Does the need to be social influence your game buying?

[Rich in KCK]

I wanted to type the need to join in on water cooler talk but it wouldn't fit in the title. I was reading a comment in a thread about Jade Empire coming to the PC well after the Xbox.

Enjoy the wait Keep on telling yourself how worth it it was for KOTOR

There were good responses over why would it be wrong to wait for it but it made me wonder why it's ok for some people to wait while others think it is wrong or just can't. I thought maybe some people just want to join in with others to talk about a game. I don't know anyone offline that talks about playing games, PC or Console, so waiting for games has no effect on me in this area. But I can compare the experience to movies. Do I avoid conversations about movies at the theater and wait for the DVD and by then no one is interested in light conversation about it anymore or do I go to the theater so I can join in on the conversations. For the most part I can wait on the DVD as well but when I was married and went to the movies all the time I did enjoy talking about them. So is the need for the water cooler talk a deciding factor on buying a game for one platform over another?

[Two Sheds]

Not really. It's nice to be able to jump in and contribute to an "impressions" thread, but that doesn't factor into my decision making. If I "can't wait" for a game it's really just because I'm impatient and want to play it now.

[hitbyambulance]

the biggest factor in whether or not i get a game (or see a movie or read a book or whatever) is price - this may mean waiting for months and months so i can get it in the bargain bin, or borrow a friend's DVD, or getting it from the library....

[Atalante]

If we were really smart, we'd all buy last years games and hardware next year and save thousands of dollars.

But were all too damn impatient for that.

[Jeff V]

It's been years since I've been remotely overcome with urgency to play any game. I really don't care who is talking about what - I buy and play what I'm interested in when I'm interested in it.

As such, I just as soon every game slap on another 6-12 months development time so it's the best it can be at launch.

[Blackhawk]

Buy, no. There have been, however, a couple of times when I got a new game I would have been getting anyway and put something else aside to play it sooner than planned mainly because I wanted in on all the discussion threads.

[raydude]

But I can compare the experience to movies. Do I avoid conversations about movies at the theater and wait for the DVD and by then no one is interested in light conversation about it anymore or do I go to the theater so I can join in on the conversations. For the most part I can wait on the DVD as well but when I was married and went to the movies all the time I did enjoy talking about them. So is the need for the water cooler talk a deciding factor on buying a game for one platform over another?

For movies and other general entertainment it is harder to avoid conversations about them in any sort of environment. However, I have yet to come upon a social setting with face-to-face discussion where there was talk of half-life2 (or any other game) outside of my friends.

With friends, since we're all game players, it's easy to say "dude, I'm only at the BLAHBLAH level. Please, don't spoil it."

If you're talking about forum discussion then it's even easier to avoid accidental spoilers. Just don't click on the posts saying "SPOILER" or "GAME X IMPRESSIONS".

Just as with movies though, the need for discussion can be channeled into other topics. If I want to talk about something I can post in "Everything but Gaming" or post about a game I *do* have. Rarely do I feel the need to discuss games that are out, don't have, and which people are talking about.

[Giles Habibula]

I'll generally wait until the hype has died down, and then a year later I'll play it and then join in or start a thread about it where everyone gets all nostalgic about it. To me, if folks can still get nostalgic about a game that's over a year old, that's a good sign of a great game.

[Beer Goggles]

I am antisocial.

[Cylus Maxii]

I'l buy a MP game to PLAY it with other people. But I don't generally consider a desire to talk about a particular game as a buying influence.

The only examples I can think of regarding this topic and my experience are MP games that I chose not to buy because all my friends were so completely immersed. They were hyper-competetive and advancing skill so rapidly that I decided that I didn't have the time to even try to catch up. They are frequently like that about MP shooters. I'm just not that twitchy; so I can't keep up.