Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Video games--again

I'm stepping down from the money focus for a while. These past few days have reminded me that there was a lot more going on when I didn't have to worry or think about money and budgets and savings all the time.

Truth be told, I am/was a gamer, big time. That's who I used to be. These days, I'm caught in between the no-identity crisis, and this blog is suffering from it. I really don't want to get creative about my budget anymore, because let's be honest... it's 8 lines long for a full month. Earnings are small, expenses are few, goals are a bit difficult, but still uninteresting. I don't really cook, don't travel much, and am not a hobby person... in short, quite a boring, quiet existence. And there's nothing wrong with that! Well, at least not until we add the blog in.

Anyway, I was keeping myself entertained yesterday playing a fairly old game... Prince of Persia. It was on a really good sale (about $8 for all 3 games!), so I thought, why not. So far, very entertaining. Then while getting ready to bed, it made me think... you know, video games is something I used to know so well, and relate to everything. People sometimes diss video games as low quality entertainment, when compared to books... but seriously, there is much to be learned from good games, if you just think outside the box. I've always been a defender of games, because I grew up playing video games, and I am not that horrible of a person, if I say so myself.

But one thought led to another, and I think that's something I'd like to try to explore... lessons learned in a financial sense from certain (old) games. Ha. That'd be very interesting, especially because most people wont know what I'm talking about!

But to not fully devoid this post of actual content, I renamed one of my 2 ING/CapOne360 savings accounts "Dad's savings". Why? Well, he's been in an ebay selling craze. Thing is, he doesn't want to see, touch or KNOW about the money at all. He wants it thrown somewhere until he forgets about it. He dreams of buying a small house, fixing it up, and renting it out. But he'd need a down payment. So he's starting this fund. I offered to serve as middle man; the money goes to my paypal, I send it to my savings account. If he ever wants the money, it's there, and it can be either withdrawn as cash (through my checking), or sent to his paypal through mine. I consider it a win-win. I'll be sneaking some extra there too, here and there. Sold a book I used for my SPHR exam, and tossed the money in with his lot. Who knows, it may amount to something eventually!

10 comments:

  1. OK, I'm no gamer at all, so it will be interesting to hear about your lessons from the games :)

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  2. I love video games but I'm too cheap to stay up on all the latest and greatest. I used to love weekends when I was young spent with friends taking turns trying to beat a video game we rented for the weekend. It was a lot of fun. Now I play the Wii sometimes when I work out. I love me some Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong and Zelda!

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    1. I'm wit you. My knowledge of games stopped after the Playstation 1... I have no knowledge of newer console games, and thank goodness, because I cant afford them anyway! I remember the rental drill! Oh boy, we always had to return the tape before the last dungeon... oh, the frustration!

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  3. If you have the time, enjoy and play them!! I can't find the time to do anything I used to like now. Believe me, enjoy your free, alone time LOL

    HS

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  4. pac man is my favorite game of all time... that should tell you something about me. my cousin works for the company that makes world of warcraft but i've heard that game is crack on steroids. i take breaks from writing about personal finance all the time. bc heck i got bored with it myself. so i write about whatever i want to write about---its my blog right?? haha

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  5. I think it's great to move on to another subject every now and then. I wasn't ever into gaming - neither consoles or computer - but that's not to say I think there's anything wrong with it. I know a lot of people who really love it without it being an obsession (and I think that's my fear, I'd become obsessed).

    Anyway, cool post, especially the paypal fund for a house!

    Peace <3
    Jay

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  6. In case you don't know (and if you do sorry for posting this) paypal limits the amount you can take out of your account (fee free) to $500 a month. I had some friends pay me back for a trip we all took and I had to transfer the money from my PayPal to my checking account over a 2 month period.

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    1. Never noticed that at all. How strange. I will have to keep an eye out. We've transferred over $900 from Paypal to Bank, but it may very well have been between months passing. Thanks for the heads up.

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  7. In junior high I was a big player in Neopets ("millionaire", taught myself HTML, etc). I also loved Oregon Trail, Rockett's New School, some "no-name" safari & circus games, The Sims, and Roller Coaster Tycoon. Every 6 months or so I'll sit down for a couple hours of Sims 2 (I never liked 3) or RCT. But other than that, no more gaming for me.

    Unfortunately, and this is saying NOTHING towards you, gaming leaves a sour taste in my mouth since ending my marriage with my ex-husband (this wasn't the sole reason mind you, but still sucked). For him, gaming was his life. If he wasn't working or sleeping, he was gaming for hours on end every day, until 3/4am. I felt like I was in competition for attention with the games. I never questionned the gaming buddies he chat with (some of them for 10+ years), until I put the puzzle pieces together and realized he left me and IMMEDIATELY started a relationship with one of the women. I'll leave out the crappy details, sufficed to say gaming to that extent (and I know a few other men who do that) is a deal breaker for me. Luckily, my BF only plays a game every other month or so with his buddies, which I'm totally a-ok with.

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    1. That's truly awful, ouch! And trust me, I am not a fan of today's gaming society either (bunch of backstabbing 12-year-old-like adults that exploit anonymity). Sorry that you had to go through that! I am sure I have all this extra time for games because I'm by myself on my own, so I use it as entertainment. I am sure that'd change if I had to be with someone else full time, it being kids or a partner.

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