Return on Investment

[jcayer]

I was emailing my players about the Player Handbook bundle, as not all of them have purchased one and it got me thinking, how much have I spent vs how many hours of enjoyment.

We play every other week, from 7:30-2:00. It works out to be about 6 hours, after we get settled. We've been playing about 1.5 years. So 26 weeks + 13 weeks = 29 weeks * 6 hours each = 234 hours of gaming.

As the DM and organizer, I've probably spent the most, PH 1,2, MM 1,2, and DMG 1...DMG 2 will be a Christmas gift from my players. Add in some extras and other odd expenses and I've probably spent less than $125, maybe even less than $100.

234 hours of enjoyment for $125. Now that's impressive to me, but I suspect other people here have even better ROIs.

Anyone?

[the_orc_within]

And that's just counting hours in actual play. Not to mention time perusing books; world-building and adventure design and prep by GMs; and character conceptualization and creation by players....

In total, around 12.3 M/$ at least

[weem]

Ok, let's see...

I run a game every other week and play in 3 others - we play 2 days a week for these 4 campaigns (each campaign is biweekly). Each of these games is approx 6 hours and we have been going at this pace since April (so about 7 months).

12 hours a week x 28 weeks = 336 hours.

Prior to this, from June 2008 - March 2009 (about 9 months) we played one game a week, averaging 6 hours a game.

6 hours x 36 weeks = 216 hours.

Approx Hours: 552 hours

For books, I have PHB, DMG, and MM (1 and 2) plus the Eberron Players Guide.

Approx Cost: $240 ($99 + $99 + $30-$40)

Plus DDI account off and on - I think I have paid for about 6 months.

Approx Cost: $47 (I did three-month payments)

So...

552 hours of enjoyment for $287 - or about .51 cents an hour

...or $3.11 a game.

...or $24.88 a month for 8 days of entertainment.

Not bad


---edit---

quick update of some math


---edit2---

As mentioned before, this is only accounting for play time and says nothing for planning time, etc which I do a TON of.

[CharlesRyan]

Yeah, there's no doubt at all in my mind: Even for gamers who spend heavily, RPGs are an incredibly good entertainment value . . . .

[delericho]

If I consider just the books that were actually used, my Shackled City campaign worked out at a cost of about 10 cents an hour. When you factor in that the Core Rulebooks (at least) have also been used for many other campaigns and one-shot games, they work out to less than 1 cent per hour of use.

However, if you do that, you also have to consider the return on investment on books that don't get used often, or at all, and those start looking very poor indeed. I have many many books that got read through once, placed on a shelf, and never used again. Indeed, even my 4e core rulebooks work out at $15 per hour of actual game use.

The third possible metric is to consider the total amount I have spent on gaming (all games/editions) versus the total time spend on gaming (across 20+ years). I have no idea what this would actually work out to, but I'm pretty sure it's a very healthy return.

Of course, the real trick for me is to try to reduce the number of 'weak' books I buy, and for WotC/Paizo to produce more "must have" books.

[Oryan77]

From the amount of time I spend preparing for games (by choice); I wonder if it's a full time job or a hobby. I've had plenty of players that make DMing feel like a job (not my current group, they are great). If I see it as a hobby, then what a great investment. But if I see it as a job, I got ripped off

[karlindel]

For 4e, I've spent about $300 on books and $140 on DDI subscription (still ongoing). Estimating off the top of my head: I run one campaign that's had about 20 6 hour sessions (120 hours), I played in one campaign for about 10 6 hour sessions (60 hours), I am playing in one campaign that has had 6 4 hour sessions (24 hours), and I am playing in one campaign that has had about 12 5 hour sessions (60 hours).

So 440/264 = $1.67/hour

That doesn't include time perusing the books or time spent outside of the actual games.

Of course, I also haven't included my miniatures collection, which for 4e has cost about $300 or so. Of course, even with them it's still $2.80 per hour, not bad at all.

[hexgrid]

To be pedantic - I think what's being discussed here is value proposition, not return on investment.

[Derulbaskul]

Originally Posted by CharlesRyan

Yeah, there's no doubt at all in my mind: Even for gamers who spend heavily, RPGs are an incredibly good entertainment value . . . .

I totally agree.

It irks me when I read the usual suspects complaining about the prices of RPG products. When you break it down per hour of enjoyment derived even a mediocre product is better value for money on a cost per hour basis than a DVD, video or movie.

(deleted what was apparently inappropriate humour)

[Slander]

Wow. So I bought the three core 3.5 books, two supplements, and 5 PDFs for a total of $150. On average, we play 3.5 hours 32 weeks a year and have been playing for 8 years. A little over a solid month of gaming. That's $0.17 a game hour. For the price of a can of mountain dew, I get a game of DnD!

Good as far as the game goes ... but now I'll feel ripped off everytime I walk up to the vending machine at work.

[jdrakeh]

Originally Posted by Derulbaskul

When you break it down per hour of enjoyment derived even a mediocre product is better value for money on a cost per hour basis than a DVD, video or movie.

This is only true if you get a chance to use the material that you pay for in an actual game. Frex, for health reasons, I played in one whole game last year that lasted an entire two weeks. I bought about $200 - $300 worth of RPG books last year. The return on my investment in terms of actual play was absolutely horrible.

[Umbran]

Originally Posted by Derulbaskul

But you know poor people... always complaining. Why don't they just eat cake?

You know, the 10% to 20% of the people on these boards who are probably without jobs right now don't think this is funny at all - the smilie really does nothing to mitigate it.

Let's not have any more of this sort of "humor" in this thread please. Thanks.

[Derulbaskul]

Originally Posted by Umbran

You know, the 10% to 20% of the people on these boards who are probably without jobs right now don't think this is funny at all - the smilie really does nothing to mitigate it.

Let's not have any more of this sort of "humor" in this thread please. Thanks.

It's gone now.

[malraux]

Really only free internet porn offers a better fun per dollar spent return than table top gaming.

[Hobo]

Originally Posted by jcayer

234 hours of enjoyment for $125. Now that's impressive to me, but I suspect other people here have even better ROIs.

Just imagine if you were still using your old 1e books all that time, 25+ years straight.