Nobody said frugal living is supposed to deprive you of anything you already have; you just need to cut down on some aspects. Since I’m noticing a trend in the video game industry, I feel like I need to write this here.
Video games have come a long way. From the simple Pong to the controversial Grand Theft Auto games, this form of entertainment has its roots deep in the mainstream media. Each year, video game developers spend billions of dollars creating games, and earn billions of dollars in sales – perhaps more, if not due to piracy.
Living in Japan – the electronic geek’s wet dream – I can’t really turn my head anywhere where there’s no video game store, so if you’re a video gamer and you find yourself spending too much on video games, I have one word for you: STEAM.
Steam is an online distributor of video games. You can purchase the games and download them on your system. The good part is that if you hold off a little longer, say a month or two, you’re going to get discounts. Each game is often priced at $60 when they come out, but during Steam promos and discounts after a few weeks, you can get them for less.
If the game is rated a little low in reviews, you’re sooner to see bigger drops in prices for them. This is good, since every game reviewer out there such as IGN will always look for something to complain about in a game; and they have this Simon Cowell phenomenon going on where they sway the masses despite how many would disagree with them.
At any rate, another way to play games without spending too much is to find an online game. If you’re reading this, then you already have what it takes to play them – a computer.
Browser Based Games
Browser based games are games that you play on your internet browser. This means no download required whatsoever. There are two types of browser based games – the text based games and the flash games. Text based games like “The Reincarnation” are good for letting your imagination do all the work. They are also good for letting you play for a bit and forcing you to stop and play later.
For “The Reincarnation”, for instance, you take a role of a mage and you manage your kingdom by discovering land, summoning an army of mythical creatures, building farms and houses for your populations, waging war against other mages’ armies, etc – all in written form.
Flash based games, on the other hand, are what you usually see in Facebook. Farmville, for instance, lets you design your virtual farm, raise animals, and get income from them. There is a set amount of time before you can “harvest” the hen’s eggs or the cow’s milk, so you can play it, set it, and get back to it later.
One reason these games are good is because you can still be frugal. Play the games, enjoy yourself, then come back to it later while you turn off your computer to conserve on electricity.
If you want more action packed games, then you can always go look for free Massively Multiplayer Online, or MMO, games. Free MMOs are good because most of them are clones of “paid” games. For instance, Call of Duty is one of the most popular games nowadays because of online playability. If you want good clones of it, there’s K.O.S. Secret Operations, Combat Arms, Cross Fire, and Alliance of Valiant Arms.
World of Warcraft, the biggest MMO role playing game, has its share of clones. Allods is one of the most famous one. If you want WoW-like gameplay without it necessarily being WoW, Allods is the game for you.
The best thing about these clones is that they take from their source and often put their own spin to it. While this doesn’t make them any better than the game they copied, they aren’t bad either – they’re simply a different kind of good. And you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription to play them, unlike World of Warcraft; making your frugal gaming a lot easier.
If you’re looking for free online games to stay frugal, you might want to check out the channel “MMOHut” on YouTube. Happy gaming!
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