I’m 18 and from the Philippines, where all gadgets are overpriced.
Here, the 3DS costs 13,500 Philippine Pesos, that’s about 306 USD.
I didn’t care. I was determined to get one despite that PS3-ish price.
I looked for ways to earn money. And finally, I’ve saved up 23,000 bucks this month.
~$520.00
Again, I was determined to get one. But, things started to change.
My friend bought one.
I was stoked,
I wanna see the allegedly revolutionary glassless 3D that some are hyping about.
I wanna feel like I’m Yu-Gi-Oh with The AR games
I wanna digitalize myself with The Mii Maker
I wanna shoot my friends, and frenemies, with Face Raider
I wanna soar up high with Pilot Wings Resort
Oh what joy!
I tried it; played it for an hour.
And I was surprised.
No, not because of the 3DS,
But rather, my impression…
“That’s it?
No really, was that really it?”
I was in denial. No, Nintendo would never release such an unremarkable system. It’s impossible.
I’ve come up with an excuse in my mind just to compensate my worries.
“I might have not played it long enough!” Then I played it for about 10 more minutes…
…until my friend ask for his 3DS back.
“It’ll run out of battery. ^_^”
A Nintendo handheld being worried about due to batteries? Is this really made by Nintendo?
“Ah no worries, when I get one, I’ll get that Nyko Charge Station along with it…”
…but I have to pay a thousand bucks in addition to that already hefty price of the system.
That’s with the game outside the equation. Another two thousand bucks.
Overall, I would spend P16,500 or $375.
Three hundred and seventy-five dollars, and yet I still don’t have an assurance that I will enjoy this thing.
Alas, the enthusiasm, the determination, the passion, all of them, plummeted, in an instant.
I talked to a friend of mine, she’s taking up marketing. Basically, this was how the conversation went:
I told her about my plans to buy the thing despite my hesitations.
I told her I have the money, and it was for the 3DS.
“So is it worth it?” I asked
“No.” she said
“But you haven’t played it yet, how would you know?”
“When you have doubts with a product, the wisest thing to do is not to buy one,” she argued, “especially if you don’t need it.”
“But I trust Nintendo.”
“But you’re not confident.”
“Confident?”
“For that kind of price, it’d be stupid to buy one just because you trust the company. I mean, what are they? Friends? (wow, from a marketing major? really?)” she explained. “Why risk your hard-earned money for something you’re not sure of? Luxury is not worth the risk. You’re a customer and they’re sellers. Their job is to give you what you want and your job is to pay them what they deserve. If you’re not confident with their product, that means they failed at giving what you want. You want something because you’re confident about it. You’re forced if you only trust.”
“Wait, how do you know I’m not confident?”
“Dude, be sensible, the very moment you ask if it’s worth it means you’re not. You wouldn’t ask me or anyone else if you are.”
___________
I don’t know about the others, but for me she’s right. The argument is simple yet sensible.
If it doesn’t bring out confidence,
and it is luxury,
Then, it is not worth it.
Afterall, why should I let myself be a loyal slave of a company?
Do I need them? No.
They need me.
I’m the master and they’re the slaves.
I give them food when they deserve it
And right now, they don’t.
But then again, I trust Nintendo. And trusting calls for giving chances.
Indeed, I’m not closing the possibility of buying a product from them in the future.
Heck, if for some sorcery (i.e. salvific games) they finally made 3DS fun (for me, at least), I might even buy one.
Until that time, though, my 500 stays with me.
Good day Malstrom.
Yep. The only ‘god’ is the customer. It is the customers who decide the direction of gaming, not developers and certainly not Shigeru Miyamoto. It is really that simple.