half evil

I read this article comparing the per-time cost of various media, essentially outlining which is cheaper for every hour spent enjoying a specific type of media. I took issue with a few points (as well as the basic fucking premise); the assumption that everyone buys new, the omission of what is easily the most important media to ever grace humanity, and the assumption that all media is interchangeable.

Firstly, anyone smart nerdy thrifty enough to analyze a spreadsheet detailing the cost breakdown of various entertainment media will surely also be aware of buying things used (I don’t mean to sound condescending, err… yes I do). Games and DVDs — like automobiles — are things that depreciate the instant it touches your dirty Doritos-stained hands. A current-gen console title runs you $59.99, but if you wait a month and pick it up used after Timmy spent his dish-washing money on it, you can snag Gears of War 2 for $40. A year-old title it could be as low as $10 (ugh, Dark Sector wasn’t worth the $9.99).

Did everyone just forget about books? Seriously, how did that get over-looked? They’re small, light-weight, portable, and require no power (when done properly AKA Kindle is an over-priced gimmick). They allow you the freedom of enjoying in sessions that fit your schedule. Want to read for 10 hours on a Sunday? No problem. Want to read for 10 minutes on the crapper? No problem! Costs range from the $10-20 for that hardcover you just have to preorder, to $5-10 for a paperback, or free if you ever heard of a goddamn LIBRARY.

With that out of the way, there’s very little substitution between the various formats. If I asked you for a good movie recommendation, you wouldn’t tell me to listen to Isis or to read The Omnivore’s Dilemma. No, you’d probably tell me to go watch Slumdog Millionaire. Unless you have shitty tastes in movies, then you’d tell me to go watch Transformers (if this fits you, please go away).

Some media avail themselves to repeat sessions more than others. Books can reveal the layers of complexity and commentary hidden with each subsequent reading. Movies can evoke an entirely different emotion after the major plot points are already known and you can focus on the subtleties. Music get better with each and every listen, can be played to relax, or event to appease a party with some background noise. Games… well…

That’s a whole ‘nother story. Caveat time: I work in the gaming industry (and I’m a big fucking geek) so my view is biased. Video gaming encompasses a selection of possibilities as wide as all the others combined. Simplistic puzzle and card games exist for the many casual and time-limited players. In-depth story-driven games — with professional story writers and directors — are numerous, can run 10 to 30 hours in length, and often have multiple methods of playing, with multiple storylines. And for the sake of our health, let’s not bring up MMORPGs like World of WarCraft. Games that have ten unique classes with different styles of play. Games that offer distinct sub-games such as “leveling a character”, “player vs player combat”, or “dungeon crawling with 24 other people”. All this for a low $15/m. Fuck, I said I wasn’t going to bring it up.

Instead of watching Star Wars from the perspective of the Jedi, you can play Star Wars from the perspective of the Jedi… and then again from the perspective of the Sith. All in the same $59.99 disc (that you got for $30 used, right?). Encompassing 20 hours of play each play through!

You can’t read an entire book in five minutes, but you can play a full puzzle game in five minutes. You can’t make a single movie or a book last months while still actively enjoying it, but you can easily find games that fit that criteria.

TL;DR: OMG Things are different! Buy a book and go read, but also play video games, watch movies, and go to concerts.