Re: Opportunity Cost

by Don Frey

For example, while opportunity cost and diminishing marginal returns are two important economic concepts, he seems to have forgotten one of the most basic of all - the fact that the reason we bust our butts earning money in the first place is that money is exchanged for goods and services, such as RPGs. No one works for the sake of having little green pieces of paper with dead presidents' pictures on them. "Wastes of time", as the author calls them, are the reason we earn money in the first place! I had probably the crappiest job in the world at Astroworld, but I stuck with it (for a little while, anyway). Why? Because I wanted to "waste my time" with some Japanese Dragon Ball Z tapes, the FF7 and FF8 soundtracks, and various other things.

Also, the author seemed to take the concept of opportunity cost too far. If you choose to play video games during the day rather than working and earning money, then certainly RPGs are costing you an arm and a leg. But you're not going to work (in most cases) at 9:00 at night, or on the weekends, are you? There is such a thing as leisure time, that time when you're off, when you're not *supposed* to work. Because you're not supposed to work, there is no opportunity cost (at least in purely monetary terms) of playing RPGs, going to the movies, etc. So play to your heart's content. :-)

Lastly, there is the idea of the pointlessness of New Game+, other similar features, and replaying in general. Yes, New Game+ is playing Chrono Trigger again, but the point is that until you've played using it, you haven't really finished the game. There are several hidden endings to be found using the feature. (Plus, that early-game omnipotence is really fun. :-)) And isn't discovery one of the main factors of enjoyment for any RPG? Again, if you just set aside some of your leisure time (time not normally spent working), it is not a waste. However, I did feel that the author had a generally valid point with diminishing marginal returns of other games. Even still, I like trudging through games like FF6 and Xenogears again, because they're so much darn fun (or if, like me, you needed to play Xenogears again to get a better grip on the story <g>). But that's just me; I don't know about the rest of you.

I'm through here. Feel free to send your comments to me at Gotenks683@dbzmail.com when you have the chance!