenth _Civilization 2_, which was the reason I did not sleep at all one junior high school summer. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/22 "2009-05-18T19:31:18Z")
I think **Baldur’s Gate 2** beats everything else for me, right now. I have literally replayed that game more times than I can think of; the player-created free content helps a lot there. I replay the game at least every month or two, in total or in parts. ---
**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/23 "2009-05-18T19:44:49Z")
Planescape: Torment. I got it for $9.99 in the bargain bin. Never spent more time or mental energy on a game for that amount before or since. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/24 "2009-05-18T20:12:16Z")
> [@nevermore](#): > > Planescape: Torment. I got it for $9.99 in the bargain bin. Never spent more time or mental energy on a game for that amount before or since. I have played this game several times, and a ton of the games on this thread. Still, DK beats everything. It’s my version of a first person shooter in some ways, I play it for stress relief. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/25 "2009-05-18T20:16:21Z")
Any Spiderweb Software game, but especially Geneforge II, which I have played all the way through at least a dozen times. It’s not a short game, either, so that’s a significant time investment. Best $28 I ever spent. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/26 "2009-05-18T20:27:37Z")
Dollar per hour, it’d be **Civ II** for the PC, followed up by **Pirates!** for the Commodore 64. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/27 "2009-05-18T20:39:38Z")
Now that I think about it, GameTap is a pretty awesome deal, especially if you don’t mind playing older games. There are about a zillion games there, so obviously there are lots of bad ones, but there are some uber-classics, too - _Deus Ex_ and the Fallouts, for example. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/28 "2009-05-18T20:49:37Z")
Planescape Torment. World of Warcraft. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/29 "2009-05-18T21:05:33Z")
World of Warcraft, no contest. As has been pointed out, even paying for 3 games plus $15 a month, it has given me countless hours of fun and reduced my interest in buying other games. ---
**Author:** ![Claptree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Claptree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claptree)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/30 "2009-05-18T21:50:23Z")
Half-Life takes the cake for me. I played the single player campaign about a dozen times, and I spent countless hours on CS, DoD and other mods. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/31 "2009-05-18T22:06:23Z")
In terms of hours played in relation of cost: Starcraft, Super Smash Brothers Melee, Diablo 2, Unreal Tournament 99, and Orange Box (TF2). Maybe Soul Calibur 2 as well. Countless hours lost to those games, thanks to the multiplayer component and having friends that really liked 'em. Other great ones that are single-player only, so they don’t stack up in the time category, but are great games I play over and over again: Final Fantasy VII, Deus Ex, Doom (which is multiplayer, but I only play it for the SP). ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/32 "2009-05-18T22:11:26Z")
Either WoW or Rock Band downloads. Seeing my 56 year-old father sing “Margaritaville” is priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/33 "2009-05-18T22:55:27Z")
StarCraft. Halflife. Civs I, II, III and IV, Europa Universalis II and III. But probably the biggest is SMAC. “Please, don’t go. The drones need you. They look up to you…” ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/34 "2009-05-18T23:49:10Z")
Had to be the $10 I had on a 27-1 longshot some years ago. The longshot won, and I collected about $280 at the mutuel window. Oh … you don’t mean _that_ kind of gaming. 😃 Seriously, I’d have to say Microsoft’s Pinball Arcade, which lets you play a number of old Gottlieb pinball machines. I’ve never been a fan of big and complicated games that require a lot of concentration and/or that are played over long periods of time, so something that lets me play for as little as a few minutes then return to work without wondering where I left off is perfect for me. And I also like pinball, so this game (which replicates some of my full-size real-life favorites) is fine by me. I’ve had this pinball game for about ten years, and have ported it to about three different machines as I’ve got new computers and retired the old ones. Haven’t got tired of it yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/35 "2009-05-19T00:11:32Z")
A $20 shareware game for the Mac called [Escape Velocity](http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/ev), and its sequels, [EV Override](http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evo/) and [EV Nova](http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/). Completely open-ended space trading/combat/exploration games with a plug-in architecture for unlimited expandability. Kept me busy for years. Diablo II gave me a good long ride. World of Warcraft ---
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/36 "2009-05-19T00:16:32Z")
WoW worked for me for a long time. Also: Wing Commander Privateer Lords of the Realm II The Quest for Glory series ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/37 "2009-05-19T01:03:33Z")
Must have played hundreds, if not thousands, of hours with the original Unreal Tournament (main draw: hilarious custom skins and voicepacks), but even those hours have been easily exceeded by the Heroes of Might and Magic games, II-V (IV not so much). Civ II-IV probably would be third on my list (tho I’ve forsworn it for about a year now), followed by the various iterations of Nascar Racing (and GPL; same publisher). I dislike games which have a “story”, and you don’t have any motivation to keep playing it once you reach the end of the story (unless you can mod new stories). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/38 "2009-05-19T01:10:13Z")
Planescape: Torment Chrono Cross Okami Psychonauts ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/39 "2009-05-19T02:17:42Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > Either WoW or Rock Band downloads. Seeing my 56 year-old father sing “Margaritaville” is priceless. I’ve been playing the hell out of WoW - for less time than EQ, but it’s also caused me less pain. And the Rock Band downloads are a good choice. 😃 Oh, and Rock Band has introduced me to music I haven’t heard before and have really enjoyed. On opposite ends of the spectrum, after singing [url=[Lacuna Coil - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacuna_Coil) I have a fair amount of their music on my iPod, and I really liked the Dead’s song “Alabama Getaway” and am open to checking out more of their music. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867/40 "2009-05-19T02:25:15Z")
I’ll add my name to WoW. That game covers a lot of play time for me. Second on the list is Resident Evil 4. I’ve played every incarnation of it repeatedly. Third is an online game trading service called [Goozex](http://http://www.goozex.com/trading/asp/homepage.asp). I’ve unloaded and received a lot of games off this site. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-best-uses-of-your-gaming-dollars/496867.md?page=3)