It depends how you see this. I think spending money to a restaurant is better than spending money in RO. This is how i see it, I live in real world not in virtual world. I want to know the taste of real food not the stat food you eat at RO, after all most of you will have to leave RO once you get older. why not use the real money to build your knowledge to the real world than in RO? or even invest your money to something useful in real world?
Note: I am not trying to say that spending money in RO is a bad thing.
Playing RO doesn't necessarily mean you'll spend money on it. Just saying. And when you go to a restaurant, you're more liable to buy something even if it meant a cup of coffee. How much does one meal cost per trip to a restaurant? I find the average is at least $7+ per trip. Even fast food chains offer meals that are $5 and up per trip. For people in college, this is something they run into all the time, especially when on-campus food is normally much more expensive than the fast food restaurants off campus. Imagine doing that every day for the school week. Compared to buying food, spending $25 per month on RO and eating at home is way cheaper than going out to eat all the time. You're also less likely to drive to places for entertainment, therefore spending less on gas money. I think I spend about $40 per week in commuting between my home and my college. Now imagine me going out to clubs downtown and hanging out with friends, going to restaurants, and traveling around just so I can end up "window shopping." That gas money goes up exponentially from my initial cost of commuting between home and college. I'd spend more money on average outside of RO than when I play RO.
Also, what is useful in the real world other than the important stuff to you? Does knowledge really cost anything? I'm sure the stuff you get out of college is expensive and worth the investment, but what is considered important outside of that? Hanging out at bars and getting drunk? Spending your gas money and ending up simply "window shopping" to see what the new clothing trends are? Are new clothes every week really a necessity to life? How about those people who get $10 haircuts every week? Or those people who smoke and/or drink nonstop. What food can you eat everyday from simple fast food restaurants that wouldn't end up getting you fat? Do you really need to know about all the expensive cars that you could "probably" afford after saving up? Do said cars even contribute to a good life? Are these really considered things you should be learning about? Are they worth the cost to you? Do you think drugs, porn, and strip clubs is good for your knowledge about the real world? Are iPhones really a necessity for living a good life?
Las Vegas anyone?
Adding to this: The virtual world is as much a part of the real world in that the virtual world relies heavily on the real world to exist. From my first post in this thread, in order for RO to exist it must get money from somewhere. Without that money, Gravity HQ simply would cease to exist, therefore meaning less jobs to feed other families. It's really a chain of how money is passed down the cycle. Gravity hires people who they need to run the company, which doesn't simply mean only the GM's. You gotta think about the big picture. If people ceased to buy cigarettes, the job market involving selling cigarettes would crash, therefore meaning less jobs. If a restaurant ceased to get customers, it too would close down from lack of profit. If a car making company crashed, the people who sell their parts to said car dealers will also crash from not being able to sell their parts to said car making company that just crashed.
Edited by GuardianTK, 24 June 2011 - 05:14 PM.