There's a web tool that estimates the value of your Steam account by looking at all the games you own, but it can't tell you how precisely much you've actually spent on Valve's wallet-plundering platform, microtransactions and all.

If you bought on sales or Humble Bundles then this number will be so far off its useless. If you only buy new and retail then I feel bad for you sucker.

[–] MHLoppy@fedia.io 23 points 1 week ago (2 children)

After many years of selectively evaluating and purchasing bundles as my main source of new games, I've come to wonder if it would've been better to just buy the individual games when I wanted to play them at whatever the available price was - the rate at which I get through games is far lower than the rate at which games are available in "good" bundles. In the end I'm not even sure if I've saved money (because of how many games have been bought but are as-of-yet unplayed) and it does take more time to evaluate whether something's a good deal or not.

The upside is way more potential variety of games to pull from in my library, but if I only play at most like 1-2 dozen new games a year then I'm not sure that counts for much 🫠

[–] nekusoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

A bit tangential, but I also feel a lot of people make the same mistake with GamePass. I buy a lot of gameson release day (mostly indies, but also some AAA), so theoretically I should be the target audience for GamePass, but I did the math once for a three-month period and came out at a loss if I had bought GamePass.

Based on nothing but anecdotal evidence, the type of person to get GamePass also typically enjoys a lesser variety of games on average, making the cost/benefit ratio even worse.

[–] Gerudo@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I guess I'm a weird one. I've saved so much money using Game Pass it's not even funny. Throw in the pc version, and I've saved even more. I can try so many different genres I wouldn't typically risk my money for. I have also avoided buying games I thought I would love but then ended up hating.

[–] nekusoul@lemmy.nekusoul.de 3 points 1 week ago

Yeah, I don't think I make that many that wrong purchases, although that doesn't mean that a lot of games I enjoy end up unfinished due to limited time. When it comes to testing games, one thing that's neat is that demos got a huge revival in the last few years, particularly due to Steam Next Fest.

Looking at the current line-up, I'll say that right I'd probably come to a different conclusion, seeing as Blue Prince, South of Midnight and the new DOOM are all included. Then again, I use Linux, so I wouldn't be able to use Game Pass even if I wanted to.

[–] AugustWest@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago

I let the charity be the deciding factor. Some times I will just get a bundle and move the sliders all the way over for EFF because I would have donated to them anyways. Other times I see that the cause (relief, children, etc) is just worth doing. If I don't play the games, at least the money was not wasted.

[–] vfsh@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 1 week ago

That's exactly why the next paragraph tells you how to find "External funds used" deep in the Steam Help menu...