Is TTRPGing an "Expensive Hobby"

[eyeheartawk]

To add on to this, it also depends on where you live. 5e products will no longer be translated into Portuguese because of lack of sales. The main reason sales are lacking is that the cost of a book that is 70 USD is much more expensive given taxes, monetary conversion, and incomes in Brazil

Doesn't Brazil have a famously large import tax? I remember hearing about that when it came to game consoles and the like. I'm not sure if that applies to books though?

 

[aramis erak]

Zero, if the game has an SRD.

Not true - one needs to have a way to read it. And to reference it in time of use.

There are free ways to read, but not to reference. And technically, even the free ways to read are paid for by someone... often taxation.

Reading it at the library can be free... but usually isn't referenceable at time of need. Plus, it's technically paid for by either library membership, a donation system, or the taxbase.

Printing it isn't free, tho some library systems subsidize a certain low volume of printing.

Having an electronic device to read upon away from library is also not free, tho' certain classes of people have subsidized devices.

(On the subsidized devices - for 5 years, my younger offspring was provided a chromebook by the local public school system. Returned at end of school year. Several of my elder offspring's friends have phones provided by the state due to low income, so they have a way DHS and employers can reach them. All that is tax-payer funded.)

 

[Cadence]

Not true - one needs to have a way to read it. And to reference it in time of use.


Having an electronic device to read upon away from library is also not free, tho' certain classes of people have subsidized devices.

(On the subsidized devices - for 5 years, my younger offspring was provided a chromebook by the local public school system. Returned at end of school year. Several of my elder offspring's friends have phones provided by the state due to low income, so they have a way DHS and employers can reach them. All that is tax-payer funded.)

Surely someone has to pay for something in any hobby. Isn't where ever people meet for the hobby either privately owned property (paid for by the owner) or publicly owned (paid for by taxes) or international waters (probably not cheap to safely get to)? As such, I will concede your point, and then add a wiggle word like essentially, practically, or might as well be in front of the free and continue on.

As far as RPGs and SRDs, one study indicates that in the ballpark of 80% of the homeless have a smart phone, and another 14% have a non-smart one that might still be able to badly pull up text web pages (although I'm happy to not count that). Give the omnipresence of restaurants and other business with free Wi-Fi if you are close by, that feels really accessible for a hobby.

[My teenager who is currently banned from electronics might disagree.]

 

[aramis erak]

Surely someone has to pay for something in any hobby. Isn't where ever people meet for the hobby either privately owned property (paid for by the owner) or publicly owned (paid for by taxes) or international waters (probably not cheap to safely get to)? As such, I will concede your point, and then add a wiggle word like essentially, practically, or might as well be in front of the free and continue on.

As far as RPGs and SRDs, one study indicates that in the ballpark of 80% of the homeless have a smart phone, and another 14% have a non-smart one that might still be able to badly pull up text web pages (although I'm happy to not count that). Give the omnipresence of restaurants and other business with free Wi-Fi if you are close by, that feels really accessible for a hobby.

[My teenager who is currently banned from electronics might disagree.]

Since the lockdown, free wifi in my locality is getting scarcer and scarcer. For example, several restaurants have tuned theirs so that you can only use them inside the building. Same for Safeway - I can't get wifi on my phone from outside the front doors! Works fine within.
A number of restaurants use passwords and change the passwords regularly. Given that they're priced such that homeless are unlikely to eat there... a few fast food places put the daily password on the receipts.
Even the public library has reduced their WiFi gain; I can no longer get signal in the parking lot, but can (barely) from the on-street parking alongside the side of the building.
Several more have simply eliminated wifi access for customers.

 

[Hussar]

Since the lockdown, free wifi in my locality is getting scarcer and scarcer. For example, several restaurants have tuned theirs so that you can only use them inside the building. Same for Safeway - I can't get wifi on my phone from outside the front doors! Works fine within.
A number of restaurants use passwords and change the passwords regularly. Given that they're priced such that homeless are unlikely to eat there... a few fast food places put the daily password on the receipts.
Even the public library has reduced their WiFi gain; I can no longer get signal in the parking lot, but can (barely) from the on-street parking alongside the side of the building.
Several more have simply eliminated wifi access for customers.

All this is true. But, it's probably also true that things like a computer and wifi are not bought solely for the purpose of gaming. Which means that expense cannot be solely attributed to gaming. It has to be divided somehow - likely by time. Which, over the course of a year, would be a minimal expense. Again, we're talking a dollar or two an hour for a group of six people to game.

 

[Cadence]

Since the lockdown, free wifi in my locality is getting scarcer and scarcer. For example, several restaurants have tuned theirs so that you can only use them inside the building. Same for Safeway - I can't get wifi on my phone from outside the front doors! Works fine within.
A number of restaurants use passwords and change the passwords regularly. Given that they're priced such that homeless are unlikely to eat there... a few fast food places put the daily password on the receipts.
Even the public library has reduced their WiFi gain; I can no longer get signal in the parking lot, but can (barely) from the on-street parking alongside the side of the building.
Several more have simply eliminated wifi access for customers.

Do all the McDonald's still have it? (Been a road trip savior a few times).

 

[Li Shenron]

Not true - one needs to have a way to read it. And to reference it in time of use.

There are free ways to read, but not to reference. And technically, even the free ways to read are paid for by someone... often taxation.

Reading it at the library can be free... but usually isn't referenceable at time of need. Plus, it's technically paid for by either library membership, a donation system, or the taxbase.

Printing it isn't free, tho some library systems subsidize a certain low volume of printing.

Having an electronic device to read upon away from library is also not free, tho' certain classes of people have subsidized devices.

(On the subsidized devices - for 5 years, my younger offspring was provided a chromebook by the local public school system. Returned at end of school year. Several of my elder offspring's friends have phones provided by the state due to low income, so they have a way DHS and employers can reach them. All that is tax-payer funded.)

If you want to split hair, it can be proven truly zero in a variety of ways, but you would probably start contesting each one just to prove your point so I won't bother

 

[aramis erak]

Do all the McDonald's still have it? (Been a road trip savior a few times).

Not in the parking lots. The local ones have lowered the output, so it's pretty much lobby only.

WalMart locally just went to requiring you to have a WalMart.com account to use the WiFi.

 

[Jahydin]

No way is TTRPGing an expensive hobby unless you're really trying!

 

[MNblockhead]

No way is TTRPGing an expensive hobby unless you're really trying!

I'm not really trying, it just comes naturally. ;-)