Despite being deep into a digital future (which is pretty much a digital present now) I still enjoy physical media, and if you were to pay me a visit you’d see my music, films and games on display. If you cast your eyes over my small shelf of games you’d eventually spot a handful of Game Boy Advance titles, and right between Donkey Kong Country and (squints) some Tales game, is my copy of Wario Ware Inc. Not the copy I originally bought in 2003, but something I went out of my way to re-purchase online in 2010. I had sunk hours into my original copy of Wario Ware, and the massive regret I felt over flogging it (to fund a DS) prompted me to go and buy someone’s copy of the game – with the box, and manual, and in reasonably good condition. Not something I’d bother doing for a lot of old physical media I pick up, but sometimes I can make an exception. And now that you know about my own questionable purchasing decisions, let me talk to you about the worth of your entertainment and what it should mean.
The worth of your entertainment (for consumers)
What something is worth is a question that isn’t resolved simply by going to PriceCharting and searching for the going rate of your videogame collection – because if we just started measuring worth by potential monetary gain then we’d be living with the people who keep shrink-wrapped copies of their rare vinyl and obscure videogames. Worth isn’t just defined by an equivalent monetary exchange; “worth” can apply to an investment – monetary or not – that someone is willing to make in order to pursue a desired outcome; in this case, personal entertainment. In the seventh generation I had no interest in multiplayer shooters, so I would get much less out of a Halo 3 or a Call of Duty 4 – in contrast, I have tens of hours in Hotline Miami; a game that’s comparatively cheaper and yet is over in seven or eight hours according to the playthrough-tracking website HowLongToBeat. I’m not necessarily saying that people can’t wring more worth from those multiplayer shooters, but everyone finds different ways to enjoy their time with games, and so the “worth” is a much more personal aspect of an experience compared to the money you handed over in order to have that experience.
It extends even further beyond the people who play games for fun – there are professional gamers who wouldn’t want to waste their time with a product that is buggy, broken or imbalanced, and there are professional streamers and Youtube creators who will value something that they can wring precious “content” from. Sometimes the worst reaction from those people won’t be pointing and laughing at the game; it will be the lack of any reaction whatsoever. If a popular streamer is playing your game and visibly looks bored, will it really be worth their time to stream more of the game in future?
The worth of your entertainment (for businesses)
I bring this up not just to shed light on my questionable purchasing habits, but because I feel like this is something that the entertainment industry frequently risks losing sight of. We’re already in an environment where the service providers want to have a continuous stream of funds from your wallet. Movie streaming subscription fees, music streaming subscription fees, fees to remove adverts, downloadable content and season passes for videogames. (In the writing space, the feeling is magnified if you’re writing for free and buy all of the entertainment you review.) No amount of money you part with is enough for the people selling things to you… but for a consumer, certain amounts of money will be enough, and everyone has a threshold that can’t be crossed. The business dream of generating more revenue than last year – every year – only works if the entertainment is worth the increasing demands you make on those you sell to. Businesses will still chase the dream of infinite growth, but the amount a consumer can invest in a product or service is finite and often quite limited. And with that kind of caveat in mind we can find as much worth in the smaller scale productions as we do in the more ambitious releases – so now I’m going to make a point of including a picture of that Sonic meme below because I’ll forget by the time this is ready to publish.
(Credit: X users Jordan_Mallory and MsFeliciaRondo (Knowyourmeme))
The obvious point
I guess what I’m trying to say is that “worth” should be more important than revenue? If people sink hours into your product or service and feel compelled to buy future additional content and tell their friends how much fun they’re having, it’s an outcome that has lasting positive effects. To a lot of people most of this should be obvious – of course people only have so much time and money – but you wouldn’t think so if you look at the business practices of selling less and asking for more. There is only so much lasting positivity that can come from bleeding funds from your audience, and if it begins to negatively affect their enjoyment then it tanks the worth of whatever you’re providing. And I guess I’m also trying to say that you should go and play Wario Ware Inc. again (cartridge battery permitting.)
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