I don't mind that I have hundreds to extra games that I'll never get around to playing, games that I buy when they're on sale, because they are on sale and the demo was kind of fun way back when I played it, or indie bundles, because I want to support them, whatever.

I know this bothers others on this site more than it bothers me, yet I've often wondered, if I never bought on sale video games, never bought a video game that I wasn't going to play that night, say, and gave myself permission, were I wanting to play whatever that night, to buy said game for full price (or its DLC, whatever), would I spend less money?

So I'd never buy games on sale, nothing I wasn't ready to play instantly, but the trade off is, I'll pay whatever it costs (if it happens to be on sale, hey I lucked out, but it probably won't be). So I play the demo for Warped and want to play it? I buy it right then and play it, I don't wait for it to be half off during the next sale when I can buy it and another 150 bucks worth of games.

I'm curious, who thinks they'd actually spend less money doing it this way?

I think it would depend entirely on what type of games one likes. If a lot of new games that you are interested in come out in a short period of time (but enough for you to be finished with one game and able to move on to a new one, so as to keep the rule of playing day of purchase) you would probably spend more money (or maybe only a bit less).

But I think generally buying every game that you've heard anything about while it is on sale, but don't really have the time/energy to play soon is (somewhat) of a waste of money, and will cost more overall.

In theory it would cost you more money if you had more time to play, and save you money if you had less time to play.

I guess if you've a tendency to go buy during a sale purely because it's on sale, then yeah you'd definitely save a buttload of money in the long run. I personally find that I need to be very careful about what I buy during something like a huge Steam sale, purely because I've a tendency to end up spending craploads of money on games I'll likely only play for an hour or so in total, just because they're on sale.

Yeah, if I purchased one game at a time and played it, even at full prices for new titles, I would save a lot of money.

All I have to do is add up the money spent on my ridiculous backlog to see how much I would have saved at this point in time because I wouldn't have this backlog if I was more sane. But, I'm not! Oh, well. I just can't resist bargains for really cool games I just know I'll play someday when I get around to it hopefully, maybe...

Yeah, that's kind of how I am. I mean, it's not like it's a hobby that's killing me financially, it really isn't. I just don't have the free time to engage in it to the extent I'd like, work, raise my daughter, and have a semi-functional social life all at the same time.

I think there is a very good chance you would spend less overall. In fact I would bet companies have the whole thing worked out, and sales are at least partly designed to get people to spend more and not just to encourage a sale in a particular store.

You most certainly would have fewer games. I know I would, though I have been somewhat better about playing what I buy than I once was. That said I have games I haven't even downloaded like Psychonauts , and Kings Bounty. And if I never bought games I didn't play I might never have gotten around to B.Gate 1. I had it for a year or two before a friend was like, "you have to play this." So I did and it was fun. Still haven't played much of 2 even though the discs are right next to me.

This post might have been a bad idea, aadmitting I own Psychonauts and BG2 but haven't played them.

I think you'd probably save money. But it depends on personality. I'll play a game intensely for a bit, stop and then come back a while later. I usually don't finish games in one go.

Also, I guess I look at it more as a library than a backlog. My games aren't a list of items for me to do, they're entertainment waiting for when I feel like them. Some I'll play repeatedly, some I'll play once, and some were lousy purchases that I try and don't like, oh well.