What is the psychology behind Steam taking all my money?

[Dirty Hipsters]

I swear steam does some kind of mind control voodoo to me in order to get all my money.

Xcom and Bioshock Infinite are both great games from what I hear, but I didn't have a huge amount of interest in either one (figured I might by them during a steam sale or something a long ways down the road), but the moment Steam bundled the two of them together for $60 I instantly had to have it. Now I'm sitting here downloading the games and thinking "how the fuck did Steam convince me to get these?!"

Now I'm sure I'll be very happy with my purchase in the long run, and I'm sure I will immensely enjoy the games I bought, that's not my issue with what happened. I just don't understand how the hell all my self-control goes out the window the moment steam is involved. I'm not like this with any other product or service, but when steam puts something on sale I end up buying it, even if there's only a 5% chance that I'll ever even play it.

 

[Bad Jim]

It's the sale psychology. On a logical level, you're aware that you'd spend far less if you simply bought games when you actually wanted to play them even at full price, rather than buy every decent game with a good discount. On an instinctive level, you're subconsciously thinking "that's a great game, at a bargain price" and you just do it.

I find it's easier to resist now that I actually have a substantial Steam library that is mostly unplayed or underplayed. When I look at it, I can easily see that even 75% off is not enough, because statistically I have less than a 25% chance of putting a meaningful amount of playtime into it.

 

[sanquin]

Steam's 'mind control' is simple. It's easy, fast, cheap with it's sales, and doesn't require you to go to a store and physically buy a game. So for the moment it's a very good service. Doesn't mean it'll turn for the worse in the past. Not actually owning games but only 'licenses' can really come back and bite us in the ass in the future. Especially with the huge game libraries a lot of people have on steam. But for now it's a very good service. Better than what most retailers or steam equivalents offer you.

 

[XMark]

I think it's kind of scary how it only takes about 10 seconds of weakness for me to make a new game purchase

 

[Clowndoe]

Between Steam, GoG, GG and possibly others in the future, I'm being sucked dry 5-10$ at a time. My latest is the Shogun 2 collection for 15$. I was supposed to be boycotting SEGA

 

[NightmareExpress]

Sales and bargains, I tell you!
Sales and bargains!

You see something you like, and then desire it.
Lo and behold, Steam has it on sale while nobody else does!
They'll also try to throw in some goodies from time to time.
Don't get me started on the bundles, seasonals and flash sales.

Captcha: take care

What the people at Valve say after having a nice consensual night with your wallet and departing the bed with a lit cigarette still in their mouth.

 

[Joccaren]

TBH I don't get that. I buy things when I want. If I'm only slightly interested in two things I won't grab them both at a highish price simply because they're cheaper. I didn't even buy Bioshock off Steam because I've got 1, IDC about TF2, I'm only slightly interested in XCOM, and Ozgameshop sold it cheaper. I'll buy off Steam if there's something I'm interested in getting at a fair price, but otherwise meh. These sales have no effect on me.

 

[Sewer Rat]

The sales work great for prompting that impulse buy. I don't really have the time right now to play Baldur's Gate right now and even if I did it was pretty low on my to do list, but DAMMIT IT'S ON SALE FOR 50%! MUST GO! MUST BUY! NOM NOM NOM CONSUMERISM!
So now I have Baldur's Gate... And Thomas Was Alone... and Binding of Isaac... and EYE... and I'm probably never going to get around to playing them all thoroughly like I would if I bought just one game and devoted a weekend to playing it through. I have so many games that I have left either underplayed or unplayed in my library. Hell, I bought Dishonored when it was on sale for $20, escaped prison, played the first level a bit, and then moved on to the next game I bought.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm more resistant than others. My threshold before I crack and buy indiscriminately is 75% off.

And yet Steam somehow manages to hit that, too! ;___;

 

[norashepard]

I used to do this all the time (my library is like 300 games at this point), but then I think I bought a game that absolutely sucked and felt really bad for spending on it so easily. Because of that, I'm a tad more resistant, but if something is 5$ or less my resistance is still awful. SO MANY INDIE GAMES.

