[a_Guest03]

When you consider the alternatives to EQ, it is pricey in the sense that I could have another phone line for $21.99/mo, but I can't have a nice dinner with my girlfriend for $21.99. For lower income brackets, EQ IS expensive, only because the amount of money in the pocket of a low-income person is lower than someone marginally better paid. I'm not rich, but I can live within my means and have a nice time at $25,000/yr. But can I afford to do 40 hours a week of work and 20 hours of EQ? Not if I want to keep my girlfriend happy or my education moving.

EQ is only expensive if you look at it as something less than a luxury. ALL luxuries are meant to be a little expensive, because they are unnecessary. Have you ever priced a diamond ring? Why the hell do they cost $1000?! It's not like the metals or the diamond cost more than $200 combined for the jeweller. It's a luxury, so markup is huge.

Bills: Water - (my half) $4/mo, Electricity - (my half) $45-$55/mo, insurances required by law - (was $90) $68/mo, cable bill (internet and TV) - (my half) $30/mo, cell phone $30/mo, home phone (my half) $15/mo, Sewage (my half) $6/mo, college parking $8/mo, RENT (my half) $287.50/mo.

Monthly expected expenses:
~$500/mo

Gasoline (approx. $50/mo) and car repairs (common purchases) not included. Education also not included (paying cash for community college) at approximately $700-1000/quarter for 4 quarters per year ($3600/yr or $300/mo.).

Luxury: Sony/EQ $21.99/mo.

Everquest looks like a bill!! $21.99/mo... against an already large guaranteed expense of $500/mo, it looks tiny! But out of my list, it's the third cheapest. You may pay $264/yr for the game, but how much did you pay for other luxury entertainment while you were playing EQ? If you're hooked, your entertainment bills probably went down, and your consumption of sodas and the like probably went up. So remove your expected expenses of maybe $100 to $500 of entertainment that you might have skipped out on during the year, and where are you?

Odds are, by the end of the year, you're not much farther from where you would have been without the game (except that you spend a lot of time sitting in front of a computer). Did you have fun? Probably a good deal of it. Did you not have fun too? Yeah, otherwise you probably wouldn't be reading this.

I'd be happier if I could get my tank filled in the car less than once a week or for less than $18/tank. EQ would look like a gift from BP.