This has been something on my mind recently, well, since I got my Touch, and have had access to the app store. Every time I buy an app, I always get a bit of the sense of buyers remorse. Like I made a huge mistake or something. Why is that I wonder? Looking on these boards (and through the app store reviews) there are so many people out there seemingly completely unwilling to spend $1.99 for a game, but willing to spend $.99. Myself included. Why is it that we (and by "we", I mean the general app store customer population) so hesitant to fork over even $.99 on certain apps? Even ones that look good. I mean, I go almost every day to the convenience store across the street and spend a dollar on a drink I don't need (because I have plenty at home). Routinely I spend money (usually no more than $3 or $4) just to try some new food out. Something that potentially could last me less than one bite (seconds, and perhaps vomitting time) I'm willing to take the plunge for. Perhaps it's just the internet as a whole, I find myself getting the same feeling when I buy something on Amazon or eBay. That "Oh crap I just pressed "Buy" feeling. It's the anxiousness of not having something physical in our hands, something that we can see right away. We simply take the word of what other, anonymous people have to say on the matter. But yeah, been thinking about that recently as I found myself cringing over the $1.99 Samurai Puzzle Battle, which is a very fun game. And happy New Year! It's 2009 in Japan.
I believe that's it, It doesn't feel right to pay for megabites on the internet because they aren't physical, even when buying computer games, you have a case and a CD. The same thing happens with music, people don't usually buy songs from itunes because you can either get it illegally where you don't have to pay for it or you can buy the CD from a store, where you get the case, the cover and you know that you have it. Also, in itunes you can't return a song once you have purchased it. In stores you can. IDK, we are just strange beings us humans.
That is very true, but I think it makes it easier. I can just hit buy, have my game and never give it a second thought. Which is likely a formula for disaster in the end.
Well, sometimes I argue whether or not to purchase a game and once in a while, I end up hating the game right after purchasing. That's usually when buyer's remorse hits me. Sometimes I feel like I need new games even though I have hundreds of other fantastic ones. It's just like I'm bored with them and I want something new, and I always feel bad about buying games because of that. Although, I'm not too addicted to buying games anymore, this does happen to me once in a while when a new game comes out and I can't resist buying it.
Yea, thats it exactly. I have almost 9 full pages of fantastic games, yet I always want something more. The reason: the lack of depth to the games.
I think maybe because there are so many good free games out there, it makes it harder to purchase one. For instance, I got TapDefense and had so much fun with it, I decided to buy FieldRunners. The game looks a lot better but has like 1/4th the depth, so I didn't purchase another game until Rolando came out.
I had the same thought either. I usually buy thing that seems appealing to me at first look, like the icon, screenshots and video reviews. I didn't actually give any thought like 'how many times will I use this app in the future', 'will there be any updates', 'oh come on, it's holiday sale!' and so on. So far I've regretted to spent around $50 out of $250 of all the app I had purchased. Most of them are only used once, then left behind. Eg: UNO, Monopoly. The bottomline is, do research and read comments from other user before purchasing an app. That really helps.
Now that's a good piece of advice. Since finding this site, its been a lot easier finding the good out of the heaps and heaps of bad in the app store. For said reasons, I'm fairly picky about what I actually spend money on (If its free though...), but when I do buy something I usually read, like, every post in a thread about the game. Although I bought Snail Mail on the basis of TA's review alone. Good decision.
You said it. I'm sitting here looking at my iPod, and I've got 9 whole pages of games, All in all, I probably only play 1 page worth of them(16). And I wonder, why did I even bother spending money on it? And as you said Brewstermax, There's no depth to them, I was in a game shop today, and I thought, "So the iPod has Multi-Touch, Accelerometers, The games are cheap compared to say the DS, But in the long run, I'd rather buy this 20 Euro DS game, because it has depth." I'm not regretting buying the iPod, It's just it's a bit annoying that there's no in depth games for it. I agree, even with your example of the soda can, you can hold it, open it, drink from it, and then bin it. But at least you knew you paid money for something "real". Unlike buying a game on iTunes.