Still, it's a good thing most of the stuff actually is cheap. Imagine if we were all doing this on Origin, where a sale is like 10$ off max.

 

[Signa]

I recently gave up buying games on Steam. I will make exceptions in the future, but my plan is to only buy things I'm itching to play right then, and that the price will be worth it. I really want to buy Duke3D right now, but I know it's going to sit there if I do.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

It's simple. When there's a bargain, you're saving money.
When there's a great bargain, you're saving lots of money.
When there's tons of great bargains, you're saving tons of money.

That's what your brain tells you, even if you would never have the time to play all the games you buy. Also, good deals turn thoughts like "I heard good things about this game, might play it some day" into "I heard good things about this game and it's on Steam 75% off. I MUST GET THIS NOW!!!!"

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well with squishy humie brains convenience trumps logic, put something they want in arms reach and they will suddenly ignore near every aspect of it up to the point of physical harm.
Then you add the nonstop splash screen adverts that keeps you aware of the product, timed exclusive deals that create a sense of inevitable loss when not buying, yet reward you with relief and gain when buying, social buzz and with it pressure to conform, removed pain of monetary loss via one click buy, ... and I'm missing about a hundred more human psychology tricks a marketing boffin could tell you all about.

But hey we wouldn't want to worry about all that, just buy and be happy.

 

[l0ckd0wn]

Man, after reading the OP, I'm glad I'm not the only one who is asking this...

I tell you, as soon as I saw that all of the "pre-order bonuses" were filled, I signed on with the rest... If not only for X-Com, but for those wonderful, useless, beautiful HATS!

Spoiler: Oh the HATMANITY! (click me)

 

[MajorTomServo]

Probably something to do with putting random games on super sale. You keep checking back to see the new deals, and that keeps you excited (and therefore eating out of Gaben's hand.)

 

[Elfgore]

This is the best way to describe how steam works.

(I have no idea how to put a picture on this site so here is the link http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/steam%20summer%20sale)

 

[SweetShark]

Nah, you are not very patient enough to see better deal like I do.
I think I only buy 3-4 games in Steam and all the others was from different kind of awesome bundles I bought.
Btw, I have right now exactly 222 games in my account. Plus I have other many games to buy from different kind of Bundles.
I will just post once again my favourite list of Videogame Bundles to see for yourself what I mean by that:

B Indie Budle http://www.indiebundle.org/
Built a Bundle [Groupees] http://groupees.com
Bundle In A Box http://bundle-in-a-box.com/
Bundle Stars http://www.bundlestars.com/
Buy Game, not Socks http://www.buygamesnotsocks.com/
GameDev Bundle https://gamedevbundle.com/
Greenlight Bundle http://www.thegreenlightbundle.com/
Indie All-Stars Bundle http://www.indie-allstars.com/
Indie Bundles http://indiebundles.com/
Indie Buskers http://www.indiebuskers.net/
Indie Face Kick http://bitg.gamingallthetime.com/producthome.php
Indie Fort Bundle http://www.gamersgate.com/indiefort-bundle
Indie Gala http://www.indiegala.com/
Indie Game Bundles http://www.indiegamebundles.com/
Indie Royale http://www.indieroyale.com/
IndieGameStand https://indiegamestand.com/
IUP Bundle http://iupbundle.org/
Little Big Bunch http://www.littlebigbunch.com/
Summer Batch http://www.summerbatch.co.uk/
The Indie Bundle http://theindiebundle.com/
The Humble Bundle http://www.humblebundle.com/

If you want to see other sites for different reasons, check my old Thread I update when I find a new awesome site every now and then:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.387688-Videogame-Database-Sites-Thread?page=1

Cheers!!!

 

[endnuen]

Just Cause 2 for 3?.
Yup, I bought that.
And one for my little brother.