As I get older, I seem to think about everything in terms of food, and when I think about how much something will cost I usually end up thinking about how much food, and what type of food, I could get for that money instead. (I'm not fat, yet.)
Anyway, a decent $40 RPG book is going to bring me hours of entertainment. I could barely pay for a decent dinner out for my wife and I with $40, and if we took our 3 sons it would likely be much more. Sure, we need food to live, but the pleasure derived from the food would be gone in a day or so. In the can, so to speak.
I have a great deal of respect for the many creative people who devote their time and energy to adding to the game I enjoy. In fact, if I have never said so publically before, thank you. I also respect that the price point at which a product becomes affordable, or even worth buying, varies depending on the one spending the money. That is fine, we all have different priorities.
If you need to seek discounts to make a product worth the price to you, then do so. That is your right as a consumer. If you want to point out the good deals to others, then do that too. But please do not accuse others of "price gouging" without some hard evidence. Just because a product costs a little more than you are willing to pay is not evidence of price gouging.
From Dictionary.com:
gouged, goug·ing, goug·es
3. Informal. To extort from.
4. Slang. To swindle.
and
2: obtain by coercion or intimidation; "They extorted money from the executive by threatening to reveal his past to the company boss"
source:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=gouge
Come on, lets not accuse others of such acts, even if you are merely exaggerating to make a point.