On the general theme of the thread, although not related to Apple or an iPod in anyway, me and a friend were talking about movies. In particular our complete willingness to go to the theater and spend $10 on a movie, without so much as the slightest hesitation (if, of course, it is a movie we want to see!). But when I go to Wal-Mart or somewhere and see the bin $5 DVD, I say to myself "I don't know five dollars", and even some really good movies I've passed up. The exact opposite of problem with the app store purchases.
Sure... Why Not Just Give *ME* Your 99 Cents Then? I don't care how cheap or easy it is to get an app... if it's not worth it to me I'm not going to buy it. I feel the reviews (NOT the ratings, btw) give a clear indication as to what we are getting before we buy an app, so there isn't really that feeling of, "oh, well it's only 99 cents". I don't really care how much an application is honestly.. I mean, I bought Monopoly, Sim City, Pac Man, Bike or Die, and other games I've had on the Palm OS before as soon as they came out in the app store because I knew what I was getting and I knew the value of those games... throwing 99 cents at something I'm not sure about isn't the point. I have 136 apps on iPhone right now.. and am running out of room frankly. I'm not going to waste anymore icon space on iPhone for something that doesn't have at least 5 hours of PSP quality gameplay, regardless if it's 99 cents, $9.99, or free.
My problem is that I don't hesitate My problem is that I don't hesitate. I just buy the apps. Of course buyers remorse always hits me at the beginning of each month when my Visa card statement comes. And it's time to pay the bill... I've tried a huge range of apps and games from different genres. All sorts that I would never have tried otherwise. And mostly because they are free or at such a low cost. But it does start to add up. I've now got a fairly good idea of what I will like or not and I have started to hesitate on some purchases until I see reviews or feedback from others on Touch Arcade. One of my New Year resolutions is to pause before buying apps. I promised myself that I will write the app on a list and think about it before I buy. So we will see how long that resolution actually lasts. One thing my iPhone has revealed is that I have a really short attention span. I have heaps and heaps of apps and games. More than enough to hold my attention. But I tend to use them for short periods of a time. For example I might do one level of a puzzle game and then move onto another game, play for 10 minutes and then I'm trying something else. I then will go back later and play the next level of the puzzle game and so on. I'm always changing what I use every 10 to 15 minutes. It is rare that an app or game will hold my attention for longer periods of time in one session. So I use everything but just rarely in one go.
One of my biggest complaints about the app store is the bombardment of new apps every single day. (Check out the app "AppSniper" and you'll be shocked how many new apps arrive each day). With constant price cuts and then constant new games/apps being pushed out all the time, no one really has the time to enjoy the app they JUST bought five minutes ago. It's almost as if you just have to buy the latest release in order to keep up with the avalanche of new apps coming out the following week. Apple needs to find some way of "pinching off" the influx of all these new apps. But then again, what better way to make money? It's a fricken' machine...
By and large i've enjoyed my purchases on the App Store, even relatively crappy games like Star Wars. I did have aslight buyers remorse from buying a sackful of apps in one go and having a heavy bill one month, but then promised to finish off a game before buying another. Which is working so far. The sheer avalanche of new apps is overwhelming as other poster said, and it's so tempting to just grab those games during opening sale or something. One thing I want to say is that with downloads you often can't see what you're getting until purchased. With physical objects you can touch, feel and observe what the product is like. You can even try video games at Gamestop at one of the demo units. But it's near impossible with iPhone apps. So you only have reviews, screenshots and maybe a YouTube video to judge by. Nor can you return a game like you can with a shop or trade in for the next one. Lastly, the app store is pretty much the onlyplace where you can get good games for free legally (barring the online Flash games). When you have good games like JellyCar, TapDefense and others doing such a great job, you start to question the merit of paying more than zero. Especially when the game doesn't offer anything more substantial than the freebie. But more often than not, paid apps offer so much more attention to detail than free ones which is why I'm enjoying Rolando, 7 Cities and Frenzic more than anything else right now. And I only got these through suggestions from here which is pretty much the primary consideration forbuyig games now. So, thanks to all you guys for your contributions to this forum!
