Do you tend to enjoy things less if you get them for free? - General

I don't know if it's just me, but when I get games on sale or for free, I tend to lose interest a lot faster than the games I buy outright. Does this apply to you guys? What about other things like movies, food, and etc.?

I'm immediately suspicious of anything I get for free. [editline]12th March 2017[/editline] [I] especially food[/i]

I got a cassette at the flea market, half sublime half rage against the machine, for free that I could only enjoy for free

This is a well-known psychological effect. People will subconsciously value things based on their price alone. In some cases, literally raising the price and not doing anything to your product will cause more profit as people just assume that a higher price is higher quality. This is how Apple can charge such huge premiums on their products, and how many alcohol brands work.

Not at all. In fact, I'd say as the price goes down, my enjoyment goes up because I'm like "wow shit this was a good deal" and it makes it easier to ignore the flaws. If I got Fallout 4 for $10 I wouldn't mind the garbage FPS and the lacking content and the poor RPG aspects. However, I got it for $120 plus the price of the season pass, and it's up there as one of the worst triple-A games in my library because every one of those flaws gets taken straight to my heart. As a side note, I got Skyrim for free, and I've spent so much more time in that and to this day it's one of my favorite open world RPGs.

Unless something's given to me by someone suspicious, no. The no-cost of something good doesn't change its enjoyment factor.

For me I enjoy it more because usually when I get something for free, it's usually because I got it as a gift from a friend, so I try to cherish and value what they had given me. If I won it from a raffle, or lucked out on a day where something usually costs something goes free for a limited time, there's just a certain satisfaction of doing so, plus knowing that I didn't had to spend a single dime on it gives a sense of comfort.

I would enjoy it more. I've spent loadsa money on crap I play once a year and just regret spending the money. Where as I still play Wolfenstein ET which is free and Worms which I was given for free. Maybe it's something about gifts that make me enjoy them more. But I can't think of a game I bought where I really felt it was worth the money. That sounds really sad tbh.

I'm probably one of the few people who subconsciously associates price with quality. Mirrors Edge Catalyst was pretty widely viewed as mediocre but I enjoyed it and maybe that's because I bought that shit full price.

i lack the pride it takes to scoff at free. far as I'm concerned? [i]Don't mind if I do~[/i]

[del]Things like video games? Yes. Anything else, especially food? No.[/del] Whoops, I misread it as "do you tend to enjoy things MORE if you get them for free". I mean to say: Things like video games? [B]No.[/B] Anything else, especially food? [B]Yes.[/B] Although if you mean free video games as in F2P and not gifted by somebody, then [B]Yes[/B] I enjoy them less, because I do not want to have to deal with all the shit you have to pay for later. Just buy once, nothing more. And in the case of smartphone apps, I would rather support the developers directly by paying for it, rather than have ads, so also [B]Yes[/B] there.

[QUOTE=daigennki;51963866]Things like video games? Yes. Anything else, especially food? No.[/QUOTE] Now that you bring this up, the thread title is a complex question because it assumes all things we buy, we enjoy. Some things are just necessities.

Depends, I do believe having to do effort to get something brings enjoyment. Getting something for free which would otherwise have costed effort also brings enjoyment. I would enjoy the item or thing equally, but one would probably have a better story to it than the other. Food is where it gets weird Making a sandwich, while hungry, and finally eating it is great. Getting the same sandwich for free from someone you know may feel the same way, but having it appear in the fridge out of nowhere, well it's kinda boring. I had to move heavy equipment and sweat my ass off for 5-6 hours and finally got some chow, the food tasted waaaay too good for what it was. I didn't work for that meal, just having to have exhausted effort made it more enjoyable than sitting on my ass and being handed it.

Definitely free or cheaper than what everyone else is selling at.

If someone gives me something for free, food or whatever, I feel like I have an obligation to like it even if I don't. It makes it hard to enjoy something.

I find if effort is required to obtain something, then I value it far far more than if it was just given to me. If it takes me a year of hard work to buy myself a car, I would appreciate the value of it more than if I was just "given" the car for free. I would still enjoy it a lot if it was free, but I wouldnt value it the same and wouldnt treat it quite the same.

I stole a transformers beast wars figure back when I was like 12 from a store and I just enjoyed it for barely a day. I don't think it's value can be really determined by its price but rather the effort put into getting stuff.

I would enjoy it more, the feeling you're describing is probably more like 'I paid for this so I [I]should[/I] play it more to get my money's worth''